Category: Blitherings

Honey-Sweetened Cheesecake Recipe

Once more, dietary changes are forcing cooking and baking changes.  Some results are rather dreadful.  Others have proven to be quite good!  So it was with this cheesecake.  No sugar, no gluten.  The biggest problem was finding the dry curd cottage cheese. also known as hoop cheese or farmer’s cheese.  I found the cheese at the local Whole Foods, and neither my husband nor I had ever tasted it – but we did, and liked it.  It is a rather dry cheese, not sweet or salty, with a bit of a curd, but very fine, like ricotta.  The original recipe is from this blog, but I changed it so that I made one 8″ cheesecake, instead of 4 individual ones.  The only thing beside pan size that I changed was the baking time.

Honey Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 300 F, and by the time you have your crust ready, you can pop the crust in to bake.

Crust
1 1/2 c. almond flour
1 t cinnamon
3 T melted butter
1 t honey

Mix flour and cinnamon together. Melt butter, mix in honey. Stir together to form a soft dough. I used a fork to really work the ingredients together. Place the crust mixture into an 8″ spring form pan, lined on the bottom with parchment paper, and sides buttered. Working from the center out, press the dough onto the pan. Build a shallow edge along the rim of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 300 F. Remove and let cool completely.

When you are ready to make the filling, preheat oven to 350 F.

Filling
1 lb. farmer’s cheese
1/2 c. SCD homemade yogurt
3 eggs
1/3 c. honey
2 t vanilla extract
1 t lemon zest

In a blender or with a hand mixer, combine cheese and yogurt. Cream for about 5 minutes – texture will change and become more creamy as you work. Add the rest of the ingredients, and beat until very smooth. Batter will be very thin. Pour carefully into cooled crust. Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes. Check to see that the center of the cheese cake is set. When set (the cake no longer jiggles when shaken lightly), turn off oven and open door. Let cheese cake cool about an hour, and then move to refrigerator. Serve with fresh berries.

Comments
I had no idea what to expect from this recipe, but those who tasted it (served at a dinner party) really liked the flavor and lightness of the cheesecake. It wasn’t very sweet, which can happen with many honey-based recipes. The lemon zest complemented the fresh fruit – we used blueberries and raspberries. Without the fruit, the cheesecake might be a bit unremarkable if you are used to big, thick slices of New York cheesecake.

This, for us, is a definite winner!

 

Cauliflower Rice Risotto

I am not a big fan of cauliflower, but I adore a good risotto.  As we (the DH et moi) are changing our diet a bit, rice is off the menu (for now).  Truthfully, most “substitutes” for other foods made in a traditional manner really are not good, as far as we are concerned, but we were both pretty pleased with this recipe, made by yours truly.

One of the most off-putting about cauliflower rice risottos is that they are too wet.  Almost soggy.  And never are they any good as leftovers.  So, this recipe is good for 2 people as a side.  Let me know what you think!

Cauliflower Rice Risotto

1/2 stick of butter
8 oz. riced cauliflower (I used a half of a Trader Joe’s packet)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/4 medium onion, chopped fine
Romano or Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 c. plain, whole milk yogurt
2-4 T. chicken stock

Ahead of time, fry up the mushrooms and onions in a very hot frying pan with the butter. Heat the pan first, put in the butter, and let it melt. When it begins to sizzle, add the mushrooms and chopped onion. Stir and flip the mushrooms and onions until the onions are rather browned. Continue to cook the mixture and let some of the liquor evaporate. Set aside in a small bowl until ready to use.

Add a small amount of butter back into the frying pan. Dump in the riced cauliflower and stir fry it, letting liquid evaporate. I used a rather high heat as I wanted to brown the cauliflower a bit. Stir constantly. When it is to your liking, return the mushroom-onion mixture to the pan.

Add a small amount of chicken broth to the pan, stirring everything together. Do not let the mixture become too wet, so it is better to slowly add the chicken broth. When you think it is ready, add the yogurt, and stir in thoroughly. (Yogurt? Yeah – it gives a slightly tart taste to the mixture, like white wine does to traditional risotto.) Again, let liquids evaporate. Add the Romano cheese (or Parmesan), and stir. Serve immediately; have extra grated cheese at the table for your dinner mates to add.   Add pepper to taste but be careful if you add salt – the cheese is salty enough for us.

 

Watercolor Pencils

I have had a set of Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils, a set of 60, lying around for several years.  As I have been focusing intensely on watercolor painting and drawing, I figured I should dig them out.  A scribble here and there is what I have done with them, but have never attempted a “serious” or complete picture with them.

They get pretty good reviews, and come in tins and boxes of varying number, as well as are available individually.  I found their pigmentation pleasant and easy to use.  Like watercolors, you need to be careful with your brush.  YouTube videos show various ways to use them.  I am inclined to think they work best with a bit of reserve or delicacy, because my own picture was anything but that.

In my picture, I did layers, followed by using various brushes of different sizes.  Iron gall ink was used for the initial sketch, and then at the end to draw more lines and such.  Below you can see the layers of pencil; in between each water was used, and then more pencil laid down.

And here is the final product.  I was surprised by the results.  I am sort of pleased, sort of not pleased.  The goal, though, was to learn about watercolor pencils.  I enjoyed the experience and know I will do it again, perhaps with a different approach.

 

Thinking About Things

 

As I get older, the more I find I want to just slow down.  I am not interested in this experience followed by that one, of rushing here to be able to rush there.  I just want to slow down my life and enjoy it.  This is probably related to simple math:  the older you get, the less time you have.  As a result, you want to enjoy it.

Retirement from an official job and job duties is looming ahead.  Preparations for such are underway.  While a lot of information has been gathered, there are still unknowns – which hopefully will be revealed in the not-too-distant future – so that final decisions can be made.  There is also a potential golden handshake coming in the next year and a half, and if so, I hope the qualifications are in my favor.

I have been on vacation for the last two weeks, and have enjoyed my time immensely.  Each day has been conscientiously filled with things I want to do, with my thinking about what I want to do and why.  I’m an introvert, so it is very easy to get lost in my head and forget to reach outward for human contact, whether family or friend.  Those contacts are very important.  With them, the world becomes balanced and isolation does not set in.

In the past 20 years, 7 people I have known have died, through disease or accident, and few others are seriously ill.  Most have gone in the past 5.  My mortality is right there in front of me.  I no longer feel like I will live forever, like I did just ten years ago.  Even my own health has its problems.

So, yeah, I’ve been thinking.  And doing.  Doing is the key to it all:  action and take in what I have around me.  Savor it.  Cherish it.  Live it.

A Bit of Dishonesty

I’ve been editing photos for a while now.  One of my favorite tools is spot removal, from spots on a dirty digital lens to lint in film.

The other day I was comparing my second edition of the Moonlit Sycamore with the first edition of the same.  I liked the first one better, but did not like all the little twiggy lines I put in to represent a tangled undergrowth at the base of the tree.

Then the thought hit:  edit it out!

So I did.

For your viewing pleasure, here is the before, and then the after.  The third image is the second real painting of the same subject.  What do you think?

Moonlit Sycamore 1
Moonlit Sycamore 1 – Edited
Moonlit Sycamore 2