Let it Snow...

We were so surprised to wake up to snow this morning! As soon as Jaydyn woke up she looked outside and said, "uhh I think it snowed a little bit." 

When they called the city school's out for the day, we decided to make waffles, relax, play in the snow, and go to Wallabies. Here's to the first snow of 2012...

Layla was cracking us up! She was running around like a crazy person!

We hope everyone had a safe & fun first snow of the season!

Loving Sweets.... Oreo Cookie Cheesecake

My husband is the worlds biggest fan for Oreos. He can eat an entire package, yes I'm talking the 3 entire rows, in one sitting. Of course he likes milk with his but for his surprise birthday party this past summer I decided to whip up another treat.  The main ingredients of this cheesecake are..... OREO'S. You guessed it!

The long list of ingredients can have your head spinning, but not to worry, this recipe is fool proof (almost)!  I also added a chocolate ganache to the top of the Oreo Cheesecake which made it so rich an delicious!  This Oreo Cheesecake is better than the Cheesecake Factory, I promise!

Ingredients for the Crust:
2c. Oreo crumbs (I place them in the blender to get them tiny)
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/4c. packed Brown sugar

Ingredients for the Cheesecake:
(4) 8ox. packages of cream cheese (use Philidelphia, not the generic)
1 1/4c. White sugar
1/3c. Heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. Flour
1 tea Vanilla
4 eggs
1.5c Oreo PIECES (just break them in your hands, you want them to be chunky)

Ingredients for the Sour Cream Topping:
16oz. Sour cream
1/4c. White sugar
1 tea. vanilla

Ingredients for the Chocolate Ganache:
9ox. Bitter Sweet Chocolate
1c. Heavy whipping cream
1 tea. Vanilla
1 Tbsp. dark Rum (Optional, of course dont let the children get ahold of this one)

*You also will need a Spring Form Pan

Take a DEEP breath. You can make this a huge sucess, just focus!

1. Take the cream cheese out of the fridge to soften it (the natural way). Preheat oven to 350.
2. To make the crust: mix the blended oreos (should be the consistency of sand), melted butter, and brown sugar. Mix well and place in the bottom of a spring form pan.
3. In a bowl, mix the softened cream cheese till smooth.  Gradually mix in 1 1/4c. of white sugar, 1/3 heavy cream, flour, & 1tea. of vanilla.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time. (I recommend a stand-up mixer for all of this mixing!)
5. Pour 1/3 of the batter in the spring form pan.
6. Top with 1.5c. of the oreo PIECES (remember, the larger pieces of oreos & I usually use an entire package of Oreo's just for this part).
7. Pour in the remaining batter.
8. Cook on 350 for about 45 minutes- 1 hour.
9. Remove the cake from the oven. Combine the sour cream, sugar, & vanilla. Stir well and spread on top of the cheesecake.
10. Bake 7 more minutes in the oven then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes (with the oven turned off)

Before you make the ganache, you want the cheesecake to cool, completely. I ususally like mine to cool overnight. You can choose to leave it in the Spring Form pan once it has completely cooled or pour the ganache over it still in the pan.

1. Remeber, do NOT make the ganache or try to pour it over the cheesecake when it is hot. You will be calling 1-800- HOT-MESS!
2. Place the chocolate in a bowl.
3. Heat the cream over medium heat on the stove.  Bring is JUST to a boil, do not let it continuously boil.
4. When cream comes to a boil, pour it over the chocolate in the bowl & stir.
5. Stir until the chocolate is dissolved
6. Add vanilla & rum
7. Take the Oreo Cheesecake out of the fridge and pour the hot ganache over top.



Birthday Boy





Here are some other fun pictures from Cham's birthday...

Who doesn't love Cake Pops & Brownie Pops?

Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes.. YUM!

Homeade vanilla cupcakes with homeade chocolate frosting :)





It's Turkey Time!

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving! We had a huge dinner at our house (38 people to be exact) on Friday night with family and friends.  We started this tradition last year and hope to continue it for many many years to come. As I've mentioned before, I absolutely love to entertain at our house. Every aspect of it has me entwined. Just having people over makes me so pumped.

I have several philosophy's when I'm in the kitchen. Two always come to mind which are

DRUM ROLL.................

... if you're going to host a party, dinner, or event, never ask or expect your guests to bring anything except the clothes on their body and their party shoes. The second, always over cook. Make sure there is enough food if a small army shows.  These two "kitchen mottos" have taken me very far in life!

Just like the other gatherings I've hosted, I started planning the menu several weeks in advance making sure there was enough variety of foods, flavors, desserts, smells, etc. I am always worried that someone won't like exactly what I've prepared, so I try to make many options.  This year our menu included:

Turkey
Ham
Sausage Balls
Deviled Eggs
Mashed potatos
Mac & cheese (2 crock pots full)
Brocolli & cheese casserole
Sweet potato casserole
Rolls
Coconut cream pie
Double layer pumpkin cheesecake
Banana bread
Chess bars
Award winning choc chip cookies (I'm serious these are famous)
French chocolate mousse pie
Oreo cheesecake (I'm talking better than the Cheesecake factory)

All of which I prepared and baked myself except for the ham which was bought and the rolls.  Sister Shubert knew what she was doing when she created her rolls because I know for a fact I can sit down at one sitting and eat an entire pan, good for the tummy but not the waist.  They are easy an oh so delicious!

Although I would love to post all of my recipes on my blog, I have to keep you coming back for more so I'm only going to post a few that you can hopefully use for your next gig!


The oh so amazing TURKEY. First, buy the biggest bird you can find! The more the merrier!


Ingredients:
big ole bird
kosher salt
celery
carrots
2 large onions
onion salt
garlic salt
5 cans chicken broth
10 trash bags
1 large tub
lots of water


1. First you need to thaw your turkey in the fridge for several days, unwrap the turkey, rub with 3-4 cups of kosher salt, and place the turkey inside of the trash bags, inside of the tub and add water to the turkey to allow it to soak all night long.  This will make Mr. Turkey extremely moist and extra delicious.


2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the turkey from the water and place in the roasting pan. Place the cut celery, carrots, and onions inside his tushie. If you have extra veggies, place in the pan for extra flavor. 


3. Rub onion salt and garlic salt on his skin.


4. Pour 3 cans of chicken broth over Mr. Turkey into the pan which helps makes lots and lots of gravy.

5. Place a thermometer in his thigh and cover with aluminum foil.


6. Since the cooking time will depend on how large your bird is, I recommend you keep Mr. Turkey baking until the thermometer says 180 degrees.  This is take several hours if you have a large one like mine.  

7. As soon as it hits 180, you can take it out and enjoy! Also, dont forget to carve him so that he looks his best! Thank heavens for the electric knife!

Are you ready for Recipe #2?- Creamy deviled eggs


These are so scrumptious you will eat the entire batch before you know it! Several special ingredients make this mouth watering!

Ingredients:
Eggs (I used 24 eggs)
1/3 c. Powered ranch 
1/4 c. Mayo
4 oz. Cream cheese


1. First, place all of the eggs in a large pot of water. Bring the pot of eggs to a boil. Leave the eggs in the hot water for 10-15 minutes.


2.  Drain hot water and set in the sink, Turn the faucet on cold and keep letting it run over the eggs until the pot is completely consumed with cold water. 

3.  Let the eggs completely cool before you try to peel them or you will have an egg disaster!


4. Cut the eggs in half lengthwise & place all yolk in a medium bowl.


5. Mash the yolk until it is smooth, Add the mayo, cream cheese, & ranch.


6.  Stir and place bake inside of the eggs. I used my cookie decorator to make them look fancy for Thanksgiving but you can easily pipe it out of a sandwich bag with the bottom corner cut.  You do not have to be Martha Stewart for these to look and taste great!

Last but certainly not least, French Silk Chocolate Pie


Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4c. white sugar
(2) 1oz. squares of unsweet baking chocolate, melted & cooled
1 tea. vanilla
2 eggs
pie crust


1.  Bake pie crust according to directions
2. Cream butter in your mixer. Add 1/2c. sugar
3.  Stir in the chocolate and the vanilla extract

4. In another bowl, wisk the eggs with 1/4c. of sugar for 6 minutes with the wisk attachement
5. Mix with the chocolate mixture
6. Place the chocolate into the cool pie crust 
7. Add whipped cream (cool whip) over the pie and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. 

ENJOY!