No Bake Berry Cheesecake

 

 

On Saturday night I went out to a friends house to have a celebration dinner- why celebrate? well be both had just started new jobs.

I mentioned in a previous post that my life was about to change and indeed it has.

Last week I started a new job as Cooking Tutor at Kitchen Things which is an upmarket Kitchen Appliance store chain in New Zealand.

My job will be to teach people how to help people decide which new oven is best for them through cooking demonstration classes and then also to help new purchasers get the most out of their new ovens and cooktops with classes tailored to their individual needs.

Most exciting huh!!- and right up my alley  and though a huge change from the designing job I’ve had for the last 10 years I am able to call upon the skills Ive developed in teaching photoshop, hosting retreats and classes, public speaking about scrapbooking and family history, and selling at tradeshows. All these skills I’ve learned helped me get the job.  - well that and my love of cooking and food!!

 

Anyway back to the dinner – I offered to take dessert and with the spring weather seeing the strawberries and raspberries in the supermarket I decided to make a cheesecake.

I didnt have time to bake one so I looked at numerous recipes and developed this no bake cheesecake recipe.

Basically a no bake cheesecake relies on gelatine to make it set, and doesn’t include eggs so in some ways its a lot less rich than a traditional baked cheesecake

 

Now I have to apologise in advance for the photo quality – I didn’t have my camera handy when we cut the cheesecake at my friends house and so were taken by Steve with his Iphone – he clearly needs some training in food styling photography!

 

Anyway  - here is the recipe that I developed.

NO BAKE BERRY CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

1/2- 3/4 packet of plain biscuits ( for the americans I mean cookies – something like graham crackers or similar) for anyone else – wine biscuits or arrowroot or something similar. I used Griffins Krispies.
1/4 cup chocolate chips ( optional)
1/3- 1/2 cup of threaded or dessicated coconut
100gms butter, melted

500gms cream cheese
1 cup Greek Yoghurt
1/3 cup sugar
500gms  frozen berries- defrosted  or fresh ( I used a mixture of fresh strawberrries and frozen raspberries)
Rind and juice of one lemon
2tbspn gelatine
3tbsnp boiling water

1/4 cup sugar
3 tbspn berry or lemon liqueur such as framboise or limoncello – or lemon juice
1 further tspn gelatine dissloved in boiling water

Method:

Line the base and sides of an 8 inch loose bottom cake tin with plastic wrap.

In a food processor ,process the biscuits coconut and chocolate to crumb consistency. Add melted butter process for a few more seconds till blended.

Press into the base of the cake tin. ( Its up to you how thick you like your base – use lower quantities for a thinner base and more for a thicker base)

Chill base while preparing the filling.

After cleaning the bowl of the food processor,  process cream cheese, yoghurt , finely grated lemon rind, lemon juice and sugar till smooth.
If you wish the filling to be coloured pink then add some juice from the berries as well.

Stir the gelatine into the boiling water until it has dissolved and add to the cream cheese mixture.

Fold in half the berries .

Pour cheese mixture onto base and refrigerate till set ( about 2 hours for me)

In a saucepan place the rest of the berries and the sugar , liqueur or lemon juiceand bring to a slow boil to cook the fruit . Mash fruit into the juice that is created to form a sauce.
Add dissolved gelatine.

Pour sauce over the top of the chilled cheesecake and chill again until set ( about an hour was enough for mine)

When you are ready to serve lift the cheesecake out from the tin by the plastic wrap

 

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Slice and enjoy ( I reserved some of the fruit sauce for serving but thats up to you)

Secret Weapon Number 2 - Microplane

 

I’m quite an opinionated person – yeah I know I look like butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth (cough) but I can be quite um – well lets say firm in my views at times. 

There are times when my opinions aren’t very malleable too – hard to believe I know - - but you know that sometimes I just have to eat my words,  (or in this case my cheese or lemon rind or chocolate -Lets eat chocolate!) because before I owned one I thought that any old fine grater would do- Why would you want to pay the hideous  price they charge for a Microplane version of a grater - - Hey my $2 box grater does the job!

 

Well – gobble gobble gobble – that’s me having eaten my words ! I now own 2 microplanes with varying styles of blade - and could NOT do without them – and I want MORE!

In my photo above I included the grated lemon – just to show you how fine the amount of rind that the microplane removes so you get all of the delicious oily lemony skin but none of the bitter icky pith. – When you use it for parmesan or chocolate it creates beautiful fine curly tendrils that melt in seconds – and its SHARP! watch those fingers – it does a marvellous job of shredding fingernails if you let it!

If you are wavering on the borderline of buying one – go now – dont hesitate –you wont regret it!

A “Free Range Foodie” Dinner

 

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had recently been chosen as one of Annabel Langbein’s Free Range Foodie Panel.

What this entailed was having early access to her upcoming new Cookbook – then hosting an “event” where I would cook from the new book, and take some photos of the food and fun that resulted.

The book arrived on Wednesday and I was excited to see it. – Its format is a little different from some of her other books in that this is laid out more like a magazine, with articles throughout it and lots of hints and tips throughout.

What hasn’t changed from her other books is the great photography and the scrumptious recipes, all of which follow a pattern of delicious food that’s relatively stress free to prepare and easy to get great results from which was very fortuitous for me because yesterday turned into something of a frenetic day ( more about this next week – very exciting changes are about to occur in my life!)

I chose to cook 3 courses and of course I had to include a liquid refreshment too and Annabel catered well to me in her selection of liquid recipes as well .

As you know I’m a lover of New Zealand Lamb and often cook a butterflied leg so seeing the range of spice rubs in the book made the decision on a main course easy – I made up a batch of the Moroccan Rub ( which is now a new favourite and I will surely be making more of this.

The recipe for the rub makes quite a bit so I have it stored away in my pantry. It would make a great gift at Christmas packaged up in some little bags with some suggestions on uses.

 

In the early afternoon coated the Meat with Olive Oil.

(I used my current favourite oil  Al Browns Olive and Chili infused oil which was a perfect match with the spices in the rub )

I then applied a generous amount of the rub to the cut side of my meat

I didn’t apply it to the fat side of the meat as I like to sear this in a pan  before putting in the oven  and I didn’t want the spices to burn .

 

I rubbed it well into the meat including into all the crevices and let it marinate for a few hours before cooking.

For vegetables I went with the Roast Summer Vegetables with Pesto Dressing.  Red Peppers have been reallye expensive lately but I had got a bag on sale from Nosh so that was what tipped me in favour of this dish – that and its so easy and being able to prepare it all in advance makes for a stress free evening

 

Next task was to start on making the starter.

I chose the Avocado and Salmon Towers – which look quite impressive  and tricky but turned out to be quite simple.

I didnt have a deep enough food ring to create the towers in so I cut both ends off a can of tomatoes and used that as my mould – I tamped down the layers with a glass as I went .

 

They are a lovely light entree and one I will definitely make again – I thought afterward I could have added a layer of tomatoes to make a 3 colour tower and may well do this in the future.

 

 

To accompany this I made the 2 minute green salad which consisted of Rocket and shaved parmesan – but I also added some crumbled blue cheese cause I love it .

Dessert I had made the night before – I went with the Chocolate Meringe Torte which is quite different to anything I’ve made before but very easy to prepare

 

 

It was almost time for the guests to arrive so I made up a jug of Annabel’s Waiheke Island Iced Tea. This tea certainly packs a punch and is most delicious – another new favourite recipe!

 

 

There is nothing better than sharing food and drink with friends and so no matter what I had served al good time would be guaranteed however I can say that the compliments abounded in regards to the food and drink last night and a great time was had by all concerned

 

At the last minute I decided to top the lamb with a tzatziki sauce recipe also in the book and it was a great decision as it really added a wonderful flavour to the meat

 

I served the Torte with thickened cream that I had grated chocolate and sprinkled cinnamon onto – it was the perfect accompaniment to a delicious and not too rich dessert.

All I can say now is Thanks to Annabel Langbein for providing the delicious ideas and recipes – I thoroughly recommend the Summer Annual and you are sure to see more results in this blog as I try out more of the recipes .

According to the back of the book it has an RRP of $19.95 which I think is a great price for a book you are sure to use frequently.

Secret Weapon Number 1

 

I have lots and lots of secret weapons in the kitchen. Some of them are tools, some of them are sauces, or spices or little extras that just make cooking something delicious that much easier.

I have quite a lot of them so its about time I started posting them.

I’m sorry for my American readers some of them you might not have access to –you will just have to come down here and try them yourself!

 

Actually my first secret weapon is one of those - Zarbo’s Rosemary Balsamic Vinaigrette.

 

Actually I think the name is a bit deceiving. I’ve actually never used it as a salad dressing but its wonderful as a meat dressing.  I’ve used it in marinades before cooking on beef and lamb, but it really comes into its own as a drizzle on meat fresh out of the oven. Its got to the point that I wont even cook a butterflied leg of lamb if I dont have a bottle of Rosemary Balsamic on hand.

Its rich and dark and delicious – its even wonderful drizzled over plain old barbequed sausages straight off the barbeque.

 

I’ve tried making my own and frankly nothing seems to compare –

The closest I’ve come to it is a mixture of Balsamic Vinegar ( Ok thats a given)
Rosemary ( Another given)
Olive Oil
and some Pomegranate Syrup ( Another of my secret weapons – will talk about this some other time)

If I finally get a result that even comes close to this one I’ll be sure to give you the recipe -  in the mean time Ill buy mine !

You can buy it from from Zarbo’s website and their shop and a few other places.

Little Cups of Happy Deliciousness

 

To whet our appetites, while we are waiting for our  new Free Range Summer Annual Cookbooks to arrive for the Free Range Foodie Panel, we were sent a couple of recipes, including this Three Ingredient Cheats Chocolate Mousse.

My mouth is literally watering as I remember the moreish goodness of these little pots of scrummy yumminess.

Annabel posted the recipe on her website today as recipe of the week so you can see it here .

Three Ingredients is all it takes – Chocolate, Marshmallows and Cream! 

I used Whittaker’s Dark Ghana Chocolate which is 72% Cocoa and is lovely and dark with a slightly bitter almost espresso flavour. I think that using a really dark chocolate like that helps keep this recipe from being too super sweet.

I served mine in little espresso cups – and really that was the perfect size, although some people in the family could have ( and did) eat 2!

I’ll be definitely making these again – They would be great served with biscotti on the side – Annabel has a ginger biscotti recipe in her Simple Pleasures Book which sound perfect to me.

A Fasting Day Dinner

 

In case you aren’t aware, I’ve been following the 5:2 or Intermittent Fasting Diet for most of this year.
Ive found it really to be the only eating plan that suits my lifestyle being that I’m absolutely hopeless when it comes to deprivation.

I simply cant stick to a diet that doesn’t allow me to eat yummy food or drink delicious wines, and that’s the beauty of the 5:2 diet – you only have to cope with that deprivation 2 days a week.

Now don’t get me wrong – those 2 days can be quite hard on the soul of a foodie like me but knowing that tomorrow I can indulge just a little bit makes it much easier.

Ive lost 11kg this year on this diet ( and 10cm from my waist and 8cm from my hips) so I know it works for me, and the best thing about it is that its easy to stick to – Ive been eating this way now for 9 months ( with a brief break during my holiday to the US earlier this year) .
Im sure if I watched what i ate and drank more on my non fasting days I would have lost more weight but Im happy with this slow and steady loss and still being able to treat myself occasionally on non fasting days.

Its not true fasting – you are allowed ( as a woman) 500 calories on a fasting day.  I have to say it doesnt go very far and initially i tried eating a small breakfast and then dinner but I found that by 4pm I was getting very irritable and not really worth living with, so I changed my pattern so that I eat almost nothing through the day. Weirdly its once you eat something you often feel hungrier, so by not eating that solves that problem.

I cant live without  my coffees, and I allow myself 1/3 cup of trim  milk for my 2 coffees on my fast days  ( It froths up to nearly a whole jug full when I steam it with my machine)

That accounts for 32 of my 500 calories.

If I’m absolutely starving around lunchtime I will eat a hard boiled egg  ( 78 calories)

That leaves almost 400 calories for my dinner and I find that works well for me. I can usually adapt whatever I’m cooking for the family for myself and get in under that limit..

I usually have my fasting days on Mondays and Wednesdays – Today being Monday was my fasting day – and it was a bit of a struggle today I must admit as I had yesterdays cookies sitting tempting me on the bench and then my mother bought round a most divine looking carrot cake that her neighbour had baked for her – but resist I did – Call me Devoted !

Tonights dinner for the family was Linguine with a tomato,pepper aubergine and chorizo sauce. – I was easily able to adapt that for myself to make a very low calorie option.

My dinner was Cherry Tomato and Herb Linguine. Its yummy! – I actually prefer this light summery pasta to the heavier sausage pasta the rest of the family had. ( Of course I would love it  more with a nice glass of Pinot Noir but that will have to wait till tomorrow!)

 

 

Cherry Tomato and Herb Linguine

1c cooked Pasta of your choice
1c Cherry Tomatoes – halved
1/4 red chilli – chopped
1 tspn Olive Oil ( I like to use a flavoured oil like Garlic or Lemon Infused)
1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs ( Basil, Parsley Oregano, Chives – whatever you have on hand)
10gms Parmesan, shaved
1 tspn balsamic vinegar
Black Pepper

While the pasta is cooking, in a bowl toss all the other ingredients except the parmesan and pepper .
Add hot pasta and toss again.
Serve topped with parmesan and black pepper.

Total calories for this meal 377.

Simple and Delicious Cookies times 3

 

While I love to cook meal time food, I’m not quite so  practised at baking. Partially this is because I know if I bake I will want to eat the results, and partially its because I really seem to be a little more challenged in this form of cooking so when I do put my hand to baking the recipe needs to be simple and failproof. – Ok that should read foolproof but that would be admitting more than I care to today!

Annabel Langbein’s book Simple Pleasures includes a recipe she calls Sampler Cookies. She gives a Butter Cookie Base recipe and various options to flavour the dough with.

You can find the recipe on her website here.

I made half the recipe and divided the dough into 3.

The first batch I added Cranberries and White Chocolate, the second batch raisins and cornflakes, and the third batch I added 1/2 teaspoon of almond essence and topped with half a glace cherry (this is  my favourite of the 3)

Do you like my Photo above of my cookies all stacked up!  ( they were warm out of the oven and smelled delicious and it was all I could do not to bite right into them  there and then.)

I really like that you can freeze some of the dough to cook at a later date so next time I’ll be making more!
These would make awesome little Christmas gifts  , stacked  up in a tubular bag with a red bow dont you think?

Oh and can I also give some applause here to the person at Nestle who thought to come up with Condensed Milk in a Tube.  It makes it so much easier when you just want to use a small amount as you do in this recipe!

At Last..

I’ve had a long interest in food and wine, not in any professional sense but I have a (slightly  obsessional) love of recipe books and foodie magazines, I love to entertain, and I love to drink wine. – All three go hand in hand and so I’m often in the kitchen experimenting – trying to encourage my family to try new foods.
Having said that in recent years I’ve gone for a much more simple style in the food I like to try – recipes that rely more on the quality ingredients we can get in New Zealand that really speak for themselves.
For years some of my friends, especially the many “e-friends” I have, have suggested I start a food blog – heck my friend Tina who has the hugely popular sugarbeanbakers blog started her blog on the suggestion of me and my husband!
Last week I saw a call on Annabel Langbeins website for people to be on her Free Range Foodie Team. – For the scrapbooker friends of mine I would suggest this is very similar to a Designers Creative team –- so in essence a Culinary Creative Team.
I immediately applied, knowing that it would be just up my alley. I love Annabels Free Range Series of books and TV shows  and anyone who follows me on facebook  or who has been to our Scrapbooking your Family History classes, knows I’ve lately been spreading the  word of her Ultimate Chocolate Brownies and Anzac Biscuits far and wide . ( though I must admit to swapping out the raisins and almonds for chopped ginger and chocolate and dipping the bottoms in chocolate too – decadence !)
Anyway – last night – I got word by email that my application had been accepted – how FUN is this going to be!- I cant wait to receive the pre release version of her next book so I can cook for my friends ( already have a waiting list !)
This was the impetus I needed to get this blog up and running.
I hope you find something of interest in here – I intend to not just limit my posts to food but also to wine, and kitchen appliances  and recipe books and magazines - and fairly often its likely to be just a general food related rant .
In case you don’t know me from elsewhere – I’m a Digital Scrapbook Product Designer – have been for over 10 years – I work from home though I’m a people person so that can get a bit lonely at times. – I love photography too so it will be fun to learn food styling photography as I go ( I wish to be Tina when I grow up who is an extremely talented food photographer. ) My other passion of late is family history and I have a family history blog which is a whole other exciting journey.