It’s time to start with dessert. 
I have a cheesecake recipe which I adapted from this recipe at About.com. I tweaked this to suit my liking by eliminating sour cream because it didn’t seem to add anything at all to the flavor or texture for me. I also eliminated the crust because A) the almond meal based crust didn’t really do it for me and B) I’ve never been a big fan of cheesecake crust. Call me weird. Parchment paper works perfectly fine to make the cheesecake easy to handle when it is removed from the springform pan.
Let me also comment about the sweetener. ZSweet is a blend of stevia and erythritol, and is a fine alternative to Big Ag product Truvia (brought to you by Cargill and Coca-Cola).
The key to getting the right result is getting the mix *very* fluffy. For me it seems that the more fluffy you make it, the less sweetener you can use. You know you have it right when the mix appears to have the consistency of pudding (or custard, duh).
Ingredients
- 3 packages (1 and 1/2 lbs) cream cheese (room temperature)
- 4 eggs (room temperature)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon (1/2 Tablespoon) vanilla
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon (1/2 Tablespoon) lemon juice
- 3/4 cup ZSweet Natural Sweetener
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom of a springform pan. Carefully set the springform to the bottom of the pan making sure you keep the sheet free of any wrinkles on the part where the cheesecake will rest. Trim the excess parchment that sticks out of the bottom of the springform seam.
- Place the contents of the cream cheese packages into a large mixing bowl. Soften the cream cheese with a mixer. Scrape the cream cheese off the mixing blades.
- Mix the lemon and vanilla into the cheese until well blended. Scrape the cream cheese off the mixing blades.
- Mix in the eggs one egg at a time and scraping the mixing blades before mixing the next egg.
- Mix in the ZSweet in small portions until all the ZSweet is mixed in.
- Thoroughly mix the entire mixture for at least five minutes. You want to work out any remaining chunks of cream cheese that may have been missed when mixing earlier.
- Scrape contents into the springform pan and place in the oven.
- As soon as you place the pan in the oven, turn the oven down to 200 degrees.
- Bake at 200 degrees for an hour, or until the cake reaches 155 degrees. Don't worry if it's still a little wobbly.
- Allow the cake to cool down enough for the pan to be easy to handle (at least 20 minutes).
- Place in the fridge to allow the cake to completely set.
1.3
http://lchflife.food-bloggers.com/2011/09/cheesecake/
Posted in Recipes September 2, 2011
Mindfulness?!? I thought this was a food blog, not some Zen Buddhist site!
Actually, I think that before you eat, you have to be aware of what’s going on. Being aware is an essential tenet of mindfulness. Of course I want to focus on how you apply mindfulness to your eating.
For me, preparing a meal and eating a meal are things that you can’t rush. Here are some tips:
Make the time to eat. People nowadays are constantly on the run, and I don’t think nearly enough time is spent on choosing what they eat–you make a snap decision to go thru the Mickey D’s drive-thru because you’re taking your kid to soccer practice and you didn’t have time to make something at home. Be careful about planning too much in a day. Try to plan a day carefully so that you and your kid are able to eat right. Also, when you make the time to eat, you’re able to really savor the flavors of what you’re eating, which will add to your satisfaction of the experience of eating and will allow you to concentrate on other things once you’re done.
Be aware of why you’re eating. Are you actually hungry, or are you thirsty? Frequently people mistake dehydration (in the form of thirst) for hunger. Try having a glass of water instead of reaching for a snack. If you still have the same feeling of hunger in 20 minutes, then have something. Are you reaching for food because you’re stressed? Try to address the stress if possible before you eat.
Be aware of how you’re eating. If you’re not sitting at a table without any other distractions (excepting of course others in your company that are eating as well), you’re not really eating. Whenever you’re multitasking while you eat–working on a paper, or driving–you’re depriving your body from being fully in the moment of eating. There’s a higher chance you’re going to feel dissatisfied and will want to eat more. Portion size really really matters. Why “Super Size” a meal when you can get what you need for less? Eating while watching TV (sports!) or a movie, or even while surfing the internet is an especially dangerous time. When you’re in these situations, make sure the size of your “snack” isn’t enough to count as a meal in any other situation. It’s also not a good thing to “eat ’til you’re stuffed”. When that happens, your body’s going to spend more of its energy in digesting, and may very well slow you down. When you collapse on the couch like a beached whale after that Thanksgiving meal, where you had multiple portions of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and that delicious green bean casserole (and oh, right, turkey), thanks to insulin all those excess carbs (that you had right before the turkey) will go right to fat storage. If you have other things going on, try “leaving a little hunger” until you have the time to properly sit and enjoy a meal.
Be aware of when you’re eating. If you work odd hours, try to be consistent when you eat. As with sleep, your body will always have trouble adjusting to when you are eating, and you may find yourself craving weird things. As a rule, try not to eat any more food three hours before you sleep. By doing this, you are allowing your body to deplete its (glycogen) energy stores while you are asleep and can work on burning fat while you sleep.
It’s really not that tough to achieve mindfulness. The more you are aware of the process of eating the more you are able to get out of it.
Posted in Mindfulness August 21, 2011
lchflife