I ate cheesecake without feeling guilty!

I did it... I ate cheesecake without feeling guilty...

... I can now cross it off of my 50 things to do before I am 50!!!

Cheesecake... It might be my favorite thing in the world... next to my fantasy of winning Lotto. I got this recipe from a 2010 Kraft Foods ad in the April edition of Ladies Home Journal. I think I tore it out at the Dr.'s office (I won't name which one since we frequent there often... and the back of the ad was a recipe for a weird looking veggie dish... so I figured it was okay).

I needed an excuse to make it. I certainly couldn't make a cheesecake just for fun. Do people do that?? So, I noticed a friend was having a birthday. I called her and asked if she liked cheesecake. She said she LOVED it. My plan was half way complete. Now I needed to have more people join us to celebrate. It has been a mission of mine to overcome my guilt while eating cheesecake. I mean, after all, isn't cheese a protein? So, the girls came. Three out of the four. One even brought her littlest daughter. We had salad, wine (don't tell anyone.... it was only a little bit) and then for the grand finale.... cheesecake! And I served it with a bowl of Trader Joe's frozen blueberries that I had refrigerated overnight. Everyone loved it. Even the littlest one of the party. And guess what???? NO GUILT!!! Just pleasure! I am listing the recipe below in case you want to gather a friend and have some no guilt cheesecake.

Enjoy!

- Tracy

Deliciously Simple

Philadelphia Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake

40-45 Nilla Wafers, crushed (about 1 1/2 c.)

3 Tblsp. butter, melted

4 pkgs (8 oz. each) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened and divided

1 c. sugar, divided

1 Tblsp., plus 1 tsp. vanilla divided

3 eggs

1 tub Cool Chip (8 oz.), thawed

Heat oven to 325. Mix wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9" springform pan. Beat 3 pkgs. cram cheese, 3/4 c. of the sugar and 1 Tblsp. of the vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each egg just until blended. Pour over crust. Bake 50-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool completely in pan. Beat remaining cream cheese, sugar and vanilla into mixer in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in Cool Whip (I mixed it with mixer). Spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours (I refrigerated overnight). Remove from pan before serving. Garnish with fresh berries if desired (I use Trader Joe's frozen blueberries... refrigerate overnight and serve alongside cake in a bowl and drizzle over individual slices).