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Archive for Renee Spindle

We’ve Been on a Cheesecake Kick

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Renee Spindle

The birthday cakes for three of our families’ 2015 birthday celebrations have all been cheesecakes. We’ve had a couple of the Snickerdoodle variety, and then one Lemon Ricotta cheesecake. The birthday peeps in my family have been on a cheesecake quest, and we have had some great results.

For my oldest son’s birthday this past December he had requested a Snicker Doodle cheesecake. We found a recipe on Pinterest that sounded good, and it turned out fantastic! We topped this cheesecake off with some Cinnamon Whipped Cream. Ooh, la, la.

Then for the January/February birthdays we had a Snicker Doodle repeat because my Mom had not been at the party when the first one was created. Once again, fantastic flavor great recipe. I highly recommend it if you’re a cheesecake, snicker doodle, or cinnamon lover, or a lover of all three!

SnickerDoodle Cheesecake Recipe-

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

Makes 12-16 servings (depending on how you slice it)

Ingredients:

1 10-ounce package shortbread cookies, finely crushed
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup butter, melted
(2), 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
8-ounce carton sour cream
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

Allow cream cheese and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.
For crust, in a medium bowl stir together crushed cookies and 1 tablespoon sugar. Stir in melted butter until combined. Press mixture onto the bottom and 1½ inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan; set aside.
For Filling– In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream, the 1 cup sugar, the flour, vanilla and ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon with an electric mixer on medium to high-speed until smooth. Using a fork, lightly beat eggs. Stir eggs into the cream cheese mixture.
In a small bowl, stir together the 1 tablespoon sugar and the remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Pour cream cheese mixture into crust-lined pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mixture. Place spring-form pan in a shallow baking pan.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a 2½-inch area around outside edge appears set when gently shaken. Cool in spring-form pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Using a small sharp knife, loosen crust from sides of pan. Cool for 30 minutes more. Remove the sides of pan; cool cheesecake completely on wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.
To Store: Place cheesecake in an airtight container; cover. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

For our March birthday celebration I baked a Lemon Ricotta cheesecake for my daughter Hilary’s birthday. I’m pretty sure Hilary and I also found this recipe on Pinterest. It was a luscious, lemony, delight and we would definitely repeat this recipe. The zesty lemon flavor was just amazing. It is an extremely rich and decadent dessert.

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Recipe-

Source: Bettycrocker.com

Makes 12 -16 servings (depends on how you slice it)

Ingredients:

1 10-ounce package shortbread cookies, finely crushed
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup butter, melted
(2) 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1-¼ cups sugar
2-3 tablespoons grated lemon peel (1 large)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 (15oz) container whole-milk ricotta cheese
3 eggs

Garnish: (optional)

½ cup whipping cream
16 candied lemons

Directions:

Allow cream cheese and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325°F.
For crust, in a medium bowl stir together crushed cookies and 1 tablespoon sugar. Stir in melted butter until combined. Press mixture onto the bottom and 1½ inches up the sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan; set aside.
For filling, beat cream cheese in a large bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Add the sugar; beat until very soft and creamy. Add lemon peel and lemon juice; mix well. Beat in ricotta cheese. Be sure you are using the whole milk ricotta for that extra special touch of decadence!
Add the eggs, on at a time, beating just until combined and scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Pour mixture into the crust-lined pan.
Bake for 70-80 minutes or until sides of cheesecake are set and puffed, but center still moves slightly when pan is tapped.
Cool cheesecake in pan on wire rack for 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight before serving.
Garnish with whipped cream and candied lemons, if you wish.

What cheesecake will we be making next? I am not really certain, but 2015 could definitely be proclaimed as “The Year of the Cheesecake” here at The Party House. And by the way the serving of these cheesecakes for our crowd lasted approximately 2.3 minutes. I’m pretty sure at each birthday celebration within 5 minutes of serving, all of the cheesecakes were devoured. Let me know what your favorite cheesecake flavor is. Enjoy, I’d love to hear some new thoughts and ideas.

This post linked to the GRAND Social

4 comments Posted in Food, Recipes

A Maddyism from Madison

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Remember this sweet, innocent little “Madditude” face. Well last week during Camp Grandma (aka grandma’s babysitting) Maddy had a chance to go shopping with myself and her Pop-Pop (aka Papa). We were at our first stop and getting safely out of the car seat and the car. She was standing on the little ledge of the doorway in the car, and looked me right in the eye (very seriously) and asked, “Grandma, can we get some food?”. As she is asking me this question she is glancing over my shoulder noticing all the fine eateries in the shopping center that we have stopped in. Then Maddy continues on and has to tell me, “I’m really hungry. Can we get some french fries?”

So, I explain to her that we have to finish our shopping and then we’ll get some lunch. That thought leaves her happy, and we proceed to get our shopping done and then head out to lunch. All in all a fun-filled morning.

I have no doubt that this will be the summer of Maddyisms. Keep an eye out for more thoughts and ideas from my favorite two year old.

6 comments Posted in Maddyism's

Spaghetti Etiquette & A Question…

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Renee Spindle

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Travel Man and I have this ongoing discussion each and every time that I make spaghetti for dinner. Homemade spaghetti is his favorite “first night” home dinner when he comes back from a trip.

The all important question is this- when you sit down at your dining table to enjoy your spaghetti do you cut your noodles, or do you just twirl your noodles onto your fork?

Growing up I was always used to sitting down with my family to a wonderfully prepared spaghetti dinner, and watching and listening to my Dad chop his spaghetti into bite size morsels. It became almost ceremonial as we got a little older. My Dads chopping would get a little loud and we somehow started calling the chopping “gaping”. We would chime, “gape, gape, gape” as my dad cut up his spaghetti to eat it. What a funny little family tradition.

Travel Man’s opinion of this is that it’s a waste of time to cut your spaghetti. He’s a twirler. I repeatedly try to give him a knife with his spaghetti dinner, and he always refuses.

So here’s my curiosity- do you have a spaghetti preference? Is there a story behind your spaghetti preference? I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

8 comments Posted in Food

A Fond Farewell

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Today while I was driving I was trying to remember the last time that I talked to my Grandma. I am fairly certain that it was Thanksgiving Day. I called her to wish her and my Grandpa a Happy Thanksgiving. They were bustling around the kitchen together getting their Thanksgiving dinner ready so we did not talk for very long. I wished them a “Happy Thanksgiving” and told my Grandma that I loved her. A week later to the day, she was gone. Our dear, sweet, loving Grandma was no longer with us.

My Grandma was one of the kindest people I have ever known. You know on her 90th birthday we all pitched in and got her a Mac Book which she loved learning how to use. Her love of learning never faltered. She was a voracious reader, and loved learning how to use Google to find the information she needed. As a matter of fact at one point in her life she wrote a letter to The Encyclopedia Britannica correcting them, and they listened!

Some of my fondest memories of my Grandma include-

Her stories and memories of times gone by. Especially the stories of how she met my Grandpa, and how their favorite place to go for their anniversary dinner was the Dog-n-Suds.

The fact that she drove a red convertible VW bug, and then a gorgeous blue Mustang. I thought she was so cool, and so hip!

We would always talk about gardening, composting and how her fruit trees were doing. She would always ask how my garden was doing, or what I was planning on planting.

A couple of my conversations around her birthday centered around granddaughter Madison. We were discussing the fact that Madison’s zodiac sign was the same as hers (Madison’s great-great grandma). My Grandma kept telling me she’s going to be stubborn and independent just like me. Remember my recent story about “Madditude”?

My memories of my Grandma are always surrounded by her love of her family. She would always stay in touch with everyone on birthdays, anniversaries, and at Christmas time. To me she was like the glue holding all of the extended family together.

I consider myself incredibly blessed to have been included in these five generation pictures over the years:

Is still amazes me to this day that my Grandma, my Mom and I are in all three of these pictures. Such priceless history, and such precious memories. I will miss my Grandma dearly, and hold my memories of her close to my heart.

Sometimes life can be overwhelming. The week before my Grandma passed away is when our daughter suffered a serious epileptic seizure. I remember saying to myself I cannot handle anymore, my plate is overflowing. But minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day we get through life. My Mom and I have a new saying we share with each other when life is overwhelming us. We just tell each other or remind each other that “Life is Life”.

12 comments Posted in Family

Our New and Improved Front Yard

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Last spring we (or should I say I) finally put a design together to landscape our front yard. Travel Man and I decided it was time to take the plunge and get this project off of our list. We had gone back and forth for a few months determining and deciding if we should or could take on this project ourselves, or did we hire it out to a contractor. In the end we opted for a contractor’s help, as Travel Man was on the road so much there was just no common sensical, logistical way that we could make this work. Once the final landscaping got started it needed to get done. Most importantly we needed to beat the Southern California summer heat putting in a new lawn.

You see our front yard landscaping has been a progressive household project. First we had our old trees taken out somewhere around 2005 or 2006. They were way too close to the foundation of the house and had to go.

This is what the front of our house looked like right before the trees were taken out. And the after results are shown below that.

Next we had the entire yard graded and leveled. This was not a DIY project at all. This task was hired out. Big pieces of equipment and a contractor qualified to do the work were brought in. The contractor who did the leveling and grading for us also installed our front patio and sidewalk in 2010. The patio and walkway are cement that was stained and carved to look more like flagstones. We were very pleased with the results.

The next step in our progressive landscaping was to put in the cement curbing for the edge of the front yard and the planters around the front windows. This was a pretty wild process seeing the curbing come spitting of of this little machine. Incredible.

Once the curbing was completed was when the vision started to come together for me. Seeing the curbing bordering the planters really started to help me get honed in on the design of the yard. My first thoughts were lots of trees and shrubs, flowers everywhere. This would be my mid-western side coming out, as I grew up in northern Illinois. Looking back on the different designs (scratched on paper, and sometimes a paper napkin) it would have been way to much greenery to water for the Southern California landscaping. I had to keep reminding myself we live in the desert.

Here are a few renditions that I had put together on my iPad with an app called iScape. I took a few pictures of the front of our house with my iPad, and then used the app to place the plantings, grass, etc. This gave me a very beginner-like view of what the yard would look like with grass and the greenery of the plants.

We decided that we would have some grass in front of the house, and I knew I wanted to plant roses in the planter in front of the house. We had also tossed around the idea of doing some sort of xeriscape on what we call our “side yard”. You know the portion of your front yard that is landscaped, looks pretty, but never really gets used for anything practical. Well we have a pretty big piece of “side yard” in the front. And I will tell you after few road trips to Arizona the idea of xeriscape was growing on me. It did taking some convincing by Travel Man for me to finally agree to the xeriscape and go with our final plan.

Now enter our contractor who will be handling the last leg of our front yard project. He is installing the sprinklers, laying the sod, planting all the plants, and laying the rock down for the xeriscape side of the yard. Our contractor, who we lovingly call “Bob the Builder”, and yes his first name is Bob, helped me to finalize my design plans. In other words, the vision I had in my head could be made possible, and he could do this for us.

The sprinklers went in. The xeriscape required drip lines for all of the plants, so that was installed. The plant delivery and placement in the yard was honestly the most exciting part of this entire project for me. Next the plants went in the ground, and then the landscape fabric and rock was laid down.

During the final phase of our front yard project we had a week of extreme heat, so the sod installation was delayed for a week. Once the sod was down and the running of the sprinklers and drip lines was all dialed in our new and improved front yard was done!

Here’s the amazing before and after photos. The before picture is from around 2005 or 2006 before Travel Man and I really started making a lot of major improvements around the house. What a difference. I have to tell you we are incredibly pleased with the results.

We are both glad, and relieved that this project is complete. Sometimes it seems like it takes forever to bring your vision to life. The results of this project were well worth the wait. Travel Man was very excited to have all the new plants in the front yard to decorate for the holiday season this past Christmas. That’s a story for another day though.

One comment Posted in Around the House

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