Golden Oreo Cheesecake

The theme for the Crazy Cooking Challenge this month was cheesecake.  The themes are getting harder for me because they seem to be things that I've tried to make before and have failed majorly at making.  Last month's fried chicken challenge ended in me getting very frustrated and swearing off fried chicken ever again...which is pretty easy because I hate fried chicken in the first place.














This is now my third cheesecake "masterpiece".  The first one was for a recipe swap, and it turned out good, just nothing too exciting.  The second one was going good, and then I pulled it out of the oven and found a giant crack down the center of it.  This crack made some Grand Canyon crevasses seem small.  So, I guess this third one I didn't have too high of hopes for.  I figured I'd try to make something that sounded interesting, but if it didn't turn out, I'd just chalk it up to being something I'd always buy from the store, and never attempt at home again.

I loved the idea of an Oreo cheesecake, but a few months ago, my husband introduced me to Golden Oreos, which I love just as much as the chocolate ones. So, I decided to switch things up and use them in the cheesecake instead.  I found this recipe on blog that listed the blogger's favorite cheesecake recipe.  Bites of Sweetness has amazing pictures that make your mouth salivate even though you're a thousand miles away from her kitchen. 

Golden Oreo Cheesecake
barely adapted from Bites of Sweetness
Ingredients
1 package Oreo cookies, divided (any flavor)
1/3 cup of butter, melted
3 packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Finely crush about 20 cookies and coarsely chop about 10 cookies; set aside.
2) Mix finely crushed cooke crumbs and melted butter in a bowl.  Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
3) In a mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy.
4) Add eggs one at a time and beat only until just incorporated.
5) Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
6) Fold in chopped cookies.
7) Spread mixture onto crust and bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
8) Place in the fridge and chill at least four hours, or overnight.

Chocolate glaze
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 cup corn syrup
4 1/2 squares of white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
1) Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl.
2) Heat the cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a small sauce pan over medium heat until just simmering.
3) Pour over chocoalte and mix until smooth. (The more you stir, the more it will thicken).
4) Pour over cheesecake and decorate the top as desired.

I liked the flavors of this cheesecake a lot.  I wish the oreos retained some of their crunch, but the flavor is still fantastic.  The blogger said that over-incorporating the eggs into the mixture causes cracks, and I just beat them in until incorporated and I still had cracks in the top of the cheesecake.  I guess that is what the chocolate glaze is for though.  This is a great change from the normal oreo cheesecake.

Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Smoothie

I love when recipe swaps coincide with something I'm craving.  I started jogging (really slow) again this week. When I get home from my so-called jog, I feel like I need something to drink, but something tasty as well.  When I got home the other day, I decided I wanted a smoothie, which was fantastic because the Crazy Cooking Challenge this month was smoothies.





I found this recipe on Closet Cooking.  This blog is written by Kevin Lynch, and his blog has some seriously drool-worthy recipes and photos.  I almost chose some of his grilled cheese recipes for the last Crazy Cooking Challenge.  He also has a lot of really great looking hamburgers and sandwiches.  If you're craving something new, pop over to Kevin's blog.  You'll spend hours enraptured by his pictures and recipes.


Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Smoothie
slightly adapted from Closet Cooking

Ingredients
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) 

4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup milk or fruit juice 

Directions:
1) Mix the rolled oats into the yogurt and let sit in the fridge over night.  
2) Puree everything in a food processor.

I thought this was great for my first homemade smoothie.  The oatmeal provides great texture and everything goes really well together.  When I pureed everything in the blender, it looked like the consistency was off, but when drinking it, I decided it was the perfect smoothie consistency.

I couldn't taste the maple syrup at all at two tablespoons, like the original recipe called for, so I upped the amount, and finally could taste it in the mixture of ingredients.  In Kevin's description of this recipe, he said that he would throw in a banana if he had one.  I definitely think the blueberries need a little assistance in this drink.  While it tastes good on it's own, it seems like a supporting fruit was missing (my husband thought strawberries would be great, and I kind of thought the banana was an awesome suggestion).  I look forward to playing with this recipe some more and enjoying some other great smoothie combinations.

Breakfast Grilled Cheese

When I heard this month's theme for Crazy Cooking Challenge was Grilled Cheese, I got super excited.  I also learned a lot about the sandwiches in the process.  Did you know that there is a Grilled Cheese Invitational?  It is a chance for people in search of the perfect grilled cheese to all rendezvous at the same location and hope to become a Grilled Cheese Champion in their cooking contests.  I think that's awesome.  Look it up if you haven't heard about it yet at the Grilled Cheese Invitational website.





In my quest for the perfect grilled cheese, I ran into Grilled Cheese Social. Grilled Cheese Social is written by MacKenzie Smith.  MacKenzie comes up with some amazing grilled cheeses and has everything from breakfast to dessert sandwiches. The writing on her blog makes you feel like your her best friend the second you step onto her site. I spent a lot of time clicking and reading through all her posts and finally decided on the Breakfast Grilled Cheese.

Breakfast Grilled Cheese
slightly adapted from Grilled Cheese Social
Ingredients
Grilled Cheese
1 egg, scrambled
salt and pepper
2 slices of sourdough bread

1/3 cup of crumbled goat cheese
1 tablespoon of basil pesto (I couldn't find arugula to make the arugula pesto)
2 pats of salted butter

Pesto
from Savory Sweet Life
Ingredients

2 cups of fresh basil, packed
3 cloves of garlic (more of less depending on how spicy you like it)
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
A pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1) In a food processor, pulsate basil, pine nuts, garlic, and Parmesan cheese until everything is mixed in with each other. Slowly add extra virgin olive oil and pulsate again until everything is fully combined and incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.

2) Scramble one egg, seasoning with salt and pepper.

3) Lay out two pieces of bread.  Crumble goat cheese on one side, and spread pesto on the other.  Place the scrambled egg on top of one of the pieces of bread, and then close the sandwich.

4) Place butter either in a skillet on the stove or on your panini maker.

5) Cook until sandwich is at the desired toasted level.

We loved these sandwiches.  We just recently found goat cheese at our store, and so we hadn't really thought to use it in grilled cheese.  The pesto and the cheese worked great together, and the sandwich was truly delicious.  My husband was disappointed that he only asked for one sandwich.  I think we'll see these on the menu for many weekends to come.

To check out more cheesy deliciousness, please click on any of the pictures below!

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Confession:  I have never made muffins from scratch.  I think it is because until recently, I was petrified of baking.  It seems so calculated and precise that I figured so many things could go wrong...especially at high altitude.  I usually just buy the packets that you add water and an egg to and whip them up that way.
            


When I saw the Crazy Cooking Challenge for this month, I was excited because it was something outside my comfort zone that I had never made before.  Since we live at high altitude, I was worried about the muffin moisture turning out right.  Most of our baked goods are much dryer up here, so I decided to try this recipe for Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins from The Idea Room.

The Idea Room is written by Amy Huntley, who seems to be a very organized mother of five kids.  She has everything from food crafts (Powdered Donut Snowmen), to crafts (How to Make Your Own Menu Board, to awesome food recipes (like these Blueberry Muffins).


Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
barely adapted from The Idea Room
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream (about 10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (1 pint)


Directions
1) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.
2) Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.
3) Add blueberries to dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed. (Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not overmix.)
4) Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and insert toothpick into the center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Let muffins cool down for 5 minutes.

I couldn't believe how moist these cupcakes were, and the flavor was fantastic.  The pint of blueberries created the perfect amount of blueberry to actual muffin.  I usually drown the packet muffins in a lot of butter, but these required nothing and still tasted amazing.  On the Idea Room, it was suggested that you can melt butter and dip these in cinnamon sugar.  I tried that, but it seemed like the cinnamon overwhelmed the flavor of the blueberries, so I left mine plain.  Now that I know how easy muffins are, I'll never use a store-bought mix again.

Click on the links below to see other great Crazy Cooking Challenge Blueberry Muffin recipes!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The Crazy Cooking Challenge group gets a theme every month and everyone makes the same item, just different variations of it. Last month, there were over seventy submissions for chocolate cake. If you're interested in the Crazy Cooking Challenge, visit Mom's Crazy Cooking to get more information. Tina, the author of Mom's Crazy Cooking, was voted as having the best looking chocolate cake, so visit her blog to see fantastic chocolate cakes as well.





I haven't had spaghetti since I was a little girl. I developed a food allergy when I was in sixth grade that made me really sick when I ate canned tomato products. Since then, I have pretty much steered clear of spaghetti. When this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge was announced: Spaghetti with Red Sauce, I went on the hunt for a recipe that didn't use any sauces, but used just tomatoes. I ran into No Recipes, which is written by Marc, who describes himself as loving food since he could see over the kitchen counter. I loved looking over the recipes in his blog and have pinned recipes such as his Crispy Zucchini Fritters and Strawberry Lemon Bars to make in the future. But I loved that his spaghetti recipe didn't call for any canned tomato ingredients.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
slightly adapted from No Recipes
Ingredients
for meatballs
1/2 medium onion, minced
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup peeled, seeded and minced tomatoes (about 1 medium tomato)
12 ounces ground beef
6 ounces ground pork
4 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated
3 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

for sauce
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 large onion minced
4 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (about 8 medium tomatoes)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried Italian spices
parsley, minced for garnish
whole wheat spaghetti (measured per individual)

Directions
Meatballs
1) Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil until tender and starting to brown. Add the tomatoes then continue frying until there is no liquid left in the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.
2) In a large bowl, add the beef, pork, ricotta, egg, bread crumbs, parmesan, thyme, parsley, soy sauce, salt and pepper along with the tomato and onion mixture. Put some gloves on and use your hands to knead the mixture together until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
3) Use your hands to roll the meat into 1 1/2″ balls. The mixture will be pretty loose, so if you have trouble forming it into balls, put it in the fridge for a bit to stiffen up.
4) Heat a frying pan up over medium high heat, then add 2 tablespoons of oil. Fry the meatballs in batches, gently rolling them around to maintain their shape until browned on all sides.
5) Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil and set aside for the sauce.
Sauce
1) Sauté the garlic and onions until translucent in the oil that was set aside from the meatballs.
2) Add the tomatoes, bay leaf and salt then bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3) Add the meatballs into the tomato sauce along with any collected juices. Turn the heat down to low and gently simmer for 1 hour. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of dried Italian spices.
Noodles
1) Boil some spaghetti al dente according to the package directions. Drain the pasta, then toss the pasta together with the sauce. Plate the spaghetti, then top each serving with meatballs, minced parsley and parmesan cheese.

I liked this spaghetti a lot.  We had plenty for leftovers, and I believe that the leftovers were much better than the original meal.  The flavors developed deeper as they sat in my fridge.  In the initial meal, you couldn't really taste the garlic, so I've changed the amount in the recipe to reflect what I believe would be a better amount.  The meatballs were great.  I thought that there were maybe too many ingredients and the flavors would be overpowering, but they all worked together.  I'll definitely make this recipe again, especially when tomatoes are in season.

Check out the links below to see additional Spaghetti with Red Sauce recipes:

Chocolate Chip Layer Cake with Chocolate Chip Buttercream

I joined the crazy Cooking Challenge this month, just in time for chocolate cakes. I'm getting a lot better at baking, so I was really excited about this challenge.

                                               

I searched for awhile to find a chocolate cake. I found some that met the criteria, but they didn't have the "drool" factor. Plus, I wanted something that would challenge myself, it is a cooking challenge. I found a double layer chocolate cake, and decided I'd tackle it. First because I've never done a layer cake, and secondly, because it sounded amazing.

Chocolate Chip Layer Cake with Chocolate Chip Buttercream
from Baking Bites
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, divided (regular or mini)
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups water

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and lightly grease. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt 1 cup of chocolate chips. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract and melted chocolate. Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the coffee. Stir in remaining flour mixture. Stir just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Divide chocolate chips evenly between the two pans, sprinkling them on the cake batter. Stir gently with a knife or spatula to incorporate.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

*Note: Cake layers can be made a day in advance and stored in an airtight container before frosting.

To serve: Place one layer of cake on a cake plate or serving tray. Spread a layer of frosting on top, then top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides of the cake with remaining frosting. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

Chocolate Sour Cream Buttercream
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped chocolate

Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sour cream, cocoa powder, milk and vanilla until smooth.
2. Gradually incorporate confectioners’ sugar until frosting is thick and smooth. You may not use all of the sugar.
3. Stir in chopped chocolate.

I made this cake and took it to work so that I wouldn't ruin my New Years Resolution. My coworkers saw the container and couldn't wait an hour to cut into it. Everyone loved it, and I've been asked by many people to make it again already.

I'm not a huge fan of ultra rich cakes, and since this had so much chocolate in it, I was a little worried. However, it was perfect. The ingredients provided the perfect balance so that it wasn't so rich that no one could eat it. I loved the addition of the chocolate chips because in the delicious cake, you'd get another chocolate surprise. This cake will definitely get made again, and taken to work yet again so I'm not tempted to eat all of it by myself.

Follow the link below to find other chocolate cakes: