Blueberry cheesecake bars – Messin’ with Perfection
Cheesecake kick, anyone?
Company’s comin’! Okay, I got dinner down. Bibimbap. Awesome Korean rice bowl (I’ll show you that one later). Need some kind of snacky desserty somethiiing…
No Bake Turtle Cheesecake for One – Messin’ with Perfection
Sooooo,…yeah….I was supposed to post a recipe to use up leftover roast beef and trimmings. Obviously that did not happen. Life happens. I have had to console myself. Sometimes, ya just gotta go with what saves you. It’s all about survival and sometimes, to survive, you have to take that little piece of your own personal decadence, and go with it. It helps if it’s easy to make.
I have a love of cheesecakes that reaches so far back, I can’t recall when it came about. It’s pretty pricey to buy it (stick with me, it’s also really easy to make it), and it isn’t always that good. So I decided that, if I were going to indulge in cheesecake, even occasionally, I needed to know how to make it. It really isn’t difficult. I have since made some huge ones, in a number of different flavor combinations and/or toppings. But they are typically large and contain eggs, so they must be baked. I did not have the time or patience for that, nor did I want that much of it sitting around, in my face, screaming “EAT ME!”
Messin’ with Perfection Slow Cooker Pot Roast
The slow cooker and I have always had a love/hate relationship. I love the idea of coming home from work and having dinner hot and ready. I hate the idea that it doesn’t brown anything. Now, I’m seeing all these recipes for desserts out of the slow cooker. Hmmmm….I haven’t met many desserts that I don’t like. I’m thinking I’m going to investigate this notion quite soon…
In the meantime, if you’re like me and you like your roast browned and your gravy to to have some color and that rich flavor that comes with caramelizing those sugars, and still want the convenience of a slow cooker meal, you’re at the right place. Give yourself 10-15 extra minutes in the morning or the night before, and you’re there.
Toffee Shortbread Nutella Crumble Bars
I have been thinking about these and how I wanted to make them for far too long. Well, maybe not, because they are extremely delicious and, had I made them sooner, I would have surely made them differently. And that would be sad. We all know the Nutella craze and how long it has gone on. It seems there are unending recipes out there for nutella in just about everything. I have partaken in this craze, because there is a reason for it. Nutella is delicious. It’s that simple. It has generated copy cat versions from JIF and Hershey’s. Probably others, but not that I can attest to. JIF has done pretty well with some of theirs (Mocha Cappuccino flavor is pretty darn good). Not so much with Hershey. But I wanted to do something a LITTLE different, if possible. So I’ve thought about it. And thought about it. For some time now. And when I was shopping this weekend, I noticed something different enough to catch my eye. JIF had a new hazelnut spread flavor on the shelf. Salted caramel. Hmmmm…..Salted Caramel Chocolate Hazelnut…..I thought about that for a long microsecond, and threw a jar in the cart. So, now I had to come up with a cookie something, to do justice to it because, when I got home, I opened the jar and just tasted. OMG, just get me a spoon and stand back! Anyway, years ago, in my trusty old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (part of a wedding gift from my Mother-in-Law, bless her departed soul), I made these bar cookies called toffee bars. They are basically a brown sugar shortbread (with an egg yolk), that are supposed to include chocolate chips and nuts. They were quite delicious plain, which was how I first made them because, back then, I could never afford chocolate chips and nuts. I thought of those now, a perfect partner for this new love in my life. That toffee flavor that comes with the marriage of brown sugar and butter…..then that spread in there. I got this. You’re Welcome.
Messin with Perfection Chewy Orange Cookies with Chocolate Orange Ganache
Sunday, I decided The Gunker deserved one of his all time favorite meals. I already had a chicken thawed, so I got to it. Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes with homemade noodles in gravy. A heart attack on a plate. I post that one soon, as you would still die with a smile on your face.
Then I thought about a nice dessert and, with my usual ADD flair, that led me to recall that, whenever I make this meal, he eats so much at dinner that he never has room for dessert. Okay, scratch the dessert idea. Crap. I LOVE dessert and am a firm believer that there is always room for dessert.
Messin’ with Perfection Hashbrown Omelette
Wow, the holidays really kicked my butt! Trying to work out of town and still accomplish all the extra things over the holidays…I’m almost glad they are over. I love it though, when the look on someones face tells you that you found the perfect gift. I could live with that feeling all year.
Due to all the running back and forth, I really didn’t do any baking or candy making this year. Bummer. The upside to that is I didn’t eat a bunch of that stuff. We had some desserts at Thanksgiving and some pies at Christmas, but not a lot of the cookies and candy.
Messin’ with Perfection Dark Chocolate Espresso Shortbread
Who likes deep, dark, decadent chocolate? ME! Who doesn’t? Actually, as a chocolate lover, I am always a little amazed at people who don’t like it. Hmph. Go figure.
These are so chocolatey delicious ….and so easy. And, when you bake them in a round pan, you can cut them into wedges and turn them into Christmas tree cookies! Easy, but a wonderful change from sugar cookies. They go together in just a few minutes, then press them into a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan, or whatever you want to put them in.
Messin’ with Perfection Spicy Shrimp Scampi
I mentioned in my last post that SOMEone had had a birthday. I have mentioned many of his favorite dishes and ingredients over time. One of his favorite main dish ingredients is shrimp. It ranks right up there with steak on his scale. I like shrimp but, living in Michigan, it isn’t exactly as fresh as living near the coast. The Gunker doesn’t care about trivial things like that. Add the spicy factor and this is one of the few dishes that get some serious enthusiasm on his face.
His problem is, when you make a dinner like this that he really likes, he eats too much, then typically doesn’t have room for dessert. Knowing that was likely going to be an issue here, I made sure we had dinner a little early, so he would have room for that Orange Carrot Cake that I made for him. (I got TWO thumbs up that day, and TWO thank you’s!) If it sounds like he is not appreciative of good food, I don’t mean it that way. He just isn’t a “foodie”. If it’s good and he really likes it, he eats a LOT of it. If he doesn’t care for it, he does the “meh” thing and doesn’t eat much of it. There are a few things that light him up, Shrimp is one of those.
Messin’ with Perfection Orange Carrot Cake
Sooo, someone had a birthday last week, and no, it was not me. I’ve had my share this year, thank you very much. And I don’t need or want another until next year.
Messin With Perfection No Bake Nutella Chesecake
Well, Thanksgiving celebrations came a little late to our house. The older your kids get, the harder it can be to get everyone together. We scheduled ours for a full 10 days after Thanksgiving, so everyone could be here. It made it a little crazier because it wasn’t a long weekend, so preparations were done in a much shorter timeframe. With me working out of town, that cut down on my free time to do any advance prep, so I made sure to tell the kids I was going to need all available help. My daughter says, “sure, Mom, I’ll be there Friday night or Saturday morning, whatever you need. Just let me know.” Then she asked when her brothers were rolling into town, and said, “Hey, lets start getting things ready on Friday night. We can make it a slumber party,….” Okay, that sounded fun.
Oh, my gosh…… They all rolled in Friday night. I picked up some take and bake pizzas, which we dressed up and baked for dinner. Lots of wine chilling…We had SO much fun. We got SOME prep work done Friday night, but we worked more on catching up, chilling out, laughing, just being together. I only had two (my oldest son, the Nutella freak, and my other sons longtime girlfriend), really show any interest in this cheesecake. I started out making it, asking myself why I was making this monstrous thing, when no one sounded that interested in it. Oh well, I know this crew well enough to know it will get eaten anyway.