I had another cheesecake success!!!! So we saw an ad for an Andes mint recipe contest, and we were inspired. I devised my own Andes mint cheesecake recipe by taking three recipes, changing them, and them combining them into one. And it was DELICIOUS! The combination of the creamy cheesecake, rich chocolate, and clean mint is delectable and rather festive. Oh, and I decided to submit it to the Taste of Home Holiday Baking contest instead. I love Taste of Home. Here's to hoping I'll win a few bucks! Either way, Sam and I were just thrilled to be able to enjoy a fun new recipe that is oh so good. Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try/adapt it, followed by some pictures just for fun. :)
Andes Mint Chocolate Cheesecake with Ganache Crust:
half a package of Oreo cookies, cream filling removed (about 15 cookies)
4–5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 heaping teaspoon sugar
Filling:
20 oz cream cheese, softened (2.5- 8oz packages)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup Andes mint baking chips, melted
1.4 teaspoon peppermint extract
Ganache:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
16 oz chocolate (preferably dark or semisweet, or a mix of both)
Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degreed Fahrenheit. Crush the Oreo wafers into fine crumbs. Stir in the melted butter and teaspoon of sugar, gently flicking with a fork.
2.) Press crumb mix evenly into the bottom of a springform pan and bake for 10 minutes
3.) For the filling, use a hand mixer to blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until smooth and not very lumpy. Then, mix in the cocoa powder, melted Andes baking chips, and peppermint extract.
4.) Reduce over temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour filling over baked Oreo crust and bake cheesecake for about 1 hour 15 minutes (time may vary). Check with a toothpick to see if it's done. If it comes out fairly clean, it's ready. Leave cheesecake out to cool.
5.) For ganache, heat the cream on the stove until it just starts to boil, bubbling around the edges. Reduce heat to low and add in the chocolate, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted to a smooth, rich, dark ganache. Immediately remove from heat and pour into another large bowl to cool for a couple minutes. Pour or drizzle warm ganache over cooled cheesecake.
6.) Top with more Andes baking chips and chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.
Here comes the ganache!
So pretty! I love how simple and fancy-looking ganache is.
One thing I learned: I need to let my cream cheese soften more, and I need to beat the filling more. Then it won't be so lumpy.
This little buggaboo is standing every chance she gets! She's constantly pulling up on everything, and that means she can reach much more that she previously could..... Babyproofing stage 3, here we come.
This weekend Sam got out his tools yet again! We got a new desk from KSL for FREE! Yippee! And it fits in the corner of our kitchen pretty nicely. It was so fun to set it up together after Lucy was in bed.
Babyproofing for a now standing baby included lime green duct tape to hide the cords behind the the desk. Not a cord in sight from the front. So far so good! Mission accomplished.
Sam and I were side by side belly up trying to tape the cords to the back of the desk. It was actually quite fun trying to get creative together and keep our baby safe.
Not the most sightly, but hey! It works, right? ;)
Fall is here and I am LOVING it! The leaves are starting to change, it's getting nippy at nighttime, and I can't stop this craze to BAKE. We pulled out the last loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread I made a few weeks ago and finished it a few days ago. Sad face. I guess I'll have to make more before toooo long... ;)
Lucy is surprising us more and more with how smart she is! She is becoming such a funny little personality, full of life and curiosity. She is such a loving girl, so patient and forgiving with her mommy and daddy, and loves to dance in the kitchen to fun music. She has two teeth on the bottom and knows how to use them. Trying to brush them before bedtime is typically a very painful experience for me.
Her favorite song is "I Am a Child of God". We like to sing it with her before naps and bedtime or just to help her calm down, and yes... sometimes WITH her. Every now and then she'll "hum" along with us, it's so cute!
Her favorite movies are all the Baby Einstein movies. And quite frankly, I think they're my favorite too right now, but for different reasons, haha. :)
Now that she is completely mobile, we're getting a lot more exercise and are learning to multitask better (Thanks Luce!). I'm often doing a dance and contorting my body to block Lucy from the dishwasher while I attempt to reach across and unload so the mountain of dirty dishes in the sink can finally disappear. Sometimes I opt for the baby gate in the hallway, but the look of dejection I get from my daughter through the gate is both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. So often I do my mommy-block-the-baby dance.
She is SUCH A HAM! We are constantly cracking up at the things she does and the faces she makes. I love calling her name and hearing a little "pat pat rustle rustle" before seeing her smiling beaver-toothed face poke around the corner at me. It's so thrilling to see what excites her or makes her laugh. She laughs a lot now (yay!!!) and brings so much light and sunshine into our lives!
Our little goofball baby in the hood. :)
She loves food—when she's not too wound up and busy having fun. We're getting better at self-feeding and little finger foods! They're messy, but it's fun to see her examine the food textures and learn hand to mouth coordination (it's still a work in progress haha).
She had lots of fun sitting on the potty at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Not toilet training yet, but a good potty-sit every now and then can't hurt, right? Plus who wouldn't want to sit on a Disney Cars training seat???
Daddy and Lulu reading stories. Lucy absolutely LOVES books and story-time now, and she's even learned to turn the pages oh so gently! I am so proud of her! Her favorite book right now is definitely "Five Little Ladybugs" (Thanks Aunt Melli!!)
Cooking in one of my adorable aprons from my mom! She actually bought this one at a cool costume store in downtown Sacramento. Such great memories. :) Halloween is coming!
I finally pulled out the wheat grinder after an extremely long time of it just sitting on our shelf. I think I was intimidated to use it. But now I'm asking myself why I didn't pull it out long ago?! I love it! The user manual sorta makes you feel like you're about to blow your house up, BUT! It's not that scary. Actually very simple. And it's so nice to be able to grind up my own fresh brown rice flour and other grains to cook up for Lucy's cereal in the mornings!
Teething biscuits. They look ugly. Hopefully Lucy likes them.
More baby food (and more to make later today!) Above we have a pumpkin/chickpea/ginger concoction, and a barley cereal mix. Later I'm hoping to make a chicken/apple/pasta, cantaloupe-something, and avocado-something. We've been trying to use up the nectarine stuff I made last month because it's getting slightly freezer burned. I don't think our bags are airtight. Luckily Lucy gobbles it up so I don't think it'll go to waste.
Besides loving being parents and me being eaten up by the baking and cooking bug, Sam and I have been enjoying school. I'm taking my two capstone courses at the same time, one for my major and one for my minor. It's busy, but having only two classes a semester is much more cushy than I've experienced before... and I'm really liking it! Plus, having Lucy adds a WHOLE new dimension of busy to everyday life. So it's felt perfect for now. I'll graduate this December and wonder, "What next?" for a little while, I'm sure. Sam is graduating in April and is currently taking a full load. He just took the GRE and is anticipating applying to BYU's IP&T program for next Fall. We are loving life each day, trying to fit everything in and prioritize and re-prioritize when needed. Heavenly Father's hand has really been in our life and we are so grateful for the strength and joy He blesses us with each day. Watching General Conference last weekend brought much needed guidance and was so uplifting and strengthening! Life is wonderful, even when it's hard. God is good and loves His children. And we are so grateful for our amazing family and friends who all mean so much to us!
WE LOVE IT! It has been so much fun setting up our new home. Things are not quite as spick-n-span as I'd wish, but it's getting there. We still need to put up the mirror in our room and finish organizing our clothes... and figure out why our washing machine is making our clothes stink! But we have been loving being here and loving our neighbors and friends around us. Several couples in our complex are in our ward or used to be in our ward and moved to the "family ward". It's a pretty social place (but not too crazy), which is nice, and there are couples, couples with babies, and a couple with two little kiddos. Here are some pictures of our place (minus our room. It's not quite to the presentable stage, hehe).
Lucy's room :) She also has a big closet which is awesome for storage. The hot pink strap in front of the camera is her jumper (which she finally uses and loves! Hooray! Before, she didn't know what to do and cried the first time we put her in it).
The kitchen! We love it. Roomier and lots more counter space and storage space. So fun to cook here!
More of the kitchen/eating room/storage corner/ computer desk... and the fun curly clock.
The living room. And Lulu's play space of late.
The game/coat closet in between the living room and kitchen.
Well, it has been two months since I've posted anything on our blog! A lot has happened since then. Lucy was blessed end of March and it was so wonderful (pictures will be posted later)! My parents came up from CA, Val and her family came from Holladay, and Sam's parents and Ben and Katie came from Ogden (and Spencer came from a few blocks away). The blessing was beautiful, such a special neat experience. Lucy was a sweetheart and looked angelic in her blessing dress. Proud mama! After church we all went back to our place and had a delicious dinner and dessert of fondue. MMMMmmm. I think fondue is definitely one of my all-time favorite meals. Scrumptious!
Lucy's been growing so fast and keeps amazing us and making us laugh. She's rolling now! She can roll from her back to her side and to her belly (still gets her arm caught under her, though). She's rolled from her belly to her back a few times but that's it. That one's harder for her to do. She getting better and better each day, though. Sometimes Sam or I will hold out our finger when she's lying on her back. She'll reach up and grab hold, then pull herself over to her side and belly! So cute. She's getting much more coordinated with her hands and is reaching and grabbing lots! She is also snuggling more and mama is LOVING that. It feels so good to snuggle a snuggly baby! She is such a happy girl and a joy in our home. We love her so much!
She and Sam like to dance irish jigs together:
She's easy to get smiles out of, but not always laughs. However, recently Sam has been able to get some of her best little giggles! Heart melt.
Here are some other things from the last couple of months:
*The teething and chewing continues like crazy
She loves to hold hands. She finds our large hands and fingers interesting and holding them is comforting and soothing and helps her fall asleep. (Thanks Kristen for the tip! You're right, it totally works). I love these precious moments.
Lucy is looking more and more like a little individual and less and less newborn (bittersweet!). It's so exciting to see her change and develop. It also brings an acute awareness that she'll never stay the same. That soon she really will be grown up and no longer this precious angel baby needing everything from us, crying for her binky in the night, smiling and sleeping in my arms after nursing, overwhelming her parents with joy for each laugh and coo. Each day is a reminder to cherish the next and record it in my heart and mind (and blog).
She loves her "Quack Quack." This little blue and green duck is definitely her buddy. They go most places together.
We had another follow-up appointment with Dave, the guy who works in Orthotics who created Lucy's helmet. He took measurements of her head and did the math, comparing it with her original and with normal numbers for her age group and said she's making awesome progress! She's close to a normal range and will have another appointment in a few weeks. Then he'll be able to estimate how much longer she'll need her helmet. Wahoo! Go Lucy!
We have been loving the fabulous weather lately, and taking walks is such a joy. Warmth, sunshine, blue skies, gorgeous mountains, and a happy girl who loves being outside and looking around.
Lucy is often begging like a puppy for our food now. Tomorrow we're giving her her first taste of solid food! Rice cereal!!! If she does great with that for a week or two it's green light for pureed veggies, fruits, sweet potatoes, and more. Hooray! I'm excited to make a lot of Lucy's baby food by steaming the food, pureeing it in its water in the blender, and pouring it in ice cube trays to freeze in little portions. My friend gave me the idea and I thought it was genius. So easy and healthy!
Tummy time and neck therapy are getting better and better! YAY! Lucy is such a tough girl. We are so proud of her.
I cut Sam's hair extra short for the summer. He was very kind and patient (as always) and convinced me to try using the shaver with the longest attachment. Well... I took off the attachment to clean up the edges and doggone it forgot to put it back on to even out the back?! LUCKILY (thank heavens!) I didn't do too much damage before realizing and grabbing that attachment. GULP. I was able to somewhat fix it and after Sam washed his hair it wasn't really that noticeable anymore. Gotta love these learning experiences! HAHA! I am very much still figuring out how in tarnation to cut a guy's hair. But I'm getting a little better I think!
Other things:
1. I will never buy single-ply toilet paper again. I thought "Oh, it's way cheaper!" But you have to use half a roll to do anything with it! Lesson learned. Find a good deal, but cheapest isn't ALWAYS the best choice.
2. I am really enjoying my internship! Articles galore. I'm writing a couple a week (sometimes more sometimes less) and they're being published on Familius.com. It's a fabulous publishing company that publishes articles and books all about the family. It's felt so good to get back to writing more (other than school papers). I'm looking forward to improving my writing and hopefully getting more published. I'd love to publish a book or two someday.
3. I am going through a Pinterest craze. And I'm loving it! We've found so many wonderful recipes we love. The other day I made a beautiful pumpkin cheesecake that was DELISH. Yummy! It was my first time using a springform pan and was so pleasantly surprised it worked perfectly! Didn't even crack on the top at all!
4. I am also going through a cheesecake craze. After making the pumpkin cheesecake I decided I want to get really good at making cheesecakes (as it is my very favorite dessert in the world) and I want to experiment and try cool new cheesecakes. I must specify: the baked and chilled dense cheesecakes. They are by far the best in my opinion. None of the whipped pudding "cheesecake" stuff. :) Next on the list: chocolate rhubarb cheesecake. Can't wait!!! I'll let y'all know how it goes...
5. I'm happy to have reached my pre-pregnancy weight after having Lucy. However, I've realized the numbers don't really mean everything. Size and health are two very different things. Plus, muscle weighs more than fat and I've pretty much lost all dancing muscle, haha. I'm not in shape AT ALL! I get so winded just walking to campus still. So, without regard to numbers, I've decided I want to get IN SHAPE! Yoga with Sam and Spencer has been a great way to ease in to it, but now that the weather is nice I'm really excited to start running more. I used to love running. When I was in high school (after Ash and Val kicked my butt into better shape) I'd love to go out with my ipod and run outside up and down the hill when I was restless, upset, bored, excited. It felt so good. I realize I'll have to get back over the hump for runner's high to feel that good again but I'm ready to get there. I liked enjoying exercise. I want to like it again. :) Commitment recorded! Now I have to do it!
Lucy is gradually making progress. :) We have a lot to keep track of these days to help Lucy grow and develop. Because she stubbornly favors one side of her head no matter what we try to do, she's developed quite the flat spot. We've been trying to help her for weeks, to turn her head again and again, to switch her positions, but our sweet girl has been stubborn about keeping her head BACK to the left on the same side and sliding around how we try to prop her head up. So, we are working with her on more tummy time and physical therapy for her neck to improve her range of motion. A helmet is potentially what will be needed to help her head round back out by the time she's 1 and prevent further lopsiding. We'll see how her head/neck is doing in one more month, and at the next pediatrician visit we'll decide yes or no on the helmet. I was hoping we wouldn't need a helmet, but I realize what's best for my baby in the long term (for a few short months) is more important than a fashion statement or the pride of being able to do everything perfect or make everything perfect ourselves. Sometimes we don't have complete control. We do our best, and that is enough. When it's not enough to achieve the results we want to see, we do what we NEED to do. It's a lesson I'm learning more and more each day. And Heavenly Father has been guiding me in these lessons I'm learning. With nursing, I've been so intent on "It has to work! I have to make it work the way it's supposed to!" But as a lactation specialist once told me, if something isn't working, stop trying to force it to work. Choose another method, minimize the stress on you and the baby and everyone. I'd been struggling with discouragement and severe inadequacy. But the Lord has been trying to help me realize through the last several weeks that my entire value and purpose as a mother does not completely ride upon how Lucy receives her milk (nursing or bottle), or even if she receives my milk or formula the whole time (which is only a matter of months). Motherhood is so much more than that. The most important thing is that she is fed and properly nourished, and that our family is growing and thriving and happy. And while Lucy's nursing struggles (and mouth surgery/therapy) or her head/neck issues are not the ideal or what I imagined we'd have to deal with, they've also been a blessing in disguise. They've taught the value of patience, of diligence, of research and work. They've helped me see just how closely the Lord watches and guides our progress and answers our prayers. I'm learning to look for His hand in the small moments, because He's constantly there. While I may complain or worry sometimes (a lot of time, haha), I'm also grateful that we've been going through some hard things with Lucy because of the learning and growth we are all attaining. In a blessing our baby received, she was told these trying experiences were trials that were prepared for her and that she would be able to overcome. That thought brought a lot of comfort to me. And strength as her mother that I could do my best to help her overcome and grow. As well, I feel that much more prepared for our next baby and what to look for and how we can better help him/her earlier on. :) Wow what a crazy but joyous adventure parenthood is. There are so many things we never think about. But what a blessing life doesn't turn out as planned. We become so much more when our lives are in the hands of the Lord.
