Pizza Quesadilla

At school, my son likes hot lunches. The problem comes when they serve hot dogs since my husband has a chocking phobia. My son usually has to bring his lunch on those days. Well, we had just arrived home from being out of town so I hadn't realized the lunch menu for the day. Afterwards, I asked my son what he had for lunch that day. He told me that he picked pizza quesadillas over the hot dog. I asked him what was in the quesadilla but it sounded like cheddar cheese with pizza sauce. I figured I would make my own version. It came out great plus the best part about the recipe was no oven since it was already a hot day. My family loved it especially my husband. He didn't realize the extra vegetables I had added to the recipe.

Pizza Quesadilla
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage.
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup spinach
1 cup pizza sauce
12 tortillas about 8 inches
6 fresh large basil leaves
2 cups of cheese, grated (I used a blend of Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, and Cheddar).
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, brown the sausage for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the onion with the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms with the spinach and saute for about 3 minutes.
4. Mix in the pizza sauce and coat the sausage mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes and then remove from heat.
5. Lay a tortilla on a plate then cover with about 2 Tbsp of sausage sauce but leave about 1 inch border from the edge with no sauce.
6. Top the sausage sauce with 1 basil leaf and then with the grated cheese.
7. Cover the grated cheese with another tortilla to form a sandwich. 
8. In another skillet, heat over medium heat for about 1 minute.
9. Carefully, add the quesadilla to the skillet and squish down.
10. Cook for a minute or two before carefully flipping over. 
11. Cook the quesadilla for another minute or until golden brown.
12. Serve hot with additional toppings of cheese or pizza sauce.

Recipe created by Jen of Sweet Morris.

One year ago.........................I made Seven Cheese Bread.

Did you already know...........
-Over 50% of asphyxiations (choking) are caused by food.
-Hot dogs cause 17% of food related asphyxiations.
-According to AAP, children under 4 years old should not have hot dogs, whole grapes, popcorn to name a few items.

BLT with aioli

My husband loves mayonnaise. I think it is his favorite condiment. He puts it on all of his sandwiches. He likes it on his hamburgers. He also likes garlic so I figured he would like aioli. The first time I made it was for our hamburgers. My son helped and said it was really good. This time I decided to make it for our BLT which is my daughter's favorite sandwich. It was really good. If you are grilling this weekend, you may want to make some up for the hamburgers.

BLT with aioli sauce
Aioli sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp chives, cut small

Aioli directions:

1. In a storage container, mix the mayonnaise, minced garlic, lemon juice, and chives together. 
2. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. 

BLT directions:
2 slices of bread, toasted
1 lettuce leaf
2 or 3 slices of bacon, cooked
2 or 3 slices of tomato
1 Tbsp aioli sauce

1. On the toasted bread, place the lettuce then tomato. Top with the bacon.
2. On the other slice of bread, spread the aioli sauce.
3. Top the bacon with the other slice of bread with aioli side down.

Recipe by Jen of Sweet Morris.

One year ago..................................I made Macaroni Grill Bread.

Did you already know....................
-Aioli sauce is garlicky mayonnaise.
-The top three condiments are mayonnaise, ketchup, and salsa.
-Hellman's mayonnaise accounts for about 1/3 of the mayonnaise market.

Dulce de leche Cheesecake

Now, I hardly make cheesecake. It isn't because it takes awhile to make it. It really isn't hard to make. I don't even mind if the top cracks since it doesn't affect the taste. It just means that I will have to make some kind of topping. The problem for me with cheesecake is it tastes soooooo good. I just want to eat it all so I have to share to get it out of the house fast. Well, this cheesecake is very rich especially with dulce de leche in it but it is soooooo good.

Dulce de leche Cheesecake
Crust: 8 oz. vanilla wafer cookies (about 2/3 of the box) 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp salt 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a food processor, finely ground the vanilla wafer cookies.
3. Add the sugar and salt. Pulse a couple of times.
4. Add the melted butter and mix together.
5. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a buttered 9 1/2 inch pan. Set aside.

 Filling:
3 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dulce de leche plus more for topping

1 1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until creamy.
2. Add the 1/2 cup dulce de leche to the cream cheese mixture. Mix well.
3.  Pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust.
4. Bake the cream cheese for 40 minute or until the edges are puffed and the center is set.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for several hours.
6. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips with the heavy cream. Stir about very 30 seconds until the chocolate chips are melted.
7. Allow the chocolate ganache to cool for about 2 minutes before pouring over the cooled cheesecake.
8. Drizzle a little dulce de leche over the top of the chocolate ganache.
9. Allow the chocolate ganache to set for several hours before serving. 

Recipe adapted from Roxana's homebaking.

One year ago.................I made Skillet Lasagna.

Did you already know....
-In 1872, William Lawrence of Chester, NY purchased a factory and was reproducing Neufchatel but created a creamier version.
-Mr. Lawrence called his creamier version cream cheese and began to distribute it in foil wrappers.
-The cream cheese was distributed under the Empire company but was later renamed Philadelphia cream cheese.

Cherry Cheese Danish

Oh, I love fresh cherries. I especially love when they are in season and are reasonably priced. We have been eating them like maybe tomorrow they won't be available anymore. Well, I figured I could depart from eating a couple of them just until I used them in a dish of some kind. I figured a breakfast danish would be perfect. I will admit sometimes I feel bad that I'm not one of those mothers that make their children a great breakfast before school. A lot of times we are running down the street to catch the bus while eating breakfast. My oldest daughter is good and will sometimes make up some eggs for her younger siblings. So, I decided to make this recipe for breakfast on a school day. They were really happy but we did miss the bus. I didn't mind since I think the danish was worth the little extra time to savory it. My oldest daughter told me it was wonderful. 

Cherry Cheese Danish
1/2 cup sliced almonds
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
4 Tbsp flour
6 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/8 tsp almond extract)
1/3 to 1/2 cup cherries, pitted and chopped
2 (9 inch) sheets of puff pastry, thawed
1 egg for egg wash
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. On a small baking sheet, arrange the almonds in a single layer and toast the almonds for about 7 minutes. Allow to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, egg yolk, flour, sugar and vanilla extract. 
4. Fold in the chopped cherries.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
6. Roll out the puff pastry sheets. Cut each puff pastry sheet into 4 sections.
7. In the center of each puff pastry, spoon about 1 Tbsp of filling.
8. Fold the puff pastry diagonally in half. Seal well.
9. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg.
10. Brush the top of each puff pastry with the whisked egg.
11. Top each puff pastry with the toasted almonds slices.
12. Bake the danishes for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Allow the danishes to cool for about 10 minutes.
14. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. 

Recipe by Jen of Sweet Morris. 
Tip: If your cherries are very juicy, use less cherries or your filling will be a little more wet. It will still taste great.

One year ago.........................I made Homemade Mascarpone.

Did you already know...........
-The Sweet Cherry originated from Asia.
-In 1600s, English colonist brought sweet cherries to America.
-Michigan is the leading
-The Bing Cherry is a sweet cherry.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

My husband just celebrated another birthday. He doesn't want me to discuss his age but all I can tell you is he is currently a couple years older than me. He doesn't think I'm funny and reminds me in a couple of months that he is now only one year older than him. My husband loves Superman but I didn't have any matching liners so we went with the next best thing....Spider-Man. He loved the cupcakes and frosting. I used this peanut butter frosting recipe with chopped fine pieces of peanut butter cups mixed into the frosting.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes
12 oz. unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
4. Scrap down the sides of the bowl before adding the egg. Mix until just combined.
5. Add the egg whites and mix until combined.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
7. Add 1/3 cup of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.
8. Add 1/4 cup of buttermilk and mix.
9. Add another 1/3 cup of flour and mix before adding another 1/4 cup of buttermilk.
10. Add the remaining flour mixture and then the rest of the buttermilk. Mix until combined.
11. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full of batter.
12. Bake the cupcakes about 18 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Allow the cupcakes to cool before removing from pan and allowing to fully cool on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from Pastry Queen cookbook.

One year ago.................I made Savory Lobster and Shrimp Cheesecake.

Did you already know........
-Peter Parker's middle name is Benjamin.
-Peter Parker was born in Forest Hills (Queens), New York.
-Spider-Man is 5'10" and weights 167 lbs per Marvel website.