Jeremy's Birthday Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

I've been MIA for awhile....I had to take a small Vacation for 7 days. 
We just got back from a 7 day Southern Caribbean Cruise, in which we had a wonderful time, and celebrated Jeremy's Birthday! Since we were gone for his birthday, I waited till we got back to make him his cheesecake.  He loves cheesecake, and last year I made him a reese's peanut butter cup cheesecake, so I had to try to one up myself this year. I adapted my recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, check her out!


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake
Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 box chocolate Teddy Grahams (crushed) (2.5 cups to be exact, but I ended up using the whole box)
• 4 tbsp. butter (melted)

Cookie dough

• 1/2 C. softened butter
• 1/2 C.  granulated sugar
• 1/2 C. packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. whole milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 C. mini chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:

• 4- 8oz packages of cream cheese, at room temp. (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp. all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup light sour cream (1 8oz container)
• 3/4 C. mini chocolate chips (to be added after half of batter poured into crust)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325

Crust:

• Crush up teddy grahams (I used to ziplock bag and a rolling pin...but you could make it easy and use a food processor)
• Add in 4 tbsp. melted butter and mix
• Grease 9 inch springform pan, liberally
• Press the crushed cookie/butter mixture into the bottom of the pan and half way up the sides of the pan.
• Set aside

Cookie Dough:

• In medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, flour, salt and chocolate chips. Mix until incorporated. 

• Roll cookie dough into small balls (do whatever size you like, but they need to be about marble sized to fit them, plus....they will expand a bit inside the cheesecake.
• Place on a plate (you can use wax paper, but I didn't need it) and put in the freezer for about 10 min. to harden a bit.

Cheesecake Filling:

• In large bowl, add cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flour, beat with an electric mixer on high until smooth. 
• Add in vanilla and sour cream. Beat only until incorporated. If you beat it too much, you will get too much air into the mixture which could cause cracks while cooking.

Now to put it all together:

• Pour about 1/4- 1/3 of the cheesecake filling over the crust. Smooth out with a spatula
• Remove cookie dough from freezer
• Press cookie dough into the filling all around the bottom.
• Pour and mix the 3/4 C. mini choc. chips into the rest of the filling.
• Pour another 1/3 of filling into the pan, and press the rest of your cookie dough into the filling, trying to push it far enough down so only a bit of the top of the cookie dough is showing.
• Pour the remainder of the filling into the pan and smooth out the best you can so it looks even when its cooked.

• Place springform pan on a baking sheet and place into the oven.
• Cook on 325 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 min. The middle may still be a little soft, but the sides should have a slight light to golden brown.

• Turn the oven off, and crack the door a few inches and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an additional 30 min.

• Remove cheesecake from the oven, and place on metal rack to cool completely.
• Once completely cooled, cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator (for SEVERAL hours, but best would be over night to make sure the whole thing sets up)

• Right before serving, I drizzled some chocolate over the top.

It is VERY rich, so only a small slice is necessary, but Jeremy loved it, and that's all that matters to me!

Oven Fried Pizza Puffs

After making the "Oven Fried Chimichangas" & dating a boy who grew up in Chicago, Jeremy requested I make a rendition of the "Pizza puff"..... I don't have a deep fryer, so we tried to "oven fried" method again. This is my first recipe I've really just made up...so bear with me!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups cooked/chopped sausage
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2/3 marinara or spaghetti sauce (we used a Tomato/Basil sauce)
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped vidalia onion
• 1/4 pepperoni (I cut them in half)
• 5 burrito sized flour tortillas
• Olive oil or cooking spray

• Preheat oven to 400
• Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray or rub some olive oil on the foil
• Mix together the sausage, cheese, sauce, onion, pepper, pepperoni, and italian seasoning
• Put spoonfuls inside the tortilla's and fold closed so all sides are closed
• Place the tortillas on the cookie sheet and either spray with cooking spray or rub with olive oil
• Place in oven for 25 minutes

This may not look all that appetizing, considering I took it when I was almost done eating, but I wanted you to be able to see the inside of the puff!


Enjoy! We did!

Oven Fried Chicken Chimichangas & Fried Corn Cakes

After visiting my sister in Augusta this past weekend and talking about cooking....I am obsessed with 2 ipad apps she suggested to me.....if you have an iPad, I definitely suggest them...."Epicurius" & "Big Oven"
So.....needless to say, these recipes were adapted from both.
I realized when I was almost done cooking that I had not taken ANY pictures, so there are very few in this post....sorry.


Oven Fried Chicken Chimichanga Ingredients:

• Burrito size flour tortillas ( recipe says it makes 4....I made 6)
• 1.5 cups cooked chicken shredded or cut into bite size pieces
• 2/3 cup salsa
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions (including some tops)
• 2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• cooking spray
• Mexican cheese or salsa to top

Fried Corn Cakes Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (I used a bit more for some spice)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar
• 2 cups frozen white shoe peg corn kernels, thawed (you can use yellow corn if you prefer) 
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 2 tbsp canola oil (or more as needed)

Before cooking anything, go ahead and preheat the oven to 400

Oven Fried Chicken Chimichangas Directions:

• Line baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray
• In large bowl, mix chicken, salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese, green onions,  and cilantro.
• Place 2/3 to 1/2 cup of mixture in center of tortilla, fold sides over filling, tucking in the ends and place seam side down on the baking sheet
• Spray tops and sides of tortillas with cooking spray (I just brushed oil over mine)
• Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown and crisp
• Serve with melted cheese or salsa on top (or whichever garnish you prefer)

Corn Cake Directions:

• Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper in a large bowl.
• Add milk, egg and vinegar to the bowl and whisk to combine.
• Mix in corn and green onions
• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Crop batter by 1/4 cupfuls into the skillet (Like pancakes)
• cook cakes until brown and cooked through (about 3 minutes on each side)
• repeat until all batter is used, adding additional oil as needed (I added a little each time, so they didn't burn on the bottoms)
• Transfer to aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and place in oven to warm 

Finished product:

Enjoy!

Chicken Stir-Fry w/ Rice Noodles

I have been slacking.....I made this last week.
I adapted this recipe from a Paula Deen Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
• 1 bunch fresh broccoli cut into florets
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts (drained)---I forgot to buy these, I was very disappointed.
• 1 cup chicken broth (I used more b/c I boiled my chicken before hand and shredded it)
• 1/4 cup hoison sauce (found in asian foods section at grocery store)
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. powdered ginger
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 package rice noodles cooked (or rice...whichever you prefer)
• 1 package frozen egg rolls (yeah...I slacked on that one...whatever)

Directions:

• In a small bowl combine chicken broth, hoison sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and cornstarch. Set aside.
• Heat 2 tbsp oil over med-high heat in wok or large skillet
•  Add chicken and cook for 4-5 mints or until lightly browned, I boiled my chicken in 1 cup of chicken broth/1 cup water for about 45 minutes, drained it and shredded it, so when I added it to the oil, I added it with my veggies....
• After chicken cooks for 4-5 minutes, add in broccoli, carrots, pepper, and onion, cooking for an additional 5 minutes 
• Stir in water chestnuts (if you remembered to buy them...unlike me)
• Add sauce mixture to wok/skillet and bring to boil.
• Reduce heat to med or med-low and let simmer for 4-5 minutes, stir occasionally, until the sauce thickens and coats the mixture.
• Serve over hot rice noodles or rice. (when I made my rice noodles, I mixed together another batch of the sauce I used for the stir fry to toss with the rice noodles.
• During cooking, I baked some frozen "Chung's" Chicken egg rolls. 

Enjoy. 

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Back to the crock pot....honestly, the best invention EVER!
I found this recipe at "Crepes of Wrath"

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs pork butt roast (bone in)   [this was enough meat for about 4 people]
• 1/4 cup +  tbsp light brown sugar
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 onion diced (I only had 1/2 an onion, still worked well)
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp. molasses
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp chili powder (use less if you don't want it spicy)
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp dry ground mustard
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• a pack of buns
• BBQ sauce if you want (we didn't need any....very juicy, lots of flavor!)

Side: We just had some veggies -- asparagus,carrots, onion....

Directions:

• Cut excess fat off the meat, place in the crock pot.
• Pour all the other ingredients into the crock pot (except the buns and bbq sauce of course)
• Turn the crock pot on low for 8 hours
• (I was home parts of the day, so every now and then I stirred everything and flipped the meat, but it wasn't necessary)
• About 30 minutes before you serve, shred the meat using 2 forks and remove the bone.
• Once the meat is shredded, turn your crock pot on warm

• Serve whenever you're ready
• I put the buns in the oven to warm for a few minutes before serving (we just used little "sammie" buns

• ENJOY!

Easy Cheese Steak subs!

Last night I could NOT decide what to make. I thought about doing a soup and sandwich, but no soups were sounding very appetizing...I ended up picking something easy...cheese steaks....something my mom made us growing up, and very simple to make!

For a side, frozen sweet potato fries.....we went simple last night!!

Ingredients:
1 Box Steakums (they are found in the frozen food section)
1 green pepper sliced
1 onion sliced
1 bag shredded cheese (I bought Hot pepper blend shredded cheese for some spice)
1 pack of hoagies/subs

1 bag frozen orieda sweet potato fries

Preheat oven to 400 - add fries
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat (no oil needed...the meat has enough grease in it)
Cook 1 side of the steakum for about 1 min, turn over and cook for 30-60sec....remove from skillet
I cooked about 5 or 6 of the steakums and made 3 subs.
While cooking the meat, I added the onions and peppers and cooked them on the other half of my skillet for about 5-10 min.
When the meat is done, cut open your subs, add some meat, top with onions and peppers, top with cheese and wrap the whole thing in foil (leave room at the top so the cheese doesn't stick to the foil)
I put the subs in during the last 5 minutes that the fries were cooking just to add some crisp to the bread and melt the cheese.
When it's all done, remove the subs from the foil and plate!

Very Simple and Fast!!

Tomorrow I'm making pulled pork BBQ sandwiches for dinner...

Peach Marinade Tuna Filets w/ mango salsa

One of mine and Jeremy's favorite fish recipes is a swordfish with mango marinade and salsa, so I thought I'd try something a little different!

Tuna:

• 2 tuna steaks (sized to your preference, ours were about 6-8 oz a piece)

Mango Salsa:

• 1 Mango cut up (Be sure not to cut the skin....to read the proper way to cut a mango, go here)
• 1/2 an orange pepper (or whatever color you prefer...it just looked delicious at fresh market) diced.
• 1/2 green pepper diced
• 1 jalepeno (seeded and diced)
• 1/2 onion diced
• about 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro (use however much you prefer, I love cilantro, so I used a good bit)
• 2 tbsp. Peach Nectar (usually found in the juice aisle)
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and put it in the fridge....

Orange Pepper

Onions & Green Peppers

Mango & Jalepeno

Salsa all finished!!

Peach Marinade

• 1 Cup Peach Nectar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (or a little less)
• 1/8 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. asian hot chili garlic sauce (found in the ethnic foods aisle)
• 1 tbsp. molasses
• 1/4 light brown sugar
• salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and pour over the tuna filets for about 15-20 minutes.

I bought a little over 1 lb of sashimi grade tuna steaks (which was more than enough for 2 people). We were using a skillet to cook ours, but only because I don't have a grill (which is how I prefer my fish). B/c I bought sushi grade tuna, I cooked them medium rare (white on both sides, bright pink in the middle), but I know some people don't like raw fish, so cook as preferred!

I put just about 1 tbsp oil on the skillet and heated it over medium heat, but the steaks down, cooked them on one side for about 2-3 minutes, turn them over and repeat for 2-3 more minutes. (Again, cook longer if needed)

I removed the entire skillet from the heat and kept the tuna in the skillet to finish cooking for about 1 more minute.

I plated the tuna....topped with about 2 spoonfuls of the mango salsa, and served alongside some steamed french green beans!

Enjoy!