~Caramel Apple Cheesecake~

So, for those of you cheesecake fans, here is the recipe to my latest creation. Well, ok I cannot take total credit, but I did use 2 seperate recipes to create this one. (Which tastes amazing, by the way, and Nathan said its his new favorite!) YAY! I love it when he says that I make his favorite things. :)

Just in case you want to see where I got the 2 recipes from, here are the links..
Annie's Eats: Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie
Brown Eyed Baker: Brown Sugar-apple Cheesecake

Here it is.. Enjoy! It took me forever to make, but totally worth it!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

For the Crust:

30 gingersnaps (or a scant 2 cups graham cracker crumbs) *enough to go up sides of pan*

2 tbsp light brown sugar1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
½-¾ cup caramel1 cup chopped pecans

For the apple filling:

5 tbsp. unsalted butter

½ cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

For the Cheesecake Filling

1 1/2 pounds (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

6 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp apple cider

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

1/3 cup heavy cream

To Make the Crust:

Grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan.

Put the gingersnaps in a food processor and whir until you have crumbs; you should have a scant 2 cups. (If you are using graham cracker crumbs, just put them in the food processor.) Pulse in the sugar and cinnamon, if you’re using it, then pour over the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Turn the crumbs into the springform pan and, using your fingertips, firmly press them evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan as far as they’ll go. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven. (The crust can be covered and frozen for up to 2 months.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the pan from the freezer & place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is set and lightly browned. Pour a layer of caramel into the bottom of the crust and sprinkle evenly with the chopped pecans. Refrigerate the crust while you prepare the filling. Leave the oven at 350 degrees F.

To make the apple filling:
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix in the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute, until bubbling. Mix in the apple slices and toss well to coat. Cook over medium to medium-high heat until tender and most of the liquid has been reduced, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and pour into the prepared pie shell. Set aside.

To Make Cheesecake Filling:

Beat the cream cheese on medium speed, scraping down the bowl often, for about 4 minutes, or until it is velvety smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the cider, vanilla, and cinnamon. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream, beating just until the batter is smooth. Gently pour mixture into prepared crust.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 to 45 minutes, covering the cake loosely with a foil tent at the 45-minute mark. **I cooked it for 45 minutes, then put on a foil tent, then cooked for 15 more minutes, then turned off oven and left cheesecake in there for another 30 minutes. Came out perfect, but it depends on your oven how long you cook it** The cake will rise evenly and crack around the edges, and it should be fully set except, possibly, in the very center–if the center shimmies, that’s just fine, the cake will continue cooking while its cooling. Gently transfer the cake, still in the pan, to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least 6 hours; overnight would be better.

To serve, carefully run a knife around the side to loosen cheesecake and remove the sides of the springform pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form (being careful not to overbeat.) Spread gently over the top of the chilled cheesecake layer. Top with dollops of caramel sauce and swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with a handful of chopped pecans if desired.

On a side note; I'm super excited about my old background being fixed and back on my page.. Oh how I missed the colorful craziness! It makes me happy!! :)

Where Did The Month Go!?

Holy Moly, this month as flown by! 3 Weeks since I last blogged and plenty has happened. Ive been to Denver, Colorado and back, our friend Travis came into town for a week, I'll get to sing at church twice this month, and I got a job! YAY! Fun times, but now its back to the real world and I have to see if I can squeeze into the last class I need for school because I registered too late.. :) My plan is to wait until after classes start, and hope that someone decides they really dont want to be in that class after all and they drop it. Then I'll sneak in and take their spot! If all goes well, it will work perfectly and I'll get in during the 3 day time slot I have before they end registration! :)

Colorado was fun! Nathan got to meet my mom's side of the family. Most of them were unable to come to the wedding for various reasons. They all loved him, and why shouldn't they!!? :) We went to this really cool natural rock formation called Red Rock, the rocks make natural accoustics and they hold concerts there! It was awesome! The only thing that was not so cool was the fact that Nathan and I are used to the air at sea level, so trying to hike up a mountain in the mile high city was exhausting! lol I was more pathetic than he was, or maybe he just wouldn't admit it to me. Either way it was really pretty!

So I'm a working girl again! I work part time at a Podiatry office and I really love working there so far! For those of you who don't know, a Podiatrist is a foot doctor, but don't worry, I work in the office. :) Other people's feet are not my favorite. lol But everyone I work with are really great and they've been really helpful and patient with me while I learn everything. The best part though is that I get to wear tennis shoes and scrubs every day! I dont know if you have ever worn scrubs, but they are so comfortable! Its great, like I get to work in my pj's everyday! :) Here I am on red day!

While Travis was here, I was cooking up a storm! We had Chicken Broccoli Quiche, marinated Grilled Chicken and Pork Tenderloin with green bean casserole and corn on the cob, I made breakfast stromboli for like 8 of my friends, then we had a mexican night with 11 friends. Not to mention there were cookies, ice cream, brownies and milkshakes! I probably gained 10 pounds over the weekend alone.. Time to start my running routine again! Unfortunately I was too scatter brained to take pictures of everything! :( Next time I'll do better! But for now, I'm taking a break from cooking and we're having Kraft Maccoroni & Cheese tonight! :) Its a favorite of mine and Nathan's. haha

I'll try to be better about blogging now that my life has somewhat calmed down for a while.

Enjoy your last week of August!

~Food Blogs & Breakfast Stromboli~

Well its official, I'm addicted to food blogs! As you can see by my long blog list, most of them are food blogs. I love food, cooking, and trying new recipes. I've realized that if I just want to find one new breakfast recipe, its not that simple. I find myself going to all the blogs I have listed and seeing what all of them have and then I see a picture of a dessert, or an appetizer that I just have to look at! 15 Minutes later I've forgotten all about breakfast and I'm soaked into all the possibilities! However, I did find one breakfast recipe that stuck with me.

My mother-in-law came to visit us over the weekend, she stayed Friday and Saturday nights with us. I am so blessed by all my inlaws, they are all wonderful and we always have a great time! So, mama Jane got here Friday night and I told her I was going to make breakfast in the morning, a new recipe I found from one of my go-to food blogs. It was wonderful, and don't worry I took lots of pictures!! I actually took so many pictures that Nathan and mom would laugh at me everytime I busted out my camera.. I was getting really excited about it because it was so good! While we're eating breakfast we were talking about what we should call it, and mom named it "Breakfast Stromboli". A perfect fit, so Breakfast Stromboli it is!

The rest of Saturday was fun! We went shopping for our fish taco dinner (a first for me and Nathan), I was on the schedule to sing at church that weekend so I went to praise band practice for 2 hours then church right after. Mom was going to miss church on Sunday morning because she was going to be traveling so we went Saturday night. Then we came home and ate a very late fish taco dinner, which I don't have pictures of. :-/ Sorry! But they were fabulous too. We grilled the fish on our little charcoal grill, which meant that Nathan wanted to grill chicken, burgers, and hotdogs too for the rest of the week. We don't grill out a whole lot but whenever he takes the time to get the grill going he says we might as well prepare a feast to enjoy for a while. And thats fine with me because I love grilled food! :)

Nothing exciting happened on Sunday, I got up early and went to sing for those 2 services while Nathan slept in and said farewell to mom. Then Monday night (yesterday) me and Nate did a spring cleaning, in the summer, at 9:30 at night. :) And we recently got the movie "Corpse Bride" so we started watching that too but ended up stopping around 11pm because we got too tired to finish. haha I'll let you know tomorrow how the movie is, but so far we like it! But for now, back to my Breakfast Stromboli!

Breakfast Stromboli
Adapted from: Our Best Bites

• 1 roll Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations (Which would have been great, but I couldn't find it so I used the Big Crescent Rolls instead and just mashed the seams together haha..)
• Scrambled Eggs (I did 2 eggs per person & added a little milk, salt, & pepper to them)
• 1/3 pound of your favorite sausage (Bacon would be awesome too, I'll try that next!)
• Grated cheese (I used pepperjack, but you can put whatever kind you like in there)
• Half a green bell pepper and 1 small onion

*The great thing about this recipe is that you can put anything you want in there! You can substitute or replace the ingredients for anything.. Be adventurous! :)

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Farenheit

Cook your sausage first & drain as much grease as possible.

While thats cooking, go ahead and chop up your veggies.

Then scramble your eggs. *I put the veggies in there too just to soften them up a little bit*
While the eggs are cooking roll out your dough. *I covered the pan in foil for easier cleanup*

When everything is done cooking put it in the middle of the dough. *Be careful not to overload it so it doesn't close all the way (which I did)* Oopsie..

Carefully begin pulling the sides to the middle, starting with the ends.

Since I overloaded mine, its not too pretty, lol but just make sure its all closed up.

Cook for about 10-15 minutes until slightly brown. *I had some extra crescents and egg filling so I made a couple mini strombolis* :)

When its cool enough, serve it up and enjoy!! Yum Yum!!

Happy cooking!! :)

~Spiders, Beware!~

Now, I don't know if any of you feel as strongly as I do about hating spiders.. But they are not welcome in my house! EVER! Since Nathan is at work, you all are automatically my "go to" for sharing my traumatizing spider experience of the day.

So here I am, minding my own business in my house today.. Doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen.. You know, the usual! So I walk into my living room, and I barely escape a spider on my face that was hanging down from the skylight! Luckily, my cat-like reflexes saved the day and I bolted into the kitchen to grab a paper towel (my loyal spider killing companion). When I reached for the paper towel I invisioned the spider dropping down from his single strand of web onto the paper towel and crawling onto my hand or worse, dropping on my face! The paper towel was no longer an option, I had to think fast! I decided 2 books would be the best thing, that way I could stand far enough away from the spider and squish it. So I get back into the living room and that darn spider is still just hanging out in my living room like he owns the place. The unsuspecting spider had no idea his life was about to end. I held the books on each side of him, waiting for my courage to build enough to kill it. Then, he dropped on the floor before I could smash him!! I didn't waste any time, and before I knew it I had wacked the spider enough times to kill him. I win!

Once he was dead my adrenaline left me and I was no longer feeling very brave.. I had to walk away from the scene of the crime to try and regain my composure before I had to pick it up and flush him. But it was too late, I was traumatized. As I walked through the house, the lint on the floor became a spider crawling toward my foot, the chain hanging from the fan was a spider preparing to jump on my head, and my ponytail tickling my neck felt like a spider crawling on me! Pretzel M&M's came to my rescue as my comfort food and I felt better. As for the spider on my floor, he will stay there until Nathan comes home! :) For now, I covered him up with a paper towel so I can't see him. Problem solved!

Thats all for now, thanks for reading! :)

~Catching Up & Gluten Free Cookies~

As you may have noticed, my blog has a new face! Its sad but true.. My other background was deleted by the site I got it from and until they fix the code, I had to find something different. I miss it already, but I just didn't feel right about having a "naked" blog until I could put the old one back up! :) Well I still haven't gotten the hang of posting on here every day so let me catch you up on last week!

Nathan and I went to dinner at another couple's house from church and had a great time! I was in charge of bringing desserts, which made me happy! So while trying to decide what to make I gave Nathan 3 choices to pick from based on what I had already in the house: cookies, brownies, or cupcakes. So what does he choose? Fruit. My man wants fruit for dessert, which by the way, was not one of the three choices I gave him. :) So, to please him and my sweet tooth I decided to make a fruit salad with cream cheese dip and cookies too! After being ready to jump in to flour and sugar, I ran into another delay when I found out my friend was allergic to gluten.. She was sweet and said she would eat whatever dessert I brought but I didn't like the idea of her not feeling well afterwards. So I decided to step outside my box and find a gluten free recipe! I searched some gluten free blogs and looked for any kind of cookie recipe where I didn't have to go buy a bunch of extra stuff. Success!! Did you know you can make peanut butter cookies without flour!? I had no idea and I was thrilled because, remember, Nathan and I love peanut butter! I like these cookies just as much as my other peanut butter cookie recipe, and maybe even a little bit more because its so much easier! There are only four ingredients!! Once you see the pictures, I'm sure you won't be able to resist them.. ;)

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies:
Adapted from: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl. (Since its so thick, its best to work on your muscles and do it manually)
• Stir in the baking powder then add the egg.
• Mix until it is all well combined. Roll some dough into a ball (don't worry its supposed to be sticky!)
• Roll the ball into white sugar and place on cookie sheet with enough room to grow.
• Bake in the oven for about ten minutes.
• Let the cookies cool for at least five minutes before you try to take them off.

Makes 14 to 16 cookies.

















Yum!! They were as tastey as they look!














Until next time.. :)

~Home Sweet, Spaghetti~

I am now very proud to say I have new curtains, a new giant picture, and new shelves in my living room! Yay for accomplished house projects! My sweet Nathan came to my rescue with drilling through the concrete, he's so strong.. :) Nathan's very proud of himself because he picked out the curtains and I love them too! That is a big accomplishment in our house for him to take the time to help me pick out curtains.. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't at all as excited about the whole process like I was, but we're both thrilled to have finally gotten rid of our PINK vertical blinds that we've had up for 6 months from the last owner. I just love my living room so much more now! Here are some pictures so you can share in the love. ;)

My living room still a complete mess from the project, but notice the PINK blindes!! NOT a good match for our new paint colors! haha

Before...

TADA!! Our new curtains! They're brown with a seperate ivory sheer on the inside. Ah, success!

.....After!!

Our fabulous new picture, which is huge by the way..

..Close Up..
And last but not least, our new little shelves that are still empty because I haven't figured out what to put on them yet.. I think they look like a face and the couch is the mouth, lol! But once I get some stuff on there I'm hoping they will look more like shelves. ;)
So, in celebration of our more stylish living room, I made Nathan and myself Spaghetti and Meatballs!!

The Sauce:

I just grab a couple jars of my favorite sauces from the grocery store. If I need more sauce I'll add a whole can of diced tomatoes, a small can of tomatoe paste, and italian seasonings (oregano, parsley, basil, and salt). You can use homemade sauce too, whatever you prefer.

For the meatballs:

• 1-1.5 lbs. of hamburger
• 1-1.5 cups breadcrumbs (seasoned with parsley, basil, parmesaun cheese & garlic powder)
• 1 or 2 eggs (enough so it sticks together)

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl and form meatballs as big or small as you want (mine are just smaller than a tennis ball). Then fry, turning them until they are brown on all sides. Add them to your sauce, and cook for 30 to 40 more minutes. This helps to cook the inside of your meatballs and they will absorb the sauce flavors!

Make sure you use a big enough pot for all of your meatballs..

When your meatballs are almost done cooking in the sauce start your noodles. Cook as many as you think you will need according to how much you are making, and cook based on package directions. Put it all together for a good meal! Garlic bread & a salad goes well with this.
Yum! Now this recipe makes ALOT of meatballs, so if its just for 2 people you could either lessen all the ingredients of just have lots of left overs! :) Enjoy!

Here's a sneak peak for next time.. :o)

~House Projects & Books~

Summer is almost over! What a bummer, I'll have to go back to school soon.. I even had a dream about it the other night, those dreams are always awful! No one wants to dream about school, or work either for that matter! One thing I have been day dreaming about it my living room!

Its about time I start decorating, & I'm enjoying it. This week's project is my living room. Hanging curtains and, putting up pictures, paintings, and shelves. So far my least favorite thing about all this is the curtains. Whoever thought hanging curtains would be easy hasn't come accross my walls! After drilling my first hole I encountered concrete; an unfortunatly unpenetrable force with my puny drill & drill bit.

So, after drilling more holes (thinking I could avoid the concrete, which I couldn't) I decided to talk to my neighbors. They gave me all the concrete drill bits I needed, and they lended me a big heavy duty drill too! I was able to drill one very perfect hole before I was exhausted! Drilling through concrete is NOT fun! Its hard, so I decided to call it quits for now until my neighbors get home. Then I'm hoping they'll come to my rescue and drill the rest of my hole so I can get my curtains up! We've had a bare window all weekend! So my task today was patching up all the holes I drilled for no reason (around 10)! I couldn't let my big boy neighbors come over and see all my failed attempts! lol That would be too embarrassing, so my wall looks good as new now! Thanks to spackle and some fresh paint! I should be done with all this by the end of the week!! I'm excited, Pictures soon to come!


In addition to my current creative nitch, I've still been reading! My most recent reads are:

This book is a Christian Fiction. Its about a man who was just going through the motions of Christianity instead of truly following Christ. One night God granted this man the ability to hear people's souls crying out for their greatest need. This gift enables this man to become passionate about winning souls for Christ by letting witnessing cosume his whole life.


A fun and easy read!








This one is also a Christian Fiction, focusing on spiritual warfare. Its about a small town who is becoming a major headquarters for a new age religion. The demons are taking over the people in the town and dragging them into this false religion. While angels are gaurding and strengthening God's elect and guiding them toward a prayer life that will overcome all the darkness in the town.

This book is also an easy read, and not too spooky. But remember it is a fictional book, so make sure you compare its authenticity to God's Word.

This book was INCREDIBLE! Definetly in my top 5, I very highly recommend this to everyone! It is a true story, the autobiography of a Rwandan Holocaust survivor!

Soft hearts be warned, it is a very tragic story and the truth behind the horrible acts of the people in Rwanda hurts the heart! However, it is a powerful story of how Immaculee became an unmovable woman of intense faith in God Almighty!

We can all learn from her!