Chocolate Cheesecake and Sunday

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

You will need

FOR THE CRUST

1 ¼ cups chocolate wafer crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

FOR THE FILLING

3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 package (8 oz) semisweet chocolate squares, melted and cooled

½ cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

FOR THE TOPPING AND GARNISH

1 cup fresh raspberries

3 oz semisweet chocolate

SPECIAL AIDS

Small resalable plastic bag

Serves 12

MAKING THE CRUST
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

2. In a small bowl, combine chocolate crumbs and sugar; add melted butter. Press crumb mixture into pan.

MAKING THE FILLING

1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

2. Beat in melted chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Pour mixture into pan; wrap bottom and sides with foil. Bake cheesecake until center is almost set, 45-50 minutes.

4. Turn off oven; let cheesecake stand in oven with door slightly ajar for 1 hour. Place on wire rack; cool for 1 hour. Chill, covered loosely with plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour.

MAKING THE TOPPING
1. Remove foil and sides of pan. Arrange raspberries in the center of the cheesecake.

2. Melt chocolate according to package directions; place into plastic bag. Snip corner of bag and drizzle chocolate over the cheesecake.

For those of you who don't know, this is a springform pan.

Note:  This can take up to 5-6 hours.  GASP:)  But, you just have to be there most of the time . . . intervals of hours to check on it.

We had ours with the strawberries and whip cream then but I tried a little today all by itself and with some vanilla ice cream and I liked it both ways . . . you can try whatever you want!!!

On Saturday I made breakfast.    I made Overnight Coffee Cake and Blueberry Muffins.  They were both new recipes.  I liked them and I hoped, anyway, that everyone else in my family did:)

I took a few pictures of the kids . . . and even one of me!!!

Forrest would not let me get a good picture of him, so that's why his is like this:)

Love,

Tara

. . . Just a Few Quilts!!!

I have a few more quilts to share with you.  I suppose I won't be getting any new ones done for awhile now!!!

This first one you've seen before (the unfinished top) if you check out our blog regularly.  It was made for David's niece, who is his godchild.

I thought that one was big enough, so I had blocks left to make a little baby quilt.  It's around 30" square.  I decided not to put batting in it, to make it for more of a summery quilt.  I backed it with pink minky.  It ended up being really hard to quilt, without the batting in for stability.  It's still cute, but  not that great of a quilting job!

I was so excited about quilting after our quilt retreat at the end of January.  The first quilt above was the one I started there.  When it got to the point where it needed to be pinned and I didn't want to do it on my living room floor, I went looking through my stuff so I could start another quilt.  I don't have very much fabric at all, so it was hard to find something.  Looking between patterns I've printed off and the fabric I had, I finally decided I had something to make.  The pattern I chose was "Vintage Turnovers" from here.  It was for just a small quilt, but I added to it to make it the size I wanted.  I had a fat quarter pack of 7 fabrics that I used for the triangles.  My SIL Marti had given them to me several years ago.  I needed a light colored fabric and I found this pin tuck fabric.  It is vintage fabric that I got from my MIL last summer.  I thought it was neat to use both of those sets of fabric because this quilt is for my SIL, Mary, whose birthday was yesterday, and the fabric originated from her mom and sister:)  I bought the fabrics for the borders and binding, and a flannel fabric for the back.

Here are some close-ups of the applique and separate blocks.

Here is the back.

And last, but not least, is my baby boy quilt.  (My baby girl quilt has been made for almost 3 years . . . and has been being stored.)  Hopefully in a month or so, we'll know if we need to use it or store it:)  I chose the pattern from a couple pictures I'd printed off here and here.  This was just a kind of decide as you go quilt, since I didn't have a pattern for it.  I'm pretty sure the pictures I looked at probably had 12" blocks and mine were only 8", so it was a bit more difficult to decide what to do.  The fabric I chose was basicgrey/Urban Couture by Moda.  This line originally came out as scrapbook paper (which I have scrapbooked with) and then they made fabric with the same designs.  I bought way too much fabric for it since I didn't really have a clue what I should get . . . and I wanted to get a decent variety.  This line of fabric also has reds and yellows in it.  I'm going to go back to get some reds and yellows to add to my leftovers for a large quilt (not of the same pattern).  I love how the quilt turned out (my photograpy, not so much)!!!

Here are a couple closer up shots.

I backed this one with minky, too.  I love to have it soft and cuddly for baby.  This brown minky is different than I've used before (I've only used the plain kind for backing a quilt), but I saw it at one of my favorite quilt shops in the 40% off section and decided to give it a try.  I had no problem at all and really love it!!!

And a little closer up . . . It decided to be a really dark brown in the close up!!!

So, there you have it . . . my quilts for the year so far:)  Hope you weren't too bored with all the info and photos!!

One Man Wrecking Crew

Our little One Man Wrecking Crew

Apparently jacks taste good..

 Trying to dig in the drawer..his big mean sister made him go away though- so sad!

Time for a drink of water. 

Uh-oh!  I dumped some on the floor!

Better wipe it up!

Meanwhile, Aimee is busy as well.

MMM... what do you think this is?  Butterhorns you say?  Yup, you got that right!

God's Peace!

Rachel



Playing Outside

So, the kids were playing outside the other day.  I had just happened to go outside and noticed the kids were down at the creek.  And then, I heard a small voice calling my name.  It was Walker.  He was up on the hill all by himself so I went and just followed him.  On the way around the house we saw some balls so we brought them up with us.  Hence, the pictures.  Walker would play around with the ball and then it would roll down the hill so he would start going to get it.  Of course, I ended up getting it, but he was going to, so I have to tell you . . .

Yes, I do admire my little Walker Ray very much!!!

Here's a few pictures of the kids.  Enjoy:)

Love and God's Peace,

Tara

Flat Stanley

Everyone knows who Flat Stanley is, right?  The other day, we got a letter from one of my little cousins, Emma Rhoades.  It was a school project (library) where they sent a letter with Flat Stanley in it to someone they knew in a different state.  Well, we got Emma's and so we took Flats to Centerville with us.  That way, he got to see Multnomah Falls, Beacon Rock, Mt. Adams and Bonneville Dam.  We'll be sending Flats back soon, but we hoped he enjoyed his time . . . Now, we need to go write a letter back to Emma, telling what Flats saw.  (Yah, we nicknamed him Flats:) 

This is how he rode . . . That way he got to see wonderful Washington (and Oregon) sights!!!

A waterfall . . .

. . . Multnomah Falls (a really messed up pic.  Not sure what happened:)

There were some Army trucks we passed . . . like 15-20!!!

Walker got a sucker . . . he is so sweet:)

Rachel reading her book on the way home

Love, Tara

A gingerbread house divided by 2

Forrest wanted to make this, and it is kinda like a gingerbread house, because it's a house with candy/sweets.  So here's our late gingerbread house . . . made out of graham crackers, marshmallows, candy, and hot chocolate powder . . . that was Aimee's idea:)

And here are all the kids with their house.  They ate it later that night with icecream . . . except for a few that had apple crisp instead and saved that for the next day at school.



Hunter was mad until I cheered him up when I let him get a picture of it with only himself . . . well pretty much, anyway!!!

By the way, today was a craft day at my Auntie Marti's house with Marti, Karen and us.  We had a great time. 

Well, hope to post soon as well as see your new posts,

Love, Tara