The Actual Recipe

This is the real recipe for quite possibly the most delicious thing I have ever made (If I do say so myself)

Fresh Berry Cream Cakes

12 Foil Liners for cupcake pan
3/4 to 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 T butter, melted
1 cup fresh berries (I used strawberries...but I'm sure raspberries would be delicious too)
1 pkg cream cheese, at room temperature
1 can (140z) sweetened condensed milk
1 container Cool Whip

Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of the foil liners in cupcake pan. Reserve a few of the berries for garnish and puree the remainder in a food processor or blender. (This only takes a few seconds) Measure 1/2 cup of the berry puree. Discard the remainder.

Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, on low speed, beat the cream cheese until creamy (about 30 sec). Add sweetened condensed milk and pureed berries. Mix on medium until combined. Add 1 cup of the Cool Whip and hand mix until combined.

Divide the berry mixture evenly among the cups. You should have enough to fill each to the top, but not overflowing. Cover pan with plastic wrap and freeze at least three hours and up to two weeks.

A few minutes before serving remove from freezer and top each with the saved berries.

Delicious!!!

(Frozen strawberries can also be used for the puree...but not for the topping!)

Soy Vay!!

This is not a recipe, but more of an advertisement. Last night we had Teriyaki Shrimp for dinner. I was at Sweetbay (our local grocery store) looking for something to marinate the shrimp in and decided to splurge and buy Soy Vay's Veri Veri Teriyaki. I had never tried it before, but had seen it quite a few times and had always been interested. It is SOOOOOOOO good. The best teriyaki we've ever had...by far! I highly reccomend it. In other food news, Sweetbay also carries spiedie sauce (and salt potatoes) so I bought some of that too!!

Feta and Bacon Stuffed Chicken

6 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 T dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package feta
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the oil lemon juice, garlic, oregano,salt and better. Mix together. Mix together the feta and bacon. Make a small slit in the thick side of each chicken breast. Move the knife back and forth to create a large pocket. Stuff each breast with the cheese and bacon mixutre. (If there is any cheese mixture left you can sprinkle it over the chicken right before you stick it in the oven.) Close each opening with toothpicks. Put the chicken in a 9x13 pan and pour oil mixture over chicken. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

I found this general recipe on Allrecipes and tweeked it a bit. We had this tonight for dinner and everyone enjoyed it. It'd be nice when you have company for dinner.

Jess' Vegan Chocolate Cake.

In case you haven't yet heard: I've given up eggs. It's been slow going, (Vinnie made a paprikash that I had to get in on, and there have been various cookie incidents. I don't want to talk about it) but I'm finding my way. So while on iTunes (a while ago now) I found a little upstart vegan cooking vlog called Vegan A Go-Go. It's crazy wonderful, and since most of my classes are from 12 to 4, I can usually catch what Jess (the vlog front woman) puts up in the morning, and can get whatever I need to make it on my way home.

This little ditty, has been made successfully a few times at my house. It's really good, and the recipe doesn't call for some crazy hippy ingredients that I don't have on hand. As a matter of fact Vinnie and I made this cake the other day—just because we had all the ingredients!

Jess' Vegan Chocolate Cake

1½ c. all purpose flour
1 c. sugar
¼ c. cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1 c. water
⅓ c. vegetable oil (I use butter)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9"x5" (or 9" round) pan liberally. Combine dry, add wet, mix. Bake for forty-five minutes.

While making this cake I put together a little tofu frosting. I know it sounds disgusting, but it isn't I swear. I blend it with my power-stick, use something comparable.

Tyler's Tofu Cream Cheese Frosting

½ block firm tofu
½ c. sugar
½ block cream cheese
¼ c. cocoa powder
2 T. honey (can be omitted)

Blend.

Brisket

If you haven't yet met The Pioneer Woman or her cooking you should. Now here's the recipe:

2 cans beef consomme
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups soy sacue
5 cloves chopped garlic
2 tablespoons Liquid Smoke
1 10-lb beef brisket

Combine first five ingrdients in large roasting pan. Place brisket in the marinade, fat side up. Cover tightly with foil. Marinate in fridge for 24-48 hours. When ready to cook, place pan, covered in foil, into a 300-degree oven. Cook brisket for approx. 40 minutes per pound. When fork tender, transfer whole brisket to a cutting board. Slice against the grain and place slices back into the cooking liquid. Serve immeadiately, serving jus over the slices. Store in fridge for ups to 2 days or freeze for use at later date.

We made sandwiches with the meat on a hoagie roll with a little Colby Jack on top. The cheese is defintely not necessary. This is soooo easy and SOOOO good.

Strawberry Creme Tarts

This recipe was the delicious...if I do say so myself...hit of the Valentine's Day festivities. I made a graham cracker crust in the bottom of lined muffin cups. The creme part was a mixture of low fat cream cheese, cool whip, sweetened condensed milk and pureed strawberries. The tarts were frozen, then before serving topped with cool whip and a slice of fresh strawberry. Exact recipe to come.....:)

Smoky Chicken Corn Cakes

1 3 1/2 to 4 pound rotisserie chicken (I use 1 lb shredded chicken)
1 T chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
3 T lime juice
1 T salt
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
4 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup fresh cilantro (I use dried)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t black pepper
4 large eggs
1 cup part-skim ricotta (I've used cottage cheese as well)
10 oz corn
2 t canola oil
1/2 cup sour cream (optional)

1. Shred chicken and combine with chipotle, lime juice, 1/4 t salt, onion, tomatoes, and cilantro; set aside.
2. Wisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, pepper, and remaining salt.
3. Stir in eggs and ricotta until it's not lumpy. Fold in corn.
4. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium heat. For each corn cake spoon about 1/4 cup batter into skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes on first side, 1 minute on the second.
5. Top cakes with chicken and serve with sour cream. Makes about 10 corn cakes with plenty of chicken to top.

Wish I had a picture. It looks kind of high class... Next one will be vegetarian!

The Pioneer Lady's Brisket (Plant Eater...skip this one!)

For those of you interested, I'm in the process of making brisket from The Pioneer Woman (Bryn calls her the Pionner Lady.) It involves marinating the meat, which is a HUGE chunk of cow, for 24-48 hours and then cooking it for 8 hours or so. I plan on having in Saturday midafternoon. It was easy to prepare thus far...I'll let you know how it turns out.

Enchilada Casserole

1 pound ground beef/ground turkey/chicken breast
half an onion, chopped
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
5 corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch strips
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook meat and onion together until meat is browned. Drain, if needed. Spread half of the salsa on the bottom of a square baking dish. Mix the remaining salsa, sour cream and soup in a separate bowl. Layer half of the tortilla strips, meat mixture, soup mixture and cheese on salsa, repeat.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350.

We've had this with chicken and ground beef, and they're both pretty delicious. It is a quick and easy alternative to enchiladas. I'm sure you could go meatless and substitute black beans or pintos too. We have this quite a bit and so these days I always have corn tortillas on hand. Sometimes for a snack I use a pizza cutter to cut the tortillas into wedges, sprinkle them with a little salt and broil for about 5 minutes and have some yummy homemade chips with salsa. Hope you enjoy!

Tortelinni Salad

OK...I'll start. I don't have a picture, but here is the recipe:

1 big package of fresh tortelenni ( we like the 3 cheese Buttoni's, but whatever you like is fine)
1 bag baby spinach
5-6 strips cooked bacon, crumbled ( or fake-O baco if you don't do meat)
1 package gorgonzola cheese
1 pint grape tomatoes

Cook the tortelinni and mix everything together. Top with Ceasar or Ranch dressing. Serve with crusty bread.

Everyone in my familiy loves this. I love it becuase its really easy and can be thrown together at the last minute, but its yummy and fairly good for you too!