Cherry Cheesecake

 Cheery Cheesecake

Cherry cheesecake is an easy, no-bake recipe.

Ingredients

15 digestive biscuits or Graham crackers
1/3 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup cream cheese at room temperature
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
300g 10 oz. sweetened condensed milk
300g 10 oz. can pitted cherries in juice

Method

1. Break up crackers and place into a plastic food bag. Then, crush with a rolling pin until they are like fine breadcrumbs.

2. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and stir in the crushed crackers until they are completely coated.

3. Pour the mixture into a flan pan (or springform pan) and spread the mixture with the back of a spoon until it evenly covers the base and sides.

4. Chill the cracker base for 30 minutes.

5, Beat the cream cheese and add the condensed milk and lemon juice, whisking all together until smooth.

6. Drain the cherries. Scatter them over the chilled cracker base.

7. Then, pour the filling over the cherries, using a spatula to smooth the top.

8. Chill 2-3 hours or overnight.

Serves 8-10.

Recipe Stars

Cherries contain melatonin promoting more restful sleep. Melatonin also has anti-inflammatory effects through multiple mechanisms.

Quote of The Day

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. Pericles

Jam Drop Biscuits

Jam Drop Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups of Plain flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 cup of sugar

1'2 cup of butter

2 eggs

Low sugar fruit jam

Method

Beat butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, then flour, and baking powder. 

Shape into balls about the size of a walnut; press holes in top, and fill with jam. 

Bake in a quick oven. (using a convection mode where hot air circulates evenly)

Recipe Stars

The butyric acid content of the moderate use of butter provides benefits for intestinal health.

Quote of The Day

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell, 1984

You Decide, Veggie, Salmon Bake

You Decide, Veggie, Salmon Bake

Method

Oil an ovenproof dish and cover the bottom with thinly sliced tomatoes.

Cover the tomatoes with tinned, drained salmon. Then, a layer of cooked vegetables, such as green peas, mashed pumpkin or carrot. Or, whatever you fancy.

Add a layer of mashed potato on top and sprinkle with grated tasty cheese. 

Bake in the oven until potato is a golden brown. 

Serve with a salad.

Recipe Stars

Tomatoes are rich in many nutrients, such as lycopene, an antioxidant linked to reduced risks of heart disease and certain cancers.

Pumpkin boosts eye health, immunity, and contains dietary fibre.

Quote of The Day

The real power behind whatever success I have now was something I found within myself — something that’s in all of us. Tina Turner

Egg and Mushroom Bake

Egg and Mushroom Bake

Ingredients

Six eggs

454 g (1 lb. mushrooms)

2 tablespoons butter

2 heaped tablespoons breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley to add after cooking

Method

Peel and place mushrooms in a saucepan. Cover with water, then place lid on pan, and simmer till tender. Drain off liquid and melt butter in another pan. 

Add mushrooms and cook very slowly for ten minutes. Season to taste, then pour into a shallow buttered fireproof dish. Break the eggs on top. Sprinkle with crumbs, then dab with tiny dots of butter. Bake till eggs are set. 

Enough for four to six persons.

Recipe Stars

A substance in mushrooms called ergothioneine can reduce inflammation and the risk of cognitive decline.

Parsley polyphenols and their antioxidant capacity may help in the treatment of depression and anxiety, (1.)

Quote of The Day

There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.
— Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Pasta With Corn and Ricotta

Ingredients

400g of pasta
Olive oil
1 garlic clove
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
250g drained can of sweetcorn kernels
250g ricotta cheese
1/2 bowl of chopped parsley or rocket leaves
Grated Parmesan 

Method

Cook the pasta according to instructions, until al dente. Drain, (reserving 3 tablespoons of cooking water) and cool.

In a frypan heat a tsp of olive oil and cook crushed garlic. Then add the lemon zest and the sweetcorn and heat through. 

Remove the frypan from the stove and stir in the ricotta. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon and any seasoning. 

Finely chop the parsley (or rocket). Then mix into the corn and ricotta. 

Add the reserved water to the ricotta sauce, and stir in, Then add to the pasta and stir through. Top with Parmesan.

Recipe Stars

Yellow corn contains polyphenols, and carotenoids (like lutein and zeaxanthin), which have antioxidant activity.

Al dente pasta takes longer to digest, and so has a slower release of glucose into the bloodstream.

Parsley is rich in polyphenols like apigenin, quercetin, and ferulic acid, with potent anti-inflammatory properties.

Quote of The Day

Keep looking up… that’s the secret of life. Snoopy.

Cracked Wheat (Bulgur) and Mushroom Salad

Ingredients

1 cup of cracked wheat

1/4 cup of tomato pasta sauce mixed in to make 2 cups of water

125 grams of sliced mushrooms  (can cook the mushrooms and allow to cool, or raw)

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup of chopped parsley

Dressing (mix 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon olive oil and a dash of mustard in a bowl)

Method

Fry the onion in a small amount of oil. Add cracked wheat and the 2 cups of water with mixed pasta sauce. 

Half cover saucepan with lid and increase heat. When it is simmering, reduce and mostly cover with lid and allow to cook until almost absorbed. Cover with lid and let steam.

Allow to cool.

Mix together with mushrooms, parsley, and dressing. Add a smidgen of salt and pepper if desired.

Recipe Stars

Cracked wheat (bulgur) is high in dietary fiber, which can help lower bad cholesterol (LDL).

The resistant starch in cracked wheat promotes the production of butyrate, a beneficial SCFA, which may help prevent colorectal cancer.

Regular consumption of edible mushrooms may confer neuroprotective cognitive health benefits. (1.)

Quote of The Day

Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Augustine of Hippo.

Lemon Delicious Pudding. Too Easy!

Ingredients

One tablespoon butter

4oz. sugar (113 grams)

2 tablespoons flour

2 lemons

I pint milk (570 ml)

2 egg-yolks

2 egg-whites

Method

Cream butter, add sugar, then flour, then rind of one and juice of two
lemons. Add milk and beaten egg yolks to mixture, and lastly fold in stiffly beaten egg-whites. Pour into a greased fireproof dish and cook in temperate oven (375 deg. F. gas, 425 deg. electric), standing in a baking dish of hot water for 45 minutes.

Recipe Stars

Lemons contain polyphenols, which are beneficial plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that contribute to various health benefits.

Quote of The Day

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Søren Kierkegaard.