Thanksgiving Cheesecake

At the risk of upsetting anybody's food plan today...I have to endorse a recipe for you to try for Thanksgiving. The kids have been begging me for a cheesecake lately and I wanted to test a Sparkpeople recipe before the holiday so it worked out fine. This stuff is G O O D ! And the numbers aren't totally awful. I have to go back to Sparkpeople and recalculate from the original recipe because I changed the last ingredient from heavy cream to fat free half and half. Also I added 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to bump up the flavour. The kids LOVED this and I ate my measured piece (divided it into twelve pieces) and did NOT get sick from it. It even fit into today's food budget! It was tremendously rich and satisfying and I could very easily serve this to company with no apologies for serving sugar free food. http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/recipes.asp?category=8&recipe=139 Molly

Molly...I have very few vices...but Cheesecake...OMG! What's up with trigger foods? I actually feel some foods pulling me towards them. Let me know if you can handle having the cheesecake around? Usually I am "saved" because everyone else eats the goodies first! Ro

First thing I did was get it into a big old white Tupperware so I can't see it. Then it went into an outside refrigerator (tiny one on patio). I'll leave DH a note that it is out there...he may not be game to try it since it is pumpkin but I'm betting the fact that it is first of all a cheesecake will override that little fact. Once he gets into it there will be less anyway. It is all presliced and I think tomorrow I'll separate out the slices, flash-freeze them and then wrap them to freeze individually. Then they won't be tough to handle at all. If I had to look at this in the fridge staring back at me in all it's delicious goodness it could be a problem. Molly

Good Idea! There's no way that I could "see" cheesecake in my fridge. I have eaten ONE bite for dessert several times since WLS. It is a big trigger for me. Other old favorites don't have the same effect. I think that I get a "mouth-feel high" in addition to the great taste. Silly, I know... Ro

I have another one I will share with you but this sounds really really good also! I can't wait to try it. The one I have has less fat but a little more carb I believe? Yummo!

I am having a bit of pre-holiday food anxiety! As we usually give-out Airheads for Halloween (candy store theme), I should be OK. DH did buy a box of Twix so I made certain that I had Atkins Caramel Double Chocolate Crunch bars in stock...just in case. Thanksgiving is pre-planned and I am going to stick to that, but who knows what will actually be brought into the house???? Same for Christmas. I love the recipes that we share on our board, as they are much safer and healthier. BTW, B's mantra..."I can eat it, but I choose not to"... works great! Simple and to the point!!! Ro

Ooh, could I have it please?! I'm just on such a pumpkin kick lately that it is really fun testing recipes. I think this one is perfect as-is for company but if I were going to keep individual slices frozen for myself I'd really tinker with the ingredients to bring the numbers down on this one. However...I really do like the satisfaction that those high fats give. On Sparkpeople there is a reduced version of this recipe that someone submitted. They called it 'Stolen Pumpkin Cheesecake'. It is with 2 fat free cream cheese and 1 reduced fat cream cheese. They also substituted 6 egg whites for all the eggs and skim milk for the cream. I think the skim milk might be going too far...you may not get a very creamy mouth feel. Undoubtedly there are a lot of carbs in the fat free half and half but I just had to reduce the fat from that heavy cream. I was afraid enough of getting sick from the fats in the cream cheese and didn't want to risk more. Had a piece after work today and it is even better the second day...set up a little bit more but still creamy and not a bit dry. Lovely pumpkin flavour in it too.

Here is the link Molly to the one I want to make. I haven't tasted it but uses light cream cheese. http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/11/sugar-free-pumpkin-cheesecake-for.html I think it looks really good, there is a picture of it on the website!

Molly...I want you to live at my house.....i am going to fire my husband as my personal chef and i want what you are having........ok if you want I CAN LIVE AT YOUR HOUSE...which ever! Yummy....... dawn

Dawn...If we just show-up at Molly's house with really pathetic faces and our arms held up to her, saying..."Feed Me!"... WE can always rent a place together nearby! PS: We might want to consider an "adoption scenerio", if you think that Molly will buy into that idea. Let me know so we can coordinate our flights. MOLLY >>> MOMMY (works for me... HeHeHe) Ro