Red Velvet Cheesecake

Thank you all so very much for all your kind words and interest in the announcement of my mom and sisters becoming new authors for Sweet Cayenne! We had a record amount of traffic on the blog last week and enjoyed reading all of your sweet comments on social media. It warms my heart to know that you all are just as excited as I am to make this blog a "family affair" through letting my 3 sisters and mom contribute their own thoughts and creativity to Sweet Cayenne. If you missed the announcement or any of the new author bio's, feel free to check them out through the following links: New author announcement, Lindsey bio, Valory bio, Courtney bio, and Dawn bio.

So who is ready for Valentine's Day??? From what I gather around town, most people think V-day is a pretty cheesy holiday. I'm sure there are those of you who think it's a nuisance and wish it would go away. I mean, seriously, we just got out of our holiday food comas, are {hopefully} knocking it out of the park with our New Year's resolutions, and now we're told to eat lots of chocolate, candy hearts that taste like chalk, and spend a ridiculous amount of moolah on a prix fixe Valentine's dinner that we have to make a reservation for weeks in advance if we want a table at the restaurant??? Sheesh. What a pain.

Did I just succeed in making you think that I'm a Valentine's Day hater? Ok good. I lied. Truth be told, I love Valentine's Day. I just went through that spiel in an attempt to empathize with those of you who would rather do without it. Truth be told, I didn't have a "romantic" boyfriend/husband type of Valentine until I was 23 years old. Nope. I celebrated my little heart out for 23 Valentine's Days with absolutely no hint of the lovey dovey mush that's dished up each year. In all reality, I just liked the excuse to eat a little extra chocolate during the week of February 14th.

I probably owe a lot of my love for the holiday to my mom, who was always the "Valentine" of myself, Lindsey, Timothy, Valory, Courtney, and of course, dear old Dad! She always made each one of us feel so loved and special on Valentine's Day. No matter what day of the week V-day fell on, mom always greeted us on the morning-of with a special Valentine's breakfast of heart-shaped biscuits and chocolate gravy {a few years we had heart-shaped pancakes or donuts w/ Valentine's sprinkles}. She would set each person a place at the table with a card and little basket of Valentine's goodies; and often times would have a pretty table centerpiece with flowers and sparkly heart-shaped table scatter. Now if that doesn't make a person love Valentine's Day, I don't know what else would!

So to honor this heart-shaped holiday and hopefully get you in the mood to celebrate with yourself, your sweetheart, or anyone you'd like to celebrate "love" in the friendship sense of the word with, I'm sharing this Red Velvet Cheesecake with you today. It's a favorite treat for my mom and I; and we always make it to share with the family sometime between the celebration of Christmas and Valentine's Day. Share it with people you care about so you're not tempted to eat the whole thing; or simple freeze it and slice a bit as you need it. It will stay delicious in the freezer for up to 3 months!

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