Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake

I'm a terrible blogger! I made this AMAZING cheesecake a month ago and forgot to post the recipe!
I know what you are thinking "cheesecake!?  I can't do this! it must be so hard! I thought that at first two... guess what It's not actually hard at all.

This is a TWO DAY process

Chocolate - Raspberry Cheesecake.

You will Need

For the Crust:
1 (5.3.oz)    pack of  pure butter shortbread cookies. to crush up.
2 Tbs           unsalted butter
1/4 cup        raspberry preserves, melted.

For the Cheesecake part:
1 (10oz)     pack of frozen raspberries. Thawed (I know this sounds silly but because they are frozen they work better in the cheesecake mix than fresh ones)
3 (8oz)       pack of cream cheese, softened (I just go spreadable cream cheese)
1/2 cup       unsalted butter, softened (this is important. I always forget to soften my butter)
1 cup          sugar
2 Tbs          flour
1/2 tsp        lemon juice
2                 eggs

For the topping: (Which you make THE NEXT DAY)
6 oz.          semisweet chocolate, chopped (I would say go for the chocolate chips so you don't have to cut up the chocolate but it turned out amazing and I think chocolate chips have more sugar in them and stuff.)
1 Tbs         light corn syrup
1 Tbs          unsalted butter
1/2 cup       whipping cream
1 1/3 cups  fresh raspberries (buy extra so you can snack on them!)

Day 1:
Part 1-
1. Heat oven to 350* F.
2. Wrap springform pan (That's one of those pans with the removable bottom and the clasp thing on the side) with foil.
3. combine: Crushed cookies and melted butter into small bowl.
4. after they are mixed press the cookies and butter into the bottom of the pan. This makes your crust!
5. bake this for 8-10 min. until it's a nice golden brown color.
6. spread the raspberry preserves over it once it has cooled a little.

Part 2-
1. puree thawed raspberries in food processor or blender until smooth. strain through medium strainer, pressing spatula. You want to remove the seeds and just have yummy raspberry juice.
2. once done you only need 1/2 cup of the puree. (But I saved the rest to be fancy with when serving the cheesecake)
3. beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter at med-low speed until smooth. beat in sugar and flour until JUST blended.
4. beat in sour cream, raspberry puree and lemon juice.
5. beat in eggs ONE AT A TIME.
6. pour over crust.

Part 3-
1. Place spring form pan in large shallow pan. add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. (this makes a kind of steam environment to cook the cheesecake)
2. bake 40-45 min. until edges are puffed up and top is dry to touch. The center should move slightly when pan is tapped but not ripple.
3. remove from water bath and place on  cooing rack.
4. once cool refrigerate over night.

Day 2:

1, Place chocolate, (remember you chopped it up!), corn syrup and 1 Tbs. butter in med bowl.
2. boil whipping cream in a small saucepan.
3. pour hot whipping cream over chocolate mixture.
4. stir until melted smooth. (if the chocolate isn't melting like mine didn't just stick the bowl in a bigger bowl of hot water and mix it until it's melted.)
5. once cooled a bit but still able to be poured. Pour that stuck over the Cheesecake. which should still be in the springform pan!
6. refrigerate until the chocolate is hard.
7. decorate with raspberries.

ENJOY!
this cheesecake is SO good! Make it!

Caramel- Pear Pie

CookingClub 2013 calender.

OMG this Pie was amazing! I probably ate WAY too much of it.

DISCLAIMER: You are making your own caramel. Which takes FOREVER so this isn't something that you can do quickly.

You will Need...

**Dough for 1 (9 in) DOUBLE crust pie
3 Tbs     all purpose flour
1 Tbs     ground almonds
3 lb        Barlett pears (6) (I just used some pears that I found at the market), Peeled and quartered
1 Tbs     pear or apple cognac (I'm poor I can't afford this)
2 Tbs     Unsalted butter
1/2 cup  Sugar.

Steps!

1. Heat oven to 400* F. Line 9-in pie pan with 1 circle of dough. Sprinkle 1 Tbs of the flour and ground almonds over bottom of crust; refrigerate while preparing filling.
2. Toss pears with cognac in large bowl (or you know don't).
3. Melt butter in large skillet over Med. heat.
4. Add Sugar. cook and stir 7-8 min. or until golden brown.
**At first,  caramel will appear crystallized, followed  by a separating of the butter and sugar. It will smooth out as it begins to brown).
5. Whisk in remaining 2 Tbs flour until combined.
6. Add pears. Reduce heat to low.
** Some caramel will harden and that's ok
7. Cook and stir 3-5 min. or until caramel melts and coats pears.
8. place pears in pie crust. Pour remaining caramel over pears.
9. Cut remaining circle of dough into 10 (3/4 in wide strips. Weave strips into lattice over pie filling. letting strips overhang pie pan. Trim strips into 1/2 in. overhang. fold under edge of bottom crust. Press down gently to seal. flute or crimp edge. (First of all do whatever the hell you want with the top of your pie. don't measure your strips that's stupid we aren't Pro's over here. Second the hell does "flute" the edges mean?!)
10. Bake 45-55 Min or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on wire rack to room temp. (Or just dig in and eat your pie)


OK So if you don't know I'm living in England for the year so some thing I have to make up. Cooking shouldn't be about following a recipe exactly. Let me tell you I NEVER do exactly what the recipe says.
For this Pie I couldn't find pre made dough so I asked my friend Hannah to help me and teach me to make Pie Crust Dough. So this pie was legit made from scratch.
Also, I'm not sure how I feel about making my own caramel. It was definitely a learning experience. I though for sure I was doing it wrong about 3 times but I decided to just wait and it ended up turning out right. I didn't get all of it to melt again after adding the pears so I had a few hard chunks in my pie. some melted some didn't. but hey if you get one that's not melted that's a bonus for you because you get a little candy treat in your pie!

I must say this pie was amazing! I think I ate way too much of it and gave myself a stomachache but it was TOTALLY worth it!

Red Cabbage-Apple Slaw with Spiced Walnuts

From CookingClub 2014 calendar.

You will need....

2          Tbs packed dark brown sugar
1          tsp chili powder
1/8       tsp dried thyme
3 1/2    Tbs Olive oil (Divided into 1 1/2 and 2 Tbs)
1 Cup   coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
8 cups   thinly sliced red cabbage (1 1/2 lbs)
2            Medium Granny Smith Apples, cut into slices
2 Tbs    balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs    orange or apple juice
3.4 tsp   coarse salt.


Steps!

** Toast walnuts, place on baking sheet, bake at 375* F for 4-6 Min. or until pale brown and fragrant.

1. Combine brown sugar, chili powder and thyme in medium bowl. Stir in 1 1/2 Tbs oil. Add walnuts while still warm, toss well.
2. Combine cabbage and apples in large bowl. Stir in vinegar, orange juice, remaining 2 Tbs oil and salt. Add spiced walnuts; Toss.


That's it! I'm not a huge fan of cabbage but I will try anything once. This is a good side dish. But being that I am in Grad School and only cooking for myself even doing this recipe as a half. I was eating it for days and I got rather bored with it.
I think it would be something good to take to a summer or fall out door event though!

New Year 2 recipes a month. Let's do this!

Hello People!

My mom got me a calender from "cooking club" it has a recipe for every month. I have one from last year that I never cooked from so I took all of those and now I have 2 recipes to try every month. One a meal or side and one a dessert each month... Usually.

So let's get cooking!

Ok so a while ago a threw together mushroom pork chop amazingness. Here is what I did.

Sliced Mushrooms

Sliced or Chopped Garlic (1 clove)

Half a small Onion

1 Porkchop

Herb mix

Honey.

OK so I cut up the veggies and got them started cooking in a skillet. With just a little oil on the bottom so they wouldn't stick. While those were getting cooked a bit I sprinkled the herb mix on my pork chop and then drizzled some honey on it. After the mushrooms had started to get soft but were not completely cooked I added the pork chop to the pan and cooked that through with the mushrooms. 

Th result was this AMAZING looking dinner. It tasted just as good as it looks too! 

Shopping as a Poor Graduate Student Abroad.

This week I am a struggling with budgeting. I haven't gotten my disbursement of government loans to live off of and my £200 ish was quickly disappearing after 1 week and getting essentials to live.
I do most of my shopping at the corner Sainsbury's Local. This is a smaller version of the Sainsbury's store (although I've never been to a normal one). They are reasonably prices and have quite a few options for being a corner store. I can get veggies, meats, cheese, eggs, milk, snacks, almost anything I want out of their selection.

This week I had £15 to spend on groceries. Keep in mind I still have some stuff left over from last week when I had no idea what I was doing.
My first bit of advice is to NEVER shop hungry. You will just buy thing's you don't need. Second if you are going shopping without a list and set recipes for the week as you shop think in terms of "meals" and what can be used in more than one meal.

So with my mad skills, for my £15 I was able to get the following
Milk
2 bottles of Dr. Pepper (pop is much more expensive here and they were on sale 2 for £2)
2 pack of Pork Loin Steaks
a pack of cubed chicken breast
pack of brown rice (microwave kind)
broccoli
mushrooms
snow peas
stir-fry corn
hummus
6 pack of eggs

I see you over there looking at me with doubt going "that's all shes going to eat in a week?" No silly, remember I said I sill had stuff from last week? I've got cereal and PB&J fixings for breakfast and lunch. I realize this looks impossible but I promise I'm not going to starve myself (I like food too much). I need this food to last me until I get my bank account open. But ideally it would last until next week. I usually don't eat all of what I make and have left overs to eat for lunch of dinner another day. Remember this is all new for me and I'm on a budget. 

Next up will be a post on how my Loin Steaks work out with possibly a Kapparberg cider sauce? turn out.

Long time no See

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I haven't really been cooking or having cooking adventures. However that is ALL changing. I moved to York England 2 weeks ago and Let me tell you it's been an experience.
Cooking for one is hard enough. But cooking for one on a budget is harder. I think I'm going to try to start some posts about the concoctions I makeup. I am definitely starting to just make things off the top of my head instead of necessarily following recipes.
I'm going to try some posts about budget shopping as I learn my lessons and let you know what works and doesn't work in the kitchen. We will see how this goes!

Wish me luck!

Lemon Chicken with Olives

1 Tbs. olive oil
4 chicken breasts, about 2.5 lbs
Salt & Pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups black olives (just use pitted halved caned black olives)
1 lemon
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

1. heat oil in frying  pan add chicken and brown on all sides (not cooking the whole thing just giving it color)
2. remove chicken
3. add garlic, cook 30 seconds and remove from heat. stir in 1/4 cup water 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper.
4. return chicken, cover and cook until done.
5. place chicken on serving plate.
6. add olives to pan. with 1/2 tsp lemon zest and 2 tsp lemon juice
7. boil remaining pan juices over high heat until slightly thickened
8. pour over chicken and sprinkle wit h parsley.

I thought this dish was ok. However, my dad and sister who don't like olives loved the way the chicken tasted. This is a quick an easy dish if you are looking for something fast and good.

Ground Meat Pork N' Beans

An old Kowicki family recipe. (we think). This sucker is "depression" food. Meaning my grandma made it up during the great depression. you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.

1 lb ground meat (beef or turkey)
1 can pork n beans
1/4 cup katchup
1 tsp kitchen bouquet
1 tsp worstershire sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar
Potato


1. peel and boil potatoes (you are mak'n mashed potatoes.)
2. brown meat in large pan
3. add 1 can pork n beans
4. add ketchup, kitchen bouquet and worstershire sauce. stir.
5. add brown sugar and stir
6. heat until everything is warm all the way through.

serve this on top of the mashed potatoes and eat with saltine crackers. It doesn't look like much but it will fill you up fast and is super yummy.

Kielbasa with Cabbage and Potatoes

I did another recipe from The Chew web site. Below is the link to it.

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Classic-Kielbasa-Michael-Symon

This recipe took more beer than I thought it would and I had to send my mom to the gas station to get more because I only had one bottle. I again used Blue Moon and found that it's really good to cook with. I also used smoke Kielbasa because that is what I had. It make preparing this much easier and a bit faster because I didn't have to worry about cooking the kielbasa.

If you like it share it.

Just a little self shout out. If you like this blog share it. make it. enjoy it. It's for you guys.

Follow too. that way I know I'm not doing this for no one. :D

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops on Spinach

Let me start this with a few disclaimers. 1. This shit is expensive! so if you don't have money don't do it. 2. As yummy as it is I personally don't think it is worth it. You might as well go to your favorite sea food joint and just buy it.

12 strips of bacon
2 Tbs wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1/4 cup oil
4 cups spinach leaves (who measures this stuff?)
1/4 red onions
1 lb. sea scallops

1. Heat broiler (High). place bacon on broiler pan and cook until it's pretty cooked but still flexible. (If you do not cook it long enough (like I didn't) then when you wrap it the inner wrap wont cook well.)
2. make sure you drain on paper towels and get most of the fat off (another of my mistakes)
3. once bacon is semi-cooked and dried of fat wrap it around the scallops.  and skewer it.
4. cook 3-5 min per side until bacon is done.
5. in a jar or small container with a lid combine vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and shake until salt dissolves. then add oil and shake again. this is the dressing for the spinach. pull the stems from the spinach and put on plate.
6. cut onion into thin slices.
7. Plate together and enjoy

Like I said its not worth all this trouble unless you are looking for bragging rights. Don't get me wrong it was really really good. but for about the same price and no work you could just go to a sea food joint.

Asparagus with Mushrooms

Can you tell I like mushrooms yet?

This is an easy side dish to go with any meal.

2 lbs. asparagus
1 lb. mushrooms
2 1/2 Tbs butter
salt and pepper

1.Snap key word is SNAP off the end of the asparagus this gets rid of the icky part that will get stringy and gross when you cook them. Quarter mushroom.
2. cook asparagus in boiling salted water until tender, 7-10 min or until a fork slides easily through.
3. heat 2 Tbs butter in pan and cook mushrooms over medium heat until they are soft. 10-12 min.
4. Add mushrooms and remaining butter to asparagus.

om nom nom. eat your greens!

BONUS! Whipped Cream Chocolate Pie

This is such a yummy pie and takes no time to make.

Whipped Cream Chocolate Pie
41/2 ox chocolate wafers
4 Tbs butter melted
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbs powered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 ox bittersweet chocolate curled with vegi peeler

1. pull out the food processor and stick the cookies through it until they are crumbled little bits. if you don't have a food processor I'm sure you can just crumble them by hand.
2. melt the butter
3. in a small bowl combine cookie crumbs with melted butter. once all mixed together put in the bottom of a 10 inch pie pan and cool in the refrigerator.
4. shave the chocolate. take the peeler or  grader or something and get the chocolate in to flakes
5. in a mixing bowl add cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. whip with and electric mixer on high until its like whipped cream (duh).
6. fold in half of the chocolate into the whipped cream.
7. put the mixture on top of the chilled cookie bottom and add the remaining chocolate to the top for decoration.

Enjoy. and try not to eat the whole thing!

Chicken in Beer and Caraway

I am doing this from memory because I just lost the recipe after I made it like an hour ago but this is a very easy very delicious dish to make.

Chicken in Beer and caraway
2 Onions
2 Carrots
3 lbs Chicken (I used 4 chicken breasts)
2 Tbs oil
1 tsp Caraway
1/2 Beer
1 tsp Salt and 1/4 tsp Pepper

1. slice onions and carrots
2. heat oil in pan on high
3. brown the outsides of the chicken. you are NOT cooking the chicken all the way through just getting some quick nice color on the outside. about 2 min. a side. Remove after.
4. put onions in pan and cook covered about 5 min. on med/low heat
5. add carrots and caraway cover and cook anther 5 or so min.
6. add beer salt and pepper. For this I used Blue Moon technically it's an ale but whatever it was really good and that is what we had at my house.
7. add chicken and cover, cook until chicken is cooked through.
8. remove chicken and let the liquid reduce a little by bringing it to a boil.
9. add chicken back for a quick reheat and serve it up.

This was SO GOOD! it was a star keeper too bad i lost the recipe card... womp womp

Along with this meal we had Boiled Red Potatoes the little red ones. boil them up quarter them and serve them as your side dish. perfect meal if I do say so myself.

Every day is an Adventure.

Sorry about the lack of posts...

I went on vacation so my family had to fend for themselves. I made a really good dinner today and promptly lost the recipe card somewhere. I think I outsmarted myself and put it somewhere clever and I can't remember. Anyway I have a lot of good things planed for this week all of which I found in my moms recipe box and are things we have never had before, well most of them are. Once I find the recipe from today I'll add that it was really good too.

Chicken Gina with Grilled Vegetables

This recipe I got from The Chew at http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew
Instead of typing it out for you I will give you a link. There is also video to help you do it if you need help. I will say these few things. Because the chicken is on the bone it takes longer to cook. Also I think you can just do this recipe with chicken brests and not half chickens. Finally, I think the skin was the best part of the chicken so make sure you have skin on your chicken because it has the most flavor.

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Chicken-Gina-Grilled-Vegetables-Shaved-Fennel-Salad-Jason-Roberts

Wooster kids this is a great chance to use that brick that you stole.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce

Sorry there have not been many recipes up. I haven't been making anything exciting. This one is quick and easy however it is a bit pricey.

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce
 4 oz been tenderloin steaks 1/2 in. thick
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 oz package of baby portobellow mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup dry red wine
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp fresh minced rosemary

1. heat nonstick skillet over medium heat. sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. put some olive oil in the pan. add steaks and cook 3 min each side or until it's as done as you want. put on plate and keep warm
2. add mushrooms to pan saute 3 min. until browned (stir constantly to release juices. stir in wine. cook until most liquid evaporates.
3. remove from heat add butter and rosemary until butter melts and pour over steaks

We had this with baked potato I made in the microwave. for this wash some potato. stab them a few times with a fork. wrap them in a damp paper towel and put in microwave on about 50% for a few min.


This was a really good dish. its a nice treat for yourself that doesn't take much time but again the stakes are on the pricey side. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this meal. :( but I assure you it was really good and looked really good too.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Spicy-Sweet Glazed Shrimp

Let me start with some things I learned recently. 1. Be flexible. schedule's don't always work out so your choice of what to cook for that day may move around. for example yesterday I made spaghetti (hence no blog) because no one was going to be home until I left for work. 2. things in the back of the refrigerator may get too cold and freeze. so try to rotate things around. 3. Make sure if you are cooking new stuff all the time that in the middle of the week you do something easy and quick or eat out. You will get sick of cooking and then it's a chore and not fun. It should always be fun.


Can you say Yum? cuz I can and this was yummy. The sauce in itself was delicious. This is also literally the easiest and fastest thing to make ever.

Spicy-Sweet Glazed Shrimp
veggi oil for grill
2 Tbs spicy chili sauce
1/3 cup honey
jumbo shrimp (about 2 lbs) I just got the frozen stuff and thawed it.
salt and pepper

OK for this you literally heat up the grill. stick the shrimp on 2 skewers. so each shrimp is stretched between 2 skewers like a ladder. mix the honey and chili sauce. stick 'em on the grill glaze them cook 'em til they are done and put more glaze one it is that easy.

Blackberry-Cantaloupe Salad
2 cups blackberries
1/2 cantaloupe cut in to pieces
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tsp grated lime zest plus 1 Tbs juice
2 Tbs thinly sliced fresh mint leaves

1. in a large bowl combine ingredients except mint. cover and let stand for 30 min. or refrigerate up to 2 days (we did none of those things... whoops) add mint just before serving.

This is SO good. the mint is a little over powering so you may just want to leave that out. but it is so refreshing and probably a great snack on a hot day with a nice glass of iced tea.

For both of these things my dad said these are keepers. You see how is opinion is apparently the one that matters. He tends to be the one that says if we keep a recipe or not. Anyway Enjoy these!  There have been adjustments to the menu obviously. I wont be cooking everything that I said I was because something are out of season lime pomegranates (who knew?). and I forgot to get steak but that will probably just be pushed back until I get it.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Poached Salmon with Watercress and peaches

I got a 10 out of 10! from my Dad on this one. It was real good.

Poaching: Verb. to cook in boiling water. (for example hard boiled eggs are really poached eggs.
for Poaching
1 Lemon, thinly sliced
5 whole black peppercorns
Coarse salt and pepper
4 skinless salmon fillets

1. poach salmon in a large straight-sided skillet, combine 6 cups of water with lemon slices, pepper-corns, 1 1/2 tsp. salt. bring to a simmer over med0high then reduce heat to a low simmer. add salmon (water should just cover). cover skillet (big skillets don't usually have something to cover them... so use a cookie sheet if you have nothing else!) and cook until opaque throughout (if you are like me you don't know what 'opaque' looks like so cook it until it is 'flaky') 5-8 min.

For Serving
1 tsp. grated lemon zest plus 2 Tbs. lemon juice (lemon zest is just shavings of the outside of the lemon)
1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 tsp. grainy mustard (mine wasn't that grainy it was just brown mustard but you can use the really grainy stuff with like mustard seed in it)
1 bunch watercress, trimmed (and by trimmed they mean pull the chucks with the leaves off)
2 large peaches thinly sliced (... slicing peaches getting around that seed is a bitch. only one side is ever going to look pretty. embrace it and move on)
1 cup fresh basil leaves (I didn't use that much just a hand full really and it was great.)

1. whisk together lemon zest and juice, oil, and mustard season with salt and pepper. Serve this on the watercress, basil and peach salad as well as the fish.

This was my favorite so far. the dressing is everything. and it turned out so well. I really like watercress. However I warn you it doesn't keep long (hence why this meal was moved up from its original planed day.)
Actually a warning in general a lot of these recipes have time sensitive items I have found. like peaches, and mango and things that don't keep for forever. so I suggest making anything with fruit or things that wont keep well or for long first.

Everyday is an Adventure!