Sopapilla Cheesecake

Over the weekend I went to a party and tasted sopapilla cheesecakes. They were fantastic! Like so amazing. You need to try them. Found here. 

Sopapilla Cheesecake

3 cans Pillsbury butter crescent rolls
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)
Cinnamon & sugar
(this recipe has so many possibilities, you could add raisins or nuts or whatever you want inside with the filling. I think these would even taste good with some syrup and make it like a pancake! be creative!)

Instructions:

Unrolled and spread 1 & 1/2 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased pan. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. 

Cream of Broccoli Soup

My sister-in-law made this soup for us last summer, and we loved it. Yummy! I love it with breadsticks.
Some great tips from my sister-in-law for this soup are: "We LOVE this soup and make it whenever broccoli is on sale. It's easy to half, and the proportions don't have to be exact. Often we do it without celery, and I always saute chopped up broccoli stems with the onions. And red onions are the best for this soup. The cream mixture always takes longer than you think it should, but it usually comes 'round. Here's the original link."

Cream of Broccoli SoupIngredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
8 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1.Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2.Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
3.In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season with pepper and serve.

Heavenly Eggs

I found this breakfast recipe online and tried it. It didn't make as much as I would've liked, but it was really good. It was great because I had some extra marinara sauce in the freezer that I needed to use. It's a good breakfast for dinner that isn't sweet. My husband isn't a fan of sweet dinners. Oh, and I've decided that Parmesan cheese makes everything better.


Heavenly Eggs

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 ounce pancetta, chopped (optional, I didn't use this; I couldn't find it.)
• 2 cups prepared marinara sauce
• 4 large eggs
• 6 large fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces (I just sprinkled dried basil on.)
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 slices whole-wheat country bread, toasted

Preparation

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and pancetta (if using). Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add marinara and adjust heat to maintain a simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl, taking care not to break the yolk. Make a well in the sauce roughly large enough to hold the egg and slip it in so that the yolk and most of the white is contained (some white may spread out). Repeat with the remaining eggs, evenly spacing them around the pan. Sprinkle the sauce with basil; cover and cook until the eggs are the desired doneness, 6 to 8 minutes for medium-set. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with Parmesan and pepper.
3. To serve, top each slice of toasted bread with an egg and sauce. Serve immediately.

One-Ingredient Homemade Ice Cream

I heard about a one-ingredient ice cream from another blogger and was pretty skeptical. I looked it up and decided to try it; it's only one ingredient so I wouldn't be spending lots of time or money on it.
All you do is chop up four very ripe bananas and freeze them. Then blend them up in a blender, and you've got ice cream! It's pretty cool, and we really enjoyed it. We mixed in some Oreo crumbs, and it was delicious. It's an easy, healthy dessert!
Go to the recipe to see pictures and other mix in ideas.

Southwest Black Bean Burgers

Today I tried a vegetarian burger recipe. It's the first recipe in this post. It sounded like a good, cheap recipe.

Pros-

• cheap
• lots of flavor
• healthy
• makes lots! I split mine into 5 patties, but could've done 6

Cons-

• weird texture
• slight taste of beans
• I couldn't get my burgers to hold together that well

My husband and I concluded that we're going to keep this recipe, but add 1/2 lb. of hamburger meat. Then freeze half and use half. It'll stretch hamburger meat a lot farther, and you still get the flavor and healthy produce.

Southwest Black Bean Burger

1 can black beans

1/2 small red onion

1/2 medium red pepper

2-3 garlic cloves

1 large egg

3/4 cup bread crumbs

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 soft wheat buns

1 avocado (I didn't use an avocado, we're not fans)

2 tomatoes

4 slices colby jack cheese (I used cheddar)

1 bunch fresh cilantro

 BBQ sauce

Rinse black beans in a colander under running water until water runs clear. Put into a bowl and smash with a fork. Blend onion, pepper, garlic and egg in a food processor or blender. Add to beans. (When I mixed mine, I put the onion, pepper, garlic, egg, and beans all in the blender together. I didn't think mashing beans with a fork would mix them up enough.) Mix crumbs with spices and add to the bowl. The mixture should be a little pasty. Divide into four sections and shape into patties. Grill about 3 minutes each side or until the patties hold together well. Add one slice of cheese to each before removing from grill, so the cheese will melt. Spread BBQ sauce onto one side of the bun, top patties with sliced avocado, tomato and cilantro. 

Angel Chicken

This is a great, easy dinner! Just throw it in the crockpot, smell it cooking all day, and then enjoy a delicious dinner. I think I found this recipe on the Kraft website somewhere.

Angel Chicken

Prep Time: 5 min

Total Time: 4 hr 5 min

Makes: 5 servings, 1 cup each

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, softened

1 can  (10-3/4 oz.) reduced-sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup KRAFT Tuscan House Italian Dressing and Marinade

1/4 cup  dry white wine (I use white grape juice)

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces (I use chicken breasts)

1/2 lb.  angel hair pasta, uncooked

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Beat cream cheese, soup, dressing and wine with whisk until blended; pour over chicken in slow cooker. Cook on LOW 4 to 5 hours (or on HIGH 2 to 3 hours).

2. Cook pasta as directed on package about 15 min. before chicken is done; drain. Serve topped with chicken mixture and parsley.

Enjoy!

Heather