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Tag: dessert

  • No Bake Caramel Apple Cheesecake

    No Bake Caramel Apple Cheesecake

    It can’t get any simpler than this. Diced apples, sugar, butter and cream with a layer of sweetened cream cheese and one of graham cracker crumbs. Dessert that you don’t have to turn on the oven for and ready in under 30 minutes. I think that’s a win-win situation.

     

    No Bake Caramel Apple Cheesecake

     

    Crust

    2 large squares of graham crackers

    ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

    1 Tablespoon sugar

    1 tablespoon butter, melted

     

    Cheesecake                                                                   Apple Filling

    4 ounces cream cheese, softened                                 1 small granny smith apple peeled and diced

    ¼ cup  sugar                                                                       2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

    ½ teaspoon vanilla                                                          1 Tablespoon butter, unsalted

                                                                                                  ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

                                                                                                  ⅛ teaspoon fresh nutmeg

                                                                                                  1-2 Tablespoons heavy cream or half & half
    Place graham crackers in a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin. Mix crumbs with cinnamon, sugar and butter. Spoon into bottom of serving dish.  Mix softened cream cheese with sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spoon on top of graham cracker mixture. heat butter in a pan add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook for about 5 minutes or until apples are softened. Add cream and cook additional 3 minutes. Remove from stove and allow to cool. Once cool put on top of cream cheese mixture and refrigerate. Serve with fresh whipped cream

  • Dessert for Dinner

    Dessert for Dinner

    Okay, what do you do when you want dessert for dinner and you don’t want to bake a whole cake? You pull out your grill pan of course. (You guys must be tired of my grill pan but know that I love my grill pan) I had a nicely ripened peach, some vanilla yogurt, granola and honey. It was the making of a really good dinner. I hope you try this one.

    Now go forward and make new memories

    P.S . This is a good one for those watching their figure…I still don’t know what the calorie count is on this. *Shrugs shoulders*

  • St. Patrick’s Day

    Yesterday was St. Patrick’ s Day a celebration that some many non-Irish have come to make a part of their lives.  I participate yearly from wearing something green to cooking corned beef and cabbage to occasionally going out for cocktails with friends.  This year I created a menu  that included a Honey Mustard & Brown Sugar Glazed Corned Beef with Colcannon. And for dessert Toasted Almond Scones and Chocolate Chip Scones with freshly made Lemon Curd. It turned out wonderfully and the family enjoyed it.

    I am including links to recipes I used. So feel free to try them out and let me know what you think. The corn beef was created by boiling it in water with a bay leaf , thyme, allspice berries and the seasoning packet included with it, 50 – 60 minutes per pound. Then finishing the last hour in the oven. In 30 minutes pull out corned beef and top with honey mustard and brown sugar then return to oven for last 30 minutes. Remember to slice against the grain of the meat. Traditional Irish side Colcannon. The base for the scones can be found here. The lemon curd was made with the ingredients from this recipe but the technique from here.

    For the day after I made Sweet Potato Corned Beef Hash for breakfast with the obligatory Fried Egg. That was good eats.

    In addition to the wonderful food I was able to have a mini photo shoot with my in-house photographer. I think she did an awesome job. I featured a pair of jeans two different ways for this St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.

    Tee-Shirt- Old Navy                                                                                                                      Blouse- JCPenney’s

    Jeans-Lane Bryant                                                                                                                         Jeans-Lane Bryant

    Sneakers- PFFlyers-6pm.com                                                                                                      Heels-Tried & True from my closet                                                                                                                                                                                          (basically I can’t remember where I purchased them from)

    Which look would you have gone for? I hope you St. Paddy’s Day ( yea I learned that it’s not Patty but Paddy) was fun. Now go forward and make new memories.

  • Cranberries Uncanned (Holiday Series Pt 3)

    Cranberries Uncanned (Holiday Series Pt 3)

    Are you still eating cranberry sauce from a can? I know I say I won’t judge you but I will give you the side-eye for not going fresh. I mean, once you learn how easy it is to make cranberry sauce from scratch you’ll never go canned again.

    I want you to walk away from this post with not only the know-how on how to make cranberry sauce but that cranberry sauce ain’t just for turkey. That’s right i said it. You can do so much more with cranberry sauce like appetizers, drinks, entrees and desserts. The sky’s the limit or at least your imagination.

    Basic Cranberry Sauce

    1 12oz. bag of cranberries (fresh or frozen)

    1 cup of water

    1-2 cups of granulated sugar

    Wash and sort cranberries. Place cranberries in a sauce pan with water and 1 cup of sugar. Allow to simmer. You can add more sugar depending on how sweet you like your sauce. After about 10 minutes of cooking and you can no longer hear the berries popping you can turn off stove. Pour sauce into a bowl and allow to cool. Sauce thickens as it cools.

    Cranberry Sauce
    Cranberry Sauce

    Here are some other dishes I used cranberry sauce in.

    November 23 2014 021
    Baked Brie topped with warm Cranberry Sauce
    Pork Tenderloin Medallions and Whipped Sweet Potatoes with a Cranberry- Pomegranate Sauce
    Pork Tenderloin Medallions and Whipped Sweet Potatoes with a Cranberry- Pomegranate Sauce
    Wine Spritzer made with Cranberry, your favorite white wine and topped with seltzer.
    Wine Spritzer made with Cranberry Sauce, your favorite white wine and topped with seltzer.
    Cranberry Shortcake made with a cranberry, apple & pear compote
    Cranberry Shortcake made with a cranberry, apple & pear compote

    I hope the post has you ditching the can and being inspired by fresh cranberries.  CIPapproved

     

     

  • Bring on the Holidays (Holiday Series)

    tholiday meal pic

    So Halloween is over and now it’s time to prepare for the big guns….Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s a time of family and friends and lots of food.  So many make it a very nerve racking time of year and it doesn’t have to be. It’s all about planning and being prepared for anything.  For the next couple of posts I will help get you ready for the holiday meals before you. I’ll take you from shopping lists, how to make the perfect gravy, un-canned cranberry sauce and even dessert. Hope it helps to ease your mind for this holiday season.