Hi birthday is January 11th, so in the days leading up to it I brainstormed what to do to celebrate. I asked Harlee to ask Justin what kind of birthday cake he wanted. That was entertainment:
Me: Harlee, ask Dad what kind of birthday cake he wants.
Harlee: What kind of birthday cake you want, Dad?
Justin: Tell Mom a cherry cheesecake.
Harlee: Dad wants a chicken cheesecake!
Justin: No, a cherry cheesecake
Harlee: He wants a cherry on top!
I shared that on Facebook so some of you may know this story already. Hahaha it still cracks me up though.
I did not make a chicken cheesecake with a cherry on top, which I guess didn't disappoint Harlee. I didn't make a conventional cheesecake, either. I went with my vegan style cheesecake - dairy-free and paleo (well, almost... I did drizzle some melted white chocolate on top... but other than that it was paleo!)!
Fortunately this turned out amaaaazing. Wow I was so happy with the outcome... And I'm glad too - last year Justin's birthday cake was a total flop - a very sad attempt at a paleo red velvet cake. He deserved a damn good cake this year, so I'm very happy this turned out so well! I don't really know how I got so lucky with him... usually winter is slow for him at work (he's a boilermaker) so he's been home a lot, and he's totally assumed the role of "super dad". He's been cleaning, keeping up with laundry, dishes, watching the kids, running my errands... All I've had to do is go to work and cook dinner (which I enjoy doing anyway). I wish it could be like this forever... I'm not really your typical female I guess, and I'd definitely fail miserably at being a 50's house wife - I much prefer being at work over being at home doing all the chores Justin's been keeping up with. He doesn't seem to mind, though, which is kinda funny. Definitely a big role reversal going on here! But hey, we've got balance, and that's all that matters! On top of being a great wife, he's also been finishing up some projects around the house - the stairs to the basement are now sealed and shiny with polyurethane, he's got an amazing hand-made gun rack set up in the vault in the basement along with the bones of a hunting room, he's started unpacking a lot of boxes that had been pushed to the side amidst the craziness of moving in, having a baby, moving my business, and then celebrating holidays. I don't know how he's pulled everything off that he has, and on top of that he's had time to come pick me up from work and take me out to lunch quite a bit. My stress levels have been, well, nil - I may have forgotten what the word "stress" even means... And that's come in super handy since Elliot had been pretty unhappy about his incoming teeth. He's a lot better lately, which I just posted about, but for awhile there... whew!
Justin is currently elbows deep in his next project - the chicken house. The Papenberg Homestead is on its way to becoming just that - a homestead. I've never raised chickens before, I have no idea what's involved with it... all I know is that they look creepy, but they taste good and so do their eggs! I'm super excited about fresh eggs... I'm also excited about the fact that they supposedly eat anything - so when I have cooking scraps (like rinds, peels, stems, cores, seeds, etc.), I can toss it to the chickens rather than feeling really bad about throwing it away and being wasteful. I could start composting, but there's a lot of involvement in that, from what I understand, and I'm not seeing me sticking with that kind of project. So, to the chickens it'll go!
I digress. So anyway, we started the morning with Justin's birthday present, which Harlee was excited to help him open:
We got him a scope mount for his gun. He was pleased with that gift and spent the rest of the morning attaching it to his gun while Harlee and I got to work on dinner for the evening. We made brisket in the crockpot with all homemade ingredients. Harlee loves helping me cook!
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| homemade ketchup |
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| stirring the homemade Worcestershire sauce |
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 part olive oil
1/4 part honey
Garlic powder, salt and pepper, basil and oregano to taste
Shake it or whisk it together and enjoy!
Here's the link to the recipe I used for our brisket: http://paleoleap.com/slow-cooked-beef-brisket/
And here's what dinner looked like:
Yum!
But I've kept you waiting long enough. How about that "cheese"cake recipe, then?
Topping
2 cups sweet cherries, pitted
1/2 cup honey
1-2 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Combine the cherries and honey in a sauce pan and bring to a boil while adding the lemon juice and vanilla. Simmer about 5 minutes and add the arrowroot while stirring until it is all combined. Simmer on low until thickened and take off the heat.
Crust:
2 cups ground pecans
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 tbsp pure maple syrup
Dash sea salt
Dark chocolate chips, melted (optional)
Line a 7x11 (or 8" springform pan, which I used) glass baking dish with parchment paper
Spoon in crust mixture and flatten evenly. Spread melted chocolate over the crust, if you'd like (and why wouldn't you?)
Filling (which I doubled)
2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water overnight
2-3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
Dash sea salt
1/2 cup prepared cherry topping
Discard the water the cashews had been soaking in.
Combine soaked cashews, coconut oil, vanilla, maple syrup, and salt in the food processor.
Blend until creamy and smooth.
Once blended, stir in the cherry topping and spread mixture evenly over
crust
Spread the warm cherry topping over the cashew filling.
Place in freezer for 4-6 hours.
Place in freezer for 4-6 hours.
Move to refrigerator to thaw until ready to serve, then cut into bars or wedges.
I ended up melting about a half a cup of white chocolate chips and putting it in a ziplock bag, cutting the tip off, and squeezing all that yumminess on top of the cheesecake. So not paleo, yet soooo good...
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