Lemony White Chocolate Cheeksecake

Peter's Birthday was September 13th so of course I had to make him a special dessert! Even though I am 8 1/2 months pregnant, I just couldn't resist making a new decadent dessert. My back, legs and feet were all hurting by the time I was done, but it was totally worth it! This dessert is amazing... a little heavy and very indulgent, but for a special occasion it is perfect! I saw this recipe in Taste of Home Magazine a long time ago but had never made it. I figured it was the perfect time to try it out!

Lemony White Chocolate Cheesecake

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

1 tsp. grated lemon peel

½ cup cold butter, cubed

Filling:

4 packages cream cheese, softened

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 eggs, lightly beaten

10 squares (1 oz. each) white baking chocolate, melted and cooled

2 tsp. grated lemon peel

Place a 9 inch springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Securely wrap foil around pan; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, powdered sugar and lemon peel; cut in butter until crumbly. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cream and vanilla until well blended. Add eggs: beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in white chocolate and lemon peel. Pour into crust.

Place pan in a large baking pan; add 1 inch of hot water to larger pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 65-85 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull,

Remove pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate over night. Remove sides of pan before slicing.

4 Cheese Chicken & Broccoli Fettuccine

As I have mentioned before, we aren't big on pasta in our family. However, we do like pasta with white sauce... or pretty much any other sauce but red sauce. We do not like red sauce! So this dish is perfect for us! It is so easy! And I just love one dish meals! Just serve it with a salad and garlic bread and you have a meal! Hope you try making this for your family! They will love it!

4 Cheese Chicken & Broccoli Fettuccine

8 oz. fettuccine

1 cup frozen broccoli

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8 oz. cream cheese cubed

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese

2 1/2 cups cooked cubed chicken

Topping:

1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 Tbsp butter or margarine

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the broccoli to the boiling water and cook until pasta is tender. Meanwhile, combine soup, cream cheese, cream, butter and garlic powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add all of the cheese to the cream mixture; cook and stir until melted. Add cooked chicken and heat through. Drain fettuccine and broccoli, add to sauce. Transfer to  a greased 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine topping ingredients, sprinkle over chicken mixture. Cove and bade at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes or until top is golden brown. Enjoy!

Chicken Nacho Bake

I had to clean out all of the cabinets before we could start our kitchen remodel. So before I put everything back into the cabinets I wanted to go through and get rid of things I didn't really need anymore. I had a ton of recipe magazines! So I went through all of them and pulled out recipes I thought I might like to try sometime and then threw out the rest. All that said... this is where I got the idea for this recipe. I have modified the original recipe so much that it's really not even the same thing. So I renamed it and am calling it my own!

This is before I baked it and topped it with the melted cheese.

Chicken Nacho Bake

2-3 cups cooked shredded chicken

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

6 oz. tortilla chips

1 cup frozen corn

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

1 tsp. lime juice

8 oz. velveeta cheese, cubed

1 Tbsp. milk

Stir barbecue sauce into shredded chicken. Place tortilla chips into a greased 9x13 baking dish; top with chicken mixture. Combine corn, black beans, tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice; spoon over chicken mixture.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt cheese with milk. Drizzle cheese over nachos.

Serve with taco sauce or salsa. Enjoy!

Garlic Asparagus and Squash in Lemon Cream Sauce

So as all of you saw last week, I have a lot of pasta to use over the next few months. As I have mentioned before, we do not really care for you typical pasta recipes... mostly recipes with red sauce. So I was searching for some recipes that we would like and came across this one. I made a few changes to it (as usual) and it turned out great!

Garlic Asparagus and Squash in Lemon Cream Sauce

12 oz. Ronzoni Garden Delight Rotini Pasta

1 lb. asparagus spears trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

2 small yellow squash

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 Tbsp butter

1 cup whipping cream

3 tsp grated lemon peel

Salt to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to saucepan. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook asparagus, squash and garlic in hot butter for 5-6 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender, stirring frequently. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to pasta. Combine whipping cream and lemon peel in the same skillet you cooked the vegetables in. Bring to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes or until slightly reduced. Pour cream mixture over pasta. Add salt to taste.

Chicken & Asparagus Kabobs

My Mom recently gave me a new cookbook titled Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes. I really had not taken the time to dive into this book and try new recipes... but now I am hooked! I have made 4 recipes out of this book this week and all of them have been equally AMAZING! Around here, we love asparagus! And thankfully Matias does too! This recipe only calls for 1 pound of asparagus. But I actually bought 2 pounds. I used one pound on the skewers and then blanched and chilled the other pound and served it along with the dipping sauce. Matias ate 8 pieces of the blanched asparagus dipped in the sauce! He would have ate more if I would have let him! I also only made half the amount of dip it called for and we still have some left even though all of the asparagus is gone. So I will give you the halved recipe for the dip! This is a great easy healthy recipe! Let me know what you think!

Ok, so this is before we cooked them. I forgot to take a picture after they were cooked and we devoured them all so there are no leftovers!

Chicken & Asparagus Kabobs

Dipping Sauce: (this is the halved recipe. If you like lots of dip, double it!)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/8 cup sugar

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

1-1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tsp white pepper

Kabobs:

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp minced fresh gingerroot

1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces

2 pounds fresh asparagus, divided (1 pound cut in 2-inch pieces: 1 pound trimmed, blanched and placed in an ice bath, served cold)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl combine the dipping sauce ingredients. Cover the sauce and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. 

Bring water to boil in a medium sauce pan. Once boiling add the uncut asparagus. Return to boil and boil for only 2 minutes. You do not want to over cook them! Place asparagus directly into ice bath when finished cooking. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, water, sesame oil, pepper flakes and ginger. Add the chicken; seal the bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Drain and discard marinade. In a large bowl, toss the 2-inch pieces of asparagus with olive oil and salt. On six metal or soaked wooden skewers, alternately thread one chicken piece and two asparagus pieces.

Grill over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until chicken is not longer pink and asparagus is crisp-tender. Serve with dipping sauce.

Edamame Garden Salad

I found this recipe about 2 years ago when Peter was gone to Korea ....or the Philippines ...or maybe Thailand... somewhere! When Peter is gone, I do not cook much. Mostly because when I have no one to enjoy the food I am preparing (besides myself) it just isn't as fun! So when I really want to cook, I usually invite someone over for dinner. And this particular time I invited Gina Higgins over! Gina lived on the same floor as us in the towers in Okinawa. Of course her husband was gone as well... so why not have dinner together? Anyway, this was just the side dish, but I must say that it took the show! I believe that Gina still uses this recipe to this day! (and so do I) It is an easy yet fresh and healthy recipe that I think you all will enjoy!

Edamame Garden Salad

3 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tbsp EVOO

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 (1 pound) package frozen shelled edamame

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

In a medium serving bowl whisk together vinegar, EVOO, cilantro, lime juice, sugar, salt and garlic. Set aside. Bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Add the edamame and boil for 3 minutes. Add the corn and boil for 2 minutes. Drain very well and pour into the bowl with the dressing. Gently mix in cherry tomatoes, green onions and black beans. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to chill and marinate the flavors. Serve as a side dish or you can serve it as a dip with tortilla chips!

Arugula, Bacon and Mushroom Pizza

PIZZA!!! I love homemade pizza! I have a lot of recipes for different kinds of homemade pizzas and I make them often. A homemade pizza just tastes SO much better than store bought! I will admit that I keep a store bought pizza in the freezer at all times for a quick weekend meal when needed, but most of the time the pizzas at our house are homemade (including the crust). So here is one of our favorites! I hope you enjoy it! There will probably be many more pizza recipes to come!

Arugula, Bacon and Mushroom Pizza

Pizza dough from bread maker or store bought
3-4 slices center-cut bacon
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
1 (8 oz.) package whole button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 teaspoon Sea salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 Tablespoon EVOO
Minced garlic
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
2 cups baby arugula
1/3 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

4 Tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Prepare dough in bread maker. Allow 1.5 hours.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet, reserving 2 teaspoons of bacon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add onion and mushrooms to pan; cook 10 minutes or until tender and moisture evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Press dough onto baking sheet. Drizzle EVOO over dough and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and fresh minced garlic. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden-brown. Remove from oven; spread ricotta evenly over crust, leaving a 1/2 inch rim. Arrange onion mixture and arugula evenly over ricotta. Sprinkle with bacon, mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake additional 10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and cheese is melted.