Personal Oreo Cheesecakes

What better way to celebrate the holidays with family that making baked goods! This recipe was used verbatim from Baking Bites. She's such a baking rockstar. I've copied the recipe below for your convenience, but this was NOT my creation. I wish it was. Goodbye science, hello photography and restaurant development.

Personal Oreo Cheesecakes

Makes 16

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
2 8-oz packages plain cream cheese, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chopped Oreo cookies
16 whole Oreo cookies

Procedure:

1.Preheat oven to 350F, and line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. Beat together sugar, cream cheese, eggs, milk and vanilla extract until very smooth using a hand-held electric mixer. Blend in flour with a spoon, and stir in chopped oreo cookies.

3. Place 1 Oreo in the bottom of each muffin cup, and top with about 1/4 cup cheesecake batter.

4. Bake for 16-19 minutes, until cheesecakes are set, and allow them to cool in the pan.

5. Chill the cheesecakes overnight (or for at least 2 hours) in the fridge. Store in the fridge.

People go crazy about the oreo cookie in the bottom!

Pecan-Topped Carrot Pie

Yes, you read correctly: carrot pie. I was a little skeptical myself, but I had to try it out. What I found was this pie tastes like the perfect holiday hybrid of a fresh pumpkin pie and my momma's pecan pie.

This recipe is also significantly cheaper than either a pecan or pumpkin pie--a 1 lb bag of carrots (which is about what this recipe took for me) costs less than 50 cents at some supermarkets! I'm just happy that I found a year-round recipe that mimics my favorite pies...

Oh, and about the crust...well...I'm not so good at crust shaping, which you'll see from the photos. I also use store-bought refrigerated crust, because I'm horrifically lazy. I'm just showing y'all the real me :).

Pecan-Topped Carrot Pie

Taste of Home

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced fresh carrots (about 1 lb bag)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

dash of salt

1 unbaked, 9" pie shell

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 Tbs butter, melted

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9" pie plate with cooking spray, and form pie crust into the plate.

2. Add about 1" of water to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add carrots, cover and reduce heat. Cook the carrots for about 10 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain the carrots.

3. Add the carrots, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, pie spice, cinnamon and salt into a food processor or blender. Cover and puree, until smooth and uniform.

4. Pour the carrot mixture into the pie crust.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the pecans, sugar and butter. Sprinkle over the pie filling. Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean.

Serve chilled with whipped cream or warm out of the oven! Be sure to refrigerate any leftovers.

Apple Brown Betty

This recipe could also be called "Butter Cobbler", given the incredible amount of delicious, fatty butter in it. I snagged this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. She's a hoot, and I totally recommend reading her blog if you haven't. I appreciate her self-deprecating humor, which is also tends to be my sense of humor.

I have to say that I didn't really change a thing (except for the addition of my second love, Sweet Treat), but I'm going to post the full recipe anyway to keep myself busy.

This dessert is the perfect way to usher in fall, and uses only staple ingredients, making it the perfect "throw-together" dessert!

Apple Brown Betty

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3 Granny Smith apples

5-7 Slices of wheat bread

3/4 cup salted butter

1 and 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

3 Tbs water

Sweet Treat (if you have it)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F

2. Peel and thinly slice the apples, and cut the wheat bread into bite sized cubes.

3. Grease a pie plate with butter, then begin to make layers of the ingredients. PW used thirds as a rule of thumb (i.e. add 1/3 of the bread, apples and brown sugar, and repeat twice more). Be sure to end with breadcrumbs (though Lord knows I didn't, and it didn't really make a difference).

4. Sprinkle the water and a bit of brown sugar (or Sweet Treat!!) on the top. Cover with foil and pop into the oven for about 35-45 minutes. Remove the foil and allow to brown the top for a few more minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice-cream for an extra special dessert!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cakes

Sweet potatoes were on sale at the grocery store the other weekend, and I sought to find a recipe that was new (i.e. not just baked/mashed sweet potatoes) that I could serve as a main dish. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, and I decided to try it out. Stupidly, I didn't really have all the ingredients I needed, so I had to tweak the recipe quite a bit. Sigh.

My verdict about the recipe is that the lime sour cream topping really makes these cakes extraordinary. By themselves, they were a little dry. Perhaps a little more tweaking and experimenting is in order...

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cakes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Lime Sour Cream:

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp lime juice (I used from concentrate, fresh is probably better)

1 tsp diced green chili peppers from can (or 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, fancy pants)

Bean and Potato Cakes:

1 Tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can diced chili peppers

1.5 tsp ground cumin

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup of raw sweet potato, grated

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup bread crumbs (all I had was Italian bread crumbs, and it worked out fine)

Procedure:

1. Prepare lime sour cream first. Mix the sour cream, lime juice and peppers well, and store covered in the fridge to meld the flavors together.

**Turn on the broiler**

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, chili peppers and cumin until fragrant and golden. Be careful not to burn the garlic, as it has a bitter flavor when it is burnt.

3. In a large bowl mix the black beans with the chili-garlic mixture. With a potato masher or a fork, mash the black beans with the peppers. Mix in the sweet potatoes, egg and bread crumbs until patties can be formed.

4. Take a large spoonful of the mixture and roll into a 1.5 inch ball. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from one another. With the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, flatten the balls into patties.

5. Broil about 8 minutes on one side, then carefully flip over using a wide spatula, and broil another 3-5 minutes on the other side, until crispy.

6. Serve with a dollop of the lime sour cream.

Baby Portobello and Spinach Whole Wheat Lasagna

Whew. I need to update this baby. Sorry for the silence, but things are busy. We've been eating a lot of sandwiches, and fake-meat tacos. Yum.

This particular lasagna recipe is great because you don't need to boil the noodles beforehand, which really cuts back on the preparation time for this dish. Feel free to substitute the veggies with cooked ground beef or Italian sausage!

Baby Portobello and Spinach Whole Wheat Lasagna

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 large bag of fresh spinach

8 oz cremini (baby portobello mushrooms), sliced

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles

16 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta, fancy pants)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

26 oz pasta sauce (about 1 jar of your favorite brand)

Italian seasoning blend for garnish

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Saute the mushrooms for about 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat in a skillet, until they are deeply colored and fragrant. Transfer them to a plate, and return the skillet back to the heat.

3. Wilt the spinach in the skillet for about 3 minutes, then when dark green, transfer to a plate.

4. Spray a 9"x11" baking dish with cooking spray. Begin to build the lasagna.

5. First, coat the bottom of the baking dish with a thin layer of pasta sauce. Place three noodles, not overlapping, on the sauce. Add equal amounts of spinach and mushrooms as the next layer. Top this with dollops of the cottage cheese and about 1/2 cup of the shredded mozzarella. Coat with sauce, then continue the pattern until ingredients run out. Top the final layer with mozzarella and cottage cheese if there is any left. Be sure that the top layer of noodles are coated with pasta sauce, otherwise they will not properly cook.

6. Bake at 350F for about 35-45 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is nice and melted.

Aloo Palak: Pureed Spinach with Potatoes

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'm kind of in a cooking funk. I'll get over it soon, hopefully.

My friend, Sophie, came over recently and we tried our hand at cooking an Indian dish. The result was...okay...but not as good as something you would get in a real Indian restaurant. I didn't have cumin seeds, only cumin powder, so that might have interfered with the taste a bit. It was spicy, thanks to the peppers, but didn't have that traditional Indian flavor we were looking for. Oh well, it was worth a shot!

Aloo Palak

Adapted from Recipezaar

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 bunches spinach

1 red onion, diced

2 green chili peppers (we used jalapenos...heh...), diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 large Russet potatoes, cubed

1 tsp turmeric

4 Tbs butter

1 tsp cumin powder (or seeds, if you have them)

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground coriander

Procedure:

1. Cook spinach with onion, peppers and garlic until wilted and fragrant, about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes with the turmeric for 8-10 minutes, or until fork tender. (They turn yellow from the turmeric---cool!)

3. Puree the spinach mixture in a food processor or blender.

4. Heat the butter and the cumin in a large skillet over medium heat until the cumin is fragrant--be careful not to burn the butter!

5. Add the spinach mixture and simmer for about 5 mintues. Then add the drained potatoes, and heat for additional 2-5 minutes.

Serve with basmati rice and naan! Yum!

Chickpea and Lentil Soup

Ok, so I'm posting this a little prematurely. I haven't actually had an entire bowl of this soup yet--but I have had a little taste. And it. tastes. good. I made the soup for a Middle Eastern-themed dinner I made for a yoga group I attend. There will be soup, pitas and homemade hummus, and a special surprise for dessert!

This is a pretty hearty soup, and I think it would be delicious all year round!

Not exactly sure where I found this recipe, but kudos to the chef!

Chickpea and Lentil Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Olive or vegetable oil

1/2 onion (I used red), diced

2-3 carrots, cut into thin rounds

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over for stones

4 cups vegetable stock (or 4 cups water and vegetable bullion cubes)

1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed

2 tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes with juice)

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Procedure:

1. Saute onion, carrot and celery in olive oil over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and saute for about 5 more minutes. (Careful, don't inhale the pepper!)

2. Add the vegetable stock and the lentils, and bring the soup to a boil.

3. Add the chickpeas and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, for about 1 hour, or until the lentils are fork tender.

4. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste and stir thoroughly.

5. Stir in the parsley, and serve with a parsley garnish.

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Bake

Ok, this recipe is painfully easy...and um, well painfully bland. Tony and I talked about ways to jazz it up (like using REAL cheddar cheese instead of the cheap-o brand), or adding other seasonings like cumin and chili powder.

I think that this recipe is totally customizable, and flavor can come in a variety of ways. Want a kick? Use Spanish rice and add some fresh or canned tomatoes. Want a hearty, savory dish? Add some meaty mushrooms (like baby portobellos) and use wild rice. Want to be a fancy-mc-fancy-pants? Use some foo-foo cheeses.

The possibilities are endless, my friends.

Here's the bare-bones way I cooked the dish this weekend:

Cheese Broccoli and Rice Bake

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice (I used Minute rice because I'm horrifically lazy)

1 large head broccoli, stemmed and cut into florets

1.5 cups shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

0. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

1. Cook the rice as directed on the package, and steam the broccoli for about 5 minutes in a steamer basket, or until bright green.

2. Spray an 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray, and layer rice, broccoli and cheese, then repeat the layers.

3. Grind some pepper on top, and place in the oven for 20 minutes until bubbly.

Serve this as a main dish with a big salad, or as a side dish to accompany a more traditional home style meal!

Sugar Donut Muffins

Before I left for Missouri, I printed off several recipes I wanted to try out while I was on vacation. Sugar Donut Muffins just seemed like a natural choice. Sugar, donut, muffins, what's not to like?

I came across the recipe at Baking Bites, and didn't change a thing. I'll re-copy it below, but I can't take a lick of credit for this recipe. These muffins were so good I made them twice in Missouri, and would have made them three times if the zucchini bread I made didn't last as long as it did!

Sugar Donut Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking power

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.

2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture and stir to combine.

4. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. While muffins are baking, melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl.

When they are done, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in sugar.

7. Enjoy with coffee, with vanilla ice cream, or just plain by themselves!

Wonton Wrapper Ravioli

This recipe is painfully easy. It's also impressive. Easy + impressive = honkin' AWESOME in my book, though I don't know about you all.

Who makes their own ravioli? Awesome people, that's who. This recipe is great, because it's completely customizable. Do you have a meat lover in the family? Fill the ravioli with seasoned Italian sausage and mozzarella. Health conscious vegetarian? Fill the ravioli chock full of mushrooms, spinach, diced asparagus, olives or whatever other veggie tickles your fancy.

Here, I've chosen to blend healthy with, well, moderately healthy. Using cheese in any of your recipes will increase the caloric value of the meal, but some people loooove their cheese, me included.

Give this a try--the benefit outweighs the risk! I found out that using TWO wrappers per side of the ravioli makes for a sturdier, and less likely to burst pocket. I've shown you pictures of the carnage to prove my point...

Wonton Wrapper Ravioli

Adapted from ideas by Rachael Ray and around the Internet

Ingredients:

1 bunch of spinach, washed and chopped roughly

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 cup cottage (or ricotta, fancy pants) cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella, and extra for garnish, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded

1 package wonton wrappers (the pack I used had 60 wrappers, each about 2"x2")

Procedure:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, and when it begins to sizzle, add the spinach and saute for a few minutes, until wilted, then transfer to a large bowl. Meanwhile, Start a large pot of water boiling.

2. Combine the cheeses with the spinach until thoroughly mixed.

3. Prepare a floured surface for the wonton wrappers. Set a small bowl of water and a pastry brush (or you can use your finger) nearby. Lay out the wrappers on the surface (in stacks of two if you wanted them to hold together), side by side.

4. Place a dollop of the filling mixture in the center of each wrapper, then trace the outside 1/4" of the wrapper with a brush or finger dipped in water, and do the same to the wrapper you place on top, water sides facing each other.

5. Align and press down the top wrapper on the bottom wrapper. I chose to decorate the edges by going around them with a fork, but I didn't do the control experiment to see if they would hold together without the fork scoring. Sigh.

6. Place the sealed ravioli one at a time (to prevent initial sticking) carefully in the water, and allow them to boil for about 2 minutes. They will float to the top when ready (just like dumplings!).

7. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce (or whatever goes well with your filling of choice!).

Lasagna Roll Ups

Lasagna roll ups are made with the same ingredients as traditional lasagna, only the assembly is a little different. I think they're a fun way to change up a dish, without going through the labor pains of experimenting with something that is not broken to begin with. I will caution you that these are a little bit more messy than traditional lasagna, but are worth a try if you want to pep up an old recipe!

I made this particular dish with broccoli and olives--not typically what you'd find in lasagna, but still pretty tasty! I recommend using fresh spinach, sauteed with a little garlic, and mushrooms for a first try. The broccoli's odd shape made these roll ups even more messy (and frustrating for Tony), but the combination of broccoli and olives was delicious!

Lasagna Roll Ups

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 whole wheat lasagna noodles

1 large crown of broccoli, cut up into bite sized florets

1 small can of sliced black olives

3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1 cup marinara sauce (your favorite kind)

Procedure:

0. Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Boil lasagna noodles until al dente, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water, then coat with a little olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking to one another.

2. While the noodles are boiling, steam the broccoli in a steamer basket until bright green and slightly tender. Drain and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine olives, broccoli, cottage cheese and parmesan. *If you would like, you can also add 1/4 cup of the marinara sauce to this mixture*

4. Lay out a lasagna in the palm of your hand. Fill the middle with a heaping spoonful of the mixture, then form into a roll, and put the seam side down in a greased 8"x8" glass baking dish.

5. Add any of the leftover filling mixture to the top of the rolls. Cover evenly with the marinara sauce, and top with extra cottage or parmesan cheese as desired.

6. Bake at 350F for about 25-35 minutes, or until bubbly and the cheese on top is melted.