ArcaMax

On My Plate...

Pumpkin cheesecake (the good for you kind)

Thanksgiving is the one day of the year for me that sort of screams “seconds”. I feel that going back for just a bit more is almost a requirement. It’s the one day I do go back for seconds without feeling even an ounce of guilt. Okay, if no one else seems to be going back, or I’m the first to go back, you can probably say I do feel an ounce of guilt but certainly not a pound.

I am over feeling like Thanksgiving is a day where I have to stuff myself. I have found that I can eat my first plate of food, and then have a bit more and still walk away from the table without walking like a stuffed duck. That kind of self-loathing you get from over eating is over-rated.

The other thing I have started to do is sort of plan out my plate in advance. Instead of just piling food on my plate I sort of survey the offerings first, so I can plan what I am going to eat, and in what quantities.

I’ve decided that wonderful piece of turkey breast meat should cover the largest surface area on my plate. Not that turkey is by far my favorite food served on Thanksgiving, but it seems to be good calories and it should therefore have priority. The protein fills me up.

The thing I want to eat the most of is always the mashed potatoes. I’m Irish. I can’t help it. I adore potatoes. My dilemma is I have decided that I have probably already eaten my lifetime allotment of mashed potatoes and eating them from now on means I am going over my limit. I have to treat mashed potatoes like they are endangered or something . I can have some, but I cannot have a huge mound like I used to. It’s downright dangerous to my waistline and my overall health if I eat too many. I went for years, eating a baked potato at night for dinner because my husband was traveling and I could just eat what I wanted. I didn’t want much, so I figured a potato was just over 100 calories and it would be good for my “constant diet”. Little did I realize that with the carbohydrate count in a potato I might as well have pasted that potato directly to my butt. That’s where it ended up anyway.

But enough grousing. It’s Thanksgiving, so eat already!

Okay, turkey, a limited amount of mashed potatoes, now what? Veggies. I’ll look for my favorites and try to cover the rest of my plate with those. Maybe a little bit of cranberry sauce to round out my plate for color and some zip. That should do me. Oh yeah, a bit of gravy too.

My second plate historically contains a few more potatoes and some turkey with gravy. I might have to reconsider that combo this year. I’m learning.

Now, I’m just pleasantly full. I can still find room for dessert.

My plan used to be to have just a sliver of as many desserts as I wanted. I can’t handle that anymore so my new plan is to always be the one contributing at least one of the desserts so I can bring something low in carbohydrates but still totally yummy. That way, when I eat a nice-sized piece of what I bring I won’t feel badly about not eating the others. Of course, if any of the others is a healthy option, I might have that sliver.

Today’s recipe was contributed by my friend Amy. She came up with this awhile back because she was planning ahead for Thanksgiving and wanted to make a more healthy meal. She’s lost a bunch of weight on the same diet as me, so she’s just more conscious now. When she got it done she had leftovers so she drove it over to our house so we could have some.

I could hardly believe my taste buds! This tasted more like a smooth pumpkin pie than a cheesecake to me, but in either case I found it to be a heavenly option for a pumpkin dessert destined for Thanksgiving. I assure you, it will be my featured dessert this year and I plan to have a piece and not just a sliver.

P.S. This is not meant to be a particularly low calorie dessert. The object is low carbs; the important measurement.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the Crust

1 cup crushed pecans

1 cup almond flour

6 tbls butter, melted

For the Filling

16 oz cream cheese, softened

18 packets Truvia (Stevia)

1 15 oz can pumpkin

3/4 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger and ¼ tsp cloves)

1/2 tsp salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

Combine pecans, almond flour and melted butter. Press into bottom and one and half-inch up the sides of a large springform pan. Set aside.

For the filling blend the cream cheese and Truvia (stevia) until creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients except eggs, mix well. Add eggs one at a time until just blended. Pour over crust. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Remove from oven and run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen from the sides. Let cool completely and then refrigerate overnight to set.

Suggestions: you should put a cookie sheet with sides on it one rack down from the cheesecake in case any butter leaks out. Don’t want burned butter and your smoke detector going off. Also, this cheesecake should be ready to eat after about 4 hours of cooling, so if you make it same day it should be fine, but I truly believe cheesecakes always taste better a day later.

And lastly, if you don’t want that tell-tale crack in the top of your cheesecake heed the advice to let the cheesecake cool completely to room temperature before you put it in the refrigerator. This is not a foolproof way not to have a crack but it really ups your odds of a smoother surface.

And even ONE MORE thing. I leave my cheesecake out for 15-20 minutes before I serve it so it warms up a bit Really cold cheesecake doesn’t have nearly as much flavor.

Nutrition Facts

10 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 553.3

Total Fat 51.5 g

Saturated Fat 19.1 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 7.3 g

Monounsaturated Fat 22.3 g

Cholesterol 161.1 mg

Sodium 172.5 mg

Potassium 465.9 mg

Total Carbohydrate 13.8 g

Dietary Fiber 6.0 g

Sugars 3.6 g

Protein 14.2 g

Vitamin A 176.1 %

Vitamin B-12 7.6 %

Vitamin B-6 7.2 %

Vitamin C 4.0 %

Vitamin D 2.6 %

Vitamin E 46.4 %

Calcium 16.2 %

Copper 26.4 %

Folate 8.6 %

Iron 17.4 %

Magnesium 27.8 %

Manganese 69.7 %

Niacin 7.6 %

Pantothenic Acid 8.4 %

Phosphorus 28.5 %

Riboflavin 29.1 %

Selenium 13.8 %

Thiamin 12.4 %

Zinc 14.0 %

Cheers
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.