ArcaMax

Editor's Note: Zola is on a Fall leaf tour this week. We hope you enjoy this previously published column and recipe!

Halloween Treats

I like Halloween more than Christmas. My husband and I used to have huge celebrations on Halloween. We’d throw a costume party and would invite friends over for food and drinks. Although we no longer have parties on Halloween, it is still my favorite holiday.

Apparently we’re not the only adults who get excited about Halloween. Statistics show that parents spend more than 1 billion dollars on Halloween costumes for their kids. This year, 41 million trick-or-treaters are expected to hit the pavement all ghouled up, ringing doorbells and asking for treats. And the adults will be at home waiting for them, with lots of candy. That’s the part that makes me queasy…all that candy.

Did you know people buy twice as much chocolate for Halloween than they do for Valentine’s Day?

Last year, parents purchased more than 90 million dollars worth of chocolate to give out on Halloween. Yikes! To make matters worse, 90 million dollars is just for the chocolate. That doesn’t even count the other stuff like the little gummies, the pop rocks and the mini tootsie rolls. And we wonder why so many of our children suffer from obesity.

I used to pride myself on having the best Halloween candy bar selection in the neighborhood. Now that I know what all that sugar does to a kid, I’m no longer interested in having the best candy on the block.

Since starting Plan Z I no longer give out candy. Now I get better stuff. I decided the smarter and healthier thing to do is to treat Halloween like a mini-Christmas...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Related Recipes at PlanZDiet.com:

Fried Pound Cake with Cream and Fruit
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

This is a ZReboot recipe. This recipe was contributed by my friend and fellow Plan Z by Zola participant, 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.

Servings: Serves 8

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
1 15 oz can pumpkin
¾ cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger and ¼ tsp cloves)
½ tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temperature

Instructions:

Combine pecans, almond flour and melted butter. Press into bottom and 1.5 inches up the sides of a large spring form 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 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 four 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 fool proof way not to have a crack but it really ups your odds of a smoother surface.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola