The Best Cheesecake Ever. Ever.

Last night I made the best cheesecake I have ever made. Ever.  Well, it is the only cheesecake I've ever made, but it was really good.  Really, really good.  I read a blog called Whatever every single day and marvel at Meg's craftiness, the quality time she spends with her kids and her general awesomeness.  Plus she wears the cutest clothes, I wish I could shop in her closet.  Anyway, she is always talking about Pam's super delicious cheesecake.  Then I started seeing other people mention it on other blogs...all of whom read Whatever, I suppose.  Small world.  If all these people like it, it must be good, right?  I happen to love cheesecake, but since we almost never go out to dinner and when we do, we NEVER order dessert...let's just say it's been a LONG time since I've had any cheesecake.  And as I mentioned before, I have never attempted to make cheesecake before and was slightly afraid that it would involve far more skill in the kitchen than I am capable of.  But it was actually really easy.  Moo helped me dump everything into the Kitchen Aid.  I did discover that I need a new springform pan though.  Stupid one from Ikea leaked.  $4.00 pan from Ikea leaked, shocker I know.  Anyway, I over cooked it just a bit but it wasn't burnt or anything, just a tiny bit more brown than one you would get at a bakery.  But it was SO good.  This will be a recipe I make for company, surely.  Super easy, plus you are supposed to refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight before you serve it.  Perfect for company!  One less thing to make the day of!  Love that.  The only down side is that Toots and Daddy can't have dairy, so Moo and I are the only ones who can eat it...and she said she liked it, but I can't see her asking for it for dessert every night for the next week.  So this morning I took one for the team and had a slice for breakfast.  You know, so it won't go bad.  Sometimes it's hard work testing new recipes.  Really hard, tasty work.  Here is the link to the recipe:
Pam's Cheesecake featured at Whatever. Go check it out and while you're there, check out Meg's blog.  She's great, and you might find a new must read for your mornings.  You're welcome.

What is up with my computer?!?!

So I feel like it's been forever since I was able to post anything on here! I am having a serious problem with my computer and am having trouble fixing it. It seems as though I take a greater than normal number of pictures of my kids, which has filled up the memory on the hard drive. I have only had this computer for about 3 years and have NEVER had this problem before with any other computer I've ever had. Since the hard drive is full, I can do nothing - not even update my Firefox or create any new Word documents! Moo is about to graduate Kinder and I couldn't even contribute any photos to the collage the parent group is making because my drive is so full it can't even burn a disc! So I am typing this from my iPad, which is an odd experience since I don't think Blogspot was designed with mobile devices in mind. I have purchased an external hard drive, but now I have to figure out how to get everything off my hard drive and onto the external drive. And since the Hubbs is either at work,overtime or the gym about 95% of the time, it is hard to find the time to be in the study. My main problem with that is that the study is not Toots friendly. It is organized and clean, but I cannot be sure that she couldn't get her hands on a pin or scissors or Sharpies. So I try to keep her out of there and since it is on the other side of the house, I can't just head in there and leave her in the family room alone...blah. Someday I'll have a laptop and this will be lots easier. But now that I can manage just written posts on the iPad, I'll try to get on here more often to at least get some written posts up. Like I mentioned, Moo is almost done with Kinder! Then I will have a first grader on my hands, what?!?! I just can't seem to wrap my head around that. As soon as Moo gets out of school, we will be moving Toots into her room. The big girls will use the summer to get used to the whole room sharing thing and hopefully have it down by the time school starts again in the fall. We are also trying to wean Toots off the bottle and onto some big girl sippy cups. She has been resisting like crazy and won't even try to use a big girl cup. So that one might take a while. But it must be done! Hopefully I'll be able to update a little more if this iPad thing cooperates, so summer may be well documented this year! Yipee!

Saturday Night Live Fans Unite!

Am I the only one who is stoked to see this hit the shelves this holiday season?!?!  It seems I am.  There is a huge controversy around this ice cream and the choice by Ben & Jerry's to sell a flavor with such a cheeky name.  Frankly, if you're old enough to read this and understand the double meaning, you've already been corrupted and should not find this offensive.  Some people are arguing that it's wrong to let children see this.  What?  There isn't a gross picture on it or anything.  And like I said, if you're old enough to read this, you've heard WAY worse things than this at school.  Not to mention the fact that it is hidden in the massive wall of Ben & Jerry's flavors in the supermarket.  If you are standing in the ice cream isle long enough for your child to read all the names of the ice cream flavors Ben & Jerry's makes, you are spending WAY too much time buying ice cream.  Not to mention the fact that if you are concerned that your child would "get" it, doesn't that mean that your kid has already been exposed to vulgar humor?  I mean, it doesn't say Sweaty it says Schweddy.  If I told my child what this said, without giving her the meaning behind it, she wouldn't get it.  She would ask "What is a Schweddy Ball?"  Then she would ask if she could have ice cream.  Point being she wouldn't get the joke.  If your kid gets the joke, they don't need protection from this ice cream.  Maybe you protesters should think about that.  

The Pioneer Woman Strikes!

First of all, let me say right off the bat that I took this beautiful image off the Pioneer Woman website I will be linking you too in just a moment.  I just wanted to include it so you could see exactly why I decided to venture into the homemade deluxe coffee world that, until today, I have been afraid of.  

  So I've been a fan of the Pioneer Woman, her blog and her cookbook.  Recently she has hooked up with Food Network to make 6 episodes of The Pioneer Woman cooking show, which is my dream come true.  This chick is awesome!  She has a great sense of humor and good taste (in all things).  I have to imagine that she could be my cooler, slightly older sister or best friend, maybe?  If only I lived in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma!  Alas, the closest I'll ever get to hanging out with Ree (that's her actual name) is watching her cook on Food Network.  Inspired by her yummy cooking, I explored the recipe section of her website and since my cupboards are quite bare right now, there wasn't a lot that I could actually make.  It was killing me!  But I did stumble across this gem.  Iced Coffee!  Now how hard can that be?  Well, trust me, I can't make iced coffee that tastes like Starbucks to save my life.  Mine is always too bitter and too watery.  I can't do it.  Her solution shocked me!  And to make matters worse (in a good way) she gave a variation for Vietnamese Iced Coffee which is what I made this morning.  It was TO. DIE. FOR.  So dang good!  So here is the link to the Pioneer Woman's Perfect Iced Coffee Try it immediately, I'm sure you will love it.  I only made a quarter of the coffee concentrate because I didn't have a vessel big enough for the amount she made, but I know that I'm gonna need to buy a bigger pitcher because I'm going to be making this every summer from now on.  Yumm! 

Moo makes dinner

The past few nights Moo has been helping me make dinner.  If there is something she can do, I let her do it.  It's much easier now that she's a little older and I have a new handy stool from Ikea.  Although she's already getting a little too tall for this particular stool.  Anyway, the best thing for her to do is cut up mushrooms or similar soft foods with a butter knife.  She really seems to enjoy it.  Of course I sometimes have to go back in later and make some of them a little more "uniform" so they all cook in the same amount of time, but that's a small price to pay.  I usually do that while she's in the bathroom washing her hands so she doesn't get her feelings hurt by my "fixing" her chopped veggies.  The other day as she helped me make a casserole, I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics.

She takes her job very seriously.  She also knows not to touch the big knife, that's Mommy's work station right next to hers.  I moved around the counter to get a better shot of her.

After I told her to keep the mushroom on the counter.  Daddy sliced right through his hand one time while he was doing exactly what she was doing in the last photo.  ALWAYS KEEP THE FOOD ON THE BOARD!!!!

She had me take this shot twice because she said she wasn't ready.  She's so funny.

Ta-da!  The finished product, although I don't know why the photo came out looking so yellow.  It wasn't that yellow in person.  Anyway, it's true what they say - if you let kids help you cook and psych them up for how good it will be while they're making it, they are SO eager to try it when it's done.  We've had this before and Moo just wouldn't eat it.  This time she ate a big serving, the only difference is that she helped with almost all of it.  Go figure!

Peppermint Patty Brownies

If anyone knows where this came from I would like to credit the original source, so please let me know.  I have a few blogs that I read regularly, some that I read maybe once a week, some that I check once every few weeks and some that I just stumble across in a link from one blog to another to another.  I think this idea came from one of those blog links to a link to a link and I just can't seem to retrace my steps to find it.  Anywho, the post was about a delicious recipe for peppermint patty brownies and it was complete with a recipe for decadent brownies filled with the yummy Yorks.
  Well, I didn't bookmark the link and I can't seem to find it again so when I felt like something sinful for dessert I tried to recreate them to the best of my ability.  Since I was in the mood for instant gratification and not a lot of time consuming measuring, I went with the classic boxed brownie mix, whipped it up and placed 12 patties on top of the filled brownie pan.  Then I gently pushed them down into the mix, just low enough to be covered up.  Then I baked them to the package directions and voila!  Let me say that they were DELICIOUS right out of the oven and tasty when cooled, but the candy interior firmed up (the Yorks didn't go back to being Yorks, they became quite firm and more like one of those pillow candies).  They were tasty either way, but I liked them right out of the oven, so the patties were gooey.  Yum!  I bet they'd be even better in that bloggers actual recipe, if only I could find it again!  And I'm sure this would be equally good with any candy you have hanging about.  A nifty little way to spice up the plain old brownie - I plan on making these again after Halloween this year to use up some of that candy in a dessert I can serve to adult guests...a hot snickers brownie and a scoop of ice cream?  Genius!

What to do with a Harvest?

Well, last night I made my first real harvest. Yipee! I came away with 6 red onions, two big cherry tomatoes and a bell pepper that I had to pick because it was rotting on the bush. It never had a chance to turn red. So far the bell pepper bushes aren't doing too well. Both fruits have been rather small and both started to rot on the bush before reaching any kind of maturity. Bummer.

But I was able to use the other veggies in my haul to make a yummy chicken enchilada casserole, which we all love. Tonight it was made all the better with the veggies we grew ourselves. Actually, nobody said it was better, but I thought I could taste the difference. Maybe just a little.

My New Obsession

My newest obsession is Extreme Couponing! If you have not watched the new TLC series called Extreme Coupons, YOU SHOULD! These ladies (and one man, so far) walk away with $1,000 of groceries that they ended up paying just $4 for! Think of what that would mean to the average family on a tight food budget. For example, in our house there are things that everyone loves that we just can't afford to get (Daddy's expensive cereal, my flavored coffee creamer, Moo's bear shaped graham crackers). But by couponing I could save tons of money on the products we need and be able to upgrade to the products we can't afford now! Instead of buying the crappy creamer, with coupons and the savings from other coupons, I could purchase my delicious Peppermint Mocha creamer and have fabulous coffee everyday! Woohoo! So my venture into extreme couponing begins, but don't worry. I promise I won't become one of those ladies with 50lbs of free cat food even though we don't have a cat. Only things we eat/use will be brought into this stockpile. If you click on the link above you will be wisked away to my FAVORITE coupon site, The Krazy Coupon Lady. The site is amazing and does most of the leg work for you, hunting down deals all over the place! You should really check it out...Happy Clipping!

Traditional Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day

Since becoming an Irish-by-marriage, I have been working to discover a wonderful meal to serve on St. Patty's that everyone will love, that is simple and special at the same time. Something that we don't make except on that special day. We are not fans of the Corned Beef and Cabbage that so many seem to force down on this day every year and I frequently make Shepherd's Pie so that doesn't feel special enough.

This year I trolled the internet and found a gem of a recipe on Food Network's website that I just had to try. They called it Roasted Root Vegetable Irish Lamb Stew and the reviewers all raved about how wonderful it was and how it was just like the one Mam used to make. So I thought I'd give it a try. The only problem was that I couldn't find any lamb. Nope, none. I went to the three major grocers around my home and the only thing that ONE of them had was one of those racks of lamb that you make into a crown roast. I have to admit that I considered this for a minute. But needing 2 roasts to come up with enough meat for this stew would

set me back about $40 and that's just not going to happen. So I just got the good old beef stew meat at $2.99/lb. This recipe also gave me the opportunity to work with Parsnips, a veggie I have never used before. It is a very tasty root, somewhat like a carrot but kind of spiced in flavor and with a very odd consistency. I can't say that I liked the texture of the roasted parsnip, but I did like the flavor. We shall have to explore a bit more with this veggie.

So the recipe was quite simple, but did take a long time as there were veggies roasting in the oven and meat simmering on the stove for 2 hours. The gravy base for the stew was Guinness based and tied in nicely with my Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (see previous post). I was a bit worried that Moo wouldn't care for the stew because it contained so many veggies (none of which are on her Yumm! list) and it smelled VERY Guinnessy while cooking. But I gave her some of the meat, some potato and a few peas and she ate them all. Although I'm not sure if she did this for love of the stew or because she wanted a cupcake...I'd like to think it was the stew.

The Hubby and I both thought it was delicious.

Like I said, I was afraid it would be a bit beer-ish, but it wasn't. The Guinness just added a richness to the sauce and complimented the rosemary and spicy parsnips and buttery leeks well. I had to resist going back for seconds, but the Hubs just couldn't. He had two full servings, so I'm guessing it was a hit all around! It may not look like much, but it was fantastic. Although I have to admit that I think the first photo of the ingredients IS a more appetizing picture. But this is the way of the stew I suppose!

If you want to try this recipe, and I strongly suggest that you do, just go to...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/roasted-root-vegetable-irish-lamb-stew-recipe/index.html

Delicious!!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes??!?!!!?

So I read a post on my Facebook page from my cousin who dropped a link to these cupcakes for St. Patty's Day and just couldn't wait to try them out. Yes, you heard me right. Irish. Car. Bomb. Cupcakes. Based on the cocktail of the same name, which involves Guinness with a shot of whiskey and Baileys dropped in, the cupcakes resemble the drink in every way. You bake a chocolate Guinness infused cupcake, scoop out the center and fill it with a whiskey chocolate filling and finally frost the thing with a Baileys buttercream. OMG. And yes, this recipe called for almost 2 lbs. of butter. Certainly not for those try
to watch their weight. Or their heart health. Or any other type of health, really. Anyway, they were delicious. Moo loved the Chocolate Guinness cupcakes, she got one pre-fill and frost since the alcohol cooked off of the baked cupcakes. The beer just added a bit of spice to the chocolate, overall a nice flavor. The whiskey filling was FABULOUS! Not to strong, but nice. The Baileys buttercream frosting was intense. REALLY intense. I thought it was better today (the second day), but the Hubby and I both decided that it either needed a lighter hand with the frosting ( I only used half the batch of frosting! ) or next time we'll just skip the frosting all together and instead of filling the cakes with the whiskey chocolate mix, we'll frost them with it instead. That would make it an easier cupcake to make and a lighter cupcake to eat. Both good as far as I'm concerned. But all in all it was a very successful adventure into Cupcakeland! Thanks KPB!

You can find these yummy cupcakes and loads more at this wonderful site: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/14/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/

Have fun!

Pasta-mia!

So I went home for a visit in January, taking Moo and Toots, but the Hubs had to stay behind and earn a living. Bummer. But while we were there, my brother and I tried our hand at making our own pasta. Now, my brother and I are game to try to make almost anything in the kitchen and I was a bit excited to try this out. As you can clearly see, we did not have the proper pasta making equipment, but were reassured by many on-line resources that many authentic Italian 90-year-old chubby women made pasta every day without such machines as well...so off we went. Our first problem was using a Jamie Oliver recipe that everyone reviewed as being great...ours turned into a rock hard clump that I had to turn over to Bro because it was way past the point where I could knead it and it darn near broke his wrists too. Then we let it "rest" for an hour in the fridge while Bro "rested" his poor little forearms. When we took it out to roll it we had the same problem - ROCK hard and it just wouldn't roll thin enough. So we rolled it as thin as we could and cut it into strips as thin as we could, then we rolled those again. What we ended up with was a bowl draped with leathery, misshapen gobs of dough we weren't sure we wanted to actually eat. But Grammy was a trooper and told us to cook them up. Let me just say that one little scoop of that pasta FILLED YOU UP! It was so dense that a tiny bit of the stuff, well, stuffed you. It didn't taste bad, it just wasn't pasta. It was a cross between scones and pasta, covered in spaghetti sauce. We vowed to try again, following an Italians' recipe instead of a Brits'. I mean really, what were we thinking?

Challah Bread!!!

Just read an old post on my favorite blog - ColdAntlerFarm - about the yumminess of homemade pie and it made me crave something deliciously homemade. Thus, the birth of the Challah Braid! Yum! A home without something freshly baked and yummy to eat, just isn't a home. I think I'm going to commit to more bread baking from now on. It really does taste SO much better than store bought bread.

A Nice Little Snack

Does it get any better than this? I just had to take a picture of my afternoon snack today. Homemade Milk Bread, homemade Pear Butter Preserves (mentioned in a previous post) and a nice cup of milky coffee...mmmm...delicious! I feel very Laura Ingalls right now and that makes me SO happy!

The Canning Experiment

On Friday, I tried my hand at canning for the very first time. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. I don't know why, but if you've ever thought about canning, you probably have felt the same twinge of fear. There are so many things that you hear about going wrong with home canning...people getting sick from careless canning or the pressure canner exploding! It is terrifying! But if you actually sit down and read a few books about it (which I did to calm my nerves about the whole process) it really isn't that scary. Especially if you are just using the hot water bath canning method and not the pressure canner. I'm sure I'll have a nervous breakdown the first time I try to pressure can something.

For starters, as long as things are kept exceptionally clean and you follow the instructions, there is virtually no risk of sickness. As long as you get a good seal on the jars, they will be fine kept in a cool dark place for a few months. I was worried about the jars not sealing, one of them cracking and exploding in the boiling water, if I left enough head space, if I left too much head space, what did fingertip tight really mean? But I trudged on through and made my first batch of Pear Butter. It was quite tasty - I had to try it before I put it up, what if it was gross? It's a nice cinnamon pear flavor, much like a thick, sweet cinnamon applesauce. It will be very tasty heated on toast this winter. Mmmm. And did I mention that though it's not very pretty, it looks glorious in it's little jars all lined up on my shelf?

It took quite a while to make...about 3 hours for the pear butter, then another 30 minutes to can it, then 12 hours of sitting to let it seal. I did it at night, so the 12 hours sitting time I mostly spent sleeping. But in the end, I have 8 half pints of deliciousness sitting in my pantry that I am oh so happy with. If for no other reason, you have to give canning a try for the sweet satisfaction of doing something older than your grandmother. People have canned forever and really, it just recently went "out of fashion". My mom remembers helping her mom can. Now that I know how to do it, I will teach Moo someday. There is nothing like the feeling of pride that jumps to your heart when you hear the "ping" of that little button on the lid of a jar being sucked down, creating the vacuum you need for your preserves to keep. I literally laughed out loud when my first jar went "ping!" followed shortly by seven other "ping, ping, PING, ping!"s. It is a wonderful thing.

The BakeOver MakeOver

As you know, I am into anything and everything farmgirl. My ultimate Queen of all things farm is MaryJane Butters of MaryJane's Farm fame. She has a magazine (to which I subscribe), an on-line chatroom (in which I am constantly chatting) and an on-line store (where I have made just a few purchases...). One of the ideas she has become noted for in the farmgirl community, as far as I know it, is the BakeOver. It's basically a fast, easy breakfast/lunch/dinner way of cooking that feeds your family in a hurry. You can check out her ideas and recipes on her website, www.maryjanesfarm.org or pick up a copy of her magazine found in quite a few bookstores around the country (our local Borders carries it, but our Barnes & Noble does not).

Not too long ago I ordered a small sample packet of MaryJane's Budget Mix - it's like an organic Bisquick. This is the base for her BakeOvers. So last night, after I opened my box to find this cute little pack of mix staring up at me, I had to make one. So I found a recipe in one of her magazines for a Potato, Ham and Gruyer BakeOver and set out to make it. I just had to post about it because I am hooked! Not only was it tasty, easy to cook and easy to clean up (because that is a big part of how I pick which recipes will be made again in the future...the clean up factor), but it came out looking JUST like the photo in the magazine! I've never had that happen before! Needless to say, I was very impressed with myself and the dish and though the Hubby was not equally enthused about my perfect presentation, he did enjoy the dinner. Oh, did I mention the monetary savings? The entire dinner, which fed the three of us with enough for a second meal today used one small onion, 3 potatoes, half a slice of ham and a handful of shredded cheese! Usually, that's about the amount the Hubby will eat on his own! Yet somehow, through the miracle of science or farming, we all feasted on this meager amount of food and still had half of it left for today! Hooray for the BakeOver and God bless the Queen!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

So as a part of my "Farmgirl experience", earning badges and whatnot through Mary Jane's Farm, I have started reading the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (artwork found on her website of the same name is featured here to the left). It may not sound like an exciting journey into the literary world to some, but it is quite the fascinating read. I am really enjoying it and would recommend it to everyone, not just those who are of the currently trendy "Locavore" classification. The book follows Kingsolver and her family as they attempt to eat a diet of only local food for one year. Well, why would you do that? Who cares that wouldn't be too hard...guess again. It's challenging for them, though they were a family all willing to participate together in the project. How would a normal family cope, the a banana a day family who would no longer be able to consume the South American fruit day in and day out? On my last trip to the store, I tried to go with only local organic fruits and veggies...can you believe I found only one? And it wasn't even "local". I found a pint of organic raspberries from Watsonville, Ca. Now that's about a 10 hour drive from my house...not as far as the bananas, but hardly "local". So you can see how selecting a local diet is a little harder than just running down to the store to pick up a few things. I am curious now, as to how I could find local, organic produce...I will begin researching CSAs in my area and canvassing the local farmer's markets for organic stalls...I think it will take a lot of time to get to the point where all of my food is local and organic, but it's time that I think is well spent and really makes me appreciate what's going into my mouth that much more. California is one of the best places in the US for produce, we can grow all kinds of things here - so why not go with it? I'll keep you posted on my progress as I venture into the local organic scene and give you tips on where you may be able to find a similar scene in your neck of the woods.

Who doesn't like Smore's?

Since I mentioned the Smore's cake in my Welcome post, I thought I should get busy and actually tell you about it. My Husband's birthday is in the beginning of summer and nothing says summer like smore's around a campfire. So I decided to make a Smore's inspired cake for his 30th birthday this year. Notice there is only one candle...we didn't want to burn the house down.

So the cake was just a store bought mix, your favorite chocolate mix will do. Next you will need your basic smore's supplies - chocolate bars, marshmallows and graham crackers. I also used marshmallow fluff between the cake layers which turned out to be a HUGE mistake as the fluff never sets and creates a very slippery top layer. The next time I make this cake I will just use vanilla frosting for that layer. Oh, and you will need a really good chocolate frosting.

Now all you have to do is follow the directions on the cake box, but before you bake the batter, break one of the chocolate bars (or more if you're feeling sinful) into each of the two 8 or 9 inch rounds. The chunks will get really soft but will hold their shape making for nice little morsels of deliciousness throughout the cake. Now bake the cake according to your package.

After the cake has baked and cooled, assemble like you would a normal cake using the vanilla frosting to ice between the layers. Next frost the outside of the cake with the chocolate frosting. I used large marshmallows cut in half to top the cake but you could use small ones to make a very pretty border for yours. Then I just crumbled some graham crackers and sprinkled them on top of the cake. Let me tell you now that the graham crackers are the BEST part. We were all fighting for the bits with the most cracker crumbles. Next time I make this cake I will press the crumbs into the sides of the cake in a very thick layer, since that was everyone's favorite. I think that little graham flavor is really what made the cake taste like a giant smore. It was delicious and would make a perfect cake for a child's camping themed party or any outdoor summer gathering. A hit with the 4 year old as well as the 30 year old! If you try it out, let me know how you liked it.