Laureen Rider sent her recipe for Peaches and Cream Cheesecake. This wonderful dessert has a cake-like crust covered with sliced, canned peaches, filled with cream cheese, and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Each serving contains 14 grams of fat.

        For this recipe, we:

        • Reduced the amount of margarine from 3 tablespoons to 2. We tried using light margarine, but it produced a very “doughy” crust.

        • Used skim milk.

        • Replaced the cream cheese with a light variety. We tried using fat-free, but the filling lacked flavor and texture of the original.

        • Used canned peaches in light syrup.

        Our tasters loved this dessert. With very little change in either taste or texture, we were able to cut the fat content in half.

        With only 7 grams of fat per serving, our adapted Peaches & Cream Cheesecake will delight your family and friends.

        Tip of the Week: Canned fruit packed in natural juice or light syrup contains significantly less sugar than fruit packed in heavy syrup. It has absolutely no affect on the fat content, but it will be lower in calories.

        Contact Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig of Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center by phone: 585-7946; fax: 585-6107; e-mail (weberkd@healthall.com).

Peaches & Cream Cheesecake

        Crust
        3/4 cup flour
       1 teaspoon baking powder
        1/2 teaspoon salt
       1 box (3 ounces) regular vanilla pudding mix (not instant)
       2 tablespoons regular margarine
       1 egg
        1/2 cup skim milk
       Fruit
       1 can (15-16 ounce) sliced peaches, in light syrup; drain well, reserve syrup

       Filling
       8 ounces light cream cheese
        1/2 cup sugar
       Topping
       1 tablespoon sugar
        1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

        Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray 10-inch pie pan with vegetable oil spray.

        To make crust, combine flour, baking powder, salt, pudding mix, margarine, egg, and milk in medium bowl. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed; pour batter into prepared pan. Put well-drained peaches over batter.

        To make filling, in small bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons reserved syrup. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed; spoon to within 1 inch of edge of batter.

        To make topping, combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cream cheese filling. Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Filling will appear soft. Store in refrigerator. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

        Before and after
Values based on 1 serving

       Peaches & Cream Cheesecake...Adapted

        Calories...295 ...235

        Fat........14 g...7 g

        Carbohydrate...40 g...37 g

        Sodium.........384 mg...416 mg

        Cholesterol....53 mg....36 mg

        Calories

        from fat.......41%...28%

Required Reading

        Fun celebrity cookbook: Hazel's Hot Dish : Cookin' with Country Stars (Dalmatian Press; $16.95) is a collection of recipes from today's country music stars, along with profiles and stories. There are lots of photos, including plenty of the author, country music journalist Hazel Smith, with the singers.

        Some of the dishes are good old-fashioned country fare. Bill Monroe's favorite dish was fried potatoes (which he learned how to make from his Uncle Pen), and Alan Jackson contributes country-fried steak. Patti Page makes chicken with A-1 sauce. But some of these new singers get pretty new-fangled: BR5-49 shares hillbilly sushi and K.T. Oslin contributes 40-clove garlic chicken. The directions for the recipes are not all carefully detailed, but they're mostly easy to make.

Campbell's Scoop

        Where to take the adventurous burger eater: You missed National Bison Month, which was July, but you can still get a buffalo burger at Joe's Place in New Richmond. They get the buffalo from nearby Vista Grand Ranch, and serve both a 1/4-pound and a 1/2-pound version. 100 Front St., 553-3660.

Pasta Tips

        A new book, Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks (Rodale; $29.95) by David Joachim, is subtitled “5,000 Ingenious Kitchen Hints, Secrets, Shortcuts and Solutions.”Just under Pasta, there are about 28. For instance:

        To prepare pasta for casseroles or soups: Reduce the cooking time by about one-third. The pasta will finish cooking while baking or simmering in the dish.

        To unstick pasta: Submerge it in hot water and separate

        To cook pasta ahead of time: Cook the pasta until just slightly underdone. Cool the cooked pasta in a bowl of ice water. As soon as it reaches room temperature, drain it and toss it with oil to prevent sticking. Refrigerate it in a zipper-lock plastic bag. To reheat, plunge the pasta into a large pot of boiling water. Stir until pieces of pasta separate, about 20 seconds, and drain. Toss with sauce.

        To save boiling time: add salt to the pasta water after it comes to a boil. Salted water takes longer to come to a boil than unsalted water.

        To prevent boil-overs: Before the pasta pot gets hot, rub a thin layer of oil around the interior lip of the pot.

Learn to Cook

        These cooking schools offer classes different times of the year. Call for schedules and prices.

        • Cooks' Wares, Shops at Harper's Point, Symmes Township. 489-6400.

        • Cooking School at Jungle Jim's Market, Fairfield. 829-1919, Ext. 3.

        • Culinary Sol, Rookwood Commons, Norwood. 841-2665.

        • Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking, Dayton. (937) 434-1294.

        • Kremer's Market Cooking Classes, Crescent Springs. 341-1067.

        • Restaurant Equipment Outlet's Cooking Classes, Northside. 542-5900.

        • Wild Oats, Rookwood Commons, Norwood. 531-8015.

        • Williams-Sonoma Grand Cuisine, Kenwood Towne Centre, 793-3445.

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