Thanksgiving Dessert - Part II

Ok, so, as promised here is the second dessert I made this Thanksgiving.

For what it's worth, I had a hard time choosing what to make besides the chocolate chip pecan pie. My husband is not a big pecan pie fan, so I felt the need to make something else he would like. Well, as I have mentioned previously, he loves cheesecake. So I decided on yet another recipe from my "Cooking with Mickey" cookbook for Fantasia Cheesecake.

I decided to leave this cheesecake plain with just the sour cream topping. Simple tastes, yet so delicious and relatively easy. I am posting the recipe below as is, but I basically had to double the graham cracker crust recipe because I just didn't have enough it seemed to cover my springform pan up the sides.

Either way, this was a huge hit on Turkey day, and I have a feeling my hubby will be requesting I make this again...and again...and again....

Fantasia Cheesecake

(from "Cooking with Mickey Volume II")

Graham Cracker Crust*

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Grease bottom and sides of 9 inch springform pan.

Combine all ingredients and blend well. Press crumb mixture into bottom of pan, set aside.

*I doubled this recipe

Filling

4 8 ounce packages cream cheese

2 cups sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, salt, and lemon extract until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Do not overmix batter. Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until cheesecake is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for several hours before removing from springform pan.

Sour Cream Topping

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons sugar

Fresh fruit or fruit pie filling, if desired

Mix sour cream and sugar together and spoon over cheesecake. Decorate with slices of fruit, canned fruith topping, or fresh whipped cream if desired.

Thanksgiving Dessert - Part I

Well since I don't have time right now to post both desserts I made for turkey day, so here's just one!

I made a Chocolate Chip Pecan pie recipe from my "Cooking with Mickey" cookbook that I picked up in Disney this past summer. This actually wasn't the first time I made this recipe. My BFF Michelle had made this awhile back and I loved it so much she sent me the recipe (from the same cookbook) so I did make it probably 2 Christmases ago now. I was definitely in the mood for pecan pie this Thanksgiving and could not wait to make (and eat) this!

Beware though, this is a super rich dessert - but in my mind - worth every single calorie!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie
(From "Cooking with Mickey Volume II")

3 lightly beaten egg
1 Cup light corn syrup
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Pinch salt
1/2 Cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 Cup (heaping) pecans
1 unbaked pastry shell

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In mixing bowl, combine ingredients in order given. Mix well and pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce heat after 5 minutes to 300 degrees and continue to bake for 1 hour or until fill is thick.

Cool on wire rack and serve at room temperature.

Operation Baking GALS - Round 5

As you may have noticed in my prior blog entries, I have participated in the past 2 rounds of Operation Baking GALS and will again be participating for Round 5!

My friend Danielle of Make No Little Meals is once againg hosting. I encourage you to check out her blog entry for more details on the cause and how to join her team!

Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday I was seriously craving something sweet and maple flavored. I believe it all stemmed from a conversation I had with some friends this weekend about how I will never have maple syrups in my fridge like Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterwoth. No, I buy the good stuff....the expensive stuff...but I digress.

I found this recipe for Lighter Maple Chocolate Chip cookies online. I had all of the ingredients at home so I figured, why not? All in all these cookies taste good but were not 100% what I expected. The maple flavor was not as strong as I thought it would be. Also they did not really get a nice golden brown as I expected them to and they are a tad chewier than I thought they would be. I am not sure if I did something wrong or if this was all part and parcel of them being "Lighter" cookies (which by the way I have a hard time calling them "Lighter" when they still have a full stick of butter in them!). Either way, not a bad cookie, but if I make them again I might make some tweaks.

Lighter Maple Cookies

(from recipezaar.com)

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon maple extract or vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 (12 ounce) bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F, line 1 or two cookie sheets with none stick foil, or lightly greaced foil.

In a medium bowl, vigorously stir together the butter, sugar, and sour cream. Add the maple syrup and extract.

Gently fold in the flour, salt, baking powder, and chips (do not over mix!). Spoon 1 tablespoon of the dough onto the cookie sheet (s) and press them down to about 1/4 inch thinkness.

Bake for 8-10 minutes of until golden

Italian Pot Pies....and my 200th post!

Yes, indeed, 200 posts later I am still a faithful blogger. When I started doing this I had some trouble keeping up, and remembering to take pictures, and just lacked patience for itl. Since then this blog has served probably as more motivation than anything else to always try out some new things in the kitchen, to not get stuck in a rut, and hopefully along the way discover some totally yummy recipes!


This recipe was in my most recent issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Living. Since I was planning my next week's dinner menu caught my attention for 2 reasons: 1) I had been looking for something to do with the leftover sauce from pizza I made the week before last and, 2) I also had ground beef in the freezer. So all of the conveniences were there!


At first glance this recipe seems like it is a lot of steps but really is quite easily put together. My husband loved the crust part, as did I, but overall said these weren't his "thing."

Have I ever mentioned the tragedy that my husband really is not a fan of red sauce/marinara at all??? If we have pasta for a meal he typically has to decimate it beyond belief with large amounts of parmesan cheese. He will tolerate pizza because, well, it's loaded with cheese. This doesn't stop me from serving up a meal with some red sauce occassionally though, because I like red sauce! And of coures I have heard all about the health benefits of tomatoes. So he just has to deal sometimes. I, however, can see that while he ate it, and continually raved about the crust part of this meal that this was just not his "thing." But it was definitely my "thing!" And so that just means the leftovers will be all for MY enjoyment - yippee!



Italian Pot Pies
(from Martha Stewart Everyday Food)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound ground beef sirloin, thawed if frozen
2 cups homemade or best-quality store-bought tomato sauce 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with rack in lowest position. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onion and carrots; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add beef, and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce; bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat mixture has thickened, 8 to 10 minutes; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, Parmesan, baking powder, rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; make a well in center, and add butter and milk. Stir just until dough comes together.

Spoon meat mixture into four 8-ounce ramekins; mound dough on top. Place on a large rimmed baking sheet; bake until topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in topping comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.

Third time's a charm!

My best friend, Michelle, and her husband, Jay, came over for dinner on Friday night - after our 3rd time rescheduling this dinner (starting in August) we finally got the timing right! I made a great chicken recipe that I had had in my "to try" pile for quite some time so I pulled it out for this occassion. I let it marinate all day while I was at work (as opposed to the 2 hours suggested below) and used canola oil instead of vegetable oil.

The side dish recipe below, a baked orzo, came from one of my co-workers, the same one who handed me this recipe in the hallway a couple of weeks ago. She said she had made it recently for company and that it was a perfect recipe for when you have dinner guests. I thought it sounded kind of fun and different from the typical starch side of some kind of potatoes so I went for it. De-li-cious! My best friend even asked for the recipe after and I think we all had seconds on it! I would definitely serve this again, and much to the request of my husband and Michelle, I would make it with mushrooms this time. Yes, I was being a selfish cook who left out the mushrooms for the sheer fact that I don't really like them haha!

Chicken in Lemon Marinade

(from myrecipes.com)

2/3 Cup vegetable oil
1/2 Cup lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 Teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 small grated onion
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon black pepper
1 Teaspoon celery salt
6 chicken breast, boneless skinless

Process 1st 8 ingredients in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Reserve 1/4 cup lemon mixture, and chill.

Place chicken in a shallow dish or zip-top plastic bag; pour remaining lemon mixture over chicken. Cover or seal, and chill 2 hours, turning chicken occasionally.

Remove chicken from marinade, discarding marinade; place chicken on a lightly greased rack in a broiler pan.

Broil 7" from heat (with electric oven door partially open) 11-12 minutes on each side or until tender, basting chicken frequently with reserved 1/4 cup lemon mixture.

Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas

(from FoodNetwork.com)

4 cups chicken broth
1 pound orzo pasta
3 tablespoons butter, plus more to grease the baking dish
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces shredded fontina cheese (about 1 cup)
4 ounces diced fresh mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish.
Bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Pour the orzo and the broth into a large bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms are beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 7 minutes. Add the Marsala. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and cook until the Marsala has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the orzo in the large bowl. Add the cream, fontina, mozzarella, peas, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and dried thyme. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the pasta. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Friday's Frugal Fun - Part III

Time for more frugality! Sorry for no post last week, I was out of steam!

With the holidays coming up, who couldn't use a few more ways to save money?

Another free sample site I like - Free Stuff Finder. I've gotten some neat stuff on here!

Recently I also discovered Ebates - a site that gives you rebates on your online purchases. I simply shop through their site and you get a percentage back on your purchases. I've already earned a decent amount of money back on some of my purchases for Christmas. They also have a ton of coupon codes for online shopping.

And speaking of coupon codes, Coupon Cabin is my #1 destination to find a coupon code whenever I am buying something online. Check it out!

Yum.

The title of this post pretty much explains how my husband and I feel about this recipe.

A lovely lady on my local nest board, Sam, shared this recipe last week, and it caught my attention. The next day, a co-worker of mine handed me a printout of this recipe saying she had tried it and it was a huge hit in her house. 2 endorsements in less than 24 hours of the same recipe? Yeah. At that point I just had to try it!

Tonight was the night. These were easy to make, not too many ingredients and of course fun. I always have fun dipping and/or breading food. This obviously isn't the healthiest of recipes. It is a Paula Deen recipe after all (it is baked though!). But I attempted to balance out the unhealthiness of this with a baked potato and some steamed carrots (because that was going to help...hahaha).

The only change I made to this recipe was that I upped the temp to 375 degrees and then to finish them off broiled them for a minute or two on each side to get a nice brown color to them.

My husband made sure to compliment this meal more than once tonight, so I think that means it will make it back into my rotation of meals very soon. Chicken is a healthy meat....but tonight's dinner proved that sometimes it's good to be bad! ;-)

Chicken Nuggets
(from FoodNetwork.com)

2 cups crushed sour-cream-and-onion-flavored potato chips
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
6 chicken breast fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/3 cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the crushed potato chips in a shallow dish. Beat together the egg and milk in a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken cubes into the egg mixture and then dredge them in the chips. Place the chicken nuggets on a baking sheet and drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. The chicken nuggets can be frozen after baking. Serve with your favorite sauce, such as honey mustard or ranch dressing.

(This recipe also included a recipe for Honey Mustard Dipping sauce, I did not use that one but rather used this one which was even easier to prepare)

A cheese ball....for dessert?

Yup, that's right, dessert. This is not your typical cheeseball.

I have had this recipe bookmarked on allrecipes.com since December 12, 2007. You read that right, 2007. But I had never made it yet. I would look at it from time to time, thinking of a good time to make it but I always forgot about it. My best friend Michelle had a little hostess party this weekend for some reason the lightbulb went on - I could make it for that!

This is delicious, and addictive. I brought over both chocolate graham crackers and regular honey graham crackers. What a combo! The only thing I didn't do was roll the ball in nuts. Frankly as much as I do like pecans, I just didn't see a need for them. Maybe next time!

And I lucked out because the only reason I got a picture of this is because I got to take some back home. Since I made the original recipe times 1.5 I had plenty extra to take home to reshape into another ball and share with my husband (who is currently devouring it as I type).

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Ball

(from AllRecipes.com)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in confectioners' sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into a ball. Wrap with plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Roll the cheese ball in finely chopped pecans before serving.

Corn Muffins

The other night I just felt like baking. but I had nothing particular in mind to bake. So, I started going through my cabinet for inspiration and when I saw my bag of cornmeal I decided to make muffins. And what better recipe to use than the one on the back of the bag?

I made these in jumbo muffin tins and extended the baking time to 25 minutes. I'm not sure if that was for too long because these came out a bit dry. Although, I tend to find corn muffins to be on the drier side as far as muffins go typically. They tasted alright though and I think that next time I'd just watch the baking time more closely.

Golden Yellow Corn Muffins
(from Indian Head cornmeal)


1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup soft shortening
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, ans alt in a bowl. Cut in shortening. Mix egg and milk together and add to dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.

Fill greated muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, makes 12 muffins.*
(*for jumbo muffins I baked for 25 minutes which I would reduce next time; made 5 muffins)