I owe you...

Big time!

My faithful blog checkers, I am attempting to start this post (I know it probably won't even get finished today) in order to share with you some great recipes I have made as of late. With school back in session, my time is not my own it seems!

But I will try and make it up to you now with some fabulous soup and cheesecake recipes. :o)

First up, Cream Cheese Chicken Soup















We had a bit of chilly weather here, and I was inspired to make this soup. Had I been planning ahead, I probably would have made bread bowls for it, but I wasn't and so I didn't, and it was still delicious.

• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cooked and cubed
• 3 cups broth
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 4 carrots, chopped bite size
• 3-4 potatoes, peeled and chopped bite size
• 1 cup milk
• 4 Tbsp cream cheese
• 1 8oz. block of cream cheese, softened (and yes, I used 1/3 reduced fat and it tasted fine)

Saute onions in butter in the bottom of your soup pot until the onions are clear.
Add in chicken broth, carrots, and potatoes (broth should cover the veggies). Bring the broth to a boil and then simmer about 15 minutes - until the veggies are soft.

Once veggies are cooked, combine the milk and flour together and add that mixture to the soup pot. Chunk the cream cheese in a little at a time, stirring until the cheese melts completely into the soup. Add your chicken and heat through.
Serve and enjoy!

Okay, I don't have a picture for the cheesecake (I baked it late at night and took it the next morning to lunch after church), but I do have a picture of dinner the other night:




















Chicken bar-b-que pizza. I never thought I'd like it, but John LOVES bar-b-que pizza, so I made it. SO good! Just top your regular pizza with some bar-b-que, and eat. Yummy yummy!


But I do have the Brownie Cheesecake recipe for you (sans photo)

• 1 batch (a 9x9 or 8x8 pan will do) of your favorite brownie recipe, cut into small cubes (like 1 inch x 1 inch, or a little smaller)
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
• 5 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 8oz. packages of cream cheese
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla or so

And if you want the chocolate glaze (and I think you do...)

• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2-3 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt your 5 Tbsp of butter and mix in your cookie crumbs and sugar. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan (you can double the amounts and make a 10 inch crust if you'd like).
Then, using a mixer, beat together your cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla until smooth and combined. Stir in brownie chunks (if you use a 13 x 9 recipe, you'll have extra). Pour over crust and bake for 45 minutes.
Once completely cool, make the glaze.
Scald the butter and cream in a saucepan and then pour in the sugar, vanilla, and chips. Stir constantly until chips are melted. Spread over cheesecake and refridgerate until serving.
This cheesecake is absolutely heavenly!
Well, 2 days later and I am finally getting this posted. Enjoy the recipes, and this picture of the blueberry and raspberry jam I made the other night. Scrumptious!

My philosophy on life...

Consists of many things. One of them is the more hummus the better. And one of the ingredients I keep around for those days when I am just too exhausted or busy to think straight is pizza dough (thank you, Trader Joe's).

Tonight, I combined those 2 staples into this very yummy creation - Hummus Pizza:

• Pizza dough
• Hummus (I recommend Sabra, but you can choose your own fav)
• Veggies of your choosing (we used spinach, red onion, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, and corn - which I forgot to add before this photo, but you'll see it at the end)
• Chicken - cooked and cut into bite size pieces (if desired)
• A little bit of shredded cheese (if desired)

Get ready for a super simple dinner. Bake your pizza dough. While it's in the oven, chop up your veggies, saute-ing those that might need it to soften up (I sauted my oinions & added my spinach in just at the end. I used thin carrot peelings so I wouldn't have to cook those, but you get the point...). Cook your chicken if that needs to be done (I used a balsamic glaze on mine... heavenly!).
When your pizza dough is done, remove it from the oven, spread a GENEROUS (have I mentioned I love hummus?) amount of hummus on the crust. Top with veggies, chicken, and a light sprinkle of cheese and enjoy!













Here it is with corn. So so yummy!
Happy Labor Day weekend (almost)!

Last night's dinner

Pesto Pizza!
(Polka dot plate not included :o)

This pizza is so easy it is ridiculous.
You can either: buy refrigerated pizza dough from the grocery store or make your own.

Pizza Dough:

1 package active dry yeast (found in the baking aisle at the grocery store)
3 cups flour (I use whole wheat)
1 Tbsp. sugar
a pinch of salt (about 1/2 tsp)
1 cup warm water
1 to 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Mix your yeast, flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add in your warm water and oil. Mix to form a dough (should be a little sticky, but not so much that you feel like you're playing with Slimer from Ghostbusters). Spread dough on pizza pan and you're ready to go!
*For a more bread like dough, let it rise for 10 minutes after you mix it and before you spread it on your pizza pan.
Now, you don't have to, but I recommend baking your crust for 5-7 minutes before topping when making pesto pizza because the olive oil in the pesto can cause your dough not to cook through otherwise.

Toppings:

• 1 can of your favorite pesto
• 1 grilled chicken breast, cut into thin strips
• 1 fresh tomato (or sun dried tomatoes - yum!), sliced
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Spread your pesto liberally on your baked crust. Arrange your chicken strips and tomato slices. Top with as much mozzarella as you'd like. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is cooked through (probably 10 minutes). Enjoy!
We had an orzo salad as a side:

Again, really easy.
Boil your orzo and set it aside to cool. While it's cooling, chop up some of your favorite veggies (I used tomato, black olives, green pepper and red onion). When pasta is cool, add veggies, and balsamic vinegar and Italian dressing to taste. I threw in some feta for fun.

And bread pudding for dessert

I had never made bread pudding before this, but the slice you see in the above picture is all that's left of it, so it couldn't have been that bad. :o)
I'm not entirely sure if this is how you're supposed to make bread pudding, but I basically looked at a recipe for alist of ingredients and put it together my own way. Because I have a wedding dress to fit into in a month, I made my bread pudding in a deep pie pan instead of a 13 x 9. Here's what I did (ish):
Ripped a loaf of homemade bread into bite size chunks and put it into a big bowl (I probably used 2/3 of the loaf). I threw in a cup or so of brown sugar and a dash or 2 of cinnamon and mixed it around.
In a second bowl, I beat 1 egg, added 1/4 cup melted butter, and 2 cups (ish) of milk. I mixed this in with the bread crumbs. If it doesn't look mushy enough you can add more milk; if it looks too soupy, add more bread. I threw it in the pie pan and bake it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Having done that and tasted it, I think that next time I would add a brown sugar/butter drizzle to the top if it during the last 20 minutes of baking. Just for a little added oomph.
But seriously, if you have bread in the house that's getting a little older, you should make it:

• 1 loaf of aging bread torn into chunks
• 1 cup brown sugar (more or less to taste)
• a dash or 2 of cinnamon (ditto)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 cups milk (more or less as needed)