Looks just like the picture!!!

I was so darn proud of myself! I needed to make dessert for my Christmas gathering at my parents house. I saw the pretty peppermint ice cream cake in Cooking Light and thought I would give it a whirl. Now it looks scary & it kind of was. I started making it on Saturday for my Sunday dessert.

I baked the cakes & did the ice cream part Saturday morning. On Sunday morning, I put it all together and let it sit in the deep freeze for about 2 hours. I didn't get any "inside of the cake" pictures but I had to take pictures before we left our house in case anything happened to the cake in transit. I wanted proof!


Peppermint Ice Cream Cake
Cooking Light
Ingredients
Cooking spray
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup boiling water
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup egg substitute
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups low-fat peppermint ice cream (such as Edy's/Dreyer's Slow-Churned Light), softened ** I couldn't find this so I got white chocolate chip mint ice cream & added some red food coloring drops **
3 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed ** I used low fat, not fat free
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
8 peppermint candies, crushed

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Line bottom of each pan with wax paper.

Combine cocoa, water, and butter, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cool.

Combine sugars in a large bowl, stirring well until blended. Add egg substitute; beat 2 minutes or until light and creamy. Add cocoa mixture, and beat for 1 minute.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to bowl; beat for 1 minute or until blended. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pans. Wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for 2 hours or until slightly frozen.

Spread ice cream in an 8-inch round cake pan lined with plastic wrap. Cover and freeze 4 hours or until firm.

To assemble cake, place one cake layer, bottom side up, on a cake pedestal. Remove ice cream layer from freezer; remove plastic wrap. Place ice cream layer, bottom side up, on top of cake layer. Top with remaining cake layer.

Combine whipped topping and peppermint extract, and stir until blended. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with crushed peppermints. Freeze until ready to serve. Let cake stand at room temperature 10 minutes before slicing.

And again, CL doesn't disappoint! Not only looked good but tasted good too!

Another Breakfast Bake

I am refusing to go to the grocery store until we start our diet, so that being said, I have enough for lunches & dinners, but breakfast, well that is tricky. I found some ham & swiss cheese and I had bread and some eggs.
Strata it is! Its the same recipe as here but instead of sausage & cheddar cheese, I used ham & swiss cheese.

And now we have breakfast for the week!

Cleaning Out The Fridge

In preparation for the "new years resolution" diet, I need to use up the food items in my house that we can not eat. I absolutely hate throwing away food. Something about my mom telling me kids in Africa are dying of hunger. Anyway, #1 on the list of things you can no longer eat, heavy cream. :( My friends would tell you that I am the only person they know who cooks with heavy cream. I don't do it often but there are times its called for. Like in Vodka Sauce. I don't know that I would ever make this with milk or half and half.
This recipe is from Williams-Sonoma. I added the shrimp at the last minute since it was already pre-cooked.

Penne Alla Vokda Sauce
5 large tomatoes ** I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, so I used a 14.5 oz can and drained it well
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1/4 cup vodka
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 lb. penne
1/2 cup heavy cream
Leaves from 3 or 4 large fresh flat-leaf parsley
sprigs, coarsely chopped

Peel and seed the tomatoes, then cut them into small dice. If the tomatoes are very juicy, drain them for about 10 minutes in a colander. Set aside.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and sauté until just starting to turn golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the stovetop and add the vodka. Return the pan to medium heat and cook until reduced by half. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously salt the boiling water, add the pasta and cook until al dente (tender but firm to the bite), 10 to 12 minutes. Drain well and add the pasta to the fry pan.

Add the cream and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the pasta is well coated with the sauce, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Pour into a warmed large, shallow bowl. Add the parsley and toss briefly. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Happy Retirement!

My Hubs boss is retiring in a few days. Don't we all wish we could trade places with him?? He has been asking me to make some cheeseballs & crackers since I brought some snacks in a few weeks ago. With the holiday parties/Christmas/shopping, I hadn't had time. He so kindly reminded me on Monday, he only has 6 days left of work. (I needed to get to mixin!)

I snagged this recipe from Kraftfoods.com & realized the ingredients are easily switchable.

Standard Cheeseballs
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 1 pkg.
(8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
Dash ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1-2/3 cups PLANTERS Chopped Pecans

BEAT cream cheese, shredded cheese, garlic powder and ground red pepper until well blended. Divide in half. Add roasted red peppers to one half and green onions to the other half; mix each half until well blended. Cover.
SHAPE into a large ball. Roll in pecans. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Since I wanted to make two different kinds of cheeseballs I only used 1 8oz package cream cheese, 4 oz of cheddar cheese & pinches of the seasonings. I omitted the roasted red pepper b/c I didn't have the time or patience to roast a pepper & in this particular cheeseball, I omitted the onions.
For my second cheeseball I made it with 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, about 4 oz Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, a little milk, (like 1 tsp) & the green onions.
I served them with Ritz crackers. Had I known how simple they were, I would have made these ages ago! I am sure they will be making some party appearances soon.

Now, I did receive a "photo-tent" for Christmas http://cgi.ebay.com/23-PHOTO-SHOOTING-TENT-SOFT-BOX-LIGHT-TENT-CUBE-SOFTBOX_W0QQitemZ150141814932QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
I haven't gotten my external light source set up so I haven't had a chance to use it yet. When I do, I am sure I will be beaming!

Tres Leche Cake (Three Milk)

We tasted this amazing cake for the first time in Maui earlier this year. The hubs asked the caterer what this delicious cake was & even asked her for the recipe so we, or I should say I, could make it at home. Its been on the "must make" list for awhile, but I just hadn't made the time. So I asked the hubs "Chocolate Molten Cake or Tres Leche?" Winner: Tres Leche.

I will say I was worried about making this. When the food network difficulty rating is "Expert" I start to worry. I will say, I would never had made this without my Kitchen Aid. I don't think I could have stood still long enough to beat the eggs to their nice peaks.

Cake:
6 large eggs, separated
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream topping:
1 14-ounce can evaporated milk
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set aside. (I used a smaller rectangle pan & a muffin tin, b/c I wanted individual cakes for presentation)
In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 minutes.

To make the cream topping: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven and while still warm, pour the cream mixture over it. Let sit and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Now some recipes have you use a light frosting for the top. In Maui, we had whipped cream. I hadn't ever made my own whip cream, but with the leftover heavy cream I had, I thought, why not? I looked for a Giada recipe, knowing I had seen her on TV last Wednesday making her own whipped cream & saying how easy it was. And she was right, it was easy and delicious!

Homemade Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks. Add the vanilla extract and confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks.

*I"ll definitely be using this recipe for future desserts.

I put the whipped cream into a zip-loc bag, cut off a small piece of the corner & topped the Tres Leche cake.

Our First Married Christmas

This was the hubs & my first Christmas as a married couple. Yes, we have lived together for 2 previous Christmases, but this one was different. Last year, we were skimpy on the presents since we were getting married 4 months later, plus we spent most of the time driving from North KC to West Topeka to South KC. I had worried that with Christmas falling on a weekday, we would be super stressed out, but it turned out great. We started our own Christmas tradition of Christmas Eve together. (take note family, this is going to be our Christmas from here on out)
In the tradition of Christmas dinners, I decided to go with a nice lamb chop. Its amazing, but Sam's Club has the best selection of meats/poultry/seafood. We picked up some lamb loin chops for our dinner. I marinated them in a little olive oil, S&P and rosemary.
In the meantime, we opened stockings & snacked on Italian Cheese Fondue. I thought this would go well with the bottle of Port Santa left the hubs. However, something about that smelly Gruyere cheese turned us off to it. The pancetta was great and the fontina, but the gruyere made the cheese just have a funk to it.

Next up was the main meal. I had researched a lot about lamb chops & how to sear/grill/cook them. We transported our rosemary bush into the house before the first freeze, so I have fresh rosemary and the combo sounded wonderful. This was so easy! As I mentioned above, I marinated them for about 2 hours. In a heavy cast iron skillet, heat 2 Tbs butter until bubbly. Place lamb chops in the pan, pour the marinade into the pan. Sear each side 3-5 minutes.

With this, I made some garlic roasted red potatoes. Another delicious side, but not time consuming at all. We received some garlic olive oil from our fave winery, Viansa, so I just cut up a few red potatoes, tossed them with the olive oil & spread them out, single layer, on a cookie sheet. Placed in a 425F, preheated oven & roasted for about 30 minutes.


I also made Tres Leche Cake, but will post that separately. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Turtle Cheesecake

I needed to make some desserts for my husband's family Christmas. I still have 1 1/2 bags of pecans in my pantry & cream cheese was on sale at the grocery store. Oh I also still have about 2 lbs of caramels in my pantry. So, turtle cheesecake it is!
Now I have attempted to make my own cheesecake crust in the past. I usually end up frustrated, but it tastes good. However, with the minimal time I had, and three desserts to cook, I nixed making my own crust and went with the pre-made kind.

So the original recipe is from Kraft. I'll put my notes at the bottom.

Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake
Kraftfoods.com is not cooperating with me, so I will post the recipe later.

*When using premade crusts, this will make enough for almost 2 cheesecakes. I did end up adding one more 8 oz bar of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla so my second cheesecake would fill up. And in case of "spillage" I cook the cheesecakes on a baking sheet.