Conversation Heart Cheesecakes

I’m so lucky to be on a great negotiating team at work with people that I really do enjoy spending time with. We’re a great group with lots of opinions and although we don’t always see eye to eye we manage to have a great time together while we’re stuck in a room together for hours on end.  Since we had a holiday and day off before our next negotiating session and the following day was Valentine’s Day I decided to make a tasty treat for all of us.

I searched Pinterest for a cute Valentine’s Day treat that everyone would enjoy. I found these really cute Conversation Heart cheesecakes. I had never made a cheesecake and since I love a challenge and baking I thought it would be a great project.

I had this silicone mold with hearts but figured only making six at a time was going to take way to much time so I went and got these cute individual silicone hearts to use also. First I made a graham cracker crust and then put about 2 tablespoons of the crust in each heart. Then placed them all in the refrigerator while I made the cheesecake filling. 

The filling was super easy to make. I used Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Cheesecake recipe. Then I separated the filling evenly into six bowls and then used food coloring in the usual conversation heart colors.

I then baked them in a water bath for about 45 minutes. Once they came out of the oven I put them in the freezer for 15 minutes and the the refrigerator for an hour. The cheesecakes in the first mold I had (the one with six cavities) did not work out very well at all. When I tried to take them out of the cavities they crumbled. They were way to difficult to get out. The ones in the single molds came out really easy. 

  

In the directions the next step was to use red food coloring to write the usual messages you see on conversation hearts. I did a few but I wasn’t happy with the results. My writing just wasn’t looking like the examples and started to bleed so I left the rest of them plain

I thought all of the plain ones turned out really well. The cheesecake turned out perfect. I had plenty to send with Kelly to work for her coworkers that night and took the rest for the negotiating team to enjoy at lunch. Kelly said they were a huge hit with her coworkers and my coworkers also enjoyed them.

I hate finding things on Pinterest that look so good and easy and then you make them and they are horrible. This is definitely one that I would do again. The only thing I might do next time is pick one color instead of so many. I think it got a little overwhelming and some of the colors didn’t seem very appetizing especially the blue and orange.   

Salem has a new bestie

Salem and Hope have in just a short amount of time become bestie's. For as much trouble he gets himself in he sure is a sweet little dog. I love them to pieces.

How cute is this little face. Just a precious as ever.

Summer fun

I love seeing the kids having fun together. There is something about their giggles, their smiling faces and joy they have when they play together that warms my heart.

Christina came to visit

I got a call not to long ago from Christina’s husband, Matt, saying that he wanted to surprise Christina with a visit to California. I obviously jumped on that! She hasn’t come to visit since she moved to Idaho three years ago. I’ve been so excited for the last month and several occasions just wanted to call and tell her but I didn’t. Matt and I did a great job at keeping it from her until three days before the trip.  

Thomas was thrilled that Christina was going to be here to go to his baseball game. He was just a little boy and just learning to play baseball when she moved away so this was very special to him.

Karly was cracking me up with all of her funny faces. She’s just to cute.

We had a fabulous weekend with Christina and can’t wait for her to come back soon.

Happy Early Thanksgiving everybody…

It’s that season again where Kelly and I look at each other and try and figure out how we are going to make the holidays special for the kids and different from every other Sunday dinner.  We have a very small family and 90% of the time we have dinner on Sunday’s at my Dad’s house so when the holidays come it feels like every other Sunday dinner.  So this year we decided to change it up a little. Kelly invited some of her coworkers that would also be working on Thanksgiving and we invited our good friends Gary, Sandy and Shanna and decided to had a Thanksgiving party the Sunday before.  It was a great day! I hope it becomes an annual thing.  It was potluck style.  The guys all enjoyed watching football while the ladies finished up the food and played with all of the kids.  We had a ton of food and fabulous desserts. With the help of Katie, Kelly made her first pie crust which made delicious pumpkin and apple pies. 

                                                Katie and Baby Brooklyn       Sandy, Gary and Shanna

                                   Dave and his Mom, Coba                   Brian and Denishia

The Mertz Gang—(Noelle didn’t want her picture taken at the moment)

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of everyone else.  Hopefully next year.  It was a great dinner and a great time with family and friends.  Maybe next year we will be able to expand and include more people.  Kelly and I are not quite the party throwers so starting off small was still a little overwhelming for us but definitely worth it!!! 

Halloween 2011

This year we packed in the Halloween activities.  We baked and decorated sugar cookies,

Kelly and Karly baked a pumpkin cake.

Everyone carved a pumpkin

Thomas helped Noelle with her “guts”  and Grandpa helped Thomas carve his.

Karly gave up and decided to go read an upside down book.

Ollie and Salem got haircuts….

and the girls went Trick or Treating.  Thomas was with his Dad so I don’t have a picture of him in his costume.

Noelle and Karly were excited to have baby Brooklyn come and join them Trick or Treating.

 

Happy Halloween!!!!