another monday [lovely.]

brought to you by one happy mama.

you see, for Valentine's Dessert I was lucky enough to enjoy a really yummy treat.
This may very well be one of my favorite recipes. ever.

I will tell you why now.
It only contains 4 ingredients. [4] that's almost unheard of.
well ok, I lie. 6 if you count the crust.
But sometimes we don't even need the crust.
That's what fruit is for.
And still [6] is still quite unheard of for a cheesecake.

So trust me when I say that even with so few items needed.
This treat is one of pure beauty.
I think I will have some again tonight. This time with boysenberry topping.
I sure do love boysenberries.

You can thank this man for that. They are also his favorite.
by the way, this is two pops.
two pops is also known as grandpa greenwood.
He is the father of my father in law.
two greats.
he screens all his calls.
he calls me ATM [automatic talking machine]
lovingly, of course.
he loves board games
and his family.
and playing tricks on his family to give gifts, etc.
never a dull moment with him. [we love him so much.]
We sure do love him so much. He is a funny guy. No wonder we get along so well.

anyway, I digress. So here is the recipe for cheesecake. Also a little glimpse into what
went into making it. Enjoy. It was a good time for all. Especially the eating part. 

recipe:
2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

crust:
I used chocolate animal crackers this time.
I have been known to use anything from
plain animal crackers, vanilla wafers,
oreos, gingersnaps, sugar cookies...
whatever makes your [ ♥ ] smile.

It's so yummy, you could use mud and no one would notice. Well, that's again probably not true.

Combine all the cheesecake ingredients in a bowl and mix well, you don't have to use a stand mixer. I just like to look at mine. She is a beauty, after all.

For the crust I just chucked a pretty big handful of crackers into my food processor. Grind them quite fine, then add a tablespoon or so of melted butter. Just enough to make it stick together, but it shouldn't really be moist. Dump the crust pile into pan of choice. [I know a springform pan is traditionally used] but I happen to like this tart pan from IKEA. Its perfectly thick and doesn't give me any trouble, unlike my last springform!

Flatten crust with the bottom of a glass or your bare hands. Dump in cheesecake mixture and spread it smooth. That's pretty much it. You could certainly swirl some fruit in at this point, whatever you want. That's why it's your cheesecake. I think some of my praline sauce would be a thing of beauty here too. YUM.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 mins. And voila. You have cheesecake.

I think I'm done rambling now. I will leave you with one tip though. For my sweet savannah's birthday last year we scooped these into shot glass sized cups with a strawberry puree and had cheesecake shooters.
There were none left and they were so easy to make. It doesn't get much better than that! Enjoy!