Coconut Lime Cheesecake Bars

Last week, my mom posted a pin on Pinterest of a recipe for Coconut Lime Cheesecake Bars. Right when I saw it, I knew I had to make them! Coconut and cheesecake are two of my favorite things, so combining them sounded so heavenly! I made them yesterday and they turned out pretty great! I'm posting the recipe on here to share and for future reference.

 

Coconut Lime Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

Crust-

1 pkg. sugar cookie mix, unprepared

2 Tbsp. flour

1/3 c. butter, softened

1 egg

Filling-

2 pkgs. (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 can (16 oz.) cream of coconut

3 Tbsp. lime juice

1 tsp. coconut extract

2 eggs

Frosting-

1 pkg. cream cheese

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. coconut extract

1 Tbsp. lime juice

2 c. powdered sugar

Topping-

1 1/4 c. toasted coconut

2 Tbsp. lime peel (optional)

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

In large bowl, combine crust ingredients until soft dough forms. Press evenly into bottom of pan. Bake 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes. 

While crust is baking, in large bowl, beat cream cheese for 1 minute. Slowly add cream of coconut until well blended. Stir in lime juice and coconut extract. Add eggs, one at a time, until smooth. Spread over crust. Bake 40-45 minutes or until set and golden brown around edges. Cool 20 minutes at room temperature, then refrigerate for 1 hour. 

In another bowl, blend together cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add coconut extract and lime juice. Slowly add powdered sugar until well blended. Carefully spread frosting over cheesecake layer. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and lime peel. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before cutting into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Cinco de Mayo recipes

My roommates and I are throwing a Cinco de Mayo party/potluck this Saturday, considering it's the 5th of May and we want to eat some good Mexican food! We created a Facebook event and invited some friends who will hopefully come!

Here is the story we posted on our event about how we believe Cinco de Mayo was created:

"Most people don't know that back in 1912 Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery at Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise and eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Cinco de Mayo."

Awesome, right? Of course it's just a funny made-up story but I thought it was quite entertaining! Anyways, I've been researching recipes for us to make for our potluck, and I think I found a few pretty good ones. My friend Tim is making his famous Chicken Fajitas, so I found some side dishes that I think will go pretty well with them. I'm posting the links if you want to check them out for yourselves! 

Warm Bean Dip 

Fresh Lime Freeze

Fresh Homemade Tortillas

Mexican Chocolate Frozen Bananas

Spanish Churros

Mexican Ice Cream

Yummy! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Enjoy my image I created below!

Update time!

I am finally done with my hectic, stressful, last fall semester at BYU-Idaho! It was also my last hard semester as well. Next spring, I will only be taking 7 credits and hopefully find a part time job on-campus or somewhere in Rexburg. I'm excited for my last semester!

I also officially have an internship! Even though I didn't get either of the two church ones I wanted, I am even more excited for this one I am doing. I am working for Fluid Studio, a graphic design and advertising firm in Bountiful, Utah. The owner, John Dye, is so flexible and let me decide how many days I wanted to work and for how long I wanted to work for. I only want to do a 1 credit internship (100 hours), since it's unpaid. So I plan on working only a couple days a week, 15 hours a week, for 7 weeks. I am living near Provo, so it will take a good hour to get to Bountiful so I only want to drive there a couple time a week! This internship was my backup plan if I didn't get the church internships. I am way happy to be working for an actual firm, which is where I want to work someday, than doing intense writing jobs for the church. I wanted to write for the church to improve my writing skills, which every student majoring in Communications needs to be a good writer. But they would take a lot of commitment, working 40 hours a week, and I would only have free time on the weekends. I would still have to drive about 45 minutes one-way each day! So yeah... that would be tough. I want to enjoy my off-track! Plus I'm taking a couple of online classes, so I really am happy with doing this internship so I can have time to do some homework!

I finished all my BYU-Idaho finals last Wednesday, which was so nice because it gave me all of Thursday to pack up my stuff. Alan flew into Salt Lake on Wednesday night, then spent all of Thursday with my brother Aaron and his family. He then got on the Salt Lake shuttle Thursday evening and drove to Rexburg. We left Friday at 10 in the morning and drove all the way home. It took a little less than 10 hours. In the past, the roads have been so bad driving home that it is impossible to not slide everywhere. It is scary with all the snow and wind blowing! But we got so lucky, and the roads were completely dry the whole way home! I could have driven home myself!

It has been so nice being home. I have just been relaxing and doing random things. On Monday, it was my mom's birthday, so I made her this delicious, 3-layer coconut cake. I found the recipe here. It's Paula Deen's, so of course it's good! There's this filling that you put in between each layer, that soaks into the cake to make it very moist! Paula Deen normally has her cake sit for 3 days so it gets super moist, but my cake layers were so small compared to hers, I only let it sit for a couple hours and it turned out fine. The one thing I didn't have time to make perfect was the frosting. It should have had time to harden for a couple of hours, but I only let it sit for maybe 20 minutes, so it was way runny! But I covered the whole cake it coconut flakes and it looked alright. I'm just glad it turned out and my family really liked it!

Yesterday was my birthday! I really don't know how I feel about being 22. But I had a very fun day. My Grammie gave me some of her homemade rolls to eat for breakfast, which is the best breakfast ever! I got a birthday letter in the mail from Geoff, which means he took time out of his busy schedule to write me an extra letter! So sweet of him :) I also like how it arrived on my birthday... he has good timing! My best friend Holly and her family are in town, so they brought be balloons in my favorite colors (green and blue) and took me out to lunch! Then my mom and I went to Wenatchee and I got some cute shirts. I came home to a heart made with powdered doughnuts on the front window of my car, and my Aunt Mimi also decorated some of the doughnuts as cute snowmen! I had a great day!

Here I am, a static mess, in Holly's birthday balloons.


One of the cute, powdered doughnut snowmen!


Also, here is a video birthday message that my cousin Leisha sent me of her daughters, Emma and Nora. It pretty much made my day! Emma is perfectly on pitch! I love these cute girls so much!


I have the best family and friends, ever! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special, including all of you who said happy birthday to me over Facebook! It made me day all the better.

Day 25

Day 25:
A picture of one of your favorite homemade foods and the recipe for it


So far I have two of my favorite recipes on my blog (potato soup and apple dumplings!) but one I haven't added yet, but have been meaning to, is the oh-so-scrumptious pumpkin roll! I don't care that this is classified as a Christmas holiday food. I love it so much and I crave it a lot! Too bad I probably won't be eating it again until Christmas since I'm going on my strict diet from July until I am satisfied with my weight. But it is definitely a food you must make! It does take some skill and practice, and the first time around it will probably be messy, but you'll perfect it in no time!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

My new found love: Apple Dumplings

For Thanksgiving, my wonderful Grammie Chlarson made apple dumplings. I don't think I've ever had them before, and if I have then I definitely don't remember. Once I took a bite of one of those mouthwatering dumplings, I swear my life changed! I don't know why I was never introduced to them before because they are now my new favorite dessert... yes it even beats cheesecake for me! Too bad it's more of a holiday dessert, even though you could make it whenever but it's not the same. My other favorite dessert is usually only made during the holiday season as well, and that's a pumpkin roll. My mom and I made a pumpkin during Thanksgiving and it made me so happy :) Although these desserts should only be eaten sparingly so you don't die an early death, I am thankful for them sooooo much and I will definitely be including them in my holiday seasons hopefully for years to come!

I treated my roommates to apple dumplings yesterday for Sunday dinner. And I even saved a couple for Luke and Geoff because I'm nice like that! We topped it off with vanilla ice cream, and I swear we were all in heaven!

Of course I have to show them off!
Before....

... and after! Don't they look so scrumptious?


Make them for yourself, I promise it will be one of the best things you do! They are so easy to make! Here's the link I used from The Pioneer Woman's web site. There's pictures and she shows you step by step how to make one of the best desserts ever!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/02/apple_dumplings/

Enjoy :)

Warm soup and warm weather. What more do I need?

Today for dinner, I am making my favorite potato soup!

Here is is sitting in all of its glory :) It will sit in the crock pot for 7 hours and become the most delicious soup ever! I hope my roommates and friends coming over will agree!

Here is the recipe in case you want to try it for yourself:
8 Cups diced peeled potatoes
3 Tablespoons dehydrated onions
5 1/2 Cups water
8 chicken bullion cubes
1 Can cream of chicken soup
1 package of cream cheese cubed
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
1/2 Cup bacon bits
1/2 Cup shredded cheese
Chives

Directions:
In a slow cooker, combine first 5 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours (potatoes should be tender). Add cream cheese, stir until blended. Garnish with bacon, cheese and chives if desired. Makes 3 quarts.


Normally, Rexburg becomes an iceberg after only being at school for 3 weeks, and by the middle of October snow and ice are a common sight. Well, here is what it looked like outside of my bedroom window this morning:

Sunny weather, and around 65 degrees will be the high. Definitely not normal for Rexburg, which by now should be in the negatives during the night and mornings then only get into the single digits for the rest of the day! I am SO grateful for this uncommon occurrence. I am such a wimp when it comes to the cold winters, especially Rexburg winters where there's a wind chill that kills you when you're walking up the hill to school! I am going to enjoy my warm soup in the warm weather while it lasts!

Oh... and my ward, for the 5th semester in a row, is the Ultimate Frisbee Champs! I like to say I'm their good luck charm, since they have been the champions every Fall and Spring semester since I've been at school!