Another new Recipe

Since I posted a dinner recipe the other day, I figured I should follow up with a dessert. I've been wanting to make this cheesecake since I saw it in a Light & Tasty magazine in 2001! I can't believe it's been that long...but it has. I was going to make it last weekend, since we kind of had a plethora of pears, but we had peaches that we had to use up first, so Mom made a peach cobbler instead. Well, all the pears are canned now, so I made this yummy pear cheesecake Saturday night and we ate it yesterday. Even Joshua wanted more! I changed the original recipe a bit...I didn't have lemon juice or lemon peel so I added a few drops of lemon extract. And the original recipe had called for graham cracker crumbs to make a graham cracker crust. I opted to try it with gingersnap crumbs instead. Carol has a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that uses a gingersnap crust that is really good...and we'd have pears with gingerbread for Grandpa Elwood's birthday, so I knew that the taste combo would be good and it was very very good.

So enjoy!!

Pear Cheesecake

1 ½ c. gingersnap crumbs
1 c. sugar, divided
1/3 c. butter or oleo, melted
2 cans (15 oz. each) pear halves, drained
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
3 T flour
2 eggs
½ c. milk
2 T lemon juice
1 ½ t. grated lemon peel

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, ¼ c. sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 ½ in. up the sides of a greased 9” springform pan; refrigerate for 30 minutes. Place pear halves cut side down on crust.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth. Add flour; beat well. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Add the milk, lemon juice and peel; beat just until blended. Pour over pears.
Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Chill overnight. Remove sides of pan. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yield: 12 servings

I was trying out Mom & Dad's camera yesterday...ours has had a few too many drops (the last being in the snow) and it no longer zooms in...and with Joshua's first soccer game coming up tonight, I wanted to get an idea how the camera works since I'll be using it at the game tonight. Here's a couple pictures of the boys & Shadow playing outside. Shadow is loving her bit of freedom in the backyard. Last weekend, Dad and I put boards along the bottom of the shed so she couldn't crawl under it and he put some lattice between the shed and the fence so she can't get back behind it and up over the divider into the back behind his workshop (where Ralph used to go years ago). And since they have lattice type stuff on the top of their chain link fence to try and keep the deer out, she really can't go anywhere but the back yard...and she loves it. As you can see in the picture...she really enjoys the catnip that Carrie planted. Eventually, she might make it out of the backyard, but for now, since she's been an indoor (against her will) cat for 8 years, we'll just take it gradually. She's quite content in the garage for the most part. Occasional forays into the house are okay too...as long as she doesn't come into contact with Mouse, who, for a 19 year old cat is still fiesty.