Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake!

I LOVE cheesecake and I beleive this is my first real cheesecake recipe (I only count baked cheesecakes as real...althought the others are really good as well, there's nothing like a really good baked cheesecake!).

This recipe won me 2nd place in a Holiday cooking contest a few years ago and I've made it quite a few times since then. But not as often as I would have liked...when I make a cheesecake I tend to eat the whole thing within a few days and so I just try to not even tempt myself!! Anyway, it was Father's Day on Sunday and Tony requested a cheesecake (they are one of his favorties also) and so here it is!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Recipe from Taste of Home

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1 3/4 cups crushed choclate chip cookies or chocolate wafer crumbs (I cannot find chocolate wafer crumbs anymore...the only thing I saw was the chocolate teddy grahams but they were a little expensive so I just used regular graham crackers, but I have used chocolate chip cookies before and that is yummy as well)

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

FILLING:

3 packages (8oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

COOKIE DOUGH:

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided

In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the botoom and 1 inch up the sides of a greased 9 inch springform pan; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat just until blende3d. Pour over crust; set aside. In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add water and vanilla. Gradually add flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls over filling, gently pushing dough below surface (dough should be completely covered by filling). Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight; remove sides of pan. Sprinkle with remaining chips.

One thing I have learned over the years with cheese cake is that it is best a couple of days after you make it. It gets creamier and yummier the longer it sits...the hard thing is to wait to eat it...we usually don't so the first pieces we have are really good, but by the third day they are so heavenly!!

Don't let this recipe scare you, it really isn't hard and you will be so pleased with the results!!

Aloha-Soyu Marinade (Hawaiian Beef)

OK, so much for my promise!! I'm just barely getting back around to cooking (and just because it was Father's Day!:)). So this recipe I got from my sister-in-law Candy. They use the Aloha soy sauce straight from Hawaii, but I didn't have axcess to that so I just used regular soy sauce and I really couldn't tell a difference...it was still really yummy!

Aloha-Soyu Marinade (Hawaiian Beef)

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1/2 cup water

1 cup aloha soyu sauce (or just the regular stuff)

3 Tablespoons garlic, minced

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons ground ginger
2 lbs (or so) beef roast (any kind), sliced 1/4 inch thick

Stir together the sugar and ginger. Add the rest of the ingredients and then pour marinade over 1/4 inch sliced beef and let sit overnight.

The beef we got was sliced a little too thick, they look like steaks!! But it still soaked up the marinade really well and was still really good. This beef is perfect for sandwiches too, and I'm guessing it would make some awesome quesadillas. I'm going to have to try that! Also, I bet chicken marinaded in this would be awesome as well! (I was right...it is delicious!!!:))

I'm back!!

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted a recipe. I've been out of town the last 10 days (Dad & Mom are home from Africa!!!) and was so busy before that I haven't been doing much cooking at all!! So I'm going to get back on the band wagon this week and get a couple of recipes posted for you all. That's my promise!!:)

Homemade Ice Cream

As the weather is getting warmer ice cream is on the brain! Well, it is a lot during the colder months too... Anyway, we made some FABULOUS homemade ice cream last Saturday before we went to the drive-in with the kids and watched How to Train Your Dragon (which was such a cute movie) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (which I did not like...too much potty talk!!) This recipe can be made into any kind of ice cream you feel like at the time...I had some strawberries in the frige leftover from strawberry shortcake and bananas (which is probably my favorite...just plain banana) and so we decided on strawberry banana. So yummy!

Homemade Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

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(This isn't the best picture...but trust me this ice cream was HEAVEN!!)

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups (1 pint) whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups (1 pint) half & half

4 cups milk (whole is best but I have used skim as well and it works just fine!)

2 bananas, mashed

2 cups strawberries (I just sprinkled sugar on them and let them sit until the sugar pulled out some of the juices...mine had been in the frige for a couple of days and they needed to be eaten!)

Whip the eggs then add the sugar and mix well. Slowly add the half & half and the whipping cream mixing well. Add vanilla and then pour into ice cream maker and then add the milk. Alternate your ice and rock salt around the ice cream in your mixer and then let it go. Check the ice cream about 30 minutes into it and if it's about the consistency of soft serve ice cream its time to add your "flavors", in this case the bananas and strawberries, but we have used so many different kinds here...oreos, recess', any kind of fruit...we almost did pineapple strawberry banana...that would have been good! Anyway, just use whatever you like! And then turn it back on until it stops about 15-20 more minutes!

We like to serve it in paper or plastic cups with plastic spoons and let the kids go sit outside and enjoy (at least during the warmer weather!) Go ahead and try different flavors and let me know what kinds you try and what are your favorite!  Some of our favorites are: crushed oreo's (whole package!), crushed grasshopper cookies (whole package!), & masehd bananas (2-3)...you can try anything you'd like!!

Mom's Sloppy Joes

For those of you who know my wonderful Mom knows she is a Bullseye fanatic!! She loves the stuff and uses it for most things instead of ketchup. Even on hamburgers, which I think is wierd, and I like the stuff too! When it comes to bbq sauces it's the best I've found! Anyway, here's my Mom's sloppy joe recipe...which is made with...surprise...BULLSEYE!!!:) It is the best sloppy joe recipe EVER!

Mom's Sloppy Joes

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2 lbs. lean hamburger

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon Whorchestershire sauce

1 large onion, chopped

1/4 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon mustard

1/2 cup BULLSEYE bbq sauce (I have used others, but trust me bullseye is the BEST!)

Cook hamburger and onion together until burger is no longer pink. Sift the flour over and then add the remaining ingredients. Heat the slop throughly and serve on buns.

I like to use deli rolls or something like that (the picture is taken with just regular old hamburger buns...which is still good too!) and then I will spread a little butter on the insides and then place under the broiler for 1-2 minutes or until a little crispy.

Place sloppy joe on bun and add a slice of cheese. I think some good old havarti cheese would be so DELICIOUS on these...something I'm going to have to try soon, but I just used plain old kraft cheese slices!

SO GOOD!! Enjoy with a salad or coleslaw!

PW's Oatmeal Crispies

I wanted to try out a new cookie recipe the other day and found these and thought I'd give them a whirl. They were so good! I cooked half of the dough as is and the other half I added some chocolate chips...just because I can...and believe it or not (and I can't believe I'm saying this) I liked them much more without the chocolate!! But go ahead and experiment yourself. I think butterscotch chips would be good in there too. I'll give that a go next time, but I just loved the nuttiness of the pecans in there. It's a perfect combo to the oatmeal. And they turn out just like a cookie should...crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside!

Oatmeal Crispies

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

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1 C shortening (Crisco)

1 C packed brown sugar

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 C quick oats

½ C finely chopped pecans

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening with both sugars until well combined.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs together. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Add to the shortening/sugar mixture and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix carefully into the egg/shortening mixture until well combined. Now add the quick oats and mix well again. Finally add the finely chopped pecans and mix well to combine.

Divide the dough in half and place each half of the dough onto a sheet of waxed paper. Roll the dough into a log and then wrap it tightly in the waxed paper. Now you can either chill or freeze the dough until later or you can go ahead and slice the dough evenly into cookie rounds. (I just used my cookie scoop and scooped them onto the pan right then and cooked them).

When you are ready to bake them place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

Try not to eat too many & good luck with that!:)

Canelones

I woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful breakfast made by my sweetheart and some beautiful tulips in a vase on the table. He made biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs (seriously...he makes the world's BEST scrambled eggs!), and bacon. It was SO good. Anyway, I wanted to show you the beautiful tulips he bought. What a sweetie!

I forgot to take a picture of breakfast, so I thought I'd blog my Mother's Day Dinner. My hunny asked me what I wanted for my Mother's Day dinner and after thinking about it for a little while I thought of these!! Tony had never made these before and so he told me I had to think of something else that he could make and I told him that I would just help him and that he and the kids could just do the dishes and that would be just fine with me!! Anyway, I haven't had or made these for probably a few years now and they are one of my favorite that I grew up with. It is a dish from South American that my Dad loved while he was serving his mission there. After my Dad & Mom were married my Mom found this recipe and it has been one of our family favorites ever since. My Dad says it's not quite the same as the authentic stuff from Uraguay, but it sure is tasty. It's a little time consuming, but pretty darn easy. You've got to try these!

Canelones

(South American Dish)

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Crepes:

2 1/4 cups flour

3 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

milk

Beat eggs. Add flour and salt. Add enough milk to make a runny batter. It needs to be pretty thin. Heat skillet between medium and medium high heat. Lightly grease skillet then pour batter (about 1/4-1/2 cup) and turn skillet around to spread the batter as far our as you can thus making them thin. Brown it on both sides and then pile on a plate. It browns quickly so keep an eye on them!

Filling:

1 lb. hamburger

1 onion chopped

2 cups tomatoes (I just use one can of diced tomatoes)

1 can kernal corn

1 can (4oz.) green chillies

salt & pepper to taste

Brown hamburger and onion together in a large skillet. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

White sauce:

1 cube butter or margarine

1/2 to 3/4 cup of flour

4 cups milk

Salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in the microwave in a large microwave safe bowl. Add the flour, starting with 1/2 cup and stir into the butter. Add more flour as needed. The mixture should be pretty thick. Then slowly add the milk a little at a time and whisk in between. When all the milk is added put it in the microwave for about 3 minutes. Whisk real good. Return to the microwave for 2 more minutes. Whisk. 2 more minutes. Whisk. Keep doing this until the mixture thickens to a gravy consistency. Sometime during this process add some salt & pepper too!:)

Assembly:

Pour a little bit of white sauce in the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan. Then put some of the filling inside of a crepe and roll tightly and place in the pan.

Keep doing this until the pan is full.

Pour the rest of the white sauce over the top of the filled crepes and top with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce bubbles.

The picture just doesn't do these guys justice. They really are so good and my kids (who pick out tomatoes from everything) DEVOURED this dish. They all loved it! YUMMY!