Mixed Berry Cheesecake

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I made this last year during the Holidays.  I love love love cheese cake.  This recipe was awesome!  It's from the Barefoot Contessa.  It's a recipe you have to start the day before - just a warning. 

Ingredients

For the crust:

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• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

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• 2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 whole extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

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• 1 cup red jelly (not jam) such as currant, raspberry, or strawberry
• 1/2 pint sliced strawberries
• 1/2 pint fresh raspberries
• 1/2 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the crust, combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter until moistened. Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. With your hands, press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and about 1-inch up the sides. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Keep the oven temperature at 350 degrees F.

To make the filling, cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the eggs and egg yolks, 2 at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 (I did 23 minutes). Turn the oven temperature down to 225 degrees and bake for another 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and open the door wide. The cake will not be completely set in the center. Allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature for another 2 to 3 hours, until completely cooled. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving.

To make the topping, melt the jelly in a small pan over low heat. In a bowl, toss berries and the warm jelly gently until well mixed. Arrange the berries on top of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Peppermints on a stick

Pin It I saw some little styrofoam peppermints at Robert's Craft the other day and thought I could definitely make some of my own.  They were cheap and super easy and make a fun little Christmas decoration.

Here's what you need:

Styrofoam Circles - 2/$1.00 at the Dollar Tree

Wooden Dowels - Pack of 10 is $1.50 at Robert's Craft

Colored foam or paper - on hand

Hot glue fun - on hand

Gold fabric - on hand

Here's what I did:

I took the wooden dowels and pushed them through the center of my styrofoam circles.  Be careful, it's easy to make a hole with the dowel - if it's a small enough one you might be able to cover it with your foam.  You only need the dowel in an inch or two.

 Then make a stencil with the shape you are wanting to use.  Cut out your foam and hot glue them in place.

 I then used my fourth styrofoam circle as my base.  I covered it with some gold fabric and wallah!

 I put a little basket with candy next to it.

Sweater Trees

Pin It I found a cute idea for a homemade Christmas decoration on Crafts and Sutch where you use an old sweater to cover a cone to make little trees.

These are her trees

These are the ones I made:

Ice Cream Cake

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My husband has been requesting that I make him an ice cream cake for his b-day ever since we got married.  I finally decided I should give it a shot.  He really likes the ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen, but they are around $20 and I figured I could make one for much less than that.  I used THIS tutorial.

I did make a few changes, the biggest one was adding a layer of brownie to the middle.  While the brownie tasted good, it was a beast to cut.  Next time I might just have to serve brownies of the side.  The bottom layer of the cake was double fudge brownie ice cream (my husband's favorite) then came the brownie layer.  Next was the chocolate fudge and oreos and then vanilla ice cream was the last layer.  I used whipped cream for the frosting and grated some chocolate for the top. 

It was fantastically delicious and MUCH cheaper than $20.

No Longer MIA

Pin It Sorry everyone for not posting for so long.  Life got a bit crazy for us the past couple of months.  My husband and I were playing on a co-ed intramural basketball team.  My husband ended up blowing out his knee.  He tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus - not good!  Two days before Thanksgiving, he got surgery.  Recovery is going well, but that's a big reason as to why I have been MIA for the past couple of months.

As some of you know, I have another blog that is dedicated to recipes, well I've decided to combine my two blogs and share recipes on here too :)  Who doesn't like to learn crafty stuff and get some delicious recipes at the same time right?

Hopefully this time around I will have a better run with my posts so you can get lots of ideas without a huge break in between ha.

Dry Erase Menu

Pin It Today I made a "Dry Erase Menu".  I bought a glass frame at Roberts for $2.60 (it was 60% off) and some scrapbook paper.  I also bought a stand, but you could also buy magnets and hang it on the side of your fridge if you wanted.  Now I can be organized with my meals throughout the week and have a little decoration on my counter :)

Polka-dot Dress

Pin It I made my daughter another little dress out of an old shirt of mine.  Here is the shirt before:

I cut the shirt up:

Added a silky black fabric for the lining and to the bottom of the dress.  I also cut off the extra tie and made arm straps and a black headband. 

The cute model showing off her new outfit: