Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians out there! It’s not very often that Allan and I are in town for long weekends, but since we’re saving for the wedding, we’ve stayed home more lately and were able to join in on my family’s Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is also a great time to give thanks for the many blessings in our lives… I’m very grateful for Allan, my family, my friends, my job, and my blog readers (counting to more than 2.6 Million unique visitors!)… thanks for reading

I also got some time to put together dessert for Thanksgiving dinner this year, and decided on a Vancouver-style pumpkin cheesecake recipe and a chocolate cheesecake recipe. Yes, Vancouver does have it’s own style of cheesecake… it’s characterized by very creamy/fluffy cheesecake and no crust. I added crust anyway, but this recipe can be made without crust.

VANCOUVER-STYLE ROASTED PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE AND CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE RECIPE

Makes two small cheesecakes, one pumpkin and one chocolate, enough for about 16 servings in total using 6″ springform pans

Ingredients for the Vancouver-Style Cheesecake:
725 ml cream cheese, at room temperature (very soft)… about 3 packages
185 ml ricotta cheese, at room temperature… about 1/2 a cup plus 1/4 cup
375 ml whipping cream
8 large eggs
1 cup of sugar
A small squeeze of lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped for seeds
5 ml pure vanilla extract

Ingredients for the Pumpkin Filling and Crust:
1 sugar pumpkin (the small ones)
1/2 teaspoon of good quality cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of ginger snaps crumps
1/8 cup of toffee, broken into very small pieces
1/4 cup of butter

Ingredients for the Chocolate Filling and Crust:
1 cup of melted good quality dark chocolate (about 1.5 cups of dark chocolate broken into pieces)
1 cup of Oreo or Chocolate Wafer crumbs
1/8 cup of toffee, broken into very small pieces
1/8 cup of chocolate hazelnut, broken into very small pieces
1/4 cup of butter
Optional: Frozen or fresh strawberries plus sugar, cooked over low heat for a yummy strawberry topping!

1. Wash the pumpkin, then halve it, scrape out the seeds, cut into small pieces and place flesh side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour or until soft.
2. Scrape the soft flesh off the pumpkin and puree in a food processor or blender until very very smooth.
3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Mix the crumbs for each cheesecake respectively with the butter and press down into a parchment paper-lined 6″ springform pan. Graham crackers/toffee/ginger snaps for the pumpkin, and Oreo or Chocolate Wafers/Toffee/Hazelnut for the chocolate cheesecake.

5. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and stir until completed melted and you have about 1 cup of melted chocolate. Let cool and stir occasionally.

6. Beat the cream cheese and ricotta together until very smooth.
7. Beat in the sugar and vanilla bean and extract.
8. Split the creamy mixture into two different bowls.
9. Mix in all the pumpkin puree into one of the bowls and beat until very smooth. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and mix well.
10. Beat in the 4 eggs until fluffy, and then half the whipping cream until light and smooth. Add a squeeze of lemon.
11. Pour pumpkin cheesecake mixture into graham cracker crust pan. Do not fill to top of pan, leave at least an inch of space.
12. Now start on the chocolate cheesecake. Pour the melted chocolate into the other creamy mixture bowl and mix well.
13. Beat in the 4 eggs until fluffy, and then the other half of the whipping cream until light and smooth. Add a squeeze of lemon.
14. Pour the chocolate cheesecake mixture into the chocolate crust pan. Do not fill to top of pan, leave at least an inch of space.
15. Bake both cheesecakes in the oven for about 30 minutes until the outsides are lightly browned but the middle of the cheesecake is still very jiggly. Do not overcook.

You can make the strawberry sauce or chocolate decorations while the cheesecake is baking.

16. Let cool and then refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours!

17. Serve with whipping cream for the pumpkin cheesecake and strawberry sauce for the chocolate! Yum!

All in all a fantastic Thanksgiving and we really enjoyed the turkey that my cousin made (my parents got a nice break from cooking). A great weekend!

How was your Thanksgiving weekend? What are you grateful for?

We celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada this past weekend. I hope everyone had a good one!

My long weekend was filled with Canucks hockey, a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and time with the family, and of course… more furniture sanding, painting, and refinishing.

Thanks to the awesome people at Canucks Hockey Blog (Hi JJ and Mozy!), Allan and I won tickets to the Canucks Open Practice this past Saturday. Now, tickets were free anyway, but they scored us awesome seats in Row 1 right beside the players’ bench!

It was great to see all the fans come out to support the team… and also great to see all the families and kids there. It’s a great event that everyone can afford to go to, and the team put on an exciting performance.

The practice was filled with various drills and scrimmages, and lots of goofing around from the players. I especially enjoyed the showboating during the shootout at the end of the practice. We had an awesome time and it got us all pumped for the game on Sunday night (which the Canucks won in an awesome shootout of course… must have been all that shootout practice … right?).

The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent mostly hunting for furniture, and sanding and painting. It’s amazing how much time it takes. We’ve spent dozens of hours already on just our dressers.

I spent Sunday afternoon cooking in the kitchen with my mom… and I think we put together a pretty nice spread! My dad did the turkey, which is (in my opinion) the best… he makes an amazing overnight brine for the turkey with fresh herbs from the garden… and of course it is cooked all day in the oven until it is fall apart tender.

We also had Kansas City ribs (no pre-made sauces, only fresh herbs and tomato sauce made from tomatoes from the garden, and oranges), avocado and beet salad, home made Ciabatta bread, roasted potatoes with carrots and blue potatoes from the garden, a vegetable tian with parmesan and bread crumbs, sparkling grape juice punch made from homegrown grapes, and some homemade chocolate crème brûlée from dessert.

Judging from the amount of food on Allan’s plate I think it turned out pretty good!

Monday was spent hunting for furniture, and finally completing the last coats of lacquer finish on the dresser. Here’s a shot of our setup in my parent’s garage. I will have before and after photos for you when all the bedroom furniture is done. We still have the bed to do!

Although I try to remember what I am thankful for every day at some point during yoga or prayer, Thanksgiving is always a good time to formalize it. So, here is what I am thankful for…

- Allan… my wonderful partner who means everything to me in this world! Thank you for always making me laugh and that we never get bored of spending time with each other.
- My amazing parents and my little brother… my whole family who I’m so grateful to be so close to.
- Our beautiful city and province where we can do all the activities we love to do
- Friends, for always being there for me
- My job and my coworkers
- A healthy body and mind!

What are you thankful for? What did you do this past weekend?