Pineapple Upside-Down Cheesecake

There's really nothing like a late-night run to a liquor store with your mom. It is definitely a memorable experience for sure! I don't remember where we were coming back from (that doesn't sound bad at all), but before heading home I decided that I wanted to make this awesome recipe the next day, 'cause I'm spontaneous and awesome like that. I had seen it in this Kraft magazine and I knew I had everything I needed to make the cheesecake except . . . maraschino cherries.

My mom, being a smart lady like she is, suggested that we could maybe find cherries in a nearby liquor store because everything else was closed. Yea, apparently I couldn't wait to make this cheesecake.

So, my mother and I stopped at the only liquor store that was open and walked in hoping to find cherries. 

AND CHERRIES WE FOUND! Yea, that's right, we found the cherries! But that's not the point of this story. The point of this story is how awkward it was to have my mom browse the store for another 20 minutes after we found the cherries and trying to convince her NOT to purchase the six-pack of tequila shot glasses, or any other beverage that was fruity, or margarita-looking-like, or "ooh-ooh, Mira, este tiene chocolate, o el de durazno a de estar bueno." It was like trying to reign in a six-year-old at Toys-r-Us. 

Thankfully, we only walked out with the cherries. And the next day, this amazing cheesecake was born! BAM!

I was so happy, because it ALMOST came out looking just like the one in the magazine. I mean, mine is a little rough around the edges, but for it being my first time making a pineapple upside-down anything, I think it came out pretty darn delicious, gosh darn it! It tasted (past-tense because this is long gone!) like graham crackers and vanilla, and for some reason it had a hint of banana pudding taste to me (I'm not sure where that came from). Nonetheless, it was creamy and had a great cheesecake consistency. I couldn't stop licking my spoon and I definitely had way more than I was supposed to. :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 tbsp. of brown sugar

5 tbsp. of butter, melted, divided

2 cans of pineapple slices in juice (this is what the recipe calls for, but I used fresh pineapple)

7 maraschino cherries

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup of granulated sugar, plus 3 tbsp., divided

3 pkg. of cream cheese, softened

3/4 of sour cream (I ran out of sour cream and used greek yogurt instead)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. condensed milk

3 eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Mix brown sugar and 2 tbsp. of butter in a 9-inch round pan. Spread the mixture to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Top with pineapple slices (you might have to do some cutting to fit the slices in there nicely). Place the cherries in the center of the pineapple slices.

3. Mix the graham crackers, 3 tbsp. of granulated sugar, and the remaining butter until well blended. Pour over the pineapple slices and press gently.

4. Beat cream cheese and remaining granulated sugar with mixer until it is all blended. Add sour cream (or greek yogurt), vanilla, and condensed milk. Stir, stir, stir! Then, add eggs, one at a time. Beat at a low speed just until blended. Pour that sucker over the pineapple!

5. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until center is almost set. Run a knife through the edge to loosen the cake, and cool for 40 minutes. Invert cheesecake onto a plate and refrigerate for 3 hours. 

Gah, I love sweets so much! So bad. So bad.

Buen provecho!

Maria :)

Wonders & Worries: My Lucky Strike

Today I am skipping a recipe post to write about something very near and dear to my heart! And that is the place where I work and love. . . Wonders & Worries! I LOVE IT SO MUCH THAT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START.

I truly believe I am extremely blessed and I just felt the urge to write about this wonderful organization I am lucky enough to work for (it's more like a calling really. It doesn't even feel right to call it my job. It's my calling)! I work as a child life assistant (a little more on what that means later) at Wonders & Worries and I have been there since June, and am completely in love with what I do!

Wonders & Worries is a local non-profit organization in Austin, Texas that provides therapeutic services for children who have a parent who has a serious or life-threatening illness. I work in an alternate child life setting. I know, I know. What does that mean, Maria? I've never heard of child life? What is that? Yea, unfortunately, not many people know about child life specialists. But let me fill you in! People who work in the profession of Child Life, or Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS), usually work in hospitals with children who are sick. However, Wonders & Worries was created to provide services for children of adult patients (in this case, the parent is the one who is sick). The role of a child life specialist at Wonders & Worries is to help the child by educating them on their parent's illness, preparing them for their parent's surgery/procedures, providing ways to express themselves emotionally, and finding coping techniques to help them navigate through this tough time in their lives. Yea, I know it's amazing.

W&W provides individual sessions with children, support groups, and parenting support (speaking to a child about their illness can be difficult for parents). And all of these services are free to families! We also have bilingual child life specialists, which is great for our Spanish-speaking families.

As a child life assistant, I provide assistance to the child life staff in any way. I take care of supply needs (which means I get to do arts and crafts shopping, etc.). That's right. I get to shop for arts and crafts as part of my job. You can be a little jealous. :) I also help facilitate some support groups, so I get to work with the children as well!

Play hospital inside one of the Wonders & Worries' playrooms.

It still blows my mind that I am now a part of the W&W team. I really cannot believe it still (I definitely see it as my lucky strike)! I was a practicum student at W&W for my last semester at UT. At the end of my practicum, I decided to apply for the child life assistant position and my supervisor, the program director, accepted me! The reason why I call it my lucky strike is because of three things: 1) child life is a very competitive field, 2) the people I work with are awesome, 3) I love what W&W does. First, there are usually a very small number of child life positions available for students in practicums, internships, and jobs, so it is definitely hard to find a spot. I feel so happy and fulfilled to be able to use my Human Development degree in the field that I love. I get to continue to learn about child development and work with families in a meaningful way. I truly feel I am making a difference in people's lives everyday. It just makes me extremely happy! :D

This is our brochure!

Also, the people I work with are amazing! I consider them all my friends and am always excited to learn from them. You usually cannot shadow child life specialists, so I feel that I am in an awesome secret club that gets to learn from them (mwuahaha, I get to pick their brains)! My supervisor is also great! She is the best mentor ever, and has helped me learn so much about myself, professionally and personally. In short, I have really found my niche at W&W.

Lastly! I just love the profession of child life. I am in love with what I do and I feel so blessed to be allowed to do it. When I was hospitalized, I was afraid that I was going to have to give up my position or that I was going to be let go (my biggest fear was losing what I love to do), but thankfully everyone was so understanding and caring. And now, I continue to do what I love. And I will continue to prepare myself to one day be a child life specialist. I am only more motivated to learn and develop my skills in working with children. I hope to be with W&W for a long, long time and I feel that I am running off an adrenaline rush and am just ready to do anything for this organization that I love so much.

I hope you guys have also found your calling. I would love to hear about it! I'm sure I'll be talking more about W&W on my blog, so be prepared.

These tissue flowers were used for the Que Maravilla! Gala, a fundraising event for Wonders & Worries.

Here is the Wonders & Worries website, if you guys want to read more about my awesome workplace: http://www.wondersandworries.org/

This has been Maria reporting.

Over and out,
Maria :)