Mmmm Dessert Of The Week

Lemon Cheesecake In My Pyrex Cups

I have always been a fan of sweets and desserts.  Give me a slice of pie, or a gooey chocolate chip cookie any day over a bag of potato chips and I'm in heaven.

Reality is that I have to watch what I eat more than ever before to keep the health and waistline in check so I limit my desserts to once a week and then I make it one to savour.

Anything lemon, whether it's pie, bread or cake has always been one of my favourites and when I came across this recipe by My Baking Addiction on Pinterest, I just had to make it. 

Costco has a nice size bag of lemons that I purchased as I like to use lemons for many different reasons such as cooking, baking, in my glass of water, squeezing lemon on fish and vegetables,  and freshening up my garburator and counters.  It doesn't break the bank buying them in bulk if it's something that I use a lot of.  If I buy a single lemon at the local grocery store, it costs about one dollar each and I can get a 5 pound bag of lemons at Costco for around $5.99!  

I don't have the cute little jars, but I found my 6 Pyrex cups worked just fine.  I cut the calories a bit by adding Cool Whip Light on top and also using Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese.  Raspberries are also in season and I had some mint leaves from a Watermelon Feta Salad recipe that I am going to try.  

The lemon curd is quite sweet, so I cut back on the sugar by two tablespoons and it was still plenty sweet for my liking.

Mix Graham Crumbs And Press Down The Graham Cracker Crumbs in Pyrex Cups

Put Pressed Down Crumbs In Water Bath On Baking Sheet

Mix The Sugar And Lemon Rind Well

Ready To Bake

Top Cooled Cheesecake With Lemon Curd

Serve With A Dollop Of Cool Whip Light Or Real Whipped Cream

Yum!

It is really difficult to have just one.  Enjoy!

New "Do"

I love my hairstylist Stacey.  She is such a cool girl and I totally trust her so I asked her if she thought it was a good idea to give me a new haircut with bangs.  It's been probably 20 or so years since I have wore bangs and because I have a nasty cowlick, I didn't know if it would be a good idea.  She went ahead and cut them and we both liked them.  She told me to "train" my bangs by blowdrying my bangs forward and eventually my hair should fall that way.  Here's hoping she's right.  It was time for a change and I want to enjoy the fabulous fifties.  Have a great day!

Twisted Sketches Sketch #154

Today over at Twisted Sketches it is the layout reveal of sketch #154.  Here is my take on the sketch:

Buried Alive

I love this photo as my son was having fun at the beach when his dad buried him in sand.  This layout came together quickly.  I love when that happens as it doesn't happen to me often that I can create a layout in less than an hour.  The entire collection is from "About A Boy" from Echo Park, which has such nice bright colours and fun stickers.

I hope you enjoy this layout and play along with the sketch here.

Have a great day!

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #298

Today's sketches over at Scrapbook Challenges are posted and with this particular layout, I was in a bit of  a creative funk so I don't know if I really like how this layout came together or not.

In May, we always celebrate my husband's birthday and also Mother's Day.  Some years they happen to be on the same day so we sometimes combine the two and celebrate both.  This year we went for a nice dinner and had a fabulous time laughing and just being together as a little family.  I know I digress so here are the sketches:

Sketch #298

Sketch #298-2

Come play along and upload to this link and in the gallery.  Thanks for stopping by!

Roller Coaster Ride With My Health

The past three months have been a roller coaster ride for me.  I have had issues with my kidneys since I was about 5 months of age and recently was having more issues so my family doctor wanted to investigate further.  She referred me to a urologist and I went through some extensive tests for three months.   Nobody likes the "c" word and it totally turned my world upside down and inside out. 

Health to me is so important.  I always maintain that if a person doesn't have their health, they have nothing.  If a person is sick, nothing else really matters.  A person can have all the money in the world and it doesn't matter.

Since February of this year, and before I had this health scare,  I have been on a mission to get healthier so I am going to Weight Watchers and trying to eat healthier and get more active.  My doctor also goes to Weight Watchers and I love that she practices what she preaches.  She inspires me and motivates me.

In the past three months I have lost 20 pounds and already feel that I have more energy.  It isn't the first time I have been on a weight loss mission.  It is my third time doing this program and I truly believe losing weight is hard work, but maintaining the weight loss is even more difficult.  There are no quick fixes and it is very time consuming looking up nutritional information on every product I buy and tracking my daily points and going to meetings, trying to be more active, and try new healthy recipes, but in the bigger scope of things,  I know that it will be worth it.  It doesn't guarantee that I will fix my kidney issues, but it will give me a better quality of life.  

There are many obstacles with my weight loss journey.  I am on medications that make the journey more difficult, but not impossible.  My husband is also on this journey with me and he is doing fabulous.  He has lost 28 pounds so far and of course males lose faster than females and they get more points to eat daily too.  No, it isn't fair, but it is what it is and I'm so glad he wants to go on this journey with me.  My youngest son is twelve and I want to set an example for him and also be healthy for him and my other children who are 25 and 27 years old and married.  If grandchildren come along, I want to be able to have the energy to really have fun with them and play with them.  It will be worth it.  I am worth it.  My family is worth it.  

This journey has been interesting and I am looking forward to scrapbooking about it.  Scrapbooking is my therapy and also my way to capture the memories of the good times and the not so good times.  I really do  love the journey.