Father's Day

For Father's Day I have a couple of things in mind to make. For the hubs, who is a really great father to our 3 children, I'm going to make this low-fat berry cheesecake recipe. This is their pic, not mine - I have made it before, but didn't take any pics - and it didn't look this pretty!

I will use a low-carb almond crust in place of the graham cracker crust, b/c my husband is diabetic. I made this for his birthday, and it was really good. I used reduced fat cream cheese instead of fat-free, b/c he doesn't really like the taste of fat-free. I also used a sugar substitute instead of sugar. I have lots of mixed feelings about sugar substitutes, especially for children, and am currently trying to avoid using Splenda and Aspartame, however Splenda is my husband's preferred artificial sweetener in baked goods.  My preference is Stevia - there are several items on the market now using Stevia, which has been used for many years over in Europe and other countries, but has only recently been FDA approved for use here.  Anyway, enough about my sugar/fake sugar preferences.

The almond crust recipe was found somewhere on the internet, but I can not find from where, so I can't give props, but it was AWESOME, easy and very low carb!  It may be hard to do if you do not have a food processor.

Almond Crust

• 2 cups of whole almonds (unsalted)
• 5 T. of sugar sub
• 1/4 t. almond extract (I used vanilla b/c that's all I had)
• 5 T. room temp, unsalted butter. 

In food processor (one of the best inventions ever), blend almonds, sugar and almond extract until almonds are coarsely chopped.  Add butter and process until almonds are finely chopped.  Then take the mixture and press firmly (very firmly) into a springform pan and up the sides a little.  Bake the crust until light brown, about 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees.   I could eat the crust by itself!  After making crust, you just follow the cheesecake (or whatever pie filling you want) recipe.

For my DADDY, I am thinking of making this 

This is Kraft's pic - I have not made this before, and feel quite sure mine will not look like this.  Especially since I don't have any strawberries....hmmm, guess I need to go to the grocery store :P  Scratch that, my dad can't have any fresh fruit b/c he is post-transplant (http://www.marrow.org/ for more info and to register to become a bone marrow donor!)  I think the canned fruit will be okay, but I'll check to make sure. Of course, I'll see how the day progresses.  I may blog later to tell you I either changed what I made or didn't have time to make anything!!  With kids, you just never know what your day is going to turn out like.

I hope everyone enjoys their Father's Day.  If you are lucky enough to have your Dad with you, count your blessings and let him know how much you love him.  I feel truly BLESSED that my daddy is still here, he has been through SO much.  If your Dad is not here, honor his memory, b/c regardless what kind of father he was, he is (half) the reason you are here!  Not to slight the moms....moms are the BOMB.COM (a brother-ism).