I Came, I Saw, I Baked!

Finally, I baked again.  I have mentioned in earlier posts how much I have missed baking.  When Mark and I got married, I was not a very good cook.  But I could bake!  That was one thing my mom taught me how to do!  I have always enjoyed baking goodies from scratch.  A mix will do in a pinch, but nothing tastes as good as a cake or pie made from scratch.  I love the organization of it all.  The measuring, the mixing...it just makes my heart happy.  I am glad to say that after 18 years (and lots of phone calls to my parent and in-laws) I am now a decent cook.  I like to make recipes my own.  I have thoroughly enjoyed cooking during my eating better blog.  Now, I told you that I did not gain any weight on vacation.  And that is true!  However, after vacation is another story.  I pretty much took a break for the rest of the week last week and gained 3 pounds.  My oh my!  Why is it so easy to put it on and so hard to get if off!!!!  Oh well, Sunday I made myself get back to it and I am happy to say that it came off pretty easy.  I have also gotten lazy about tracking my points on WW.  So I got back on the website to log in and lo and behold there popped up a cheesecake recipe.  I nearly fainted!!!  Cheesecake is MY. FAVORITE. DESSERT. EVER!!!!!  I had to bake it.  I can say that I may do things a little different next time.  And there will be another time.  It really hits the spot!!!!  Here is the recipe

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

10 chocolate sandwich cookies with creme filling
8 oz fat free cream cheese
8 oz light cream cheese in the tub
1 cup of sugar
2 tbsp of flour
1 cup of cottage cheese
2 tsp almond extract
6 large egg whites
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly coat a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray.  Crush cookies and sprinkle cookie crumbs evenly over bottom of pan.
Using an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheeses until well blended.
In a small bowl, combine sugar and flour.  Add to cream cheese mixture and blend well.
In a blender, puree the cottage cheese until smooth.  I added the almond abstract to this and blended it with the cottage cheese as well.  Add cottage cheese to cream cheese mixture and mix well.
Add egg whites and beat until well blended.  Stir in 1/2 cup of choc. chips.
Pour into the springform pan and top with the remaining chocolate chips.  Bake until cheesecake puff and center is almost set, about 60 minutes.
Cool completely.  Run a knife around the edge and loosen the edge to release the pan sides.  Cover and chill overnight.  Cut into 12 slices.

In WW points this is 6 points a slice.  I know that is a lot, but to fix my cheesecake craving, it is worth it.  I have one slice a day.  I will probably use vanilla instead of almond next time, or a tsp of each.  This is really good.  It is not overly sweet.  I assume you could make this sugar free if you got creative!  I hope you enjoy!!!  Go get your bake on!

I Have Been Bad!!!!

This past Sunday, June 12, Mark and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.  And we did it in style.  We went to Las Vegas Saturday the 11th and came home today, the 14th.  We had such a wonderful time.  Now before you get all yucky on me, let me reassure you that Mark and I are NOT gamblers.  *cue Kenny Rogers*  I would be lying if I said I have never slipped a buck or two into the penny machine, but honestly we do not go to Vegas to gamble.  We go to EAT.  Oh my heavens!  The food in Vegas is phenomenal!!!  Everything from the $2.99 egg and steak buffet to a 15 course meal that costs $240 each!  (we have NEVER eaten there)  Let me take you on our culinary vacation.  When we arrived, we drove straight to the Bellagio to eat their dinner buffet.  It is amazing!  So many delicious delectable things to choose from.  And the desserts!  They are so fancy!!!  We stayed at New York New York this time around.  I really like to stay on that end of the strip.  It seems to be hip place to be.  Sunday morning we kept it simple and ate breakfast at McDonald's at MGM.  For lunch we ran around the town some and made plans to have a burger at In and Out.  If you are ever on the west coast or in Vegas, you definitely need to try In and Out.  Super good fast food burger.  We even had to wait to sit down.  It was packed!  For dinner that night (on facebook I commented that I hoped I would have a better meal than I did for my actual wedding night.  We pulled through a Back Yard Burger in Fort Smith the night of our wedding.  It was good, but wasn't too special you know!)  So this anniversary night we decided to go to the buffet at Planet Hollywood.  It was yummy.  I had lamb for the first time and really liked it.  I did try to eat a lot of protein so I wouldn't load up on carbs.  As I was stuffing my face we hear the people in the restaurant begin to scream.  Of course, in walks all of the Miss USA contestants.  The pageant is this coming weekend and they are staying at Planet Hollywood.  I know I have lost 50 pounds and all, but my heavens these girls were tall and lean.  I wanted so bad to go up to one of them and look at her plate and say "Are you sure you really need to be eating that?  Do you know how much your state has riding on you?"  haha!  I didn't though!  They were all so nice!  A lot of the foreigners in the buffet area wanted their pictures made with them and even though I am sure they wanted to eat, they did stop and take all the pictures everyone wanted.  For breakfast on Monday morning we hit the breakfast buffet at the Luxor.  This was my favorite buffet!  I am a total sucker for a breakfast buffet.  I again tried to stay away from carbs, but I did have a big, fluffy waffle.  We did not eat lunch on Monday and for dinner we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Vegas, Gonzales Gonzales.  I had a barbacoa (shredded beef cooked with ancho chilis) chimichanga!  It was super!!!  And for dessert, we hit the It's Sugar store and I bought a 1/2 pound of Mike and Ike.  I am still eating on those as we speak.  I was totally suprised that when I got home, the scale said I did not gain any weight.  I guess it helped that we walked 3 miles nearly everyday!  I know this vacation is not for everyone, but it is something that Mark and I both enjoy.  I have been married to my very best friend for 18 years now.  He loves me and I love him.  We have a blast together wherever we go and I know we will have many more trips to adventurous places!!!  I will try to have a new recipe soon!