down to the core: this post is a bit cheesy

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday and still feels stuffed today. Because although portions and healthy choices are important, so is not having to worry about how many portions you have of the amazing sweet potatoes or cranberry sauce. Of course I hope no one overstuffed themselves to the point of eating a month's worth of food, but but I'll hope you've worked it all off already with Black Friday shopping. (It's past 10 AM, the best sales are long over).

So I'll admit that I broke some healthy eating rules yesterday, but it's ok to do that sometimes. I also baked something that is not on the top of the "healthy desserts" list, but it is by far my favorite thing to bake and then eat afterwards....Cheesecake!

I use a recipe I found a few years ago on allrecipes.com and I really didn't change it at all, but here's my finished project!

*I apologize that I don't have a picture of the full cheesecake without the siding of the spring-form on it, I remembered today that after transporting the cake to my aunt's house yesterday with the siding still on, I needed a picture with it off. So instead I have a picture of the leftovers that we got to take home.

Here's what you'll need:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (1 package within the box)
3 tablespoons sugar (for the crust)
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar (for the cake)
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
9in springform pan

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix crumbs, 3 tbsp sugar and butter (I usually end up using a little less than the amount of butter called for). Press firmly onto the bottom of the pan. I put this in the oven to bake on its own for as long as it takes me to make the filling (just keep checking on it in case it takes you a really long time baking.)

2. Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer (I start off on the lowest speed and only go to medium at the end). Add eggs, one at a time. Pour over crust.