Low-Carb Kahlua & Cream Cheesecake

Crust:

• 1 Cup flaxseed meal
• 4 Tbs. Splenda
• 1 Tbs. Cocoa Powder
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 extra-large egg white, beaten until frothy

Filling:

• 3 8 oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar substitute (I used Splenda)
• ¾ cup DaVinci Sugar Free Kahlua Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 5 eggs, preferably room temperature
• ½ cup heavy cream

Preparation:

Heat oven to 325 F.

Prepare spring-form pan: I like to put a piece of parchment paper over the bottom of the pan — no need to cut it to size, just snap it into place when you tighten the sides. Wrap the bottom and sides of the pan in heavy-duty foil. You’ll be baking the cheesecake with the spring-form pan set in a baking pan half-full of boiling water, so you want to protect from leaks.

1.) Combine ingredients for crust, and press into the bottom of a spring-form pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until fragrant and beginning to brown.

2.) Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and beaters. This step will be repeated several times and is important. The mixture will gradually become lighter, and the denser stuff has a tendency to cling to the bowl. You won’t be able to incorporate it as well later, so keep scraping.

3.) Add sweetener. Beat again, scrape again.

4.) Add Kahlua syrup and vanilla. Beat well, scrape.

5.) Add 3 eggs. Beat well (about a minute), scrape.

6.) Add the other 2 eggs and cream and beat another minute. Pour mixture into pan over crust.

7.) Place pan in a baking pan and pour boiling water around the sides, about halfway up.  Bake for for 60 to 90 minutes, checking often after an hour. When the cake is firm to touch but slightly soft in the center, or the center reaches 150 to 155 F, remove from oven.

8.) Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature, or up to 3 hours. Cover and chill, ideally for another 3 to 4 hours.

I always prefer to make this the night before I hope to serve it so that it can cool to room temperature over night and then chill for at least 4 hours.

Low-carb Eggnog Cheesecake

Crust:

• 1 Cup flaxseed meal
• 4 Tbs. Splenda
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 extra large egg white, beaten until frothy

Filling:

• 3 8 oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg (or to taste)
• 1 ½ cups sugar substitute (I used Splenda)
• ¾ cup DaVinci Sugar Free Eggnog Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 5 eggs, preferably room temperature
• ½ cup heavy cream

Preparation:

Heat oven to 325 F.

Prepare spring-form pan: either spray it with cooking spray or use a piece of parchment paper. Wrap the bottom and sides of the pan in heavy-duty foil. You’ll be baking the cheesecake with the spring-form pan set in a baking pan half-full of boiling water, so you want to protect from leaks.

1.) Combine ingredients for crust, and press into the bottom of a spring-form pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until fragrant and beginning to brown.

2.) Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and beaters. This step will be repeated several times and is important. The mixture will gradually become lighter, and the denser stuff has a tendency to cling to the bowl. You won’t be able to incorporate it as well later, so keep scraping.

3.) Add nutmeg and sweetener. Beat again, scrape again.

4.) Add eggnog syrup and vanilla. Beat well, scrape.

5.) Add 3 eggs. Beat well (about a minute), scrape.

6.) Add the other 2 eggs and cream and beat another minute. Pour mixture into pan over crust.

7.) Place pan in spring-form pan and pour boiling water around the sides, about halfway up. Bake for for 60 to 90 minutes, checking often after an hour. When the cake is firm to touch but slightly soft in the center, or the center reaches 150 to 155 F, remove from oven.

8.) Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature, or up to 3 hours. Cover and chill, ideally for another 3 to 4 hours.

I always prefer to make this the night before I hope to serve it so that it can cool to room temperature over night and then chill for at least 4 hours.

I’m going to call this cheesecake recipe mine, but want to give credit where credit is due. This recipe is a combination of two cheesecake recipes with a variation on the crust.

I have loved this low-carb pumpkin cheesecake as a fall treat for a couple of years now.

I tried this low-carb eggnog cheesecake last week and was quite disappointed with it.

I also wanted to find an alternative crust that didn’t use almond flour as it is quite expensive. I found what I’m using below in a thread on this discussion board.

Let me know what you think when you give this a try.

Thursday, September 24th

Morning weigh-in: 206.2

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and 2 slices of bacon

Snack: 1/3 cup mixed nuts.

Lunch: leftover Chicken and Apples with sage and dried cranberries.  canned peas.  peach carbmaster yogurt

Dinner: leftover pork roast.  broccoli

Snack: brownie crunch think thin bar

More Snack: 1/2 southwestern egg roll. pint of Bob’s 47.

Dessert: vanilla mousse (made with sugar-free fat-free pudding mix and heavy cream) with sliced strawberries.

Fluid Intake: 132 ounces H2O.  24ish ounces of diet pepsi.

Reflections: Even after yesterday morning’s m&m/cookie binge the scale was down a bit this morning, which was really nice.  The same m&m’s and cookies were waiting for me this morning, but I was able to resist that temptation today, which felt good.  My schedule was pretty odd today, left one part time job in Lawrence about 2:45 to get to the other part time job in KC.  I ate a very early dinner of pork and broccoli in the car on the way to KC and had the protein bar about 6:15.  This was my first night working back at Kite’s since deciding to refocus on my eating routine and it was tough.  I resisted the urge to snack on any fries or chips of wings, though.  I was glad to manage my eating the way I did even with the funny running around, it felt really good.  However, when I clocked out at work this evening the bartender said, “you look like you could use a beer.”  I couldn’t argue with that and though a lower carb option would have been a glass of wine or a michelob ultra, I went for the Bob’s 47 and I wasn’t sorry in the least.  Hopefully I won’t be in the morning either.

Wednesday, September 23rd

Morning weigh-in: 206.6

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and 2 slices of bacon

Snack: a hefty handful of dark chocolate peanut m&ms and 2 chocolate macadamia nut cookies. 1/3 cup mixed nuts.

Lunch: leftover Chicken and Apples with sage and dried cranberries.  Raspberry Carbmaster Yogurt

Snack: creamy peanut butter think thin bar

More Snack: summer sausage and cheddar cheese (3 slices of each) and a bite of banana.  (Heather and I were again slated to have a late dinner tonight and I was feeling a bit hungry while Hannah had her dinner so I decided to eat some proactive protein.

Dinner: pork roast in the slow cooker.  fresh broccoli.  1 glass red wine (Bluesman again).

Dessert: vanilla mousse (made with sugar-free fat-free pudding mix and heavy cream) with sliced strawberries.

Fluid Intake: 128 ounces (it’s been a long time since I got my full gallon in!)

Reflections: It felt really good when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw a noticible difference over the past two days.  When I eat the way I know I need to eat I see results.  It really is that simple.  Why then, is it, that before 9:30 this morning I had grabbed a handful of m&ms and a couple of cookies?  I ate them thinking, “what are you doing? you know better than this!”  But, I ate them anyway.  It was a struggle for me to recover after that and to be good for the rest of the day.  Oftentimes when I lapse like that I adopt a “what the heck, I’ve already been bad today so I might as well indulge, I can be good tomorrow” attitude.  However, I wanted to avoid that today.  I knew that I’d be writing about my lapse and my (hoped for) recovery here and I found that helped keep me accountable.  Hopefully, in coming days I’ll let that accountability stop me from indulging in silly frivolous sugars in the first place.  I’ll be interested to see what the scale says tomorrow…

Tuesday, September 22nd

Morning weigh-in: 210.0

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with pepper jack cheese and 1 slice of bacon

Snack: Kroger brand Carbmaster yogurt (blackberry)

Lunch: 2 hamburger patties (1/4 pound) with pepper jack cheese and mustard.  1/2 can of green beans. No Sugar Added Fudge Bar from Popsicle.

Snack: 1 scoop EAS Protein Powder (chocolate), 1/2 cup decaf coffee, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup whole milk, 5 ice cubes.  (This was very tasty, will try with 1/2 cup of cream and no milk next time).

Snack: 1/4 cup mixed nuts (Heather and I went for a late afternoon run and I knew that we were going to have a late dinner so I added a little snack).

Dinner: Chicken and Apples with sage and dried cranberries in the slow cooker.  Bluesman, my new favorite wine from Davenport.

Dessert: Fresh strawberries with heavy cream and splenda.

Fluid Intake: roughly 86 ounces

Reflections: Needless to say I was a little dissappointed when my weight was a bit up this morning, but I know that it fluctuates a bit from day to day and still know that things are moving in the right direction.  All in all I feel really good today, controlling weight, going for a run, getting all of my systems as healthy as they can be.  Life is good!

Monday, September 21st – New Beginning

Today begins a recommitment to eating how I know I need to.  A little more than two and a half years ago I followed the diet advice of Dr. Mary Vernon, one of the country’s leading experts on carbohydrate restriction, and had great success.  To date I’ve kept most of the weight off, but have let some of my good eating habits slip over the course of the last year.  I want to again be eating correctly for the sake of my metabolic health as well as my weight.  I’m currently investigating the most inexpensive way to test my blood sugar and lipid panel and hope to soon establish some baseline numbers for my recommitment.

Morning weigh-in: 209.4

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs (scrambled with whole milk) and 1 piece of bacon

Snack: Peanut Butter Balance Bar

Lunch: Smoked Sausage from Vt. Street BBQ with spicy BBQ sauce.  1/2 cup cottage cheese. 1/4 cup coleslaw. 1 sweet potato fry (I had to try them).

Snack: 1/3 cup mixed nuts

Dinner: tuna salad (1 can of tuna, 1 TB mayo, 1 tsp sugar free pickle relish). 4 slices cheddar cheese. 1 strawberry.  small handful of grapes.

Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2-3 sliced strawberries with splenda.

Fluid Intake: roughly 74 ounces of water

Reflections: All in all I feel good about this first day back to intentionally focusing on my eating habits.  I made good choices at each of my meals and had good snacks.  I would like to drink closer to a gallon of water each day, but know that I’ll have to build back up to that.

New Direction

The last 3+ months have been a time of incredible transition.  I left my job at Resurrection and Heather and Hannah and I have moved into a new little home.  There has been stress, but there has been much joy.  There have been tears, but there has been much laughter.  It has been trying, but there is always hope.  Through it all it has been continually confirmed for me that Heather is a wonderful woman, that I have a great family, and that God is faithful and good.

I am planning to begin using Changing to Bring Change on a regular basis again.  I will from time to time share reflections on life and parenthood and such, but for the most part I’ll be heading in a new direction with it.  One of the projects I’ve recently begun working on is a start-up called Innovative Metabolic Solutions.  My work with them has sparked a desire within me to again pay attention to my metabolic health and to get back on track with some things that I have let slide.  I am still happy with my weight (about 210), but know that it could be less and that committing myself more fully to a high protein/low carbohydrate diet will help me shed a few pounds and, more importantly, get my metabolic health into peak shape.

Several years ago I read Atkins Diabetes Revolution and was inspired to change the way I ate.  I am currently blessed to be working with Dr. Vernon on IMS.  I’m currently reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes and would heartily recommend it already.  After having a chance to spend some time with Jeff O’Connell this last week I am also anxious for the release of his book, “Blood & Sugar: The Untold Story of America’s Diabetes Epidemic” set to release next spring.

Tomorrow morning I’ll weigh in and sometime in the next week or two I hope to get my blood work checked.  I plan to then use this site to track my daily food intake, my weight change, and my blood work from time to time.  I invite those of you who have traveled similar journey’s to provide support and encouragement.  I know I will need it.  I also hope that my story might be one that can provide support and encouragement to others who are looking to start a journey toward decreased weight and increased metabolic health.  As I reinforce these changes in my routines, I hope to bring inspiration to others to make changes in theirs.

Catching Up to be Gone

I’ve been away from the blog for a couple of weeks now.  No good reason, time just seems to be flying by.  I thought I’d share a few quick updates regarding things I’ve been doing and enjoying over the last weeks:

• I’m loving the new DMB and have been enjoying it on Pandora.  I’m looking forward to Tuesday’s release.
• I’m still enjoying running.  Ran an 8k on Memorial day in 50:38.  Heather ran a 2 mile on 21:17 the same mornng. 
• Will be attending KS East’s Annual Conference June 3rd – 6th and am looking forward to my first session back after being gone for some years.
• Am getting excited about a coming family camping trip to Arches National Park, June 7th – 15th.
• And, of course, I’m enjoying Hannah.  She’s been having fun helping in the garden.

Depending on what internet access looks like at annual conference I’ll plan to blog a time or two while there.  Once we leave on vacation though I’m disconnecting from email, twitter, facebook, blogs, the web in general.  I’m looking forward to it!

The Church and the Grocery Store

I’m helping lead a retreat this weekend for young adult leaders in the Kansas East Conference.  Part of our discussion will use this video as a starting point.

I hadn’t seen it until this week, but am struck by it’s message.  It has also caused me to reflect on a couple of posts from the past year about a new grocery store and a new church in downtown KC.  I continue to find myself feeling hopeful about church renewal and the future of KC.

40 Days of Prayer for the United Methodist Church

I am very excited to be a part of a prayer campaign for renewal in the United Methodist Church.  The campaign grew out of an idea that Ben Simpson had in March and has evolved into something that is very exciting and has a great deal of potential.  Beginning on May 18th, a prayer will be posted to the United Methodist Young Clergy site each day for 40 days.  These prayers are being written by young United Methodsit Leaders from around the country with their aim being to call upon God’s guidance and direction for the future of the United Methodist Church.  You can sign up to receive the prayers daily using the RSS feed.

I invite you, regardless of age or denominational affiliation, to consider joining us in this campaign to pray for the future of the United Methodist Church.