Sweet potato cheesecake

This year for Thanksgiving we had a dear sweet sister join us from Liberia. Actually we were her host family for two months while she worked with the local university. It was her first Thanksgiving and I wanted to make it extra special.
As I was running around with my husband trying to buy all the ingredients for dinner I ran into a slight problem. Apparently there is a pumpkin shortage and I think I am the only one who did not know this. As I was walking around the store I began to pray silently to the Lord for ideas on what to do now? Funny how He speaks to me as I walk right by the canned sweet potato's. A thought came into my head that went something like this "you could use sweet potato's and make a cheesecake" my next thought "gross" I end up walking down that aisle three more times searching in vain for that one can of pumpkin that I just know has got be there.
I end up buying the sweet potato's.
I will preface this by saying I am little slow sometimes. I get home and don't bother to scan the internet for a recipe I set to work creating it myself. I could have made this much easier on myself!
The cheesecake turned out great and just for grins I searched the internet for a sweet potato cheesecake recipe and low and behold there are dozens of recipes! I wasn't the first to think of it. Here is the recipe I created below. My family loved it!

Marbled Sweet Potato Cheesecake
1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (put then in a food processor or in a ziploc bag and run a rolling pin over to crush.)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans.
1/3 cup melted butter--the real stuff people
2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup canned sweet potatoes--pureed in food processor or mashed up
3/4 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees
in a medium bowl mix together the crushed gingersnap cookies, pecans, and butter. Press into the bottom, and about 1 inch up the side of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake crust 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture. Blend 1/4 cup sugar, sweet potato cinnamon, and nutmeg into the remaining mixture.

3. Spread the sweet potato mixture into the crust, and drop the plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.

4. Bake 55 minutes in preheated oven, or until filling is set. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Allow to cool before removing pan rim. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

*It tastes best a day or two after you make it.

Let me know what you think. It was yummy and new classic we will be enjoying again next year, that is unless there is a "sweet potato shortage"

I am just so...

I realized over the last few days how wrongly motivated I am to serve others in my home over my family. Ugh! Sin has a way of coming to the surface. Thank you God for that. We have recently had the opportunity to have someone come live with us for a couple of months. We freely opened up our home to this "stranger" in faith that this is what God would have us do.
This is where my sin gets ugly! Our guest was set to arrive Monday. So over the weekend I sat down and got out my cook books and made a menu plan for the next 6 days and a grocery list. Good, nothing wrong with that. Right? Wrong! I haven't had a menu plan or been grocery shopping in, ahem, uh...Well, do I have to say?
My motivation for "meal planning" and grocery shopping were not pure ones. They were good but not pure. You see, I was more concerned with our guest than I was with my own family! While it is good to be concerned for and care for others my primary mission is and should be my family.
So this is my way of repenting to my family and hopefully motivating others to look closely at their motives.
Keep serving others but make sure you serve your family while your at it.
Until next time,
Ami

A Shameless plug

Here is my shameless plug to ask for prayer. As some of you know we are in the midst of trying to adopt two precious children from Liberia. Today on the "Oprah" show she will be showcasing fascinating families. Among them are our adoption coordinator, Angel Rutledge and her family along with others who have adopted from Liberia, West Africa.
Here is where we need you and the children of Liberia need you! Please pray that the segment on the Liberian adoptions will significantly impact people and that adoptions in Liberia will open up soon. There are 100 children that have been matched with families. Two children have died since the moratorium on adoptions in Liberia have been put in place.
You can go to my blog on adoption to get more information on that.
Thanks for the prayers. We serve a might God!
Ami

Practice makes Progress

I have been thinking about the word practice for a while now. I thought I knew what it meant. Apparently not. Just for fun I looked it up in the dictionary. Here are just a few things the dictionary had to say about the word practice; "to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient,a repeated or customary action, the usual way of doing something, a systematic exercise for proficiency."

My husband and I were on a date night a few years ago at a local restaurant. After we were seated I recognized the wife of a friend of my husband's seated with another lady. She noticed us as well and came over to our table. We were introduced to her friend, Elizabeth. She greeted us with a warm smile. We chit chatted for just a minute or two and before going back to their seats Elizabeth invited us over to dinner the following Tuesday evening. A stranger for all practical purposes invited us over to dinner. We were thrilled. We had just moved to town about a year prior and were still struggling with getting to know people and making friends. We had been reaching out to others and inviting people to our home, an apartment, until we could find a house but it just seemed to us that everyone one was too busy with their life for a new-comer. Now, here is this person we just met inviting us over.
That invitation was exactly what I needed on that day.

I think Elizabeth was prompted by God's spirit to reach out to us. She was listening and obeying the voice of God.

So what does this have to do with the word "practice" So glad you asked! Did you catch the phrases from Webster's???? "repeated action, customary action etc" These words would lead one to infer that practice means to do something over and over again. To make it a part of your customary actions or routines. Do it until it becomes second nature. Do it and don't think about it. Make it a habit. It was so easy for Elizabeth to reach out to us. I think it was because she "Practiced Hospitality" don't you?

Commandment or Suggestion? Part I

Hospitality. What comes to mind when you hear this word? Planning? Money? Stress? Cleaning? Serving? Giving? Work?

What does scripture have to say about it? What do you have to say about it?

I Peter 4:9 "Show hospitality to one another with out grumbling"


As a young married woman I looked forward to practicing hospitality. I was also keenly aware of our lack of finances, how small our home was (some 800 square feet) and how I perceived it needed to be decorated and cleaned before I could ever even think about having anyone over. My husband had other ideas. He didn't bat an eye when our small group from church needed a place to meet. He automatically volunteered our place. At the time I was not very happy with him. Didn't he know what kind of stress he was putting on me? UGH! Hospitality is not my gift. Our small group met every Thursday evening. I had a week to prepare! We would not only be responsible for providing the meeting place but for providing snacks as well. How would I ever be able to afford to feed that many people? If memory serves me correctly we had approximately 6 couples attending on a regular basis. Our grocery budget was $35 a week. My husband suggested making Jiffy muffin mixes. They came in different flavors like Raspberry and Blueberry. You could get 5 boxes for about a dollar. You just add water and an egg, and bake in muffin pans. We planned on preparing and serving a couple of pitchers of Kool-Aid brand lemonade.

Oh, did I mention we owned 4 wooden chairs? That's it. We had no furniture! We solved that problem by asking people to bring their own outdoor chairs.

When Thursday night arrived I had been working and working. I was worn out!

Guess what? It all worked out! Everyone loved the muffins and wanted the recipe. I had to laugh at that one!
You would think that after hosting our small group that I would have learned to relax and enjoy practicing hospitality huh? Well, Let's just say I am a slow learner sometimes!!!!

Looking back now after 13 some-odd years I realize my sin of "pride" I was more concerned with what people would think of where we lived and what kind of food we served them. I wasn't seeking to bless others, only myself. I was too worried about "me"

By God's Grace I have grown a lot in this area. Look for part two to this post along with some helpful hints for practicing hospitality on a budget and maybe even a recipe or two to get you started.

Remember sometimes you just have to "Do it"