Peach Butter

I like apple butter on my toast. It reminds me of my great-grandmother for some reason, but I not sure what that reason is. So when I saw this recipe in a magazine (I do not recall what magazine) I knew I had to try it because I love peaches! It is my favorite!! It is so amazing on a piece of hot toast! And amazingly enough my daughter loves it too. She can not smear enough of it on her toast. I have to monitor it when we get it out. So if you are looking for some yummy goodness to spread on your toast, try this recipe.

Peach Butter

Peel and half your peaches. Place in blender and puree. Pour in large pan. For each 8 cups of pureed peaches add:
4 c. sugar
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. ginger
Boil on medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Laddle into hot jars. Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes to seal.

Tips:

• To peel peaches, pierce skin at the top near the stem and place in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Remove and place in ice water to stop the cooking process. Skin should peel easy.
• When boiling it takes about 1 hour to thicken.
• I keep my jars hot by filing with about 1 inch of water and placing them on a cookie sheet and setting them in the oven on the lowest temperature.
• This will keep for 2 years sealed and about 3 months in your refrigerator.

Dulce-de-Leche Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my most favorite desserts. Often my friends want to go to The Cheesecake Factory for girls nite. My husband has often said, "Why don't you make a cheesecake and let them pay you?" And I have considered it. But I have yet to charge my friends for cheesecake.. But I love cheesecake and love to make them. I found a basic recipe and have played around with it to make a lot different kinds.

My husband's favorite is this Dulce-de-Leche cheesecake. I made it last year for his birthday and he was in Heaven. It is sooooo good. Very rich and yummy! My oldest child has even started requesting it as her birthday cake.

This year when I asked my husband what he wanted for his cake he told me that I should already know the answer. So I made another Dulce-de-Leche Cheesecake. This time I saved a little caramel to write Happy Birthday on the top.

Dulce-de-Leche Cheesecake

1 Graham cracker crust (see recipe below)

4 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 1/4 c. sugar

2 T. unbleached flour

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 T. dulce-de-leche flavored syrup

1 t. vanilla

2 T. whipping cream

1 bag Kraft caramels

1/4 c. whipping cream


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap the outside of your springform pan with heavy duty foil and place in a large baking pan with sides at least 2 inches high.

Unwrap the caramels and place in small sauce pan. Add 1/4 c. whipping cream.
Heat over medium-low heat and stir occasionally until completely melted. Let cool about 15 minutes. Pour half of the caramel sauce over the bottom of the crust.


Put the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute until creamy. Add sugar and beat for 1 minute or until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix in the four. Add the eggs two at a time, mixing completely after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl twice during this process. Add the flavored syrup and the vanilla.
Add the whipping cream.

Pour batter over caramel in crust. Shake slightly to remove any excess bubbles. Drizzle caramel over top.

Place in oven and pour boiling water into baking dish about 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Bake for 75 minutes. Remove from oven when the cheesecake wiggles but is firm in the middle. Place on cooling rack, in water bath and cover with paper towels for 1 hour. Remove from water bath and remove towels. Cool for 1 hour on cooling rack. Remove the side of the springform pan. and let cool until cool to the touch.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. Serve with extra caramel or chocolate sauce.

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

6 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter sides and bottom of pan. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Stir with fork until moistened. Press evenly into bottom of pan and up the side about an inch. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Tips:

• Invest in a good springform pan. You will have better success with making cheesecakes with the proper tools to make one.


• Be patient and plan. This is the hardest part of making a cheesecake. I get my eggs and cream cheese out of the refrigerator early in the morning, around 6am. I start working on the cheesecake at about 10 am. And I let it cool completely before we eat it. Trust me it is so much better nice and chilled than warm in the middle.


• Make sure you give your ingredients time to come to room temperature. If it is cold or you add cold ingredients the batter can become lumpy. This gives the cheesecake a strange consistency.


• Boil the water as you are making the cheesecake. You do not want to wait for the water once you have poured the batter into the pan.


• We use the Torani's or DaVinci flavored syrups. We love them for a lot of recipes. And they have so many flavors, you are bound to find a few you love.


• I use store brand cream cheese for a lot of recipes, but for cheesecake I only use Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese. It really does make the best cheesecake.

Raspberry Lemonade

I have a lot of wonderful drink recipes that I have collected over the years, but this has to be one of my favorites. In fact, I made it for our Fantasy Football Draft Party. My kids and husband love it. And it is really popular with my friends and they often ask for the recipe.

Raspberry Lemonade

1 64 oz. can unsweetened pineapple juice or 1 can pineapple juice frozen concentrate mixed according to directions

1 packet Raspberry Lemonade Crystal Light

1 packet Raspberry Ice Crystal Light

4 c. water

1 8 oz. package frozen raspberries

1-2 liter bottle lemon-lime soda (You may want to have more than one.)


Combine pineapple juice, Crystal Light juices and water in pitcher and stir. Add raspberries. Chill. When ready to serve, combine with lemon-lime soda in a punch bowl.

Tips:

• Pour concentrate into a mold, or bundt pan and freeze for at least 6 hours. Un-mold and place frozen ring in a punch bowl. About 20 minutes before serving add lemon-lime soda. You will want to have more than one bottle of soda.



• You can serve the concentrate from the pitcher, mix a one to one ratio for concentrate and soda.



• Serve with extra frozen raspberries on the side.



• Invest in a cute punch bowl. You will be amazed at how often you will use it.



• You can also freeze the concentrate in an old ice cream tub or other container and scrape ice off to add to the soda if you are not serving to a crowd. Just put the extra back in the freezer for later.



• You can also use Kool-aid if you do not want to use the Crystal Light, but you will also have to add the 2 cups of sugar.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I was at a friends house and she made us these amazing chicken salad sandwiches. I love chicken salad and have compiled several favorite recipes . My friend put them on croissants but I did not have any when I made it for my family, so I used the sandwich thins.

Chicken Salad

1-2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cooked, cooled and cubed
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1 t. mustard
9-12 red seedless grapes, halved
1/4 c. pecans, chopped
Dash of Mrs. Dash seasoning
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve on bread of choice.


Tips:

-I like to buy the big packages of chicken breasts on the bone and cook them in the oven with the skin still on and seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil. I bake them at 375 degrees F. for about 30 minutes or until the meat is not pink in the middle anymore. I let them cool and peel the meat off the bone for salads and freeze the remaining breasts in a freezer bag until I want to make another chicken salad. The chicken tends to stay more moist on the bone and I can reheat them in minutes to make another salad.

-I use Dijon mustard for this recipe but I am sure you can use whatever your family likes.

-The pecans are optional. If you are allergic or simply do not like them omit.

-Season to taste. If you like more Mrs. Dash add more. This recipe is pretty flexible.

Ham and Cheese Roll-ups

One night I was looking in the refrigerator for something to make my family that I thought they would eat.
(I do this a lot in the summer because I don't tend to cook as much due to the heat and because I would rather be doing something else. :) )
I glanced around and saw crescent rolls, ham and cheese and thought quick and easy ham and cheese sandwiches.

So super easy and the kids all liked them. I am sure someone out there has done the same thing a million times, but for us it was a first.

Ham and Cheese Rollups

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
8 slices ham
4 slices Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll rolls and pull apart. Cut ham and cheese in half crosswise and place on rolls. Roll up just like you would if making the rolls alone. Place on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.

Tips:

-Make extra and serve with a dipping sauce for parties.
-Place a small amount of mustard inside the rolls before rolling to give them tang.

Hawaiian Chicken

My parents brought this recipe back from Hawaii when they went 18 years ago. I remember they loved it so much and made it so often that we all got tired of it. But now that 18 years have passed I love it again. It is the perfect summer dish. And it can be baked in the oven in the winter if you are craving a dish to liven up the table. Served with fresh fruit and rice it is so wonderful. A nice salad goes well too.

Hawaiian Chicken

Chicken thighs and legs
1 c. pineapple juice
1/2 c. Dijon mustard
3/4 c. honey
1/4 c. water
2 T. cornstarch
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place chicken on large baking sheet. Salt and pepper lightly. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in oven for 2 hours. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove foil and peel skin off of the chicken.
While chicken is cooling preheat grill. Combine pineapple juice, honey and mustard in sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Dissolve cornstarch in water and add slowly to mixture in pan. Stir constantly until the cornstarch has cooked in completely. Place cooked chicken on the grill and brush with pineapple Dijon glaze. Turn over after about 4-5 minutes and brush on the glaze again. Continue to heat for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve hot. Serve extra glaze on the side for guests to put more on or add to their rice.

Tips:

-If you are baking, do not precook the chicken. Instead, marinate in glaze for about an hour and then cook in 350 oven for 20-25 minutes until chicken is done.

-If you like the chicken skin you do not have to remove it. We prefer not to eat it and if you leave it on and then glaze, the flavor goes with the skin when you peel it off later.

-The glaze will be very thick. Keep stirring or it will stick to the bottom.
You will know the cornstarch has cooked in when the sauce no longer looks milky.

-You can cook the chicken on the grill but do not brush the glaze on until the end of cooking. The honey and pineapple juice in the glaze will make it burn.

-Precooking a the low temperature with the foil keeps the chicken nice and juicy and allows the skin to act as a natural moisture retainer. Then you can peel it off for the final heating on the grill and you do not have to worry about flare ups on the grill from the grease and your chicken will be done and not dry.

Cherry Cheese Cupcakes

For the Fourth of July we had a BBQ at our house and I wanted to make a treat. I saw all over the blogs these amazing cupcakes. So I thought I would follow suit and make cupcakes for our get together. In college, I went to a graduation party and they served this wonderful sheet cake. It was a white cake with a fluffy icing and cherry pie filling. So yummy. I asked my friend for the recipe and thought these would be perfect because they are red and white. And I could easily turn it into cupcakes.

Cherry Cheese Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix and ingredients to make the cake

2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened to room temperature

4 c. powdered sugar

16 oz. cool-whip topping

1 can cherry pie filling

Prepare cupcake pans and make cake mix according to package directions. Bake cupcakes and allow to cool.

Combine cream cheese and sugar. Mix until it is light and fluffy. Gently fold in the cool-whip. Using a butter knife cut a small x in the top of the cupcakes. Fill cupcakes using a decorator's tip and piping bag or plastic bag, push tip into x and squeezing filling in. Frost cupcakes and top with a couple cherries.

Tips:

-For the Fourth of July I wanted red and blue too. So I colored some of the batter blue and red. I used the paste food coloring so the consistency of the batter was not altered.

-We had a lot of kids coming so I also made mini cupcakes and filled them the same. Each got one cherry and they were perfect for little hands.

-To make this a sheet cake bake the cake in a large sheet pan for 20 minutes and let cool. Spread frosting and top with the pie filling.

-I can imagine that these would be wonderful with fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries instead of the pie filling. Any of those pie fillings would also be delicious too.

Monster Cookies

When my husband was in PT school, we made some great friends with another couple and she is a great cook. She taught me so many things. I am so grateful to her for all she imparted. One of the recipes she gave me is for an amazing cookie. My favorite cookie ever. I can eat these until I am sick I love them so much. But I figure they are a little healthy because they have peanut butter and oatmeal. (Smile.)

Monster Cookies

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

1 cube butter

3 eggs

1 1/3 c. peanut butter

1 c. M & M's

1/2 t. vanilla

1 T. corn syrup

1 c. chocolate chips

3/4 c. flour

2 t. baking soda

4 1/2 c. oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine sugar and butter and mix until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add peanut butter, vanilla and corn syrup. Add M & M's and chocolate chips. add dry ingredients and mix completely. Scoop onto cookie sheet with large ice cream scoop and flatten slightly. top with additional M & M"s to make it look good. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and move to cooling rack.

Tips:

-I use butter, but you can use margarine.

-I use crunchy peanut butter, I love the little pieces of nuts, great texture.

-I use the large scoop from PC, but my friend always made them with an ice cream scoop to make them true Monster cookies. I love the bigger size but I make them smaller to help them last longer. I would make them huge if it were for a special occasion.

-Try them with a scoop of ice cream smashed between two cookies. The best ice cream sandwich EVER!

Thanks to Melissa for this amazing recipe. It is a favorite in our house.

Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza

I love Chicken Caesar Salad. It is one of my favorites. I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook and modified it to work for my family. I make my own crust and try to make it easy to assemble. And it is a great way to sneak veggies in for my kids who do not realize that there are red peppers all through it. I think you could sneak others in too, I just have not tried.

Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza

Crust:

1 c. hot water
1 T. sugar
1 T. dry active yeast
2 T. olive oil
1 c. flour
1 T. Italian seasoning
1/2 t. salt
3-4 c. flour or 1 cup wheat flour and 2 c. white flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour hot water into mixing bowl. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast on top. Let soak and start to grow. Add olive oil and flour. Mix with dough hook for 1 minute. Add seasoning and salt and 1 cup flour. Start mixer and gradually add remaining flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and no longer sticks to the bottom. Let knead with mixer for 2 minutes. Remove from bowl. Sprinkle pizza pan, or stone with cornmeal. Roll dough out to large circle. Pierce crust with fork a lot to keep crust from bubbling up. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Topping :

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 c. Caesar Dressing
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 red bell pepper
Romaine lettuce, torn

Cook chicken breasts until done. You can grill or bake in oven. Let cool slightly. Put cream cheese in mixing bowl. Chop bell pepper finely and add to cheese. Chop chicken finely as well and add to cheese and pepper. Add dressing and Parmesan cheese. Mix until well blended. Spread evenly on crust. Top with lettuce. Cut and serve. You can sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese and top with additional chicken and Caesar dressing if desired.

Tips

-My kids make a mess if I put too many things on top, they just fall off. So I opted to put it all in the spread. To make it more fancy for adults you can certainly put more chicken and peppers on top.
-For the crust I use hot tap water. I let it run to the hottest it gets and pour immediately into my Kitchen aid mixer. The cool bowl and the stirring in of the sugar help the water to cool slightly making it the perfect temperature for the yeast.
-We talked about it and are thinking of adding bacon next time we try this to jazz it up. Bacon makes everything better right?
-Often I will not top the entire pizza. I will cut the crust and top each piece individually, so then my left over crust can be used the next day for lunch and will not be soggy. And my kids then get to top it themselves and food always tastes better if they get to do it themselves! You could also make smaller pizzas.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. It is a great summer recipe! Nice and cool and not too hard to assemble. You will not be stuck in the kitchen for hours instead of playing in the yard with the kids!

Homemade Gourmet Cookie Collection

When I was growing up my mom had big parties all the time. She made food for two days and bought an assortment of fancy foods (brie, special crackers, pate) to serve to her guests. One of those items was the box of assorted cookies from Pepperidge Farm. You know the ones. The box is full of paper liners and fancy little cookies in all shapes and sizes. I LOVED THOSE!!! It was such a treat to eat the left overs and I still consider Milanos my favorite store bought cookie ever.
A group of friends and I did a cookie exchange a couple of years ago and one gal gave me a great recipe for shortbread cookies with chocolate chips in them. They are so fabulous and when I made them last week I kept thinking that they tasted a lot like the Milanos.
So I thought what if I changed these up and rolled the dough out and sandwiched them with chocolate truffle sauce? Maybe I could make my own Milanos. Then as I worked on them I thought that I could also make more of the varieties of cookies and create my own gourmet cookie collection.

Here is what I came up with.

Shortbread Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 c. butter, softened to room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
4 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
4 1/4 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing completely after each addition. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients. This will make a soft dough. Shape into two balls and roll each out separately. Roll to 1/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool on pan for 2-3 minutes and remove to cooling rack. Cool completely before topping.

Chocolate Truffle Sauce

3/4 c. whipping cream
2 T. butter
12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat cream and butter until the butter is completely melted, careful not to boil the cream. remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 minute and whisk until smooth. Let cool for about 30 minutes before using to decorate cookies.

To decorate:

For one type I frosted the cookies with the truffle sauce and then sandwiched another cookie on top.

For the next one I frosted and them topped with chopped pecans.

The last one I pulled some of the truffle sauce and flavored it with orange extract. I then frosted the cookie.

Tips:

-If you are going to sandwich the cookies make sure you turn some of your cookies over before baking to ensure the can be flipped over. You want the pretty side to be up on both sides.
-You can use any type of flavoring to flavor the chocolate. I used orange, but mint, raspberry or blueberry would be delicious too!
-I used pecans because I love them, but you could also use peanuts, or almonds and even cashews.
-Use a small bite size cookie cutter. The ones I used were larger which resulted in a larger cookie. (Someone told me this was good because it meant they only ate one instead of more than one!)
-I think I am going to try topping them with a little caramel and them frosting them. Yummy! Also I am going to try the dough in my cookie press.

Thanks Jenn for the amazing recipe! And for letting me use it to make these wonderful cookies!

Raspberry Muffins

My family likes to eat breakfast for dinner. And on those days that I am super busy, muffins and scrambled eggs are an easy, quick meal I can prepare with the help of my kids. We have a lot of recipes for muffins and we also use boxed mixes if I can get a great deal on them. (We only like these because of the crumb topping that comes in them. But I mastered the crumb topping with these. I may never spend money on boxed mixes again!) We make blueberry quite often but I wanted to try something new. So I combined a couple different recipes to come up with these.

Raspberry Muffins

1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. salad oil
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. frozen raspberries thawed and drained

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the bottom of a 12-cup muffin pan. In large bowl, beat egg and stir in the milk and oil. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir just until moistened. Gently fold in the raspberries.



Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.



Prepare crumb topping. Top batter with about 1-1 1/2 t. crumb topping.



Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve warm immediately.



Crumb Topping

1/2 c. flour
3-4 T. brown sugar
2-3 T. butter, softened to room temperature

Combine all ingredients in small mixing bowl. With a fork, gently mix until it is crumbly and yet sticks together if pressed. Sprinkle on top of muffins or breads.

Tips:

-You can use applesauce in place of the oil. Use the same amount. If your applesauce is sweetened, you may want to decrease the amount of sugar.
-My kids love the topping, so if you think you may need extra to appease the kids in your family, you may want to make more.
-Try other berries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries. Anything would be great. Mix it up and no one will complain that you are having muffins again!
-I save the juice from the berries. We add it to a fruit smoothie (recipe to come) when we are ready to eat. Or you can hold onto it for another recipe.

Cheesy Bruschetta

I also wanted to have a savory treat at the Scentsy show. I had an idea of what I wanted but could not find a recipe. So I experimented. A little of this, a little of that and the resulting food could be disaterous or turn out pretty good. This time it turned out good. Lucky me since I was serving them to guests.

Cheesy Bruschetta

1-2 loafs French bread
3/4 c. small curd cottage cheese
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 c. mayonaise
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. garlic powder
2-3 green onions
Olive oil

Slice bread on the diagonal to 1/2-3/4 inch pieces. Lay the peices flat on baking sheet. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place under broiler to lighly brown. Watch closely so you do not burn the bread! Remove and set to cool slightly.
In a bowl combine cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, mayonaise, lemon juice and garlic powder. Slice green onions and add to cheese mixture. Scoop small amounts on to the bread, spread and return to oven broiler. Broil until cheese starts to bubble. Remove and serve hot.

Tips-

-Don't toast both sides of the bread, it gets too hard to bite.
-If you do not like tangy flavors, omit the lemon juice.
-If you do not like the onions you can omit those as well.
-A little paprika sprinkled on top would give it color too.
-Play with this one. Make it your own. And let me know how it turns out!

Little Bites of Heaven

Or as the recipe titles them, Mini Cheesecakes. My family loves these. They are the perfect size for my kids little hands and I do not feel as guilty if I eat one small cake instead of a larger piece from a large cheesecake.

I was having a Scentsy party (www.jackieallred.scentsy.us, if you need anything) and I wanted a few yummy treats for guests to grab on their way out the door. I have experimented with a few varieties of the cheesecakes (we really like the strawberry and vanilla). This time I decided to try making lemon, as well as, the vanilla cheesecake. They turned out pretty good. I was very happy with them. My family and guests seemed to like them too.

Mini Cheesecakes

Place cupcake wrappers in muffin tin and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the following in a small bowl:
5 T. melted butter
1 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

Stir with fork until all crumbs are moistened. Scoop 1 T. of the mixture into the bottom of the paper baking cups. Press down. Bake for 6 minutes at 325. Remove from oven and cool. Increase temperature in oven to 350 degrees F. Place shallow baking dish or sheet pan on bottom rack in oven and fill with hot water.



In mixer:
3-8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
Mix until creamy about 1 minute.
Add:
3/4 c. plus 2 T. sugar
Mix until smooth, about another minute.
Add:
1 1/2 t. all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 T whipping cream, 1 1/2 T lemon juice, 2 t. vanilla and mix until creamy. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl. Add 3 eggs, one at a time mixing completely after each addition. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl again during this process.
Fill muffin liners about 3/4 full. Use about half of the batter. To remaining batter add 1/2 t. lemon zest and 3/4 t. lemon extract. Mix slightly to distribute flavor. Fill remaining paper liners.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 25 minutes and then remove from pans and let cool on rack for 1 hour. Place in refrigerator to cool for 4-6 hours.

Meanwhile melt 1 t. butter with 1/2 c. whipping cream. Once butter in melted remove from heat and add 1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 minute and then stir until smooth. Let cool until pourable, about 30 minutes.

Zest one lemon. Sprinkle with sugar and heat in small saute pan for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand to cool.

Once the cheesecakes are cool, remove from refrigerator and on top of vanilla cheesecakes pour chocolate sauce and smooth. Or you can pour the chocolate into a small baggie and cut a small corner off and pipe on in swirls or hearts or any cute shape. On top of the lemon cheesecakes place a little of the sugared zest. Serve cooled. Makes about 30 mini cheesecakes with left over crust that can be frozen for future use.

Tips:

-I use the foil baking liners with the paper removed. I like these because they do not stick to the papers as much if I use the foil.
-Do not spray the liners. I thought this would help them to not stick but all it does is add the spray to your dessert.
-You can use Nilla Wafers or half an Oreo(scrap off the filling) in the bottom of the liner instead of the graham crust. I like the graham crust and it was super easy.
-If you want a smooth cheesecake make sure your cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature. Cold cream cheese will not smooth out very well and adding cold eggs will make the cream cheese seize up. If you get them pout about 4 hours before you make the cheesecake you should be good.
-I used to be a Pampered Chef consultant so I have all of the cooking utensils, so I used the small scoop and the tart press for the crusts, the large scoop for the filling and the zester for the lemon zest. I also used both the PC muffin stone and a couple other metal muffin pans. They both worked the same except I had to cook the PC ones about 3 minutes longer.

I will make the strawberry ones pictured in the header again and post about making those too. Let me know if these work for you!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

When I got married there were a few recipes I had to get from my mother-in-law. One of them is this recipe for Breakfast Cake. I think is was originally called a coffee cake but my mother-in-law thought breakfast cake would be less confusing for the kids when they were young since we do not drink coffee.

This is my husband's favorite breakfast EVER and we have it about 2-4 times a month. It took me about 4 or 6 or 8 months to get it right. (You know, competing with your mother-in-law's cooking can be stressful.) I finally figured it out after many failed attempts. (I think I may have been trying too hard.)


Over the years we have tried a few variations on the recipe. Our favorite is the blueberry one. It has now become the cake we make most often. LOVE IT! And the blueberries give it some nutritional value. : )

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place rack in middle of oven. Grease sides and bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a small mixing bowl combine:


1/2 c. butter, softened (I get mine out the night before and set it on the counter)


1 1/3 c. rolled oats


1 1/3 c. brown sugar


1 t. cinnamon


With mixer on low, beat until crumbly. Set aside.

In a larger mixing bowl combine:

3/4 c. rolled oats

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 T. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

3 T. brown sugar

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1 egg

2 1/4 c. milk or 1 1/2 c. milk and 1 c. butter milk

3/4 c. fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries that have been slightly defrosted (optional)

Beat on low setting to moisten and then beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Pour half the batter onto the baking dish.


Sprinkle half the topping mixture evenly over the batter.



Pour remaining batter over the topping and then top with remaining topping mixture. Sprinkle blueberries over the top.

(We have to leave one end plain for my daughter who is not very fond of blueberries.)

Bake for 25 minutes or until middle is set. Serve hot.

Let's look at it agin. SO YUMMY!

The best part about this breakfast is that there are leftovers in my house so my husband and kids can eat it the next day and I do not have to do much for breakfast Monday morning.

Tips:

-Make sure your oven is preheated for this one. I am notorious for putting foods in before the oven is ready but with this recipe, it just makes the cooking time so hard to gauge.

-Fresh blueberries work the best. But if you don't want to pay the price for fresh in the dead of winter, or your store does not carry them, just use frozen. I take mine out, place them in a bowl and run hot water over them for about 30 seconds. I drain them and then they are perfect when I am ready to sprinkle them. Watch for them to stop sticking when the water is poured off.

-This can also be used as a dessert, maybe serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream. Yum!

I have some dehydrated strawberries that I have not done anything with. I am thinking I may try them one of these days in this recipe and see how it turns out. Look for another post!

Wonderful World of Food

Many people have told me that I should start a food blog. And since my foray into the blogging world in January, I have been surprised at how much easier it is than I thought it would be. And it has been so much fun that I decided to go ahead and start this blog to share all the fun, wonderful food tips and tricks I have learned over the years and that I am still learning. Hopefully I can share some great recipes with you as well. (If you have questions or want recipes for anything specific let me know with a comment so I know people are reading!) Notice the yummy individual cheesecakes at the top of the page. I will do a post on how to make these soon. For now you can go to www.howdoesshe.com and check out the Cook & Bake section. Scroll down and you'll see a tutorial on how to make a cheesecake. It is so good!