Sound Bites & Snap Shots

I have had this sugar-free cheesecake recipe in my files for years.  It’s rich and creamy and most importantly, it is low in carbs.  This doesn’t matter most of the time but I have a good friend who is diabetic.  Today is her birthday and I wanted to surprise her.  When I discovered she loves cheesecake, I knew this would be perfect.  I thoroughly enjoyed preparing something special she could eat that was as good if not better than what everyone else eats for a birthday celebration. 

Suzanne Somer’s Sugarless Cheesecake

Ingredients

2 pkgs (8 oz. each) cream cheese ( use one pkg fat free and one pkg lowfat)

12 packets splenda or nutrasweet

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups fat free sour cream

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix together the cream cheese and sweetener. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Grease an 8 inch spring form pan, with 2 1/2 inch sides. Pour batter into pan, and set into a roasting pan with 1″ of hot water. Bake 45 min. Turn off oven without opening door, and let cake cool for 1 hour. Remove to a rack and cool to room temp, about one hour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Unmold cake onto a plate, and garnish with mint or rose petals. May top with raspberry sauce. Serves 12.

I passed the cheesecake off to her husband at Breakfast with Santa.  The Boy Scouts prepared breakfast and Mason and I socialized.  For some reason, I have no pictures of the festivities.  Mason was not interested in posing with Santa and the others in our family were busy working. 

Later that afternoon, the Cub Scouts serenaded the folks at the nursing home with Christmas carols.  I borrowed bells from the music teacher at school and had enough to pass out to all the scouts and then to the residents as well.  Caroling is one of my favorite things that the scouts do so I am glad that we continued this tradition for another year.