Holiday Temptations

            The air outside is increasingly crisp and I cannot help but get a shock of excitement each morning when I see frost outside my window. It is the dawning of the holiday season and with it all its delectable treats and bubbly parties.

            I thought it only fair to share my tricks to enjoying yourself without the guilt or the extra post-holiday pounds on the scale. Remember the following strategies are inspired by the ecSatter model of eating competence that has guided my blog in giving myself permission to delight in eating cheesecake without the guilt:

-         Go for your most favourite treat! Don’t try to satisfy your desire for it with some other unworthy substitute because you will likely end up eating your favourite treat in the end anyways and then you will have acquired both treat’s calories!

-         Choose the smaller pieces of everything when gathering multiple items at a buffet in order to reduce caloric intake slightly. You can always go back for seconds IF you are still hungry!

-          When baking with friends or for on your own choose the low fat and low sugar substitutes often. Be an advocate for healthy intakes of fat and sugar. If you have tried any of my cheesecakes you will quickly appreciate the treat is still yummy in your tummy! Don’t use the holiday splurge excuse for using extra butter. You won’t need it to enjoy your treat.

-         Eat a satiating, balanced dinner before going to a party full of appetizers, as you will be less likely to indulge glutinously when your stomach is happily satiated. This way you can enjoy a few treats without a fear of over eating and a distracting growling stomach. Plus, for those of you who get grouchy when hungry, this will spare your loved ones from seeing you at your worst.

-         Enjoy food and don’t restrict it. Remember balance. Eat and enjoy, but don’t let the holiday hustle and bustle distract your attention away from mindful eating and knowing when your hunger cues are nagging and when the “I’m full” rush fires. Both are equally important and should be responded to equally as promptly.

-         Maintaining your structured eating patterns so as to assure your body it will get what it needs and does not need to store for fear of deprivation.

-         With so much wonderful holiday goods around you need not be worried about getting all the good stuff in at one occasion. Enjoy it over a few days and extend the holiday goodies and joy they bring!

Source: Inspired by Ellyn Satter’s eating competence model. See article about holiday eating at http://www.ellynsatter.com/information.php?info_id=131. It is worth the read!

           

            This cheesecake is no doubt inspired by the Christmas season. With hints of peppermint, white chocolate, caramel milk chocolate, and candy cane it marries all the flavours characteristic of holiday sweets. My mission for creating decadent cheesecakes has the occasion to shine this season and impress and delight all of my extended family and old friends. I hope that this recipe will provide you with much the same reactions of "oo
and "ahh" over such a luscious low fat cheesecake.

Look in my Recipebook for the "White Chocolate Candy Cane Cheesecake Recipe".

Enjoy :)

           

Bailey’s Cheesecake with light Banana Bread Base

So I had a few complaints offline that I did not continue to make a legit homemade cheesecake last week. Most complaints were from my guinea pigs (my friends who regularly test and critique my cheesecakes). However, I am back to the homemade, low fat, low sugar sensations this week!

This cheesecake was inspired from my summer days working at a fine dining restaurant as a server and bartender. I once made a specialty drink that combined Bailey’s liquor and banana liquor. The customer appeared to enjoy it very much and ever since the combination intrigued me. Though not daring enough to try the drink, I thought this week I would create my own cheesecake recipe based on this unusual combo.

Word to the wise – whenever creating and testing homemade recipes, be prepared for a learning experience in the first round. While this cheesecake turned out sensational, it was a rather interesting adventure creating it. First, I made the banana bread base (very low fat, low sugar). I ended up putting the entire banana bread mixture in the base of my springform pan, instead of halving the recipe I was using. It did not appear as though it was going to be too thick, but I forgot that banana bread rises. I checked the recipe after 20 minutes and the banana bread was three quarters the way up the springform pan! My dear, genius friend suggested we just push it back down with a spatula! Not surprisingly that did not work so well, thus we ended up with a 21/2 inch thick banana bread base for our cheesecake (approximately just over half of the springform pan was filled with banana bread). Oops!

The cheesecake mixture I have almost mastered for the tops of any cheesecake. It is like I mentioned about tofu – once you have your base ingredients for a low fat cheesecake mixture, you can get as creative as you like with what flavours you wish to incorporate. I whipped up the mixture as per the recipe I concocted and into the springform pan it went.

Another tip – cheesecakes take hours to make, so don’t start making it at 11 pm at night unless you are nocturnal.

Regardless the cheesecake turned out wonderful and was enjoyed by all. The only critiques were the crust was way too thick and hard on the bottom (I had fully cooked the banana bread for 50 minutes before adding the cheesecake and baking it again for 1 hour and 20 minutes – I clearly wasn’t thinking). Also, people commented that they would have enjoyed a thicker cheesecake layer. All the flavours married beautifully though!

For readers, the recipe in my recipe book for this cheesecake is altered to adjust for the errors made in the first go around, so don’t be concerned or feel the need to make any alterations. Let me know how it works out!

Cheers J

Case in point!

Are you too busy to make a "healthy cheesecake"?

I was last week, but I still tried to get my fix. On my way to Zehrs I thought of what kind of cheesecakes were going to be available for purchase. I questioned whether or not I was going to find one "healthy enough" for guilt-free consumption. Some of you may be less naive than I. I still live in the land of fairies, unicorns and rainbows I guess, because I thought the food industry was beginning to take responsibility for North Americans bulging waistlines by reducing the fat and calories in their products. While I realize this is more difficult with cheesecake, I have proven in my own little home kitchen it is possible.

In the bakery section at Zehrs you will find a freezer filled with deliciously depicted cheesecakes on numerous square boxes of every size. Take your pick - they all look soooo goooood, especially the festive double chocolate candy cane one! That inspires me! However turn the boxes over and the Nutrition Facts Tables are grossing. The amount of calories per slice would take up more than a third of your daily energy intake and the fat content is astounding. 

Box after box I flipped them over to check the nutrition facts tables. As I was doing so it suddenly occurred to me that these boxes weren't designed for turning over. Each time I turned the box over I could hear the cheesecake go SPLAT! Ooops... my bad! Why do they put the nutrition facts tables on the back? 



I began to feel depressed that I wouldn't have my cheesecake this week when I saw the "mini chocolate coated cheesecakes". The combination is genius! The portion size clever, for to consume a smaller portion of cheesecake obviously cuts down on the calories consumed. You could even eat two of these little suckers and not feel as guilty as eating a slice of all the other cheesecakes.


Case in point - cheesecake can be made healthy and guilt free ( as I have been demonstrating all along), and the food industry is blatantly denying me the luxury of a healthy option for my favourite treat. The culture of North Americans doesn't allow for women to stop to enjoy baking a cheesecake for an hour so we can have a healthy alternative to prepackaged options. 


Now the question remains do we change our culture or do we change the fat/calorie content of our cheesecake?