Sopapilla Cheesecake

I recently joined Pinterest and tonight I made the first recipe that I found on there.  It was for sopapilla cheesecake.  It was very, very easy and will feed a crowd because the richness means you just need a small portion.  You simply spread crescent rolls on the bottom of the pan, spread the cream cheese filling, put more crescents on top, a little butter and cinnamon and sugar and voila, cream cheese pastries!  I think these are best for dessert rather than breakfast.  I will definitely make these again and I think next time some diced apples or berries would be nice in the cream cheese layer.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

We met at my place and Lauren and Mary were unable to join us.  Jen, Carol's daughter and frequent guest, was in attendance and the good news is that she is moving back to Houston and can join us in the future!

The theme was Kelsey's Essentials (Cooking Channel) and for a favor I gave the essential spice; salt.  I found black lava sea salt from My Spice Sage. I really like the website as it has every spice you can think of!  And with my order I received two free samples and I chose vanilla beans and fried chicken spice. Yum.

Carol and Jen - appetizer of Three Cheese Crostini with Honey and Roasted Asparagus as the side.

Tonya - Smoky Panzanella with Market Vegetables as the salad.

Angie - Chicken Cacciatore as the main dish with brown rice.

Janet - Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes for dessert.

The Three Cheese Crostini were delicious and addictive!  The flavor was mild with a touch of sweetness.  Carol and Jen left out the salt and pepper because they did not think it "fit" with the other ingredients. 

Tonya made a bread salad and it was delicious!  I have never had one before and I really liked this one.  Plus, all the colors on the plate were beautiful.  Smoky Panzanella with Market Vegetables is a serve right away salad as the bread will get overly soggy if you wait.  The dressing was very tasty as well.

For the main dish we had Chicken Cacciatore and this was a homey, one-pot meal.  I loved the mushrooms and the cremini (which look like slightly larger button mushrooms) held their texture despite over an hour of stewing.  I used thighs and breasts rather than an entire chicken.

Roasted Vegetables was the perfect compliment to the chicken.  Jen just used asparagus and cooked to crisp tender.

Last but not least was dessert!  Janet made Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes which she adorned with whipped cream and a sprinkle of Mardis Gras colored sugars.  YUM.  I had two and I am not ashamed to admit it.  Rather than the chocolate wafers in the crust Janet used the traditional graham crackers. 

Enchilada Casserole

I had some left over corn tortillas and I found this recipe for Enchilada Casserole in my "to-be-made" recipe pile.  This recipe is based on Wanda of The Happy Cooker and below is how I prepared it.  Note that if you are not careful this casserole can have a lot of heat.  Do not choose hot enchilada sauce and hot taco seasoning unless you want a lot of heat.  I used medium for everything and there was a lot of spice.  Next time I will use at least 1 mild.  Even still, I loved this casserole.  It is healthy with all the veggies (beans and tomatoes) yet still very satisfying.  I used less cheese than the original recipe called for (FIVE CUPS) so you can add per your taste.  I think this casserole will re-heat and freeze well.

Enchilada Casserole

12 corn tortillas, cut in half

1 pound ground beef

2 - 10 oz cans enchilada sauce

1 package taco seasoning

1/2 cup water

1 small can diced tomatoes

1 - 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 onion, small dice, divided

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Cilantro and/or green onions for garnish

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground beef.  When browned, drain (if necessary - I found that 90% lean did not need to be drained) and add 1/2 cup water, taco seasoning, tomatoes and juice and 1/2 of the onion. Cook to reduce some of the liquid while you get the rest of the casserole ready.

Lightly spray cooking spray in 13 x 9 pan.  Pour 1 can enchilada sauce on bottom of pan.  Layer half of the tortillas, all the ground beef (I used a slotted spoon to leave behind the remaining liquid), all of the black beans, the remaining 1/2 of the diced onions and 1 cup of the cheese.  For the next layer put the remaining 1/2 of the tortillas, 1 can enchilada sauce and the remaining 1 cup of cheese.  Bake uncovered for 40 minutes until cheese is melted and lightly browned on top.  Garnish with cilantro or green onions, if desired.

Christmas 2011

I made a couple of new dishes for Christmas.  One was a squash casserole that I found from Paula Deen.  The only change I made was using Panko breadcrumbs on the top.  Leave it to Paula to take something wholesome like squash and add sour cream, butter and cheese to it.  It sure was delicious and I will make it again!

I had some left over cranberries and I used these in a cranberry apple crisp.  It turned out very well and quick to put together.  It had plenty of sweetness and the topping, my favorite part, was very tasty.

I also feasted on a dessert that I think was probably this peanut butter brownie trifle.  It was AMAZING.  AMAZING.  It sounds almost like too much, but it was not.  A small serving is all you need, though I wanted to take the bowl and lick it clean.  I will definitely be making this myself.

Cookie Competition 2011

I entered my company's Christmas cookie competition this year and the best place I finished was third.  My third place cookie was Betty Crocker's Chocolate-Marshmallow Pillows.  This cookie, according to the website, was a prize winning cookie in 2009.  The prize was probably THIRD place.  I thought this was a delicious cookie and a chocolate lovers dream.  Some hints I learned:  

• Cut the marshmallows with kitchen shears.  
• When you first put the marshmallow in the cookie, it is not that important to push it down.  After you cook it for 2 minutes, THEN really push it down and make is spread over the entire cookie.

My other cookie, which did not place, but was delicious nonetheless, was Oatmeal Toffee Cookies.  These were super easy to make and I liked them alot.  I think nuts would have been nice in them as well.  Or maybe chocolate chips.

The winning cookie, also from Betty Crocker, was AMAZING!  It is a bar cookie, which makes it quicker to produce large quantities.  The Praline Crumb Caramel Cheesecake Bars are tasty as well as pretty.  Very nice choice for a cookie competition and I was happy to pass my trophy on to the winner and end my reign of 3 years running.

Chicken Soup

One of my favorite bloggers, The Pioneer Woman, had a recipe for Chicken Soup last week.  Perfect, seeing as I am obsessed with soups as of late!

The recipe, if you only look at it and not the blog post, fails to mention to remove the chicken, take off the meat, and return the meat to the pot.  

This is an easy, basic, chicken soup recipe.  It features parsnips, and this is the first time I have ever cooked with those.  I think the soup needs more oomph - either rice, noodles or potatoes.  And, because the entire chicken cooks in the broth, there is a lot of fat floating at the top.  I only ate a sample while it was hot and the rest I put in the refrigerator for left overs.  Then the fat congeals and I can spoon it out before heating.

The soup has a nice, gentle flavor and would be perfect for giving to someone with a cold. 

Sugared Cranberries

I enjoyed the cranberries on our appetizer tray at Benjy's so much that I decided to try them at home. Despite what our waiter claimed, the cranberries do get cooked a bit when you pour the hot simple syrup over them. I don't think my sugar layer turned out as even as the ones an Benjy's, but they taste great and were easy to make.

I couldn't find superfine sugar at HEB, so I just gave some regular granulated sugar a whirl in the food processor for about 40 seconds.

Recipe