PB Brownie Cheesecake

I made this just so that i could use what I had on hand and it turned out great!  This was a creamy cheesecake with a chewy brownie crust.

Ingredients:
1 Chewy Brownie Package
add all ingredients on package
1 tsp of espresso or instant coffee
1/2 cup of peanut butter chips.

Mix all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes in a 9 inch Spring Form Pan (Spray with Pam)
While it bakes prepare your cheesecake filling.

Cheesecake Filling:
1 pkg of Cream Cheese (Room Temp)
1 pkg of low fat cream cheese (Room Temp)
1 Sweetened Condensed Milk...any brand
2 eggs (Room Temp)
2 tsp of vanilla
1/2 cup of Creamy Peanut Butter any brand

Mix cream cheese in Heavy Duty Mixer until smooth, gradually add condensed milk, eggs, vanilla, and slightly warmed peanut butter until all incorporated.

Add to slightly cooled brownie mixture and bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes.

Usually i bake my cheesecakes in a water bath but this recipe was fine without it.  No cracks!!  I think it was the condensed milk and Peanut Butter that kept it firm.

I decorated it once cooled with melted dark chocolate.  you can leave as is or add your own touch!

Chill 4 to 8 hours in frige.  if you must eat at once chill in the freezer.

Overall this cheesecake was a hit!

Mexican Pizza

Mexican Pizza is one of those easy to do appetizers or even a super fast dinner. I always have these ingredients available so its good for those nights when you don't want to fuss about dinner.

Ingredients:
Flour Tortillas

1 lb of ground beef
2 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of salt
Pepper to taste
If you don't have these seasonings you could use a package of taco seasoning.

1 1/2 cups of grated jack cheese
1 med onion
2 small jalapenos
2 Fresh Roma Tomatoes Diced
Black sliced olives are optional( I don't like them so i don't use them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Brown ground beef and seasonings.

While your ground beef is browning, Dice tomatoes, jalapenos, and onion.

Layer Tortilla, Ground Beef, and sprinkle with tomato, jalapeno, onion, and cheese. You can add as much or as little as you like. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve immediately. You can serve with sour cream and salsa. Check out my Guacamole de Tomatillo salsa recipe it compliments this well.

Enjoy

Roasted Turkey Sandwich with Horseradish Mustard Mayo

Turkey is one of my favorite leftovers. We make a couple Turkeys at Thanksgiving just to make sure we have enough to freeze for another day. This is an easy dinner or lunch and all you need is a few ingredients.

1 pound of left over turkey(dark meat preferably)
1 sliced loaf of crusty bread (ciabatta works well)
3 tbsp of mayo
1 tsp of horseradish(or more if you like spice)
1 tsp of mustard
1 - 2 Ripe avocados
1/2 cup of shredded jack cheese

Heat your roasted turkey until it get golden brown not too long or it'll get dry. Lightly brush olive oil on one side of your bread Toast your bread on a grill pan on oil side only. Toast until you see light grill marks.

Remove bread from grill pan. Mix mayo, horseradish, and mustard. Add mixture to crispy side of bread. The crispy side will be on the inside of the sandwich to prevent you from cutting the roof of your mouth. Add cheese and turkey on cheese to melt. Add avocado and final layer of bread with crispy side on the inside again. Feel free to add more mayo sauce.

You can add chips or left over pasta salad to your sandwich. This makes a supper tasty quick meal.

Another variation of this sandwich is a steak sandwich. I will use left over rib eye steak and slice it thin with some sauteed onions. I omit the avocado when I make the steak sandwich.

Mexican Sugar Skuls

My first attempt at making these!!! Wow it was a long day, but worth it. I had my three daughters and nephew decorating. They had so much fun and so did I. I made the skulls and the icing. I also went out and bought the professional tips by Wilton for the icing and that added a nice touch. I got my skull mold from mexican sugar skulls at www.mexicansugarskull.com/ . It came with all the instructions needed for the skulls and the icing. The instructions were clear and easy. I am making this an annual tradition!!


These are Miah's Skulls!!! She did a great job!!

Cinammon Mexican Wedding Cakes

After trying these they are officially on my Christmas Cookie List!!!

Ingredients:

2/3 cups of toasted and finely chopped pecans

1 c unsalted butter room temp

1/4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp of salt
2 cups of flour



Topping
1 c powdered sugar

Preheat 350 degrees

Start by toasting the pecan for 5 min at 350 degrees. Allow them to cool before chopping or processing. Add 2 tablespoons of flour to your pecans before you chop. You can either process in a food processor or use a food chopper. I used my pampered chef chopper. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar with mixer until fluffy about 2 min. Beat in vanilla. Add remaining flour and ingredients and beat until combined. Stir in pecans. You can use a spoon or your hands.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Roll dough into 1 inch circles and bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 min until light brown on bottom. Allow them to cool 5 minutes on rack before you roll them in sifted powdered sugar.

These cookies are very delicate and tasty. My kids loved them. They reminded me of soft pecan sandies.

Guacamole de Tomatillo

I first tried this salsa a couple of years ago when my brother was cooking for us. He brought home the tangy, creamy salsa that complemented our carne asada so well. So I tried to duplicate it at home. I make small batches of salsa, since I like certain salsa's with certain meats and dishes. I suppose the way people pair food with wine. You can certainly make a larger batch. Super easy since this is a raw salsa that requires no cooking!!!

Ingredients:

2 Tomatillos

1 Serrano Pepper

1 Ripe Hass Avacado

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 c of water

I place tomatillos, Serrano, water, and salt in blender. I pulse on low until everything is blended but still chunky. I then add avocado without the pit or skin. And pulse again on low until it encorporates. This salsa will remain chunky. The tomatillo will also keep the avocado from browning.

I serve this salsa with rolled tacos, tostadas, and carne asada.

Esquites

I grew up eating these in the summer when we would visit my Grandparents in San Miguel Tecomatlan Mexico. This was one of my favorite street foods. For the last couple of years I have craved these and although the last time I was in San Miguel was about 15 years ago I could still taste them. So finally I gave it a try. My first try was off due to the fact that I bought the wrong herb. The prominent taste that comes through is the epazote. This herb is so flavorful that without it I would not call them esquites. You can find epazote at your local Latin American Market. Give it a try this recipe is really a piece of cake...I'm not sure why i waited so long to try it.

Ingredients:

4 Ears of Fresh Corn (kernels only)

1 Jalapeno or Serrano Pepper sliced

1/2 Medium Onion (Chopped)

1 can of chicken broth

2 cups of water

1 bushel of epazote

Toppings:

Salt

Chile Piquin

Lime

Crema Mexicana

Queso Fresco (Crumbled)

Combine all ingredients in large pot and bring to a boil. Once it has boiled simmer for about 30 minutes.

Serve with a slotted spoon so that you don't serve liquid only kernels and herbs. These are traditionally served in small cups and people can dress them up with crema, cheese, chili, and lime. I personally prefer chili, lime, and salt. The best part about this is that its full of flavor and healthy as long as you keep it light on the cheese and crema...

Enjoy

Getting Ready for the Fall!!!

Here's what I'm working on in the next couple of weeks:

Banana Bread (for my mother in law)
Banana Nut Granola Oat Cookies (healthy)
Mini Pumpkin Flan

Stay tuned in!!

Coconut Flan

I was making this for my friend Claudia. I was excited to take it to her and couldn't wait to get the final shot. I had made coconut flan before, but I wanted to kick it up a notch. Plus I had these cans of coconut cream (Coco Loco) that I needed to use somewhere. This is what it looked like before:

After the disastrous flip....

So after being bummed that this recipe is obviously off, I tasted it and I was glad it was a flop. It was way too sweet. I will not be using coconut cream again. I'm sticking to coconut milk. I'll try this again...maybe this weekend.

Sorry Claudia!

FLAN NAPOLITANO

FLAN NAPOLITANO

Preheat 325 degrees

Ingredients:

2 C of Sugar
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 C of Milk

4 Eggs (Room Temp)
8 0z of Cream Cheese (Room Temp...if you skip this it will end up lumpy, but edible)
1 14 oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 12 oz can of evaporated Milk
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tsp of vanilla

10 small ramekins or a 9 " Deep Pie Dish

Heat 2 cups of sugar in small saucepan. Stir occasionally, but make sure you don't get sugar crystals on the side of the sauce pan. Heat until all your sugar dissolves and turns an amber color like the picture below:















Remove from heat immediately and distribute amongst ramekins evenly. Set them aside and start working on your custard.

Heat 1 cup of Milk in a small saucepan with cinnamon stick, once it boils turn to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Once cooled discard Cinnamon stick. This will add a great subtle taste to the custard.

Blend remainder of ingredients, condensed milk, evaporated milk, cooled cinnamon milk, cream cheese, vanilla, cornstarch and eggs. Blend on high until all ingredients are incorporated.

Distribute custard evenly amongst ramekins with a ladle.

Place ramekins in a roasting pan with hot boiling water at least half way up the ramekins this is called Bano Maria. Do not get water in your custard or overfill your roasting pan it could get heavy.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until flan is set. Center will jiggle if you tap the ramekin. Remove from oven and hot water to cool. Once cooled place in refrigerator to cool for another 2 hours.

Sometimes I cheat and place it in the freezer.













Once they are cooled and set heat a small bowl with water and place the bottom of your ramekin in the hot water to melt the caramel. I also put the tip of a knife in the hot water before i run it around the inside edge of the ramekin. Now you can invert it on to a nice serving plate or simply enjoy it out of the ramekin.














Enjoy!!! This is by far my favorite flavor.

Two Bite Granola Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I purchased a new granola this weekend. I was so delicious that I thought it would make good cookies. So I pulled a recipe and modified it to make it a little healthier:

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees

Ingredients:
1 cup of Bear Naked Triple Berry Granola
1 cup of rolled Oats (Not Instant)
1/2 cup of butter softened
1 egg
1/2 cup of brown sugar
6 splenda packets
1 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of kosher salt
1/4 cup of Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Combine sugars and butter, whip until creamy add egg. Combine flour salt and baking soda in separate bowl. Mix Flour and egg mixture together. Just until incorporated. Add in granola and Oats. I mix with my hands or a spatula. Add chocolate chips.

I scooped 1 tablespoon sized cookies to regulate size and to have nutrition facts. I got a total of 28 1 tablespoon sized cookies. Bake for 12 minutes.

Nutrition Facts per cookie:
85 Calories
1.6 g of fat
.75 g of fiber
1.6 g of protein

I tested these cookies with my 3 kids and my mom. They all loved them. They didn't taste healthy. I would make these again but next time I'm trying banana nut granola and mashed banana's instead of the butter!!

Banana Upside Down French Toast

I tried this recipe because my kids and I like french toast but we don't like the egg after taste. So I tried this and it was a hit with my family. I must say I couldn't stop eating it and no egg aftertaste...i think it was the orange juice. But here's the recipe:
Preheat oven 300 degrees

8-10 slices of Whole Wheat bread (or whatever you need to get rid of)

1 banana
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of butter

Melt the butter and Brown sugar add sliced bananas to your plan and saute. You don't need to cook these to long. Use a medium casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Layer bananas at bottom of dish and drizzle butter and brown sugar mixture all over casserole.

Start your custard:
3 eggs
1/2 cup of milk(whatever you have)
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of Cinnamon
2 tbsp of orange juice
Mix all ingredients until blended.

Tear bread into pieces and dip in custard. Place on top of banana glazed and once you are done pour remanding custard evenly over dish.

Bake for about 30 minutes, check after 20 minutes to make sure it doesn't over cook.

You can flip this or just scoop it onto a plate. I melted chocolate chips in a small Ziploc, cut a small opening in the corner and drizzled over the french toast. I also sprinkled a little powdered sugar and it looked and tasted great!!!

This can either be breakfast or a dessert since it does resemble a lighter bread pudding!!

Habanero Garlic Lime Short Ribs

This is a new one I just tried this weekend. Not only is it inexpensive but also tasty.

Habanero Garlic Lime Short Ribs

2 Habanero Peppers (Roasted or Grilled)
2 small key limes
1 tsp of salt
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp Pepper
10 short ribs
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of sugar

I mashed all these ingredients with a mortar and pestle and then applied to the short ribs with a pastry brush. Habaneros are super spicy don't touch them with your fingers. After I glazed them I let them sit for 10 minutes while the grill preheated. Grill short ribs, these cook really quickly since the cuts are thin. Grill according your cut of meat.

You can eat these as a main dish or have them as an appetizer!!! Hope you like these spicy treats!!

Welcome

Welcome to my Food Blog!! I am a food lover!! I love to cook and eat. I will not only share favorite food finds as well as recipes. I love trying out new things in my kitchen. I also love other peoples ideas so please share!! Hope you like my stuff.