New York Cheesecake

Have you ever made a dessert for the first time and it turned out so perfect that you decided that it would become your signature dish - until you made it the second time and it was the worst thing you had ever made? How aggravating to get it right, I mean nail it, only to create disaster the next time. This is what happened with my New York Cheesecake several years ago.

It was not the recipe's fault. It was the cooks fault. Cream cheese can be so fickle when you bake with it. The one thing you need to keep in mind, you MUST beat it in to submission if you want it to be creamy and not lumpy.

My first time baking the recipe created a divine masterpiece. The second time, a curdled, gloppy, texture from hell wreck! LOL It took me several years to figure out what I had done wrong. And now, they are heavenly, every time.

This recipe takes a while so be sure you allow yourself enough time for each step. I got this recipe from the Simply Celebrating cookbook from Kraft.

The recipe:
Baking time: 1 hour and 10 minutes - it may need to bake longer. It should not be to wobbly. The middle should almost be set. Set your oven to 350 degrees.

1 c. graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbls. sugar
3 Tbls. butter or margarine, melted
5 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
3 Tbls. flour
1 Tbls. vanilla
3 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling - optional for the top

Mix crumbs, 3 Tbls. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Don't burn it, it is easy to do.

Mix cream cheese and 1 cup sugar for at least 3 minutes on medium speed. Add flour and vanilla and continue to mix until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition, just until blended. Blend in sour cream. Pour in to crust.

Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the center is almost set. After you take it out of the oven, run a small knife around the edges before placing it in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Do not remove it from the springform pan before you cool it.

Tips:

• The graham cracker crust can be replaced with a chocolate crust.
• Mix cream cheese and 1 c. sugar for at least 3 minutes. This is very important! The sugar needs to be fully incorporated into the cream cheese or it will come out of the oven lumpy.
• You can add mini chocolate chips to your cream cheese mixture.
• To add caramel, pour in half of the cream cheese mixture in to the crust, then a layer of caramel and then the rest of the cream cheese mixture.
• One of my baking times was 2 hours, the next was 1 hour and 10 minutes. It depends on your oven.

The only Tiramisu that I have ever eaten and liked

I have had Tiramisu several times and each time, they were horrible. Now, it could have been that I didn't like them because I am not a fan of espresso and even the mildest of coffees must resemble a cup of hot chocolate - lots of cream and sugar, sometimes chocolate. And even though one of them had an extremely strong espresso flavor, I didn't mind that as much as God forsaken dry lump of what resembled a two week old piece of cake.

So when I saw Tiramisu on the menu at cooking school the other night (well month, March cooking school through St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles), I was a bit hesitant to try it. The chef ensured me that it would not be dry and that I should be pleasantly surprised. And I was. It was fantastic! So moist and the flavor was amazing. I was expecting the taste of coffee and even though I had seen him sprinkle powdered cocoa on each layer I really did not think that it would be enough to mask the bitter espresso flavor. Boy was I wrong, wahoo! The chocolate blended with the cream and the espresso and the lady fingers like a symphony. It reminded me a lot of a really good cafe mocha with some texture.

Our chef for the evening was Chef Jaff Davis of Cafe Napoli in Clayton, MO. Other menu items included mushroom and asparagus risotto (this is where I got my idea to make my risotto. It was not his recipe though as we had not had the cooking school yet), bacon wrapped shrimp with spinach aioli, and Tilapia Involtini with Livornese sauce (stuffed fish with a great sauce). If you are ever in the St. Louis area, you need to make this restaurant a "must visit" on your list.

The recipe
Layer 1
In a mixer
whip 5 egg yolks and 5 ounces of sugar until thickened
On slow, mix 1 pound mascarpone cheese
add 3 cups of whipped cream (this was great, he used Ready Whip out of a can. Just spray it in and fold everything together).

Layer 2
Make at least two cups of espresso. Add orange liquor (Cointreau) and sugar, don't make it too sweet. Keep it hot.
Lady fingers - saturate lady fingers in espresso mixture. Do this as you are layering and not before.

Layer 3
powdered cocoa - have it in a container so that you can sprinkle the cocoa on the layers. It's a dusting, not an inch think or anything crazy. Keep in mind, powdered cocoa is very bitter.

Layer in order and repeat until your dish is full.

Garnish with strawberries, cocoa and whipped cream.

Tip:
You do not want your lady fingers to soak so long that they start to fall apart on you. Dunk them in on one side, flip and repeat. If it still feels hard, dunk it again.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Fact - Sugar

Did you know that 4g of sugar is equivalent to 1tsp of sugar? 1tsp of sugar equals 15 calories? That a 64-ounce fountain drink contains more than 53tsp of sugar or two cups of sugar or 795 calories!!!!????

Maybe you know this but do you pay attention? I knew to watch how much sugar I eat on a daily basis but I will be paying closer attention now.

The average American consumes 160 pounds of sugar a year. I'm talking "added sugar" not the sugar that is found naturally in some foods. Your body can only absorb so much sugar in a given day and uses it for energy. All of the extra sugar you consume, is stored as body fat.

How many grams of sugar per day? Well it depends on a number of things like age, health, calorie diet and so on. Wikianswers states that a child should get 40g or 10tsp a day; someone following a 1600 calorie diet should only intake 24g or 6tsp; and a person following a 2200 calorie diet, 44g or 11tsp.

So far today I have had:
16oz non-fat skim milk, 12g sugar
Special K cereal bar blueberry, 9g
a small bowl of popcorn, 0g
corn on the cob, 5g
a protein meal bar, 15g sugar
1/4 cup of Special K low-fat granola, 9g

Total 50g or 12.5tsp of sugar and I still haven't had dinner!!! UGH

You can go to http://www.livestrong.com/ to check out the nutrition facts on a variety of foods and drinks.

Enjoy, but maybe not so much next time. LOL

No-bake Cheesecake

Well, I don't remember it being a full month since my last blog but apparently it has been. We had a great cooking school class in March and I also went to New Orleans for the first time. I have some terrific recipes that I will be sharing with you in the upcoming month. Oh and I have a new computer - I can't figure out how to cut and paste from Word to my blog. Ugh! :)

On to this blog, have you ever wanted a piece of cheesecake but didn't want to feel guilty about the calories that come with a New York Cheesecake? Well, this light and fluffy delight comes from my mom who I am fairly certain picked up from her mom. This no-bake cheesecake is my oldest daughter's favorite cakes. She turned 20 on March 11th so I made it for her when she was recently home for Spring Break.

Quick Tips: I typically place my tips or hints at the end of the recipe but you need to know these tips before getting started, unless of course you like sipping your cheesecake through a straw. Hmmm, possibly another recipe for a drink is in here somewhere - cheesecake martini maybe?

Tip 1: Place the Milnot in the refrigerator at least 5 hours before you whip it.
Tip 2: The lemon Jell-O and boiling water need to cool completely before you combine it with the cream cheese and whipped Milnot.

INGREDIENTS
30 graham crackers (honey flavored) (1 1/2 packages)
1 stick of melted butter or a 1/4 cup
1 pkg. of lemon Jell-O
1 c. boiling water
8 oz. cream cheese (use the light version if you are watching the waist line - which by the by, I have lost almost 10 pounds for the Hawaii trip - yeah!) anyway
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can chilled Milnot - whip till it stands in peaks

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Crush the graham crackers, add the melted butter and mix together. Save about 5 heaping Tbls. of crumbs for the top. Press the remaining graham cracker mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Mix the lemon Jell-O and boiling water. Leave to cool.

In a large glass or metal bowl (NOT plastic), whip the chilled can of Milnot until it stands in peaks. Do this first when the beaters are clean.

Start beating the cream cheese in a large bowl. Add 1 c. sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla until smooth and creamy. About 3 minutes.

Pour and blend Jell-O slowly with the cream cheese mixture. Next, fold in the whipped Milnot. Pour in to the prepared pan of graham crackers. I like to let the cake chill for about 15 minutes before I sprinkle the reserved graham crackers on the top. Chill for another 3 to 5 hours or until set.

Enjoy!

Lasagna Bites

If you have ever been to the St. Louis area, then you have probably been introduced to toasted ravioli – those yummy deep fried breaded pillows of meat or cheese. The Midwest is typically the only place that you can find these delightful little treats whether it is in a restaurant or in the frozen section of your local grocer.

So why ravioli when I have title the recipe lasagna bites? When I saw Aaron McCargo Jr. on Big Daddy’s House make his lasagna bites, I had to try it out for myself. The ending product that we had for dinner tonight reminded me more of a really good ravioli then lasagna – maybe that’s because I have never had deep fried lasagna before.

This time I decided to create my own stuffing as opposed to following another’s. Taking the tips that I saw on the show – use manicotti noodles stuffed and cut in to thirds and the most important step – breading the stuffed lasagna. Mr. McCargo had a terrific way of remembering the order of the steps in which to bread a particular item – February - more specifically “FEB.” – flour, egg, bread crumbs. Considering that I normally suck at breading, with the majority of it remaining in the deep fryer, I was excited to learn to see if this new trick would work for me. I was met with great success.

Serve these deep fried goodies, normally served as an appetizer, with your favorite spaghetti sauce mixed with parmesan cheese. Of course, a nice alfredo sauce would work as well. As Mr. McCargo pointed out, if you do not want to fry your lasagna bites, you can just as easily bake them in a 375 degree oven, just be sure to cover them with sauce.

Lasagna Bites
Prep and frying about 45 minutes
24 pieces
8 manicotti noodles, boiled to al dente, drained and placed in cool water for easier handling
Spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese

Stuffing – combine the following
15oz ricotta cheese – lite
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1 egg
8 oz of sausage (mild or hot, your choice), browned in a skillet and drained – I made sure mine was in small pieces
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
2 tsp. Garlic powder
2 tsp. Onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Half a bag of spinach, cooked, drained and chopped

Breading
Flour
3 eggs, beaten
Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Putting it all together: Hold the noodle in your hand on top of a paper towel so that it will not slip out of your hand. Spoon the stuffing mixture in to the noodle – try not to tear the noodle but don’t worry if you do, the breading will keep it together in the fryer. After you have stuffed all of the noodles, place them in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. This will help firm the stuffed noodles so that you can cut them in to thirds.

While you are waiting, plug in your fry daddy and prepare your breading materials. In separate containers (pie plates work well), place your flour, eggs and bread crumbs (FEB) and create your assembly line in that order. After you remove the noodles from the fridge and cut them in to thirds, start breading them – having someone else helping you at this time will make it go quicker. I personally breaded all of my pieces first before placing them in the fry daddy.

Frying (it only takes about a minute and 10 seconds): Be sure to have a pan or plate lined with paper towels ready so that you have something to drain the fried lasagna bites on. Start frying; I did three pieces at a time. After draining the bites, place them on a serving plate and sprinkle with parmesan cheese – do this as you go.

Hints for breading:
Make sure that the entire bite including the ends is covered in flour before rolling it in the beaten egg.
You will want to knock of any extra flour before placing them in the egg.
Roll the floured bites in the egg, again making sure that the egg covers the entire bite.
Same goes for the bread crumbs.

More hints:
After you cut your noodles in to thirds, you may have to push some of the stuffing back in to the noodle.
Again, don’t worry if the noodle ripped. Simply push the noodle back together. The stuffing and the breading will keep it in place.
I cooked my spinach in the same pan that I had cooked my sausage in. I also seasoned the spinach with salt, pepper, a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning
Be sure to drain the spinach after it cooks down. Do this by placing it in the middle of a clean dish cloth (one that you no longer like), twist the cloth making a ball with the spinach and squeeze or continue to twist the water out. After it is drained, cut it in to small pieces.
Flavor is important with the stuffing so don’t be afraid to taste the meaty cheese concoction before placing it in the noodles. Nothing is worse then having flavorless lasagna.

Serve immediately and above all, Enjoy!

Just for the Halibut

Taking the idea from a recent episode of Triple D – Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, I have put my own spin on this delicious halibut sandwich. As luck would have it, my grocer did not have halibut so I used Tilapia. I cut the fillet in half for easier flipping. I should have gone to Bob's Fish Market (because I live in St. Louis). Now if I was in KC, I would go to Bubba John's Seafood.

Ingredients:
Halibut – one piece per sandwich
Pecan panco bread crumbs or if you must Bread crumbs
Garlic lemon butter
Butter
Garlic powder
Fresh lemon juice
Avocado
Creamy cole slaw (see recipe below)
Onion (optional)
Manchego cheese
Sandwich Thins, Kaiser roll or your favorite roll, pita bread, etc.

Pat dry your pieces of halibut and dredge in pecan panco bread crumbs. Take a basting brush and brush garlic lemon butter on one side of halibut before placing it on your griddle or your George Forman, just leave the lid up (buttered side down). Brush other side of halibut with garlic lemon butter before flipping. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on the halibut as your second side cooks.

In the meantime, place your roll on the grill – a couple minutes on each side depending on how hot your grill is. This is optional and I actually forgot to do it lol.

Start stacking your components: avocado, slaw, halibut fillet, cheese, and onion (your choice on layering order). Substitution toppings could be lettuce, spinach, tartar sauce, onion, pickles, blue cheese, etc. Have fun with the toppings. If they don’t work for you, scrap them off and put something else on.

CREAMY COLE SLAW:
½ head of cabbage finely chopped
¼ c. carrot, shredded
Pre-shredded slaw is a nice easy way and it was cheaper than buying cabbage and carrots.

OPTION 1 FOR MAYONNAISE DRESSING:
(combine all ingredients until smooth; add enough cole slaw to create a nice consistency)
¼ c. milk
½ c. mayonnaise
¼ c. buttermilk
1 ½ Tbsp. white vinegar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
⅓ c. sugar
½ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. lemon pepper
⅛ tsp. ground pepper

OPTION 2 For a healthier mayonnaise Dressing:
(combine all ingredients until smooth –you will need to use a blender or mixer; add enough cole slaw to create a nice consistency)
Dana Jacobi, Cooking Light, AUGUST 2003
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces firm lite silken tofu
2 canned anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove, chopped

Deep Fried Hot Dogs

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my husband and I are trying to watch what we eat and get in shape for an upcoming trip. After a particularly hard day at work, I decided on the drive home I wanted to eat something comforting and I didn’t care how it was going to affect the "diet". My choice of yummy goodness: deep fried hot dogs.

I'm fairly certain that the idea came from an episode of Triple D - Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (if you haven't watched this show, might a make a huge suggestion - START!)

Deep frying the hot dog adds a nice snap to the skin or if you by Nathan's Hot Dogs (YUM) a crispy skinless hot dog. The process is easy: plug in your fry daddy, let it heat up, pat the hot dog down with a paper towel to dry it off before gently placing them (I kept it to two at a time) in to the hot oil and let them fry. Nathan's hot dogs will go directly to the bottom of your fryer and will pop up in almost exactly 2 minutes. Once they pop up, continue to fry for 2 1/2 minutes -you will notice a difference in the hissing of the oil and that is when you should take them out and place them on a few paper towels to get excess oil off.

Proceed by using your favorite toppings to create a terrific tasting hot dog. I topped one of mine with Taylor’s Chili http://www.taylorschili.com/, grilled onion, shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. The other hot dog was covered with sauerkraut, grilled onion and mustard. Now I am not a fan of sauerkraut but my husband loves it on his hot dogs and brats. I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and try some on my hot dog. Much to my amazement – I loved it!



Another suggestion comes from my brother Wayne, a concoction that he created for his business "Pick'n 'N' Grinn'n BBQ" - The Hairy Dog - hot dog covered in pulled pork and cheese. Is your mouth watering yet?

Enjoy!