No-bake peanut butter cheesecake pie

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie 

Having a farm, a family and a business on the homestead allows me to do one of my favorite things everyday! Cook !! I sometimes like to post food on my FB page and sometimes on Instagram with the hashtag #foodie.  I love food and I love to cook and bake !  

Recently, I was asked to share my recipe for my peanut butter no-bake cheesecake.  This is a delicious, decadent dessert that is great for warmer weather so that you do not have to heat up the kitchen with your oven.  It is also great in cold weather months as well.  

This recipe is not low-fat, it is not gluten or sugar or dairy free....it is just yummy, easy and satisfying.  

I always have the ingredients on hand and can throw this together in no-time when I know company is coming over. 

FYI - you will need a mixer (hand or stand) or a food processor to make the pie filling.  You cannot do this by hand unless you have arms of steel. 

Prep Time - 10 minutes

Bake Time - None 

Crust - 

I use a prepared graham cracker crust (9 oz), but you can make your own. Yes, I know, it is easy to make a crust and since I have a food processor and stand mixer, it would be a piece of cake (pun intended), and  I normally do things from scratch, but this recipe is all about quick, fun and decadent! 

Pie Filling - 

8 oz cream cheese - room temperature

1 cup smooth peanut butter - room temperature

1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar 

1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip Whipped Topping- thawed

• Whip together the cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth.  I just turn on my stand mixer to medium and let it rip for 2 minutes, wipe the bowl down and let it go for another 2 minutes.  You cannot over whip this, but you can under whip.  The more you mix, the lighter and fluffier the pie will be. 
• After wiping down the bowl again, slowly incorporate the confectioners sugar on a slow speed.  I say slowly, because if you don't you will have a snow cloud all over your countertop.  Once fully incorporated, mix again on medium for a minute or so. 
• Take the bowl off the mixer and fold in the whipped topping by hand with a spatula. 

Chocolate topping - 

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate (like Ghiardelli - do not use semi-sweet) 

2 tsp solid vegetable shortening (I use Crisco) 

• You can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate or a microwave.  Again, for me, because this recipe is all about quick and easy, I use the microwave at 15 second intervals, remove and stir until perfectly melted. 
• Once melted, drizzle the chocolate over the pie filling in a sort of design, do not do a solid surface as the filling is soft and when you go to take a forkful, the pie will smoosh. 
• Put pie in refrigerator for at least an hour. 

Voila - easy, peasy and so good. 

Enjoy! 

You can experiment with other "butters".  Almond, cashew, Nutella.  I haven't tried them, but I am sure they will be equally yummy ! 

Now off I go to spin :) 

If you make this, let me know how yours turns out. 

So what do you watch while spinning/knitting? - PARENTHOOD

Many of my friends like to listen to music or binge-watch shows on Netflix etc. while spinning and/or knitting.  I do enjoy listening to music in the background as well, but I think most people can find something they enjoy on the radio or Spotify etc, so suggestions are typically not needed, and music is so subjective, that I don't think it makes for interesting blog fodder.

I thought I would start writing about Shows/Movies that I think are worth watching.  While some shows are entertaining to pass the time,  I will only be discussing shows that have quality acting, writing and directing.  So while something like "Hart of Dixie" may be amusing, I will not recommend or discuss it, other than to say the acting is horrendous and the story lines would make Lucille Ball embarrassed!

But I digress. . . .

As of my writing this, I just finished binge-watching "Parenthood", so I am going to start with it.

Don't worry, NO SPOILERS here folks :) 

Seasons 1 - 5 are on Netflix, 1 - 4 on Amazon Prime.  For season 6, I had DVRed it as someone told me to watch it, but of course, I wanted to start from the beginning, because "that's how I roll".  

This show dealt with some weighty issues such as: adoption, illness(es), marriage issues, infidelity, money issues, drugs/alcohol, veterans and just day to day life.  It did it all with a central love of family whose patriarch "Zeek" (Craig T Nelson) devoted his life to building.   The 4 siblings where believable and characters were richly defined. The trials and tribulations of each member and how family gathered around for good and bad was touching and sometimes inspirational.  I was particularly amazed as so many leading character story-lines could be so richly developed and carried throughout the 6 seasons and not a single cast member of the "original 6" was lost.  The show represented life with so much humor and pathos while never insulting our intelligence or skirting around issues.  Great actors all around and while "Sarah's"character (Lauren Graham) annoyed me often, Ray Romano was brilliant in a non-comedic role.  All the actors, are very talented, and all, including the children, were believable and unwavering in their characters. They were true to form throughout the entire series.  

The final episode wrapped up the 6 seasons beautifully, but be warned, I have not cried that much since the final episode of M.A.S.H. and am now feeling a little melancholy that the Braverman Clan are not a part of my daily life as they were for the last 6 weeks.

You definitely need to put this show on your list of "Shows to Spin With"!  I HIGHLY recommend this show to everyone and give it

Weaving Cloth and the wet finishing (fulling)

It is rare when a "fiber artist" actually takes time out from making things for sale to make something for him/herself or the house.  Well, I took time out last week to make a table runner for my bookcase in the 3rd floor guest bath.  The reveal of the total bathroom remodel will be post on this blog in the coming weeks, as soon as the last remaining finishing touches are completed.  :)  

This cloth was made from Debbie Bliss Fez yarn which is 85% merino and 15% camel.  It is a felt-able yarn which is what I wanted for this project.  

I chose a Navy Blue and Pale Yellow colors.  I used an Ashford 24" rigid heddle loom with a 7.5 dent reed.  The yarn is a worsted weight.  The runner came out to approx 38 inches long and 11 inches wide after fulling.  It shrank about 3/4 of an inch in width and 3+ inches in length.   I hand twisted the fringe because I wanted it to hang off the sides rather than using a hem stitch etc.  

To full the cloth, I used hot sudsy water and soaked for about 5 minutes to get it totally wet.  Then I simply scrubbed the cloth to itself longwise. Alternatively, I could have used a washboard, but I really wanted my hands to control the process.   I repeated this procedure 3 times until I got the tightness in the cloth I desired.   I wanted the colors to remain somewhat vibrant and not completely meshed with each other, but I also wanted the cloth to have some stiffness as it is a table runner, not a scarf.  Once I was done with the scrubbing, I alternated hot, cold, hot, cold baths, then squeezed (not rang) out the water and used a chamois to get even more water out and then laid it flat on my knitting blocking matts.  No pins or blocking needed.  

Here is the start (on the loom), before wet finishing (fulling), on the blocking mat, and finally on the bookcase.  

I am quite please with the results. . . what do you think? 

Left to Right 1. On the loom, 2. Before fulling 3. On the blocking matt
Bottom Finished piece in place

Alpaca Micron Grade Ranges and Best Uses

I am often asked as a skirter/sorter/grader on what is the best use for a particular micron count.  Here are the ranges I sort/grade into and their best use.   

The human eye can only see about a 2 micron difference, so of course this is a guide and the more you sort, the better you become at sorting. The key is to have batches of fiber of no more than 3 micron difference or more than 1/2 inch difference in staple length for the best yarn.   

This is my chart that I developed over the years and is pretty typical of commercial grading.   Please DO NOT copy the chart.  You may link to the post or refer to it for personal use.  

I made a cheat sheet years ago by starting with OFDA tested fiber in different microns and have that sheet with the representative fiber sitting next to me as a guide when I grade.   

Fiber that has a lot of guard hair that is markedly different than the primaries in micron is batched differently and not mixed with the pure grades.  

Grade	Name	AFD (Microns)	Use
1	Ultra Fine (Royal Baby)	less than 20	Next to skin items, gentle use
2	Super Fine (Baby)	20-22.9	Gentle use items – shawls and baby items
3	Fine	23-25.9	Most versatile grade - pretty much anything wearable
4	Medium	26-28.9	Socks, throws, outerwear and felt
5	Intermediate	29-32	Quilt Batting, duvets, outerwear and felt
6	Robust	greater than 32	Batting, insulation and rugs

Open House at the Farm Saturday October 18th, 2014 11am-4pm

Announcing our first open house of the holiday season! 

Saturday October 18th, 2014 11am - 4pm

Sebastian really hopes you will join us! 

New inventory is rolling in daily from the mill, our co-ops and of course being made by hand on the farm.   So it's time to jumpstart your holiday shopping as there are only 72 shopping days left until Christmas.

For those of you that cannot make it to Rhinebeck this weekend, why not spend the day with us? Bring your knitting/spinning/crocheting and hang out and craft in our "Spinners Circle".

Browse the new inventory:

• Farm roving fresh from the mill
• Hand painted and kettle dyed fiber 
• Spinning/Felting Batts
• Art Batts
• Farm yarn fresh from the mill
• Hand Spun Yarn fresh off the wheel
• Gloves, hats, scarves, socks 
• Dryer balls
• Felted soap

And MUCH more!

Meet an Alpaca !  (See pics at www.AlmaPark.com) 

See the space and layout for the new store and fiber studio

See a spinning demo

Sign up for spinning or knitting classes starting in November

Learn more about raising alpacas by asking alpaca related questions, fencing, barn layout etc 

And MORE! 

Click here for DIRECTIONS

• Mention this blog post to get 10% off your purchase*
• Can't make it on Saturday? Well pop on over to our online store www.yourLYSonline.com and take 10% off *using coupon code OPEN10 - new inventory is being posted to the website all week - so check back often! 

*Excludes: Virtual Adoptions, Dyes, Blending Boards, Clubs and Animal Purchases