Cheesecake Cookies

I saw these and knew I had to make them. I LOVE cheesecake. Now it's in cookie form!!

Sorry my picture sucks but they are soooo much yummier than they look :)

Cheesecake Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup crushed graham crackers

In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese. Add sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla; beat again. Mix in flour with a spoon or spatula. Refrigerate cookie dough for 30 minutes to make it easier to work with.

Prepare graham crackers. I put about 4 graham crackers in a sandwich baggie and killed them with my rolling pin and had more than enough.

Spread half of the graham cracker crumbs on a piece of wax paper. Lay out half the chilled dough on top of it. Shape and roll cookie log, coating in crushed graham cracker crumbs. Repeat with second half of dough.

Transfer rolled, coated logs to fresh sheets of waxed paper and wrap. Chill for about two hours in the fridge, or about 30 minutes in the freezer then slice into lovely little cheesecake rounds. Place cookies on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375-degrees for 8-10 minutes. You only want to barely brown the bottoms. Don’t over-bake.

Honestly I could have eaten the whole bowl without baking these little beauties. DELICIOUS!!!

Check out Suzanne's blog for better pictures.

~ adapted from Suzanne's recipe

I'm back!

Wow, life really caught up with me these past 2 weeks. Anywho, here's what I've been up to...

Helped the BF's mom at a mega yard sale and scored the ginormous Ball Ideal Jar you see in the pic ($2 - for comparison: the green one next to is is a 3-quart jar),

this beautiful set of stainless steel measuring cups ($2), a 1-cup sifter ($1) and a set of 3 pyrex dishes ($5).

Also after a rough Monday at work, I came home to open my mail to find these beautiful bowl covers from Val!! They totally made my day. I absolutely love them and they match my kitchen with the little cherries on them ^_^ Thanks so much! Check her blog out ~ she's lovely :)

Also I'm starting to get into coupons ^_^ I managed to save over $20 at Walmart on stuff for my stockpile. Hopefully by the end of this month, my car accident issue will be resolved, I'll be hunting for a house, and I'll still have my wits about me enough for when school starts back up (hooray for getting my Masters!!). Anywho, wish me luck ^_^

Cheers!

Oven Roasted Potatoes

This is just a quickie post. I tried these roasted potatoes. Modified recipe from AllRecipes. DELICIOUS!!

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

Preheat oven to 450*F. Mix everything in a large bowl. Place on a baking sheet or roasting pan (I used a Pyrex dish). Roast for 20-30 mins, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.

I could eat these by themselves, they were that good. So good that they didn't last long enough for me to take a picture... :)

Slice & Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies

My BFs mom lent me a book called Make-A-Mix. It's got tons of recipes for homemade mixes that you can store for later use. In their chapter Freezer Refrigerator Mixes, I found these chocolate chip cookies that you just roll into logs and freeze for later use. Here's my slightly modified recipe. This makes about 5 batches of cookies.

2 cups butter or margarine

1-1/3 cups sugar

1-2/3 cups brown sugar, packed

2 Tbsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

5-1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

2-1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a bowl cream butter/margarine, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in vanilla and eggs until light a fluffy. In another bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. stir flour mixture into egg mixture until combined. Add chocolate chips.

The original recipe said that this made 4 batches but I baked a batch and had enough dough leftover to make 4 rolls of freezer-dough.

If you wet your hands first, it's easier to make the rolls. Divide dough into 5 equal pieces and place on plastic wrap or wax paper. Roll into 8 to 10 inch log rolls. Date and place into freezer in a freezer safe bag. Use within 6 months.

To bake after freezing:

Thaw slightly. Preheat oven to 350*F. Cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until browned around the edges.

Coupon for Gluten Free Mixes

Hi all! I know a bunch of people wanted to win the gluten free prize pack I was giving away. Here's kind of a consolation prize for everyone :)

I stole this from Jane...

Betty Crocker is offering a FREE coupon for their new Gluten-Free dessert mixes. You need to call 1-800-446-1898 and select option 4 and talk with a live operator. They will ask you a few questions along with your mailing address and you should have the coupon in a few weeks.

Giveaway at Joy of Desserts

As much as I love to bake, I was excited to find this giveaway as I was blog-hopping. Head on over to Joy of Desserts to check out the "Julia & Julia" book giveaway. I've read wonderful reviews about the book. Also, there will be 5 winners!

Gluten Free Dessert Winner!

Random.org has spoken!

Jim is the winner of the gluten-free dessert pack! Congrats! Please contact me as soon as possible with your mailing info.

Spicy Chicken Rub

I was looking for a new chicken recipe and I found this. I subscribed to the newsletter a while ago but completely forgot about it. Anywho, we cook on our George Foreman a lot since we live in a tiny apartment so I tried to adapt it to fit my needs. While I thought this turned out WAY too spicy, my BF loved it with the rice. Next time I make it, I'll probably try to make it with a little less heat.

Spicy Chicken Rub

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

2 chicken breasts cubed (you can also use 4 whole chicken breasts)

Mix the spices together. Roll chicken in spices and rub. Grill until done. Serve with BBQ sauce if desired.

Also, I need to thank Kristen for the Chex Mix Turtle Bars that I won in her giveaway. These things are delicious! Everyone should go out and try them.

One last note - my Gluten-Free Dessert Mix Giveaway ends at 9pm Eastern Time tomorrow. Sign up now!

Gluten Free Desserts! PLUS Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been gone for a while. Been busy with work and life. Welcome to everyone here from SonyaAnn's blog! Glad to have ya - you got here just in time for a fun post!

I recently signed up at My BlogSpark to review some products. I was a bit skeptical at first since I've never used this type of service. I'll tell you what though, I was pleasantly surprised. As soon as I had signed up, I saw an offer to try out a new line of gluten-free dessert mixes from Betty Crocker. I know a few people that are on a gluten free diet so I thought this would be interesting to try out.

Heres what I got:

• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix


• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil´s Food Cake Mix


• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix


• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

PLUS 2 free coupons for any of the varieties, a grocery tote bag, magnetic grocery list and pen to organize my grocery shopping!

I got this about a week after I signed up. I promptly made the brownie mix since I noticed that it had chocolate chunks in it :)

The brownie mix was different than what i expected. It was very granular not powdery like regular mixes. It makes a small pan (8x8). they cooked very nicely and once they cooled I was surprised at how good they were. They were not as sweet or gooey as other mixes are but they were delicious. They were cakey like I like them but the chocolate chunks made them nice and moist. Overall, I'd definitely consider making them again.

I JUST made the chocolate chip cookies. Again the batter was granular. It only called for a stick of softened butter, vanilla and an egg. I thought the batter wasn't firm enough so I added about a tablespoon of water. 10 minutes later, I had cookies. These were some pretty darn good cookies. mmmmm They're still warm. They are very soft and light. The chocolate chips melted nicely. Overall, they turned out pretty awesome and they were super easy to make.

I'll be making the other mixes some other time - prolly to take in treats to work. I'm sure they'll be delicious! I wanted to to get this post up to let everyone know about these yummy new deserts.

Now for the fun part: GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Leave a comment by 9pm Eastern Time on Saturday 7/18. I'll pick a winner from the comments :)

Winner gets the same awesome set I got to enjoy for themselves or share with others!

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you via blog or email. Thanks!

Baked Ziti

So, I finally got around to making baked ziti. I hunted for a recipe on RecipeZaar and I found one I could work with that didn't call for ricotta (BF hates ricotta). I also added a little more to it to make it a little heartier.

Baked Ziti

about 20 oz spaghetti sauce

about 8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup milk

16 oz vegetable broth - (I only had chicken broth on hand)

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

16 oz ziti pasta, uncooked

1 lb browned ground meat (I used lean beef)

1 1/2 cup fresh chopped mushrooms

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a very large mixing bowl, combine spaghetti sauce with sour cream and milk. Stir in broth. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella, parmesan cheese, mushrooms and browned meat. Stir in ziti and blend well. Pour out into 9x13-inch baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for one hour. After one hour, take out baking dish, uncover (carefully—very hot steam), and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella (add more if you like). Return dish to oven without cover and bake 5 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

~Note: This FILLED the baking dish. Just to be safe, I put it on a foil covered baking sheet so if it bubbled up too much, I wouldn't have a mess to clean in the oven.

This turned out nice and creamy and very delicious! I'll be making this again for sure.