Ready, Set, Weekend with Simply Beautiful Eating

As you may already know, I'm Canadian BUT I have a ton of family and friends who live in the USA. I also feel that any excuse to celebrate and eat is fine by me. To commemorate the 4th of July, I thought it would be fitting to give you two sweet treats all dressed in RED, WHITE and BLUE. I couldn’t resist ordering some of these custom made donuts by miniliciousbyrachelle again AND I baked up an outta control cheesecake from an old recipe that is tried and true. When I wrote my blogpost on Canada Day, I gave you the top 11 things I love about Canada. Let me share my top 10 list of things I love about the USA in the eyes of a Canadian.

Here ya go: 1. The Star Spangled Banner - which I like to sing ........out loud at the start of every ball game....which is fine because it's so loud no one can hear me. 2. Walgreens - because they have just about everything you need in the makeup department without having to ship it through Amazon/Paypal to a US only address 3. REAL TARGET STORES - I can't even begin to tell you how much ours (which lasted here for like a New York minute) sucked. 4. Cereal Selections - at the grocery store - they have Chocolate Chex™ Cereal for goodness sake. 5. Bloomingdales - right? 6. Restaurant portions - I can't control myself 7. Dolla Dolla Bills - Love the US greenback single dollar bill - no loonies to weigh down your handbag 8. Hollywood - where all the stars come out at night (and during the day) 9. The Imperial System vs The Metric - I'm sorry fellow Canadians, but I still think in pounds, quarts, tablespoons and MILES!! 10. McDonalds™ Orange Pop - huh? Well, we stopped selling it here in Canada and it is the ONLY drink I can have with my Filet O' Fish™ meal. Mildred Stone’s 4th of July Cheesecake For the Crust 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 2 tbls sugar Pinch salt 5 tbls unsalted butter (if using salted butter, omit the pinch of salt), melted For the Filling 4 pkgs cream cheese(8 oz/250g each), room temperature 1 cup sugar 3 tbls flour 6 eggs separated 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup sour cream 1 jar of cherry preserves (you can use any flavour here - strawberry and blueberry is delish too)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare crust by mixing graham crumbs with sugar, salt and melted butter. Prepare 10 inch springform pan buy wrapping the bottom with foil so that no liquid leaks through when you place the filling in. I like to place the foil wrapped pan on a baking sheet that is lined with foil as well. Press crumb mixture into pan and slightly up the sides. Bake crust for 10 minutes and let cool completely. You can place the cooled crust in the fridge while you make the filling. It will ensure that it is nice and firm. Cream the cheese, sugar and flour until all ingredients are well blended. Slowly add egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and sour cream and continue beating until blended. Beat egg whites to soft peaks and gently fold into cheese mixture just until it is incorporated Pour into prepared graham crust Take 2 tbls of cherry preserves and dot onto the top of the cheesecake gently. Now take a knife and make a marbled swirl through the preserves. Bake at 350F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn oven off and leave cake in oven with door ajar for 1 hour. When cool, serve with mixed berries. So I bet you're wondering who Mildred Stone is. She was a lovely lady who my mom was friends with a long time ago. Honestly? I'm not sure why I have a bunch of her hand written recipes. One of which is a cherry cheesecake that I've been making since I was a teenager. I think it's okay to share this with you. Right Mildred Happy 4th of July! Debi @simplybeautifuleating simplybeautifuleating.com