Sharon's Famous Cheesecake!

Wow! Thank you to everyone who attended our cooking class yesterday! If you weren't able to make it you missed an AWESOME class!

Sharon Garcia taught us the tips and tricks to making her famous cheesecakes! Lucky for you, she is willing to share her superb recipe with all of us! THANK YOU Sharon!!! Our husbands will thank you too!

Sharon Garcia's Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/2 coconut cookie crumbs (or graham crackers)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened (can use generic and 1/3 fat)
5 eggs
16 oz sour cream
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla (or pure vanilla extract)

For crust, Sharon recommends using crushed coconut cookies because they have lots of flavor as compared to a graham cracker crust. You can use a food processer to grind crumbs, or just place cookies in a ziploc freezer bag and roll with rolling pin. Mix cookie crumbs with sugar then add melted butter (if crumbs don't stick together, add more butter). Cover bottom of springform pan with wax or parchment paper so cheesecake can easily be lifted out of the pan. Firmly press cookie crumb mixture on bottom and sides of pan.

For filling: place softenend cream cheese in large glass mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. Add eggs one at a time just until well blended and creamy (over mixing incorporates too much air in the cheesecake and can cause cracking. Sharon's tip for getting bubbles out is to pound the bowl against a table until the bubbles pop). Stir in sour cream just until blended.

In a separate bowl mix lemon juice and corn starch until smooth, add to cream cheese mixture. Add vanilla and mix just until combined. Pour over crust and bake at 350 for one hour. Do not overcook. If the cheesecake begins to inflate or "poof" on the edges, take it out immediately. The center of the cake (approximately 2" diameter) will look soft or damp and may be like thick jello, but not liquidy. Let cool for about an hour before placing in the fridge (editor note- I turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool- it usually takes an hour and then I don't see and smell the cheesecake and be tempted to cut into it early).

Chill before serving, best if chilled overnight.

We swirled raspberry sauce into some of the cheesecakes we made yesterday. You can use frozen raspberries (or any fruit) and heat in saucepan- we added strawberry jam to sweeten them up, but you could also add sugar, the sugar in either form will cause the fruit to "bleed" making it a thin syrup- if you want it thicker just sprinkle a little flour or cornstarch in and mix until it reaches desired thickness. You can then swirl it in the cheesecake just before baking or use it to serve on top of the cheesecake.

Cheesecake class!

Join us on Monday April 12 at 11am, Sister Osborne's home (149 Icicle Court) to learn about making cheesecakes! Sister Garcia will be teaching how to make her famous rich yummy cheesecakes and I will show you how to make "light" cheesecake. And of course there will be lots to sample, so come with your sweet tooth!

Time Out for Women

TOFW is coming to Indianapolis April 16-17. I went last year for the first time and had a wonderful experience. It was such a fun and spiritual weekend, a great way to rejuvinate the soul. The presenters are amazing and you will not be disappointed. If you need scholarship assistance, talk with Sister Carey. You can find more details on the website at http://deseretbook.com/time-out/f

Bread Recipes

Thanks to all who came to our bread class! Here are links to the recipes:

Whole wheat bread  http://ldsbaker.blogspot.com/2010/03/light-soft-100-whole-wheat-bread.html 
Soft white rolls http://ldsbaker.blogspot.com/2010/02/soft-dinner-rolls.html 
White sandwich bread http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/white-sandwich-bread-recipe

Breadmaking class- Monday, March 8th 11am

Join us on Monday the 8th at Sister Osborne's house (149 Icicle Ct). We are going to learn all about making bread! There are few things in life more heavenly than the smell (and taste!) of fresh baked bread. If you haven't made bread before it may seem intimidating- but it really is simple, anyone can learn to do it! Even if you have been making bread for years, you might enjoy sharing your tips (it has taken more than 12 years of baking bread to perfect my recipes)!

We will be making fresh ground whole wheat bread (if you typically don't like the texture of whole wheat bread- you will LOVE this recipe- it has NO added white flour but is just as light and soft as 1/2 white 1/2 wheat bread- it's not dried out like store-bought wheat bread); we will also be making white sandwich bread; and super soft dinner rolls.

Once you've learned the basics of breadmaking it's easy to modify this same dough recipe for almost any yeast-based food- pizza, sweet rolls, caramel pecan sticky buns, fry bread, calzones, herb bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon raisin bread, you name it.

Children are welcome, with supervision. There is a large playroom the kids can play in while we bake (and we will feed them).

Self-Reliance: Gardening Class

The Self-Reliance class was held this last Thursday at Sister Fox's house. We discused how to start a garden and different ways to grow your garden. Katie Ross and Debra Morey are both going to do container gardens this year while Hope Barrowes, Sharon Garcia and Levicy are going to grow gardens in their yards.

We also planted Tomato seeds in starter pots which we will transplant into our gardens in April. It was a lot of fun and we learned much from eachother.

Join us for the next class on Thursday March 25th, 6:30pm at Levicy Fox's house, we will be learning about cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering our homes!

Stitchery- March 12, 12:30 @ Debra Morey's house

Learn how to do this beautiful embroidery stitching, taught by Hope Barrowes! March 12 at 12:30 at Debra Morey's house.

Relief Society Birthday Service Project

For our birthday celebration we are providing service to women who are trying to get back on their feet. We would love donations of the following items. If you have already signed up to bring items, please bring them by March 7th. If you haven't signed up yet, please contact Levicy Fox to see what items we are still in need of (we will be sending sign up sheets around each Sunday).

New home kit:

• Buckets
• Paper Towels
• Scrub Brush,
• All Purpose Cleaner/Disinfectant
• Cleaning Cloths
• Dish Soap
• Sponges
• Toilet Paper

Hygiene Totes: 

• Help sewing totes
• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Tootbrush
• Toothpaste
• Deoderant
• Shaving Cream
• Razors
• Soap
• Washcloth
• Bathpouf
• Lotion

Stitchery Group!

The stitching group met on Friday and worked on a baby quilt! Take a peek at the beautiful things Sister Barrowes has made! Want to learn how to do this too? The stitchery group meets the second Friday of each month at 12:30 at Sister Morey's house!

     

      

 

Fitness Group!

Leslie Sansone has a series of walking at home DVD's. Walmart carries them for $9.00 (in isle by the bicycles). All you need are shoes and a bit of floor space.

A study was done by BYU of 7000 people with similar stresses in their lives. Those who exercised handled the stresses much better. These walking tapes are VERY easy to do!

Soup Recipes

Today we made fabulous white chicken chili, black bean veggie chili and chicken tortilla soup. We also made yummy molten lava cakes with praline sauce. You can print all the soup recipes here or visit my food blog http://ldsbaker.blogspot.com/

Next month we will be making whole wheat bread and soft white rolls. Children ARE welcome- I have a large playroom they can play in while we cook, and we'll feed them lunch!

   

New Relief Society Activities!

We're so excited to start some new activities! Be sure to check the calendar for what events are going on. We've started the following groups and hope you'll all be able to attend at least one:

*Fitness/Diet: Meeting weekly on Monday's at 10am- contact Sis. Morey
*Paper Crafts: Meeting 1st Tuesday at 11am and 3rd Tuesday at 6pm- contact Sis. Rivera or Cusimano
*Cooking: Meeting the 2nd Monday of each month at 11am- contact Sis. Osborne
*Temple Trip: Meeting every other Wednesday 8:15am- contact Sis. Carter
*Self-Reliance: Meeting the 4th Thursday of each month at 6:30pm- contact Sis. Fox
*Stitchery: Meeting 2nd Friday of each month at 12:30- contact Sis. Morey
*Compassionate Service: Quarterly in June, September & December- contact Sis. Wall

Physical Fitness

Are you interested in health and nutrition? Want to have a support group to keep you encouraged? We are all busy in our lives and with our families. We can help encourage each other to remember to take care of ourselves with exercise and good nutrition habits.

Cooking Group- Monday February 8th, 11am

Join us on Monday, February 8th at Cari Osborne's home for our first cooking class!

We're going to be making quick and easy (not to mention healthy and delicious!) soups! The perfect 30 minute dinner on a cold night.

We'll also be making these ooey gooey molten chocolate cakes with chocolate filigree hearts- a perfect dessert for Valentine's Day!

The cooking group will be meeting the 2nd monday of each month at 11am. Children are welcome, with supervision.