Epiphanies and Cheesecake

I said to myself recently, "Self...you are one smart cookie" because, apparently, whenever I talk to myself I need to compare that same self with some sort of food.

Smart is something I do on occasion and I was sure I'd cornered the market with this idea. You. Are. Going. To. Love. It!

Darling Daughter loves cheesecake and is always asking me to take her to the neighborhood market to buy a slice that hovers just under $4...for one slice. As an occasional treat, I'd say yes.

Occasional turned into frequent and so I had an epiphany. They come out of nowhere, those epiphanies. And so, for her birthday I thought I'd go to Costco and buy her a WHOLE cheesecake that rings in at roughly $13, then freeze the rest of the slices for later nom-ing. You get oodles of slices...way more bang for my buck.

And so, I bought her a cheesecake.

For her, of course.

See...brilliant, I am.

We celebrated her birthday, and then...being the brilliant person I am...I carefully slice the cheesecake into lovely slivers and put them on a tray to freeze individually. After a few hours I removed them from the freezer and wrap each slice in plastic wrap, then placed them all into a Ziploc bag.

The idea is this, when daughter has a hankering for something sweet she can take a piece out, place it on the counter to thaw and then enjoy in about 30 minutes (depending on the weather)...YUM, YUM AND YUM.

Brilliant! Right?

Sort of.

See, MOM knows the cheesecake is there too.

And you know what?

30 minutes is A LONG time to wait for cheesecake to thaw.

For reals...it's a tiny sliver of a slice...30 minutes? Are you kidding me?

And you know what?

Cheesecake is just as tasty when it's half frozen.

It's chewier - adds more texture and interest, if you ask me.

What? It's true!

I do, though, have a word of advice - at least wait until the cheesecake is thawed enough to penetrate fully with a fork, otherwise you risk rouge pieces launching themselves off the plate and onto the floor.

Wherein, the 5 second rule applies.

Oh, don't look at me like that...it's freakin' cheesecake, for cryin' out loud...there is no way in Hades I'm wasting a bite of it.

Second piece of advice - vacuum and/or mop the cheesecake eating area frequently so that when you evoke the 5 second rule you don't have pieces of yuck stuck to your cheesecake. Although, when it's partially frozen it is A LOT easier to pick those pieces out...just sayin'. Always thinking, I am.

And so, while I do believe this is still a brilliant and frugal idea - you may want to consider doing it with a dessert that you DON'T like as much and aren’t so tempted to eat yourself. Especially when Darling Daughter has forgotten about it…cheesecake, even frozen, doesn’t last forever, ya know! Someone has to eat it.

p.s. - I just ate the last piece of cheesecake today.

p.p.s. - Don't tell my daughter.