Cheesecakes!

I'm on a roll. Another cookbook down. On Monday evening, I made miniature Key Lime Cheesecakes from "Ultimate Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecakes." Using the miniature graham cracker crusts instead of a full 9-inch crust cuts the baking time in half, and the recipe is only three steps. I forgot how much I love this cookbook, which I've had since 1996. One of my favorite recipes is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake. Maybe I'll have to make that sometime soon! —CS

Third quarter update

Needless to say, we 're quite behind in our cookbook challenge since we didn't use any new cookbooks in June and even added another one to the collection.

Matt bought me "Rustic Fruit Desserts" by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson for my birthday in June, and I have already used it. I made a wonderful Lemon Blueberry Buckle over the 4th of July weekend. This cookbook has the recipes broken down by season. All of the seasons include wonderful recipes, but I'm most looking forward for fall and the Maple Apple Dumplings and Pear Cobbler with Shingled Hazelnut Biscuits.

And then yesterday I made a salsa recipe from Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food." First of all, it was a gift from my friend Susan two years ago and she had it autographed by Alice Waters. I felt guilty that I hadn't used it yet, so I made it a priority on the cookbook list. The Fresh Tomato Salsa recipe is a perfect match for the cookbook's title. It was so simple, fresh, and tasty. Perfect for a summer evening BBQ.

According to my spreadsheet, we've used 19 cookbooks out of 75. A little more than a quarter of the way there, but with only six months to go. We've got to light a fire to make it to our deadline, or else purge a lot of cookbooks from our collection. —CS