Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

Just in case you thought that last one was the last of my baking ones... you are wrong. Like I said I've been doing a lot of it. This recipe is actually one that I wanted to make for a while. We are having dinners tomorrow for our Ward, so I decided it would be a good place to try this one out.

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

6 squares graham crackers, finely crushed
2 Tbsp margarine, melted
1 tsp sugar
1 small pkg lime flavored gelatin
3/4 cup boiling water
1 16-oz container cottage cheese
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
1 8-oz container whipped topping

Combine graham crackers, margarine and sugar. Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 2-quart square baking dish. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Combine gelatin and water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Set aside.

in blender or food processor combine cottage cheese and cream cheese. Cover and blend or process until smooth, stopping several times to scrape down sides. Whisk 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese mixture into the gelatin mixture. Whisk in remaining cottage cheese mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped dessert topping. Spoon filling over chilled crumb mixture.

Cover and refrigerate 8 to 24 hours or until filling is firm. To serve, cut in squares.

I have tried this one yet, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be good. Enjoy!

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

So I must be in a baking mood, because I've done a ton of it lately. This week Michelle and I decided to try to find a recipe for the rest of the pumpkin that we had in our fridge. We found this recipe and I was really excited about it... plus it is delicious.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

1/4 cup caramel topping
1 graham cracker crust
1/2 cup pecan pieces, divided
1 cup cold milk
2 pkgs vanilla pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tub (8 oz) whipped topping

Pour caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with pecans.

Beat milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with whisk until blended. Stir in whipping topping. Spread into crust.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Top with whipping topping, caramel and pecans before serving.

It wasn't all the way set when we tried it, but it was definitely tasty. Enjoy!

Go Suns...

So this post comes a little late, but I'm still excited. So my coworker Nick who has season tickets wasn't able to go to the game on Wednesday night, so he offered the tickets to me. Suns games are so fun. Thanks to Nick... I was able to get my friend Nick (confusing I know) to join me. The Sun's were actually playing the Utah Jazz. Since I actually have more of an allegiance to the Sun's I was sporting my purple Sun's shirt. It was a really good game. The game was really close the whole time, but the Sun's ending up pulling out the win 118 to 114 over the Jazz. Go Suns!

Orange Creamsicle Cake

At work we do the crossword puzzles together at lunch time. It's usually a nice break from working. Usually I will glance through the rest of the entertainment section just to see what there is. I usually glance at the comics... we have Drabble which is cool (the guy who draws the Drabble comic is in my family's ward). Every so often there are some good recipes that I take when we are done with the paper. This time I was told that I couldn't take the recipe that I wanted unless I promised to bring it into work. So the following recipe is the one that I wanted... and brought into work today. It was good... you should try it.

Orange Creamsicle Cake

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 small orange yogurt
3/4 cup milk
3 egg whites
2 tsp grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 6-inch cake pans.

In a medium bowl sift together flour and baking powder; Set aside.

With mixer, cream together butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy; add vanilla and yogurt, beating well. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture, starting and ending with flour and beating well.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, but not too dry. Fold into batter gently along with orange zest. Divide batter into the two pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp shortening
8-oz cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup orange juice

In a large mixing bowl, add butter, shortening, cream cheese, powdered sugar and orange juice. Mix until well blended. Adjust consistency with powdered sugar or juice.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures to show you, but it is a good spring treat. ENJOY!

Yes it's Vegas

So Saturday afternoon we spent in Las Vegas. We were down on the strip by Paris Paris, the Bellagio and we headed down to the Venetian for dinner. If I didn't know any better I'd say we were bouncing around Europe. If it wasn't for the neon signs and slum on the streets I wouldn't know I was in Las Vegas.

The Eiffel Tower at Paris Paris

We started our trip at the Bellagio Gardens. They were beautiful. It's inside the Bellagio in an atrium. There were beautiful spring flowers (lots of tulips) and fountains.

Kim & Seth

Trying to figure out what to do next...

Megan caught me taking a picture.

Next it was down the street to the Venetian. We had reservations to eat at the Grand Lux Cafe. It was good... nothing new or exciting, but it was good. After dinner we walked around the channels in the Venetian.

Amee caught me taking a picture this time

We ended the night by stopping to watch the fountain outside of the Bellagio. It was really pretty cause we were there right at twilight. It was a beautiful night to be outside the weather was perfect.

Amee watching the fountains

The Eiffel Tower at twilight

Shooting Gallery

So this would make two weekends in a row that I've done this... crazy, since I'm not really a huge gun fan, but it is something somewhat fun to do, plus the company was GREAT! Anyways this last weekend while I was up in Las Vegas Amee's dad (Brother J) took us out to shoot all his cool gun. It was a beautiful day to be outside. So when we weren't enjoying shooting up the water bottles that were our targets we were busy soaking up the rays from the sun.

Brother J Brother J's gun collection
Our targets

Our targets... after they were shot
Amee
Bryce
Dave
Jesus
Summer with the Tommy
Shelly
Steve
The gang

I took a ton of pictures while we were out shooting, so if you want to see more just click here. There are some fun ones, but like always there are a ton. By the way I can't take credit for all of the pictures I handed off my camera to a couple other people during the trip.

It's a bridge

So this might not really exciting anyone else, but seeing as I'm an engineer this is what is really cool to me. So on my trip to Las Vegas this last weekend I had way too much time to cross over Hoover Dam (50 minutes going there, an hour and a half coming back). With all that time I had nothing to do but look at the amazing bridge they are building accross the dam. It really is cool what they are doing. I make no promises about the pictures, they were taken from a moving car.

I love the smell

So this has got to be the best time to be here in Phoenix. Not only is the weather amazing... but the whole valley smells like citrus blossoms. Like the other night after FHE I was outside enjoying the 60 degree weather and standing under an orange tree that is in bloom. It smelled AMAZING! It definately smells like springs and I love it.

Create

This message is beautiful. I love it!

Mathcounts

So I might be a total nerd, but this weekend I did something really fun... I went down to Mesa and helped out at a Mathcounts competition. Mathcounts is a math competition for middle school aged students. They take a serious of tests, individual and than as a team. Than the students that did the best compete in a speed competition. Now like I said I'm a nerd, but I've always prided myself on my math skills, but it amazed me that most of the kids there could easily put me to shame. It was definitely a humbling experience.

My excuse... they've been practicing and I haven't.