Eli's Cheesecake-thank you!

A BIG thank you to Eli's Cheesecake. They sent me their Burnt Caramel Flan cheesecake in the mail. I even shared! :-) Here are a few pics of the cheesecake:


From my old home Chicago. I do miss this cheesecake. My husband actually toured their factory on a business trip!

Can you see that beautiful caramel color? It was so smooth and creamy. Thank you again, Eli's!

(more pics to come later of us enjoying the cheesecake!)

It's Amore!

Pizza. Could there be a better food out there? Kids love it, adults love it. Even the pickiest person can find some form of pizza that he/she loves. Ordering out for pizza can ensue a large debate among family members. Pizza Hut or Aurelios? Giordano's or Connie's (both my favorites!) Pizza Ranch or...well, out here nothing can really compare to Pizza Ranch, right? Pizza can be dangerously flat or so deep that you can't open your mouth wide enough (like my beloved deep dish Chicago pizza). There's New York style, so large you have to fold it (think mall-style). Then there's pizzas that are meant to be baked folded, such as calzones. Thin, regular, skillet, deep...oh the crusts. And sauce - sweet? tangy? spicy? red saucey? And of course the toppings. Oh, the toppings. My favorite is ham/canadian bacon and pineapple (much to the chagrin of my father)- the Hawaiian as it is known to the world, or Sweet Swine as it is known to the Pizza Ranch world. The wacky taco pizza. The ever-faithful pepperoni and sausage. My family's favorite growing up - pepperoni and green pepper. My favorite frozen - supreme (with most of the black olives picked off). Extra cheese? No cheese (for those on a diet)? My favorite food from my trip to Europe: Margherita pizza. (well, after gelato, that is).
I won't even go into the fork/no fork debate.
When having pizza, I think that homemade is the best. You can substitute anything and everything to make it truly your own. Here is my favorite American/Mexican version of the classic Italian-born pizza.

BBQ Chicken Calzones
Ingredients:
Bacon
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast meat
1 cup barbeque sauce
1 loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed (I guess it wouldn't be frozen then, huh?)
1 cup or more shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
Preheat oven to the temperature indicated on the bread dough package.
Cook bacon in skillet over medium high heat until crisp. Remove, place on paper towel and crumble when cooled.
Add the onion and shredded chicken to the bacon grease. Fry over medium heat until onion is tender. Stir in some of barbeque sauce, and remove from the heat. Mix in the cooked bacon.
Roll the bread dough out onto a greased cookie sheet or stone. Press out to an even thickness. Spread the chicken mixture out to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Drizzle the remaining BBQ sauce over the filling. Sprinkle the cheese and cilantro over the top. Fold the dough over the filling, and press the edges together with a fork to seal.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until browned to your liking. Cool for a few minutes before eating.
*I used an egg wash with some Italian seasoning mixed in on the dough before putting it into the oven.

My dreams of sweet treats

I'm looking into new business opportunities. I am the type of person who would like to try everything at least once. Our budget may not always permit that, but it's fun to dream. Here are some things that I would love to do. *Warning-shameless plug ahead*
~I'm starting to sell jewelry again (contact me by e-mail if you're interested in having a party!) Okay, shameless plug over.
~I would love to get certified in Kindermusik and teach those classes.
~I would love to open my own voice studio.
~I would love to sing opera again. (Although I don't think my husband would like this option. My son sure thinks its funny when I sing opera though.)
~I would love to be a professional scrapbooker, although right now most of my pages are copies of magazines/idea books.
~I would love to be a writer.
~I woud love to take a vacation someplace warm. I know, I know, that's not a business opportunity. Think of it as more of a hint...right honey?
~And, like my blog intro says, I would love to be a pastry chef. I would love to open up a little coffee/sweet treats/sandwich shop. Besides the money and location, one thing that is stopping me is time. Not because I don't think I could make the time for it, but its the time that I would have to get up in the morning. Does anyone know of a coffee shop that opens up at 9am or 10am instead of 6am or 7am? Because that would be awesome.
Here's a sweet treat for your home coffee shop from my Grandma H. These literally melt-in-your-mouth. I once made a few batches of these in my dorm room sophomore year to bring along on a choir tour. I brought ice cream buckets full of them. They were gone by the second day of tour. I hope you enjoy them as much as my fellow choir members did!

Grandma's Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. of butter (must use butter!)
1 c. sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. oil
2 eggs
4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugars, mix in the rest of the ingredients. Chill in refrigerator. Roll into balls. Dip the bottom of a glass or measuring cup (smooth, unless you want a design) in sugar and press down slightly on the cookie balls.
Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes.
This recipe yields a lot of cookies, dependind on the size of your cookies.

"Don't know why I love what I do"...or "Yea, Chicago and almonds!"

I love almonds, almond-flavoring, amaretto, banket, and everything that involves almond paste. I'm not quite sure why. It's not like I'm from northern California and call them "aaamonds." I'm from Chicago. I should love deep-dish pizza with a giant sausage on it (which I don't). I should love Eli's cheesecake (which I do, duh). I should love Italian Beef (Yes to that. Jimbooos only). I should love Chicago-style hot dogs (I'm still not quite sure what the Chicago-style is on a hot dog, but if it's at a baseball game, I'll eat it. Go Sox! (And Cubs for my ailing grandpa!)). Okay, enough with the unattainable food talk (and the parantheses).

This recipe is for almond bread. I love it because its just a little bit different than regular quick-breads. Plan ahead if you're going to make this because you have to soak some grapenuts and refrigerate overnight. Yep, that's right. Overnight. Also, this recipe yields 2 loaf pans. You can divide it in half if you wish to make one. But seriously, you have the grape nuts, so just soak them while they're fresh. In my experience, no one really eats grape nuts (except my dad) so they're going to get stale anyways.

Almond Bread
Ingredients:
1/3 c. grape nuts
3 c. milk
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 c. flour
1 c. almond paste
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Directions:
Soak grape nuts and milk together in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and combine the rest of the ingredients.
Add in the grapnuts.
Fill 2 loaf pans 3/4 full.
Bake in oven for about 45 minutes.
*These loaves freeze well too.

Artisan Bread

Okay, with all the new cookbooks I just got, one that I haven't tried yet is Artisan Bread. I read through the intro and recipes in this book, but have not tried them yet. The reviews are great and I am so excited to try it out. Before I start making the bread, I wanted to do some research. I came across this great giveaway, and thought I would let you know about it. It comes with the book and GREAT materials to help with breadmaking. You can check it out at: http://www.momsbyheart.net/2010/02/giveaway-artisan-breadmaking-set-115.html
If I win, I will give away the book I already have for you to try!

How does your garden grow? (wishful thinking)

It's been too long since I have posted a dessert. I thought of posting this favorite cake recipe of mine while researching possible veggies to grow in a small garden this spring/summer. We moved across town last summer and there is a very small plot of earth that I can use to grow wonderous veggies. Or at least try to. I do not have a green thumb. I have a black thumb. When living plants see me coming they attempt to shrink back into the ground for fear of a slow, dehydrating/overhydrating death. I'm not quite sure why I kill things, it just sort of happens. I've never really told anyone this...because it is kind of embarrassing living in an area where so many people live off of the land and I, well, can't :-( To my inlaws: It is probably a wise idea (except for the occasional ride in large farm vehicle) to keep me far from your corn and soybeans. And hogs, just in case.
So anyways, I'm finding from internet research that zucchini is easy to grow. I don't know if I like zucchini recipes enough to grow it in my garden though. It doesn't have a ton of nutritional value, some Vit. C and B6, and a little fiber. But you would have to eat a lot of it. Yet it does make a very moist cake. For now, I think I'll just stick with the Dutch mooch for getting zucchini's when I want to make this cake!

Zucchini Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 c. margarine, at room temp.
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
5 Tbsp. cocoa
1 c. choc. chips (ss or mc)
1/2 c. veg. oil
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cream together the margarine, oil and sugar.
Add in eggs, vanilla and sour cream.
Add dry ingredients and then add in zucchini.
Spoon batter into a greased 9x13 pan.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over top.
Bake for about 45 minutes.

*This cake is very easy and fast to make. It is also very, very moist and lasts quite a while in the fridge if you can't eat it all. To make a low-fat version of this, substitute artificial or all-natural sweetener, egg substitute, applesauce, ff sour cream, and mini chocolate chips.

Sweet Chicken and Bacon recipe

It's Thursday afternoon and I am done for the week. Woo-hoo! Although I love giving lessons, directing choirs and teaching little kids music, it's also nice to know that I can sit back and relax for a few days. Of course, that is after I clean the house, do the laundry, iron, plan the meals for next week, finish up lesson plans, pick out and order music for our next concert, baby-proof the house (now that Colton is crawling), catch up on e-mails, clip coupons...well, you get the picture. Life is running in full force right now. On top of everything else, it is tax season for my CPA husband and Colton is teething like crazy. So as I was looking for quick and easy-yet-still-delicious meals, I came across one of my favorites. I got it off of a recipe website, although I'm not sure which one, and altered it just slightly. It's a chicken recipe, which my diet and I love. My husband also loves it, even though he prefers "real meat." I don't know if Colton will love it, but we'll have to wait since it contains honey and he already has a super-sensitive tummy. But I bet he will love it someday. As his daddy would say, "Son, this meal has bacon in it. Bacon is one of the major food groups."

Honey Mustard Mozzerella Chicken
Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup honey - I just squirt or spoon over until it looks like enough.
1/4 cup prepared mustard - I often use spicy brown or dijon
lemon pepper to taste -I use a lot of this
4 slices bacon
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with lemon pepper.
Place the chicken breast halves in a baking dish, and drizzle evenly with some of the honey and all of the mustard.
Wrap a piece of bacon around each chicken breast.
Drizzle with the rest of the honey.
Bake chicken 25 minutes in the preheated oven.
Remove and sprinkle evenly with cheese. Continue baking 10 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear, bacon is crisp, and cheese is bubbly. Sometimes I will broil it for a just a little bit also.

*This is very good because the honey and mustard caramelize while baking, MMmmm.