Lemon White Chocolate Cheesecake

It’s time for another edition of “Glossies Made Me Do It”.  Link up with Happy Pretty Sweet or Shooting Stars Mag to join the fun

 Redbook’s April issue has Jessica Alba as the cover girl, wearing a floral blouse and jeans – a casual, laid-back springtime look.

An ad in this issue made me bake The Perfect Cheesecake

I spent Saturday afternoon in my Grandmother’s kitchen with my Auntie – the Queen of desserts. She likes to try new dessert recipes and also has some go-to specialties like my favorite coconut cake, so I knew this would be a fun activity for us to do together.

 

 

 The vintage mixer pictured above was given to my Grandparents as a wedding present                At 61 years old, this mixer is still doing its job  – they don’t make ’em like this anymore!

 

The original magazine recipe is for 12 individual cupcake-size cheesecakes. We decided to make a full size cheesecake instead. Using a pre-made piecrust decreases prep time, but a full-size cheesecake needs to bake much longer in the oven than the cupcake- size cheesecakes would.

Next time I make this dessert, I will swap the cream cheese for calorie-saving Neufchatel cheese. Eight ounces of Neufchatel cheese is 70 calories compared to 100 calories for the same amount of cream cheese.

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Ingredients:

1 package (4oz.) Baker’s White Chocolate

1 Shortbread piecrust

2 packages (8oz. each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 lemons  (1/4 cup of juice, 1 tsp. zest)

2 eggs

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Instructions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees

Melt 2oz. white chocolate (microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds) and set aside

Mix cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl

Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and melted chocolate

Add eggs, 1 at a time with the mixer on a low speed

Pour pie filling into shortbread pie crust

Bake for 50 minutes, then cool completely

Melt remaining 2oz. white chocolate

Drizzle white chocolate on top of the cheesecake

Sprinkle additional lemon zest for decoration

Refrigerate  for 2 hours

Serve & Enjoy!

 

Linking up with The Blended Blog for Tasty Tuesday

Spicy Shrimp with Penne (featuring Low – Carb Pasta!!)

This recipe quickly became one of my go-to favorites once I found it on Pinterest 

I’ve made a few adjustments to increase the portion size – believe me you will want to make enough to share!

1 box (13 oz.) Dreamfields penne pasta

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 packet of soy sauce

Salt & pepper

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. red pepper

1/2 bag of raw shrimp

  The Ingredients

(including Soy Sauce packet from all the nights of ordering Chinese food & not cooking)

Dreamfields Penne

Low Carb Pasta – A carb-lovers dream come true!

Mix together: olive oil, cheese, salt & pepper, red pepper, soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic powder

  Remove the tails and veins from raw shrimp

Using pre-cooked shrimp is a time saver, but the fresh taste is well worth the work

Marinate shrimp in the sauce for 20 minutes

(in the meantime follow directions on the Dreamfields box to boil the penne)

After the pasta is cooked and drained,

Heat the sauce and shrimp together on medium heat for about 5-8 minutes until shrimp turn pink

Then stir the cooked pasta into the sauce

I almost forgot to snap a picture for you, before devouring this whole plate

Enjoy!

 

GirlTrek

You know I’m too cheap to pay for a gym membership….

During the summer I would rather be enjoying the sunshine. 

Going on long walks is much better with a few friends. 

This summer, I was inspired by the national organization GirlTrek to organize a walking team. 

According to the website GirlTrek.org, here is the purpose of GirlTrek:

“GirlTrek is a groundbreaking 3-year-old national nonprofit that mobilizes women to live their healthiest, most fulfilled lives through a habit of daily walking. Through grassroots organizing and award-winning social media campaigns, GirlTrek supports thousands of walkers….and inspires an ever-growing network of 200,000 supporters through social media. 
GirlTrek’s health movement is fueled by active role models, street organizers, inspirational stories, authentic partnerships and a whole lot of hustle! ”

What I love most about this initiative is that it is welcoming to ladies who are just getting started on their fitness journey. Not everyone wants to run a 5k or a half marathon, but everyone can benefit from 30 minutes of physical activity. 

Once a week on #WalkingTeamWednesday we get together to take an hour long walk on the sidewalks of our community or in local parks. 

 

My team includes 8 friends and  I hope to see it grow!

Are you a member of GirlTrek or a part of an exercise group or walking team? Let me know in the comments!