Family at the Table.
Family. Holidays. Food.
Nothing brings families together like the holidays…and a table laden with good food.
Throughout the year we never seem to find the time to be together but when the holidays arrive we always seem to make the time.
Bringing those that matter to the table is what the holidays are all about and when it comes to family & food you can’t go wrong with a tried and true recipe that knows all about family and has graced the table of many a holiday: Krebs Organic Dairy Farm Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Squares.
This recipe is one of many shared by the farm families of the Cabot Creamery Cooperative in the Cabot Cookbook and comes from the kitchen of Billie Jo Krebs from Starks, Maine and Krebs Organic Dairy.
The Krebs family has been farming their way through life since 1979
Family finds its way to Billie Jo Krebs’ table every day as part of life on the family’s dairy farm in Maine. She, her husband David, their four children: Roger, Mark, Tommy, and Krysta, David’s mother Marcia and his sister Darlene, along with Darlene’s son Danny all share this way of life that is dairy farming. Tending crops, caring for their animals; caring for the land and tending to milking and chores is all hard work, but a work they would never give up.
“We truly believe that farming is one of the best ways to live,” says Billie Jo. “We love the peace and quiet, and the serenity of working with the animals. Our kids learn to respect their food – farming teaches them there is more to it than just going to the grocery store.”
Like so many other farm families their love for this way of life is how good food, like milk and other dairy products (shameless plug: like the World’s Best Cheddar), find their way to our homes and beckons our friends, our family, our community to gather at our holiday tables.
And while so many will find themselves squeezed in between family and friends at the crowded holiday table there are many, too many, that have no table to join or have no bounty to share. 16 million children in the U.S. struggle with hunger, 1 in 5 don’t get the food they need. It’s not only food insecurity it’s good food scarcity.
The Great American Milk Drive helps put one of the most requested nutritious foods on the tables of those who need it most. By donating you can help close the Milk Gap of more than 46 million Americans — including 12 million children who rely on Feeding America food bank donations every year. Giving locally is easy by visiting MilkLife.com or even texting “MILK” to 27722 to give $5 that will be used to provide milk to your local Feeding America food bank.
Whether your family comes in from the barn to gather, or from miles and miles away to join the family table it’s always about the food, and if you are looking to add to your tried and true recipes this wonderful recipe passed down from Billie Jo’s mother and served at her family gatherings is a sure fire winner and be sure to check out these other Dairy Christmas recipes:
- Posset-ively Eggnog Is Ice Cream by Farmer Bright
- #DairyChristmas: Peanut Butter Balls by Messy Kennedy
- Winter Iowa Corn Chowder (as featured on Cheeserank) by Little House on the Dairy
- #DairyChristmas Farm Barbie
- The best Christmas cookies in the world by Truth or Dairy
- Recipes for a Dairy Christmas by Cow Spots and Tales
- #DairyChristmas: Cherry Mint Sugar Cookies by Kimmi’s Dairyland
- Perfect for a Party – Cheddar Olive Bites by DairyCarrie
- Dairy Christmas Traditions by Knolltop Farm Wife
- #DairyChristmas: Love and Latkes by New Moon Dairy
- Family at the Table by The Deere Milkmaid
- French Onion Soup – Our Family Christmas Tradition by Eat Farm Love
- Dairy Delight by Spotted Cow Review
- Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts by My Barnyard View
- Italian Soup by So She Married A Farmer
- Christmas Tapioca Pudding by Guernsey Dairy Mama
- #DairyChristmas: Festive Parmesan Frico by Dairy Good Life
Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Squares. Courtesy of The Cabot Creamery Cookbook © Oxmoor House 2015
Krebs Organic Dairy Farm’s Blueberry-Lemon Cheesecake Squares
Makes 24 Servings.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (1 sleeve or 9 whole cracker sheets)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons Cabot Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon firmly packed lemon zest (from about 1 to 2 lemons)
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 to 2 lemons)
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 (8-ounce) packages Cabot Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 cup Cabot Sour Cream
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups (about 1 pint) fresh or frozen Maine wild blueberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 13- x 9-inch baking dish with aluminum foil, allowing foil to extend 1 inch over edge of dish. Lightly grease foil with cooking spray.
- Stir graham cracker crumbs, 3 tbsp. sugar, and butter together in a small bowl. Press mixture into bottom of prepared dish. Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour).
- Beat lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add sour cream, and beat until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until yellow disappears.
- Gently stir in blueberries. Pour batter over crust, and spread evenly.
- Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Turn oven off . Let cheesecake stand in oven, with door closed, 15 minutes.
- Remove cheesecake from oven, and cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill 4 hours. Lift cheesecake and foil out of dish. Peel edges of foil away from cheesecake. Cut cheesecake into squares.
Featured in the NEW Cabot Creamery Cookbook.
The Deere Milkmaid 
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