Recipe: Time to Pamper Yourself With My Healthier Chocolate-Orange Lite Cheesecake!

Unlike a typical New York style cheesecake that calls for several eight-ounce packages of cream cheese, my recipe is a delicious, low-calorie version.  What I have for you today with my Healthier Chocolate-Orange Lite Cheesecake tastes just as decadent, only mine has an airier texture since it uses cottage cheese instead. You will be surprised at its luscious creaminess and how the combination of chocolate and orange zest are so perfectly matched to give it something special.

In this photo, a piece of my Healthier Chocolate-Orange Lite Cheesecake looks lighter and more the shade of pumpkin pie.  However, this is just the lighting.  In reality, this color is more brown than it appears.

Making this cheesecake is also so simple because you just need to beat the filling ingredients together in your food processor first and then pour into an unbaked pie shell.  The hard part is waiting for it to chill in the refrigerator until it is ready to serve.

Although many may prefer a graham cracker crust, I use the easy oil pie crust recipe that I always do.  In fact, my recipe can be stretched thin enough to fit in a 10-inch Corning Ware fluted quiche that I’m using, which is another reason to love it because you get a large cheesecake without eating all that much crust.

If you don’t have any fresh orange to finely grate, you can use orange extract.  Another suggestion is the next time you have some nice, thick-skinned oranges, do what I do and grate, wrap a few packets and freeze for later use for cakes, frostings, sweet rolls, and coffee cakes.

Do try this cheesecake because I promise it’s a keeper!


My Healthier Chocolate-Orange Lite Cheesecake

3 large eggs
1 pound of cottage cheese
2/3 cup of sugar + 1 tablespoon
½ cup of dry milk solids
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of finely grated orange peel
1 tablespoon of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 unbaked 10-inch pie crust 


Make your pie crust and fit it into your well-greased pan.  I get a large cheesecake out of this recipe and fit mine into a white Corning Ware 10" fluted quiche pan.

In your food processor beat: the eggs, cottage cheese, sugar, dry milk solids, cocoa, orange peel, flour, salt, and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

Pour into your unbaked shell and bake in a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until you insert a toothpick or a slender knife into it and it comes out clean.

ENJOY!

Here is another photo of a piece of my Healthier Chocolate-Orange Lite Cheesecake.

Recipe: Easy Food Processor Salad Dressing Nuts Style!

This salad dressing is extra delicious with the addition of one fresh green pepper, an entire medium sized onion, and a clove of garlic that you process first before combining with the rest of the ingredients.  A refreshing twist comes from the orange and lemon juices that have a wonderful way to heighten the taste with that bit of citrus.  

Allow those awesome flavor molecules time to properly mingle in your refrigerator.  If you do, the wait will reward your taste buds with a superb salad dressing that will compliment those greens in magnificent style!

If you prefer a less sweet dressing, no problem.  All you need to do is cut the amount of sugar in half.

Easy Food Processor Salad Dressing 

1 medium green pepper
1 medium onion
1 large clove of garlic
1/4 cup of olive or canola oil
1/3 cup of orange juice
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

Clean and then process you green pepper that you cut in pieces along with the cut onion, and the garlic.

Add the orange juice, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper next and keep processing until you have the smooth texture of your liking.

Keep this dressing in the refrigerator covered for about two hours first so those flavors can percolate!

My No Work Food Processor Carrot Cake That You'll Be Nuts Over!

As you well know, I always splurge on the weekends with something sweet and delicious.  Besides being one of the best carrot cakes that I have ever experienced, this recipe is also a breeze when it comes to preparation over a typical carrot recipe since the food processor does all the hard work for you.  No more hand grating all those carrots, you normally would have to deal with or creaming with this simple but utterly moist cake.  I say the easier, the better!

Another thing about this recipe is that I have also made another version when I had extra zucchini from my garden.  Instead of the one-pound of carrots in the regular recipe, you can also use four carrots and one small zucchini and follow the recipe as described.  This also tastes just as awesome.

When I first made this cake, I used two cups of sugar as the original recipe called for.  However, this turned out an overly sweet cake in my opinion.  My guess is the sweetness of the carrots has something to do with the overall sweetness.  Therefore, if you sample a carrot and find it is less sweet than normal, you might want to increase the sugar by another one-fourth or one-half cup.  But, I just make it with one and one-half cups of sugar and always found it sweet enough. 

I hope you take the time to try this recipe when the next time the urge for carrot cake hits.  I am positive once you taste this, you will be so happy that you went ahead and took my advice.

No Work Food Processor Carrot Cake

4 eggs
1 cup of canola oil
1-1/2 cups of sugar 
1 pound of peeled carrots or 4 carrots and 1 small peeled zucchini
2 cups of sifted flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Blend in your food processor bowl  4 eggs, the oil, and the sugar until smooth. 

Now slowly add through the feed tube the peeled carrots, cut into inch-long pieces.  

When the carrots look fully grated, remove the lid and add the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

Replace the lid and blend again until the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined. 

Pour the batter into a greased 10-tube pan and bake in a  400-degree oven for about one hour or until a thin knife inserted comes out clean.