A First for the Fourth

It's been a while since I documented trying to make a new dish. Given the last time I tried was Christmas, I thought it fitting to try and document something new for the Fourth.

Mike and I are headed down to lake Michigan tomorrow (fingers crossed no rain!) for a cook out with some friends. We've got the burgers, chicken, fruit for fruit salad and I'm making pico de gallo tomorrow. I determined we needed a dessert. (I swear make more than desserts. I must think documenting dessert is more fun.) So after looking at Epicurious, my Betty Crocker Cook Book and magazine recipes I've clipped, I settled on Philadelphia Peaches and Cream No Bake Cheesecake from the Kraft food magazine.

It's not exactly health food, but I don't care. It's the Fourth - a time for fireworks and fat. The thing I love about Kraft recipes is that while they may not be health conscience (think Velveeta as an ingredient), they are always pretty easy to make. There are only seven ingredients in this recipe. And don't worry, I'll give healthier suggestions in parenthesis.

This recipe starts with (low fat) graham crackers. I put two cups of the crackers into a plastic bag and started smashing them for the crust. Once they seemed fine enough, I put the crumbs in a measuring cup. I was shy of the two cups I needed, so I repeated with the smashing and the plastic bag with a few more crackers.

I then put the smashed crackers in the bottom of a 13x9 pan, added a 1/4 cup of sugar and stirred.

Once the graham cracker and sugar mixture was spread in the bottom of the pan, I poured 6 tablespoons of melted butter (margarine) over the top. I then spread around the mixture and made sure it was pressed into the bottom of the pan. With this part of the recipe done, I put it in the refrigerator to cool while I made the "cheesecake."

I started by putting four 8 oz. packages of softened (light) cream cheese in a large bowl. I added 3/4 cup of sugar to the cream cheese.

Next I beat the two together with a mixer until it was blended and smooth.


For the flavor, the packet of peach Jell-o came next. I poured the dry Jell-o powder on top of the cream cheese/sugar mixture. I then stirred it with a wooden spoon.

Next up was the can of peaches (in light syrup).

I took them out of the can and sliced them so they were less than whole but not chopped. I wanted them to be smaller chunks in the cream cheese mixture but not so fine that they weren't visible.

The peaches went on top of the cream cheese mixture, and on top of that a whole tub of (light, sugar free) whipped cream.

After I added these ingredients, I stirred the entire mixture really well until it was a consistency that looked right. I can't really determine if it was right because this is the first time I'm making this recipe. All I can say is it looked good and mixed, so it was time for me to get the graham crackers again.

I took the pan out of the fridge and spread the cream cheese mixture over the graham cracker crust until it was smooth and no crust was showing.

The last and final step was to cover the pan and put the entire mixture in the refrigerator.

The recipe calls for it to refrigerate for four hours. Since I made this at 11 p.m. tonight for lunch tomorrow, I'm just going to let it sit overnight. I'm hoping it won't mess with the recipe. I will let you know how it goes over tomorrow with Mike and the friends I'm trying it out on. My only hope is that it causes no one's face to do this.

Photo credit goes to Mike and the very powerful flash on my camera.