Last week was one of those weeks you only want to happen ever once in a while. We had spent five days two days on the road and three full days in Colorado Springs having an early Christmas with our older son Jeffrey and his family. Fortunately I didn't have any commitment on Tuesday until about 3:30 when we had to go get gas and then meet friends to go to the Plaza to meet another couple for our traditional dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. That gave me time to do some cleaning, put away the fall decorations, and get out a few Christmas decorations. My step count was 6562 steps or 2.73 miles. Cleaning is a lot of work.
I wanted the house to look a little bit festive for the canasta group that was coming Wednesday afternoon for a fun game of cards. Before they came at 1 though I had handbell practice at 9 for an ensemble group that is playing later this month for the Wednesday afternoon chapel service. We ended up practicing longer than I expected so it was 11 before I got back home. That gave me just enough time to make this dessert for the canasta group. Our game ended at 4 giving me a short rest before I had to be back at the church by 5:30 for regular handbell practice. Practice usually goes to 6:45 ish but I had to leave at 6:30 so I could pick up Wayne to go to our granddaughter's middle school choir concert. We finally got home at 9 that night. My step count was 6151 steps or 2.56 miles.
Thursday I met with the hospitality coordinator at church for about an hour and then returned home to meet with neighbor Sara to premix the dry ingredients for Friday morning when the unleavened bread bakers were meeting at the church to make communion bread for the rest of December, January, and February. We have special Christmas services where we will be serving communion so we had a lot of extra servings. That took at least an hour. We prepared 17 mixes. After lunch I had some time to get caught up with washing since we didn't have to be anywhere until 6:30 that night when it was back at church for a concert by our music director and some musical friends of his. I really could have had a little more hours in the day. My step count when I went to bed was 4585 steps or 1.82 miles.
Friday morning I was at the church by 8:30 to meet up with friends to make unleavened bread. We made 1915 servings. We finished up around 11 ish and then I went to help Sara set up the tables with cushions and covers, etc for the handbell choir for Sunday's performance at church. (Sara besides being a neighbor, the director of the Miracle Ringers, the handbell choir, she is also a fellow baker for the unleavened bread. That's why she was helping me measure out the dry ingredients for the unleavened bread recipe.)That took close to an hour. Since I had missed practice the night before we left to drive to CO, Sara had agreed to help me with the two pieces we were playing on Sunday. She moved me this fall to different bells and I have been having some problems adjusting. I needed to practice more than we did, but after about an hour, I told her I could hardly stand up.
The nice thing after all of this was meeting Wayne at Culver's for lunch. We also needed to buy some gift cards for students at the high schools for special occasions. Our Sunday school class has done that for several years as a Christmas project. The counselors distribute them to needy students. Friday night when I went to bed I showed 7359 steps or 3.06 miles for the day.
I won't bother describing how my Saturday was and you definitely don't want to know how busy my Sundays are. At least I got to sit for 3 hours watching the Chiefs lose their football game.
With that kind of a week, I definitely needed something easy to make to treat my quilting friends when we met for canasta. I love easy but it is also important that the treat taste good also. This Cherry Cheesecake Dump Cake was that and more. I was also able to use a no-sugar-added cherry pie filling and a zero-sugar yellow cake mix. I didn't look but I don't think the can of tart red cherries that the recipe also called for has much sugar, definitely no added sugar. Everyone really enjoyed it as I gave them a generous serving. The original recipe didn't call for sugar-free ingredients; I just try to substitute them as much as I can whenever possible.
CHERRY CHEESECAKE DUMP CAKE
1 can (21 - ounces) cherry pie filling (no-sugar-added will work)
1 can (14.5 ounces) tart cherries in water, drained
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small pieces
1 package (15 ounces) yellow cake mix (a zero-sugar one works)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into thin slices
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine the cherry pie filling and tart cherries in a bowl until well mixed up.
Spread in the pan.
Scatter the small pieces of cream cheese over the cherries.
Top with the cake mix, spreading it evenly over the cherries and cream cheese pieces. Press down lightly.
Top with a single layer of the thin slices of butter.
(If you have any area that doesn't get covered with a think slice of butter, use extra butter so that the butter totally covers the dry cake mix.)
Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cent of the came comes out clean. (You can see the areas where the butter was sliced thinner.)
Cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
I'm so excited right now I only have one commitment for each day this week...well so far, that is. Hope your week is a good one.
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