Petite Cherry Cheesecake

"Easy-to-make little cheesecakes are a real treat for party-givers as well as party-goers--"

At some point in high school my Dad bought a Xerox machine for his office. So, after taking pictures of my face and mailing it to friends I moved on to the next brilliant idea: I made copy of my Mom's recipes. Usually they were riped from the pages of Southern Living magazine and taped into her recipe book like the one above.

I'm not sure where my Mom originally got this recipe but she usually made it once a year -- sometimes around Valentine's Day. It's one of those recipes you'd see on that "Semi-Homemade" show on the cooking network -- easy and (sort-of) cheating by using with ingredients like vanilla wafers for the crust and canned cherry filling for the topping. (It's still good though!)

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
24 vanilla wafers
1 21-ounce can cherry pie filling


1. Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

2. Line small muffin pans with paper bake cups, and place a vanilla wafer in bottom of each cup. Fill the cups 2/3 full with cream cheese mixture.

3. Bake in 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 munite or until set.
4. Top each with about 1 tablespoon filling; chill.

I wish I had an excuse to make these more often. Allen and I really don't need two dozen petite cherry cheesecakes sitting around the house. Besides, when you have a one-time cheesecake craving isn't that what Sonic's Cheesecake Bites are for?

Delicious Ham and Potato Soup

First off, I didn't name this soup but it sure is delicious.

Second, why ham and potato soup you ask? Well, my parents are pushers. After the holidays (or any trip to their house for that matter), when you're ready to head back home, food is forced upon you (they'll even do this to any friends that may be traveling with you). You need a sandwich (and chips and a soda) for the plane ride. If you're within driving distance it's taken to a whole new level. You need Ziploc bags full of turkey, a half-dozen grapefruit, leftover salad and a jar of mustard. This year, amongst other things (a gold paintpen!), I ended up with quite a bit of ham. I froze one Ziploc bag (yes, there were two) and made sandwiches with the rest until my sodium level had exceed the allowable monthly intake.

I love potato soup so when I came across this recipe on allrecipes.com I though it was worth trying out...especially since it had an average five star rating after over one thousand reviews. Turns out it's easy, delicious and it goes wonderfully with the no-kneed bread. (Make them together, you won't be disappointed.)

This is suppose to make four servings but we only stretched it to three. I also substituted carrots for celery since that's what was in the fridge (and I don't like celery).

1-3/4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons diced celery
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons finely chopped onion
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons diced cooked ham
1-1/2 cups and 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk



1. Combine the potatoes, carrot, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
3. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.



This isn't reeaally as bad for you as other creamy soups since there isn't any heavy cream or loads of butter. I not saying you'll lose weight eating either though so don't go suing me if you eat it all the time and it makes you fat!

No-Knead Bread!

For years I've wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer with the idea that I'd finally start making bread, pastas, and many of the baked goodies that are hard or impossible to mix with your average hand mixer. Ironically after finally buying myself a mixer and researching bread recipes online the first recipe that I wanted to try was an recipe that Mark Bittman made popular over a year ago with a New York Times article, a recipe that you don't need any sort of mixer what so ever to make. Apparently everyone and their dog has tried it with much success so this weekend it was my turn, and now I'll add to the many bloggers who have posted pictures and the recipe for the No-Knead Bread.

First off I've got to say that this is an easy recipe, worth making and very delicious, but it's also a recipe that takes up to 15-16 hours to make. So, if you want to have it ready for dinner at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday evening you'll want to start it by at least 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. on Friday.

No-Knead Bread (Yields one 1 1/2 lb loaf)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flower, more for dusting
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle with a little more flour and fold it over once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on town and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.



4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes.

5. Remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a wire rack.

It is a delicious bread -- perfect for soups or buttered up for any meal.

Barbecue Shrimp

I went to Hong Kong Market yesterday looking for black cod and ended up with a pound of head-on jumbo shrimp. Yep, I'm an impulse food shopper.

After a good half hour of looking for recipes online (especially trying to find a recipe where would not have to go out and buy a lot of other ingredients) I came across this Barbecue Shrimp recipe from Nolacusine.com.

I'm not sure why it's called Barbecue Shrimp since you do not use barbecue sauce or a grill to cook it but the recipe is still a keeper and quick and relatively easy.

New Orleans Style Barbecue Shrimp Recipe

2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Fresh Thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp Fresh Oregano, chopped
1 tsp Fresh Rosemary, chopped
1/2 Cup Abita Amber beer, or another good quality beer (Allen went to Fiesta and bought some Abita instead of using the Miller Lite in the fridge...considering it only takes 1/4 cup for 1lb of shrimp I think he had ulterior motives.)
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Crystal Hot Sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Black Pepper, freshly cracked
3 Tbsp Italian Parsley, minced
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
Cayenne pepper to taste
2 lbs Head on/shell on shrimp

Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F.

Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until slightly browned. Add the fresh herbs and cook for 2 minutes. Deglaze with the beer, reduce by half. Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce, black pepper, kosher salt, cayenne pepper and the shrimp, tossing to coat well. Transfer the shrimp and sauce to a baking dish where the shrimp can bake in the sauce in a single layer. Place into the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Do not over cook the shrimp!

Serve in a large bowl with the chopped parley, your favorite beer, and lots of fresh French Bread for dipping in the sauce.

I cut off the heads before serving so we didn't have to deal with antennae and eyeballs at the table. Allen struggled with getting the shell off (and struggled with his dislike of having stuff on his fingers) and eating was more labor intensive than cooking -- so I'm glad I only got 1lb of shrimp (6-7 large shrimp each).

I also made Vigo red beans and rice because we had one link of Ted's venison sausage to use up and because Allen loves the stuff. (I froze the leftovers so he'll have something to eat while I'm out of town next weekend.) Along side the bread and butter it was a filling meal and a nice New Orleans style treat.

Roasted Cauliflower

Growing up we had a beautiful garden full of fresh, beautiful vegetables but around the house I was known for spitting squash out into my napkin and hiding it under the table and for my threats to mow over the exposed asparagus that were outside the garden railroad ties.

I've learned over the last few years that it's not vegetables that I hated but the way that my mom prepared them. Boiled, mushy, and over cooked. My mom is a wonderful cook and baker and considering she prepared three meals a day seven days a week for over 18 years she deserves some sort of award but her cooked veggies are not for me.

A couple of months ago Allen and I went to Mockingbird Bistro and I had the first cauliflower that I've ever loved. I've had some pretty good cauliflower in my adult years but none until now that I'd actually consider fixing at home as a staple. I finally got around to making roasted cauliflower and it's ever bit as good as how it was prepared at the fancy-smancy restaurant -- just without the butternut puree and scallops. If you google "roasted cauliflower" you'll find a handful of similar recipes. I used the most basic recipe (I did not add garlic, lemon or parmesan cheese).

1. Preheat the oven 425 degrees.
2. Break or cut the cauliflower into the medium size florets.
3. Toss in a bowl with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and spread in a shallow baking pan. Or, if you have a misto (or cooking spray), coat with olive oil spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using a metal bake pan is helpful because you can shake it and mix the ingredients easily.4. Place in oven, stir or shake occasionally, and cook until golden brown (25-30 minutes).



Yum. We made this for dinner with sweet potato and grilled chicken and it was a filling and healthy meal for two!

Blackberry Cobbler

My mom has been making this for years. I'm not sure where she got the recipe but it's easy as pie and for some reason people (including Allen) love it. I prefer blackberry and when I've tried peaches I don't think it's turned out as tasty. It doesn't have the cakey topping that you sometimes find (The Salt Lick cobbler has a yellow cake topping) but to me this is the better, more traditional version.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together until it crumbly: 1 stick of margarine (at room temperature so it's easy to mix)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 and 1/2 cups of Bisquick

In a pyrex dish add a little bit more than one layer of berries (a bag of frozen berries will usually do it). Sprinkle the berries with 1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar and a bit of water. (If you're using frozen berries forgo the additional water.)

Cover the berries with the margarine/sugar/Bisquick mixture.

Place in the oven (uncovered) for 30 minutes or so, or until it boils and is "good and brown" on top.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is an Everyday Foods recipe I found and it's suppose to be a lighter version Chicken Pot Pie. That means that it's not rich and doesn't taste like the pot pies that my parents use to make us eat when they went out on a date and we had a babysitter. I'm not going to share the recipe because I don't think it's worth making. Using phyllo dough as a crust sounds good in theory but it requires a little work getting the layers brushed with oil and assembled on the topping. Also, it doesn't taste great reheated.