New Year . . . New You . . . Right?

It's officially the New Year 2017 . . . and that means it's time for resolutions again!  For me, New Year's resolutions always seemed like an excuse to wait until January to begin something and then forget about it by mid-February (which is why I'm thankful for Lent because that really gives me something to work on).

So this year I have a few resolutions, and they happen to coincide with the new year . . . and I suppose it'll be interesting to see how far I make it over the course of the year.  Anyway, here they are:

Faith

My Catholic faith is the cornerstone, the foundation of my entire life.  Without it, I'd be floundering with no direction.  But like all things in life, faith cannot flourish if it remains stagnate.  So one of my resolutions this year is to develop my spiritual life.  I've already started this by reading The Divine Intimacy each day, but this resolution includes adding in a daily spiritual reading with my husband and eventually a daily rosary.  

Finances

While my husband and I are currently both blessed with full-time employment, our ultimate goal is to live within one income and funnel everything else into savings . . . for children or retirement . . . basically for the future.

This resolution is to curb spending, find more ways of cutting expenses, and learning how to have fun and enjoy life WITHOUT having to spend big bucks or go out to eat.  It also involves overcoming my occasional distaste for cooking our own meals, which ends up costing us too much money as we eat out instead.

Another aspect of this resolution is to develop a supplemental income to help pay for travel and fun trips and such.  This is through my business as an Independent Thirty-One Consultant (and if anyone is interested in learning more about the company or hosting a party, let me know!)

This was definitely me this week.

Food

Sweets.  Sugar.  Portion control.  These are things that I do not deal well with.  I've gotten better at portion control as far as actual meals go, but when it comes to ice cream or chocolate . . . I'm lost.  Plus, all that sugar is bad for me . . . supposedly.  So I'm cutting out processed sugar completely to start, and probably completely for the most part.  This will also help with the Finances resolution of cutting expenses . . . no more ice cream!

Additionally, I'm going to try and work in more O-Blood type beneficial foods and cut out as many of the Avoid foods as possible.  And starches.  Starches are nasty.  They should be cut out as well . . . by and large.

Fitness

This is my last resolution . . . it's also the one that will be addressed last.  I've never been a good exerciser.  Never enjoyed it.  Never liked it.  Never found the stamina and motivation to keep up with it.  And with a job that has me up at 6am and working until 8pm (between breakfast and lunch and dinner and work-work and housework), finding time every day to exercise has seemed impossible.  I know it's not . . . but like I said, the motivation just isn't there.

My resolution is to try and incorporate some small exercise into my daily routine . . . maybe just 5-10 minutes of simple exercises in the morning.  Obviously, I'd like to be able to spend more time, especially since an O-Blood type thrives on physical exertion, but we'll see how this one goes.

And that's my list of resolutions.  Hopefully writing them down will help keep me more accountable.  Plus, it helps to have actual accountability partners - I've got an awesome friend keeping me accountable with my spiritual development and a terrific sister who's joining me in the "no processed sugar" fight this year.

Recipe Corner - Pecan Pie Cheesecake

This post is a few days late (ok almost a week) . . . But surely all will be forgiven when you see the amazing and decadent dessert I'm sharing with you today!  I've made this cheesecake twice now this week (one for each Christmas celebration we had - it's been fun experiencing our first Christmas together as a married couple and celebrating with both sides of our family.) And it's been a delicious treat to share with both families.

I found the recipe via Pinterest (check out my page for many more food pins) and ultimately used the recipe from Lil' Luna (which can be found here).  Fair warning - this cheesecake is extremely rich and decadent.  Go easy on the serving sizes.  :)

Pecan Pie Filling

The first time I made it without the crust since we're gluten-free, and I couldn't find any vanilla wafers that were also gluten-free.  Still tasted amazing.  The second time we made it with a crust, and it was still amazing.  Another change I made was substituting honey for the dark corn syrup.  I did a 1-1 ratio substitution; however, you can use the corn syrup or do another substitution.  My family decreed the pecan pie filling bottom absolutely the sweetest part of this cheesecake.

Once the pecan pie filling is made and in the pan, the next step is cheesecake (my favorite part)!  I would advise letting the pecan pie filling part cool in the fridge while you mix the cheesecake to keep the cheesecake from filling the center and pushing the pecan pie filling up the sides.

Next came the hard part - letting the cheesecake sit overnight so that we could mix up the topping and finish it the next day.  But the topping tastes and looks amazing!  And, as an added bonus, it hides any mistakes or imperfections in your cheesecake top!  I do recommend, however, baking your cheesecake in a water bath.  This helps prevent cracking.  But also wrap the bottom of your cheesecake pan with tinfoil to avoid getting water inside.

And voila!  You've got an amazing and decadent dessert perfect for any special occasion!  As an added bonus, I used my leftover heavy whipping cream to make my own whipped cream - 1 c. whipping cream + 2 tbsp. sugar/honey + 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.

What do you think?  What's your favorite dessert?