While I’m on a blog break, please enjoy this post, originally published in May of 2008.

Over the last two or three months, Hubs and I have been revamping our diet. Sigh… It’s what you do when you’re our age if you’re hoping to not look our age. Or at the very least, postpone looking any older than our age! He’s done great and has had very few problems adjusting (grimace). However, while food has never reached “idol” status for me, the two of us have enjoyed a very loving relationship over the years, especially with regard to all things dessert.

Now, with the new diet plan, sugar has taken a significant leave of absence from our home. I have done pretty well, after the initial period of clawing my eyes out of my head to avoid being tempted by an array of baked goods at Starbucks, as I order my non-fat, sugar-free green tea latte (I can tell you, smugly, that I have already won my battle over that evil foe, caffeine. At least the bad kind. Didn’t you know that green tea caffeine is good for you?). Yep, I’ve been going along pretty well. Until last week. When a blog post entitled “Sopapilla Cheesecake” appeared on the Living Proof Ministries Blog. I thought, “one little peak can’t hurt me”, because after all, this Mexican-food-loving-Texan-at-heart LOVES me some sopapillas! And, cheesecake is, well, cheesecake, for crying out loud!
So, I read it. The enemy was on me like a tick on a dog, and before I knew what I was doing, I was grabbing the recipe out of the printer and pushing the speed limit toward the grocery store for ingredients. In record time I was back in my kitchen, driven like a crazed, possessed woman to stir and mix and fill that need for sugar that lurked within.
Hubs walked in later to the heady aroma of cinnamon-sugary goodness. He looked around, puzzled, wondering if he’d entered the right house as it hadn’t smelled like that in recent memory. Then, he saw it cooling there on the counter and was drawn to it with both awe and wonder.
“What’s this?”, he asked in an incredulous whisper.
“Sopapilla Cheesecake”, I replied.
“Who’s it for?” The look on his face spoke of hope against hope.
“Us. You and me. It’s ours,” the words dripping sweetly from my tongue (or it might have been drool, but “words” sounds better in the story).
I will tell you that we enjoyed a very sensible dinner that evening. Fish. Lots of veggies. Then it was time. When we bit into this thing, the very angels of the heavenly host burst into song. The look on my husband’s face was one that I’ve never seen in almost 25 years of marriage. I thought he might weep at the wonder of it. And for me? Well, if I had thought that my old favorite dessert was a little slice of heaven, this fabulous concoction ushered me straight through the pearly gates and propped me up, fat and sassy, on the front porch of my mansion!
It was suddenly crystal clear why Philadelphia Cream Cheese commercials are filmed with a heavenly backdrop. Yes, it is really IS that good.
Now, it’s gone. Actually, it was gone in record time, as Hubs and I fought over licking the dish clean (I think if it had dropped to the floor, we would’ve bumped heads trying to lap it up). The memory of it lingers as I try to pull myself out of the tempter’s snare and onto the high road of the successful dieter. But I can’t quite bring myself to feel shame over my momentary detour.
Like I said…it really was THAT good!
If you’d like to take a detour of your own, HERE is the link to the roadmap. ENJOY!

photo credit: The Sisters Dish