Paula Dean's Savannah Cheesecake Cookies or Rather Bar

My daughter and I love anything cheesecake, so when Paula Dean made her Savannah Cheesecake cookies that required little more than mixing, I was like, I have to make those! Why is it that I'm always watching the Food Network during my 30 minute treadmill? Well, Sundays are the days that I cook up a big Sunday dinner, this week, my corned beef and roasted veggies with smashed red potatoes, delicious. Of course no big Sunday meal could come to a satisfying conclusion without something sweet so it was time to try those cookies. This is a perfect recipe to let your kids help.

Crust:

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts because it was in the pantry)

1 stick of melted butter

Mix everything together-press into 13 x 9 pan (I used one that was slightly smaller because I wanted the cheesecake to be taller)

cook for 12-15 minutes at preheated-350 until lightly brown.

Filling:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese softened

1 cup of granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 t pure vanilla

Fresh berries

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth (with hand held electric mixer)

Add eggs and extract and beat till smooth.

Pour over crust

Bake for 30-35 minutes until top is lightly brown. Let cool completely before cutting. Add fresh strawberries or other fruits.

I thought the cream cheese filling wasn't as sweet as it should be but I think with fresh berries, it's a perfect compliment. Less of a cookie and more of a bar.

And now for my Big Sunday Dinner:

Corned Beef with roasted veggies and smashed red potatoes:

Cook corned beef according to package directions-about 3 hours in water

Boil red potatoes (whole) until tender but still firm, drain. In skillet, add olive oil and 1/2 stick of butter, add red potatoes whole in pan. With a large fork or wooden spatula, smash red potatoes till broken but still somewhat intact. Chop 4 cloves of garlic and sprinkle on top and add salt and pepper and onion powder. Cook till brown and has a nice crust.

Since my family is not to fond of boiled veggies with the corned beef, I roast them instead. Take about 6 stalks of celery, wash and cut into thirds leaving the leaves on. Peel six carrots and cut into thirds and if the bottoms are rather thick cut those in quarters so they will cook evenly. Sprinkle oil olive and salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, once corned beef has cooked, take out of pot, let rest and then slice. After slicing, I like to place the slices on top of the roasted veggies and put in oven on broil until the meat is firm and crusty, about 5 minutes. Hey, I like everything crusty. Serve and enjoy and hey, happy St. Paddy's Day!

Super Easy Caesar Salad Dressing

Getting my daughter to eat her salad is a challenge, but with my homemade Caesar Salad dressing, she loves her salad, even if it does has carrots in it. I used to make this dressing with raw eggs, but with all the scare over salmonella, I've sub mayo.

In food processor:
4 whole cloves of garlic-pulse till minced
Add-a good squeeze of anchovy paste (or use can anchovy about two fillets)
Pulse till mixed
Add about 2 cups of mayo (my measurements are approx since I just spoon the mayo in)
Generously sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top
Salt and pepper
Turn on processor-
While processor is running, slowly add olive oil (about 1 cup) till dressing looks yellow and smooth. Squeeze half lemon pulse till mixed. Add more salt and pepper and cheese to taste. If you accidentally add the olive oil too fast (this I've done when my daughter distracts me) dressing will become thin and separate. That's ok, it will just need to be shaken before dressing your salad. Otherwise, it should be somewhat thick. Enjoy!

Los Angeles City Schools Old Fashioned Crumb Cake

Ah, grade school lunches, the stuff of many a fond memory. One of my favorite grade school lunches was tuna boats with a cheddar cheese sail and crumb cake with milk. Don't know if it was the cute triangle of cheddar cheese or the tuna salad in a hot dog bun or the delicious buttery crumb cake that made this particular lunch stand out, but I seem to remember it with great fondness. The lunch room in my school had a stage on which different color flags stood. Green meant all was well in the lunch room with the noise level at a acceptable level. A yellow flag meant beware the noise level was rising and red of course meant shut your traps or else! One sunny lunch day, happily ensconced with my favorite tunaboat lunch, crumb cake and carton of milk, I remember I was blowing bubbles in my milk carton, engrossed in this activity for what a few seconds, maybe minutes, when I noticed the lunch room become eerily quite. As I looked down into my carton which seemed to have an unnatural hold on my attention, I noticed two black sensible shoes tapping rapidly by my side. I automatically look toward the stage where a red flag stood like a terrible exclamation point. I quickly looked at Miss Sensible two shoes, whose prickly red fingernails pointed to the principle's office. No words needed to be exchanged as a pitying hush filled the cafeteria, as all eyes spied my leaving my lunch and my beloved tunaboat with it's cheddar cheese triangular sail and buttery crumb cake as I headed for the office where I would spend the remainder of my lunch hour stomach protesting in it's emptiness. All these years have been spent in search of that crumb cake recipe of which the following comes pretty darn close and at least gives me some sort of redemption solace when eating it.

2 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 t salt

1 t nutmeg

3/4 c oil

2 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 egg

1 c buttermilk

Combine flour, sugars, salt, nutmeg and oil in bowl. Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture from bowl and add to it 1 t of cinnamon and set aside as topping.

Combine remaining 1 t of cinnamon, baking soda, egg and buttermilk (or milk and yogurt/sour cream combination) and blend well. Add flour mixture, do not over mix.

Spoon batter into greased 13x9" pan, sprinkle with reserved topping and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

Let cool slightly before cutting and sit back, enjoy and reminisce!

Our Favorite Smootie

How do you get a tweenie to eat her fruits? Smoothies of course! I remember when we first adopted our daughter from China when she was 18 months old, she had an appetite for everything and anything. Living in a orphan house and not having much access to plentiful food varieties, Xiao She, as she was called then ate non-stop when she was handed over to us. Our weeks in China getting acquainted with our new daughter consisted of strolling around the hotel and grazing at the buffet, to which she had no trouble finding food she liked. She would eat clams, fish, oysters, chow mein, eggs, noodles and on and on. To keep her from crying, we would feed her raisins like she was a poodle in training. She would fall asleep with food in her mouth. One time back home in Denver my in-laws took her to the restaurant I worked at, where she quickly fell asleep in her chicken soup fancy hat and all. Today, getting her to eat or try healthy food is another story. She quickly moved from eating everything to eating only mac and cheese or anything noodle. Getting her to eat her fruits is even harder. Eat an apple dear, but my braces she whines! So one day, I made smoothies. Yum she says, this is good. Yes, there is a God! I vary the recipe little, because why tamper with something she likes and will eat.

Smoothie recipe:

In blender-add 1/3 blender full of crushed ice

Add fruit juice to cover ice

Add frozen blueberries

Add fresh or frozen strawberries

1/2 banana

Add 2 large scoops of plain yogurt

Blend until smooth-

Amounts of fruits can vary depending on your taste

Top with wheat germ if you like nutty crunch

Martha Stewart-Citrus Cornmeal Cookies

I love cookies, cookies in any form, shape, flavor and size. I do however tire easily over cookies. Like for example, I can't buy a bag of cookies in the grocery store without half the bag getting stale because I never finish it. I'm like a cookie tramp, I get tired of the same cookie after a few days. However, there is one kind of cookie that I really never tire of and that is the shortbread cookie done right. I have tried many shortbread recipes and I have found that the less sweet the better. When we were in Rome, the pastry shops there are crazy fantastic. Why is it that the pastry shops look so much more enticing in Europe than they do here. I do have to mention of a little pastry shop in San Francisco that I used to go to that reminded me of a Paris patisserie, Fantasia Bakery in the Laurel Heights section of town. More old fashion of yesteryear, but definitely European in flavor. I miss those days of buying their hot cross buns at Easter, napoleons and butter cookies. One of my favorite Italian cookie is the buttery shortbread cookie made with cornmeal, really delicious and not very sweet. So when I came across a Martha Stewart recipe for Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread I was in heaven and hoping it would be like the ones in Italy.
Take two sticks of butter out of the fridge and let stand at room temp.

Put soften sticks of butter in kitchenaid:
Add 3/4 cup of confectioners' sugar
Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Grate over the bowl some orange zest mix well in bowl-
Then stir in 2 cups of flour + 2 Tablespoons of yellow cornmeal and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix until well combined.
Dough should be soft (if too soft at this point put in fridge until dough firms somewhat, dough should be nice to handle), flour counter top and take dough out. Halve dough and shape into two logs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and wrap in plastic and refrigerate until cold, at least an hour.
Take dough out and cut into 1/4" rounds and roll in 1/4 cup of yellow cornmeal. Bake in a 300 oven for 30-35 minutes until golden.

These are delicious, crunchy and tender, and I could eat a hundred and that's saying a mouth full. -

Tuscan Chicken Thighs and Giada's Polenta

Since we have to watch our budget when we go grocery shopping, I have been cooking a lot with chicken thighs and besides, my daughter only likes dark meat. This recipe is simple and quick and a great Sunday dinner.
For the marinade:
4 large cloves of garlic chopped and put in a bowl
1 sprig of rosemary, which I get from my garden, but I make sure I only use the top of the rosemary plant, since I'm sure Henry the chihuahua has peed on the bottom of the plant. Take leaves off stem and roughly chop
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
the juice on one lemon a couple of pinches of Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
whisk in 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
pour over chicken and let marinade for an hour
put in oven at 350 for about 1 hour or until done
A perfect companion dish for this chicken is Everyday Italian's chef, Giada Delaurentis's easy polenta recipe:
2 cups of salted (1 teaspoon) water-bring to a boil
stir in 2 tablespoons of butter (she just uses 1, but I think it needs two)
stir in 1 cup of cornmeal (yellow or white, I used white)
continue stirring and cook for about 3-5 minutes, usually when it is starting to get stiff, I remove from heat and quickly spread out in butter 9x11 dish. Let cool slightly and cut into squares.
Put polenta on plate and add chicken with the sauce over the the polenta.
Sheer heaven! I lick my plate every time and my daughter loves it!-Single D