Author: TheIrishLady

Low Carb Cheesecake With Strawberry Sauce

Posted on by TheIrishLady in Cooking

With Splenda and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, you have a cheesecake with 6.7 grams of carbs per serving in eight slices total.  If you are losing weight on a low carb diet like me and you bake for non-dieters like me it’s good to have something quick and easy to curb the sugar cravings.

Low Carb Sugar Free Cheesecake With Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients:

3         Eight Ounce Packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese

3         Large Eggs

1 1/3 Cups Splenda

1          Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1          Teaspoon Almond Extract

1/2      Cup Sour Cream* (You can add this for creamy texture or leave out)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat cream cheese bars until creamy.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Beat.  Pour into pie dish sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 35 minutes.

Strawberry Sauce

One small container strawberries.  Wash and remove tops.  Use food processor or blender to puree.  Add 1/3 cup Splenda or to taste.

Introducing…The Girls!

Posted on by TheIrishLady in Sharing

Please allow me to introduce the girls…all eight of them! (They go in and out of the garage through the side door located inside the house.  I’m serious, there is a doorway into the garage from the house.  They use the windows, too, for escaping.  This was my play house when I was a little girl.  My sister’s kids and mine played with it.)

“Really, are you joking?” That’s what Catie thinks.  She has been the “only girl” and not taking this too well.

We bought pairs and they tend to stay with their sister.  I have no idea what I am doing.  My plan is to love them, feed them and take their eggs.  My vision for them is that they will be exceptional chickens knowing their names, potty trained at an early age and cleaning up after themselves in no time at all.

Moving closer, Catie seems really disgusted, “I’m not gonna put up with this.”  You may see something else but I know her and she is possessive, territorial and does not share.  In fact, having taught preschool, I know that she would not receive the ‘plays well with others’ star on her chart.  I knew it, a few minutes later some of the girls escaped from their yard and Catie had one in her mouth.  You should have heard all the chirp, Chirp, CHIRP, CHIRP!!  They told on her, “you’re gonna get it now, sister.”  (No photos of this because I had to throw the camera down and get the baby.  Although, Catie was holding it ever so gently, by the wing,  with a perplexed ‘what now?’ look on her face.)

“This is not working out for me.  How about you?”

 

It’s the end of the day so out of the play yard and into the box with the heater.    As you probably noticed, they’ll work on cleaning up after themselves tomorrow. Good night girls.

 

 

 

Trying To Find My Voice

Posted on by TheIrishLady in Sharing

This post has been sitting and waiting to be published since December 16th because I haven’t been able to find my voice.   Plain and simple, I am hurting beyond words.  Always move forward, always press on, always smile and never let others see you down has been difficult this time.  Deciding to let go and post what I wrote the last time I went to care for my sister is a risk but I am hoping I can start to heal.  I am hoping it explains why I haven’t been myself lately…

 

December 16, 2010

Finding my voice means being able to write and express the goodness of life so that others may come to know Christ.  What a tall order for a sinner like me!  This week has been particularly hard to write and I am still trying to find the words for this post and debating whether I should write it or not.   It’s about cancer and what it does…it hurts terribly and my heart is breaking for my older sister.  I am so very sorry she is going through this perilous journey and has been for two years while battling Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma.   There are two brand new grand babies  in her world that she  insisted on caring for while their moms returned to work so they wouldn’t be in day care as newborns.  Then there was the stem cell transplant that she underwent while my mother was diagnosed with cancer.  My mother passed away in two short months after diagnosis.   The lymphoma is under control; but,  now the transplant has caused a type of bone marrow cancer.  The drugs that could help her are not made in this country and are not being released to America right now.   Alternately, she is taking a treatment drug that causes dizziness, nausea and vomiting to the highest degree.  Overcoming double pneumonia and two infections with no immune system is nothing short of miraculous.   She just keeps beating the naysayers.  Her will to live is incredible and I desperately want her to live.  I want my sister back not just for me but for her.  We make plans when we are together.  We decorate and build houses in our minds.  We plan holidays and trips together.  We talk about graduations and weddings.  Mostly, we talk about Jesus and how much  he suffered for and because of us.  There are times when the pain is so intense, the vomiting doesn’t stop, her body is more fragile than ever and all I can offer is a cool wash cloth.   I crawl up beside her as gentle as I can and just hold her.  When she sees tears in my eyes she tells me again, “Jesus suffered more than me.”    I want to cry and cry, but I have to be strong because she is so strong.

Sandra, you are the bravest person I know.

Sugar Free and Low Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake

Posted on by TheIrishLady in Cooking
Sugar Free Low Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake

 

Low Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:

3         Philadelphia Cream Cheese (8 ounces each)* at Room Temp

1         Canned Pumpkin (15 ounces)

1 1/3   Cup Splenda

2         Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

1          Teaspoon Cinnamon

1          Teaspoon Vanilla*

1/8     Teaspoon Salt

3         Large Eggs at Room Temp

Preparation:

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a spring form pan with cooking spray.  Beat cream cheese until creamy.   Add pumpkin, Splenda, spice, cinnamon and vanilla.  Beat until well blended.  Add eggs one at a time beating on low speed until each is blended well into mixture.  Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Turn oven off, open door and let stand in oven for another 30 minutes.  Cool at room temperature and like all good cheesecakes refrigerate and serve after 8 hours.

Nat Notes:  Use the name brand cream cheese for lower carbs.  Use the teaspoon of vanilla liberally and allow just a splash more for flavor. This is a great cheesecake to start out on since most require a water bath to not burn.  This one does not.  A spring form pan is the kind with “the little buckle on the side” which allows you to remove the cheescake by opening the “buckle” to expand the pan.  Walmart carries a decent spring form pan.  Get the coated one.

Ten Servings:  Each with 6 Grams of Net Carbs, 8 Grams of Protein, 1.5 Grams of Fiber, 27 Grams of Fat and 298 Calories.  Atkins and South Beach friendly.

“What Spurs Me On?”

Posted on by TheIrishLady in Inspiring

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”, implored the writer of the book of Hebrews in the tenth chapter twenty-fourth verse.   Thinking of that verse today had me asking, “What spurs me on?”   Quickly, I went through the last few weeks and realized there were others spurring me on and for all of you I am truly grateful:

Thank you to my oldest son for letting me know why you received an “A” in your speech class.  When he was assigned a speech, with himself as the subject, he could have easily spouted off about himself.  Instead, he talked about his parents and family: our trials, life, death, homeschooling and how proud he was that his parents have stayed the course through it all.   I could not have received a better compliment than knowing that you have been watching and we haven’t done too badly.

My stepmother, who sent a small note, letting me know you consider me your own daughter is a tremendous act of love.  The handwritten notes in  cards and letters, from friends and family to let me know that you care,  have meant a great deal and the timing was impeccable.  Phone calls, emails, text messages…these are all acts of love spurring me on.  Thank you so very much for thinking of us.

Then, there is this grinning little girl, a gift from my sister,  who loves me and stays by my side all day long.

Finding inspiration from magazines to remind me that spring is coming and the possibilities on the farm are endless.   Fancy chicken coops and lady bugs have me planning building and gardening projects.  Clothing and jewelry have me motivated to eat right again.  All this is possible because some caring strangers bring their old magazines to the Brenham library and leave them in the vestibule so you can take them home.  What a blessing!  I would not have found spring so easily without old issues of these lovely magazines to remind me that it does exist and is just around the corner.

Lastly, but not least, thank you to my youngest son for reminding me how to resize, upload and get this thing working again.