Turtle Cheesecake Brownies

by penji1

Turtle Cheesecake Brownies

My friend Diana (who follows my blog, Hi Diana!) texted me asking if I could make some decadent brownies for the Young Women at church, two of my favorite things = baking and Young Women so of course I said YES!!!  I went looking on Pinterest (of course!) and found these beauties!  Decadent, check!  The recipe comes from “Just Us Four”.

brownie layer:

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

3/4 cup cocoa

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

cream cheese layer:

2 packs (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

toppings:

1/2 cup caramel sauce

1/3 cup milk chocolate chips

3/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Line 9 x 13″ pan with foil and spray bottom of foil with cooking spray.

2  For brownie layer – mix melted butter, sugar and vanilla together until combined.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add cocoa and mix well.  Add flour, baking powder, salt and walnuts and mix just until combined.

3  Set aside 1 cup batter then pour the rest into the pan and smooth with spatula.

4  For cream cheese layer – Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Add vanilla and then eggs one at a time until well combined.

5  Pour cream cheese layer over brownie layer and smooth out.

6  Drizzle 1/4 cup caramel sauce over cream cheese layer.  Drop spoonfuls of reserved brownie batter over the cream cheese layer.  Using a knife, gently swirl the top two batters together.

7  Bake at 350 for 45 – 55 minutes or until cream cheese layer is set.

8  Cool for 10 minutes then using foil remove from pan.  Cool on wire rack for at least 1 hour then place in fridge for 2 hours.

9  Drizzle 2 tablespoons caramel sauce over top then sprinkle with chopped pecans.

10  Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second intervals until smooth then drizzle over brownies followed by remaining caramel sauce.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

by penji1

Homemade Tomato Sauce

All of the sudden I’ve got more tomatoes than I know what to do with so I went looking online and found this homemade tomato sauce recipe that you can freeze and then use in place of canned tomato sauce in recipes for soups and spaghetti sauce, etc so I’ve been making sauce like crazy this past week.  It smells divine, I can’t wait to use it in a pot of soup!  And it’s so easy!  The recipe comes from “Havahart”.

as many tomatoes as you want

onions

garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

1  Preheat oven to 375.  Spray 2 cookie sheets with sides with baking spray or brush with olive oil.

2  Cut tomatoes in half and remove core and seeds.  Place cut side down on prepared cookie sheets.  Slice an onion and peel and slice some garlic cloves in half and place those on the cookie sheet mixed in with the tomatoes.

3  Drizzle olive oil over whole sheet then grind fresh salt and pepper over the top.

4  Roast in oven for 30 – 45 minutes until tomatoes are soft and beginning to brown.

5  Remove from oven and let cool for a bit.

6  Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until desired consistency.

7  Place in Ziploc freezer bags and freeze.

Sodalicious Cup Birthday Fondant Cake

by penji1

Sodalicious Cup Birthday Cake

A few weeks ago we made this Sodalicious Cup Birthday Cake for our friend Kevin who is one of the owners of Sodalicious (not familiar with Sodalicious, you can check it out here, my daughter Courtney is the manager of one of their shops) but what with working and vacation, I’ve just been too busy to post it.  We used my Soda Bottle Cake pan and just cut the top of it off to make a soda cup instead.  It’s chocolate cake with buttercream icing and then Wilton brand fondant from Michaels.  It turned out pretty cute.  Happy late Birthday again to Kevin!

30th Anniversary Lunch at Disneyland’s Blue Bayou Restaurant

by penji1

Disneyland's Blue Bayou

Our whole family spent last week at Disneyland.  Our 30th Anniversary happened to fall during that time so Bob and I had lunch at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  It’s something that we’ve always talked about doing but it’s not cheap so we never have but since it was our 30th, we decided to splurge and I’m really glad we did because the food was delicious and the ambiance can’t be beat.  My pictures aren’t great because I didn’t want to be that person who turned the flash on on her phone and blinded everyone while they were trying to enjoy their lunch.

Blue Bayou Monte Cristo Sandwich

Bob had their famous Monte Cristo Sandwich which is described as –   “Turkey, Ham, and Swiss, battered and fried to golden brown, served with a Fruit Skewer” and a “Cup of our Signature New Orleans Gumbo” both of which he declared delicious, I had a bite of the sandwich and it was pretty killer.

Blue Bayou Pan Seared Blackened Salmon

I had the Pan Seared Blackened Salmon which is described as – “Cajun-spiced, served with Herb Mashed Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables, Tomato-Caper Relish, and Basil Beurre Blanc” with a side Caesar Salad which was also delicious, I ate the whole thing!

Blue Bayou 8 Layer Chocolate Mousse Cake

We had to have dessert even though we were both stuffed and this Eight Layer Chocolate Mousse Cake was worth the discomfort of being too full!

So I would highly recommend dining at the Blue Bayou if you get a chance.  You really need a reservation so you do have to plan ahead a bit.  We wanted to go to dinner but all the nights that we were there were already full so we went with lunch instead.  Try it!  You’ll like it!

Disneyland Happily Ever After Button

On a side note, if you are celebrating a special event while you are at Disneyland, such as a birthday or anniversary or it’s your first visit to the park, you can go to City Hall on Main Street which is right as you come through the gates into the Park, and get a free button such as the one above which we went and got for our anniversary!

Peanut Butter Pecan Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies

by penji1

Peanut Butter Pecan Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies

I spent a lot of yesterday in the kitchen, sometimes I just want to cook and bake all day long!  I made Balsamic Bruschetta, Caprese Pasta Salad, Colleen’s Overnight French Toast and these little guys which are delicious by the way.  It was a good day.  (The recipe for these cookies comes from Betty Crocker.)

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups Bisquick

1 3/4 cups granola cereal

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1  Heat oven to 350.  Mix butter, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy.  Mix in remaining ingredients.  Drop or scoop batter onto cookies sheets.

2  Bake 9 – 11 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.  Cool 3 minutes before removing from sheets.

(The first batch I made didn’t spread while baking at all so I had little round balls for cookies so for the rest of the batches I dipped the bottom of a glass in sugar and pressed the batter down lightly so they would be more cookie shaped.)

Yield: about 5 1/2 dozen cookies

White Fondant Wedding Cake with Orange and White Flowers

by penji1

Gerbera Daisy Wedding Cake

Our latest wedding cake for our friends Josh and McKann who got married on Thursday.  They wanted a simple cake, not too big, not too fancy, with flowers to match the bouquets and decorations so here is our contribution.  The bottom layer is actually fake and the top layer is brown sugar cake (adapted from the White Almond Sour Cream cake recipe, just replace the sugar with brown sugar) with our favorite buttercream icing and then Wilton brand fondant from Michaels.  I love the Gerbera Daisy on this cake, such a cute focal point.  Congratulations to Josh and McKann!  And thanks for letting us be a part of your big day!

Caprese Pasta Salad

by penji1

Caprese Pasta Salad

Yesterday was Zach’s actual birthday and all the food from his birthday dinner on Sunday was gone so I made him another pasta salad which was just as good if not better than the first one.  The tomatoes in my garden are finally staring to ripen so I used a bunch in this salad, so yummy!  It comes from My Recipes.

Basic Vinaigrette

6 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

4 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup olive oil

Salad

1 pound pasta

1 large shallot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

3 cups (1 pound) cherry tomatoes or chopped Roma tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 pound Mozzarella balls, quartered or halved (I chopped up the rounds of Mozzarella that I had from Costco)

2 tablespoons Parmesan

1  Cook pasta according to package directions.

2  Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir in shallot, garlic and tomatoes.  Let marinate for 10 minutes while pasta is cooking.

3  Add cooked and drained pasta to bowl and toss gently then add basil, Mozzarella and Parmesan and toss gently.

Triple Chocolate Mocha Cake

by penji1

Triple Chocolate Mocha Cake

Happy Birthday today to my favorite son, Zach!  This is his birthday cake from our Sunday celebration.  It tasted really good but looked kind of funky, you can kind of see from the picture that when I turned it out of the pan, it sort of oozed out over the plate, I’ve never had a bundt cake do that before, strange.  Also it was super crunchy on the edges but nice and soft in the middle, weird cake but tasty!  The recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens.

2 cups sugar

1 cup strong brewed coffee

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup butter

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (6 oz) carton vanilla yogurt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips

1 cup milk or semisweet chocolate chips

1  Preheat oven to 325.  Combine sugar, coffee, chocolate and butter in large saucepan.  Cook and stir over medium low heat until chocolate and butter are melted,  Remove from heat and cool slightly.

2  Spray 10″ tube or bundt cake pan with cooking spray with flour (the one for baking).  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

3  Stir yogurt, eggs and vinegar into chocolate mixture.  Gradually mix in flour, stirring just until combined.  Stir in 3/4 cup white chocolate chips.  Pour into prepared pan.

4  Bake 50 – 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes before turning out to cool completely.

5  Microwave remaining 1/2 cup white chocolate chips for 1 minute, stir, repeating at 30 second intervals until melted and smooth.  Repeat in a separate bowl with milk or semisweet chips.

6  Place melted white chocolate into a sandwich bag, snip corner and pipe over cake.  Repeat with milk or semisweet chocolate.

Antipasto Pasta

by penji1

Antipasto Pasta

It’s Zach’s birthday this week but we celebrated on Sunday and he requested pasta.  I found this recipe on My Recipes, it’s full of all the things that Zach likes so I made it and it was a hit.  They served it warm but I made it ahead of time and refrigerated it and served it as a pasta salad and it was really, really good!

1 pound pasta

8 ounces Provolone, cut into bite size pieces

10 ounces salami or soppressata, cut into bite size pieces

1 (12 oz) jar artichoke hearts, drained and cut into bite size pieces

1 cup (5.5 oz) mixed Italian olives, pitted

1/2 cup pepperoncini, cut into bite size pieces and seeded

1/2 cup red wine vinaigrette or Italian dressing

I also added:

1/2 red onion, chopped

about 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half

1  Cook pasta according to package directions.

2  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and toss gently.

I decided to make my own red wine vinaigrette so here’s the recipe for that from Epicurious:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon sugar

salt and pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Whisk together all ingredients.

The Best Chocolate Cake You Ever Ate

by penji1

The Best Chocolate Cake You Ever Ate

I also made this chocolate cake for Courtney’s party on Sunday.  It was pretty good but I’m not sure it was the best chocolate cake I ever ate.  I didn’t make the frosting because we put whipped cream and strawberries on top so maybe you need the frosting to make it the best.  It comes from “All Recipes”.

cake

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup oil

1 cup water

1/4 cup cocoa (I’ll do 1/2 cup the next time I make this)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

frosting

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

1  For the cake, preheat oven to 375.  Spray 9 x 13″ pan with cooking spray.

2  Sift or whisk flour and sugar together.

3  Combine butter, oil, water and cocoa in saucepan.  Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add flour/sugar mix.

4  Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk then add with eggs, salt and vanilla to batter and mix well.

5  Pour into pan and bake for 20 minutes.

6  For frosting, combine butter, cocoa and milk in saucepan and bring to boil.

7  Remove from heat and stir sugar, vanilla and nuts.  Pour frosting over hot cake.