Chocolate & Peanut Butter Mousse Cheesecake

Are you looking for a crazy, decadent, over-the-top in deliciousness, dessert?  Well then look no further.  Seriously.  I have you covered right here.  This cheesecake is heaven.  I am a lover of all things  peanut butter and chocolate (who isn't though, right?!), so this was right up my alley.  You know, when my husband and I were dating, he claimed to be a hater of cheesecake.  I thought he was completely nuts and it was almost a deal breaker for me.  I mean, how could I be with someone who wouldn't share a slice of cheesecake with me?!  Thankfully, I have since converted him (yeah, I'm taking credit for it) and he now loves it...as long as it is high quality and totally rich.  And let me tell you, he loved this!  He even had a piece for his after-church snack today and he does NOT do left overs of any kind!  My favorite part was the peanut butter mousse.  It balanced perfectly with the rich chocolate and ganache layers to create a little bit of heaven in every bite.  Make this as soon as you can, but make sure you have someone to share it with...and maybe a tall glass of milk.  This is insanely delicious!  You will love it!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Mousse Cheesecake

1-1/2 cups chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (like Oreos)

1/4 cup butter, melted

Mousse Layers

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

5 ounces cream cheese softened

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1-1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped, divided

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 milk chocolate candy bar (3.5 ounce), chopped

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ganache

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2/3 heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter.  Press onto the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan.  In a bowl, beat the peanut butter, cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth.  With a spatula, fold in 1-1/4 cups of the whipped cream.  Spread over crust.

Place bittersweet and milk chocolate in a bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring sugar and milk just to a boil.  Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth.  Stir in vanilla.  Cool to room temperature.  Gently fold in remaining whipped cream.  Spread over peanut butter layer.  Cover and freeze for 2 hours or until firm.  

For ganache, place chocolate in a bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream just to a boil.  Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth.  Stir in vanilla.  Cool to reach spreading consistency, stirring occasionally.  Spread over cheesecake.  Refrigerate until set.  With a knife, loosen cheesecake from the springform pan and remove rim.  Serve.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Recipe Source:  Adapted from Taste of Home

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Tomato Cream Soup

As I mentioned last week, my family has been hit hard with sickness.  My kids had it, my husband had it, and after 2 weeks, I still have it!  I have had enough of this little bug and can't wait to kick it!  On the day that my husband was at his worst, I knew that the only thing that he would be able to handle for dinner, would be a nice hot bowl of soup.  But since I was still not feeling fabulous, I wanted something easy and fast.  This recipe fit the bill for all of those things.  I whipped it up in a matter of minutes and served along side a hot grilled cheese sandwich, it was the perfect meal for all of us sickies around here!  My husband especially liked this soup.  You can never have too many soups in your file and one that is as easy and painless as this, is even better!  

Tomato Cream Soup

2 cups milk

1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened (I used light with stellar results)

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Place all ingredients in a blender.  Cover and process until smooth.  Transfer to a large saucepan and heat through.  Serve warm. 

Recipe Source:  Taste of Home

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Caprese Chicken with Bacon

I adore the flavors of caprese!  I love the fresh taste of basil and tomato together, and mozzarella is my very favorite type of cheese.  Now throw some bacon to the caprese mix and holy cow, we have a major winner!  This dinner is so simple, so fresh, so beautiful and so delicious!  It really couldn't be easier to throw together and my house always smells divine while its baking.  I love this dish and I think that you will too!

Caprese Chicken with Bacon

8 strips of bacon

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1 Tablespoon olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 plum tomatoes, sliced

6 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

4 slices mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place bacon in an ungreased baking dish.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until partially cooked but not crispy.  Remove to paper towels to drain.  Place chicken in an ungreased 13x9 baking dish.  Brush chicken with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Top with tomatoes and basil.  Wrap each breast in two bacon strips, arranging bacon in a criss-cross.  Bake uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees.  Top with cheese and bake 1 minute longer or until melted.  

Recipe Source:  Taste of Home

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Peanut Butter-Banana Whoopie Pies

My family has been hit majorly hard with a bug this past week!  I was sick the entire time we were in Disneyland!  We have been home for days and I still can't kick this thing!  I was even stuck in bed on my birthday for the whole day!  I didn't even have the strength to make myself a cake!  It was a sad sad way to enter the last year of my 20's!  I guess I will just have to find another excuse to make a decadent and yummy dessert!  Anyways, this sickness has caused me to be useless in about every facet of life right now...except laying on the couch and ingesting rather large amounts of popsicles...I've got that down okay.  I have not cooked a real meal for my family in what seems like an eternity!  I'm hoping to get back to that tomorrow.  So for tonight I will leave you with these delightful little whoopie pies that I baked up several weeks ago.  I think peanut butter and banana are a match made in heaven and these combine both flavors perfectly.  This was my first experience with whoopie pies and I thought they were a pretty fun little treat to throw together, and I'm excited to try out many more combinations!  Enjoy!

Peanut Butter-Banana Whoopie Pies

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Filling:
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tablespoon butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Additional confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  In a small bowl, combine banana and buttermilk.  Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with banana mixture.  Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until set.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.  For filling, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and butter until fluffy.  Beat in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Spread filling on the bottoms of half of the cookies, about 1 Tablespoon on each.  Top with remaining cookies.    Dust with additional confectioners' sugar.  Store in the refrigerator.  I would suggest removing pies from the fridge about 10 minutes before consuming. They are much more delicious when closer to room temperature than cold.

Recipe Source:  Taste of Home

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Sausage & Pepper Chip Dip

Not so long ago, I was sure that I hated sausage and peppers.  I mean, I have spent my whole life thinking that I despised both, right along with mustard, ketchup and mushrooms.  So as a general rule I pretty much steered clear of any food items, that included either of those ingredients.  For about a year my husband begged me to make him some incredible chip dip that my mom had made "about a million times" (he said).  I honestly and truly had zero idea what he was talking about.  Even as he described it, I thought for sure he was making things up because I had never so much as laid eyes on what he was talking about.  I finally called my mom on the off chance that she would have any idea what this was and sure enough, she did.  And she apparently had made it on several occasions in which I was in attendance.  But because of my pepper and sausage hating ways, I just skipped right over it without paying it any ounce of attention at all.  Finally having the recipe in hand, I made this for Jason and some friends several times before I finally relented and gave it a try myself.  One bite and I was hooked.  For a moment, all was right in the world and I wondered how I had willingly skipped over this dip for years and years.  No matter, I have definitely made up for the lost time by now.  We make this for every football party, family get together and holiday.  We love it!  I love it!  I, the sausage-loathing, pepper-hating, spicy-fearing woman, could eat this every day!  It really is that good.  Not convinced yet that a dip can change your life...make this.  I dare you.

Sausage & Pepper Chip Dip

5-6 medium size peppers, using a combination of red, yellow and orange

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles

1-16 ounce container of sour cream (I always use light with excellent results)

1-8 ounce package cream cheese (I always use light with excellent results)

1 pound spicy pork sausage

1 pound mild pork sausage

Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat.  When completely browned, drain fat and place sausage in a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker.  Wash peppers and roughly chop them.  Place them in slow cooker with the browned sausage.  Add the tomatoes, sour cream and cream cheese to slow cooker.  Stir until combined.  Cover and let cook on high for about 45 minutes to an hour or until peppers are soft and dip is warmed through.  We have also cooked this on the stove top when we needed it in a hurry and it worked great as well.  Serve with tortilla chips.  

Recipe Source:  My really great mom Kris

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Gnocchi Chicken Minestrone

I, my friends, am just hours away from leaving this sunny place I live in, to head to yet another sunny place, that is Southern California!  We are taking our kids on a last minute surprise trip to Disneyland and I could not be more excited!  Mostly I can't wait to see their sweet faces tomorrow morning when they realize where we are and what we are doing!  If this trip had not been planned last minute, I never would have been able to keep it from them!  I have just about spilled the beans a dozen or more times!  Speaking of beans, I have a tasty soup to share with you today, chalk full of hearty and healthy things like beans, peppers, zucchini, chicken breasts, peas, and potato gnocchi.  In case you are not privy as to where in the grocery store gnocchi is found, as I was not, you can find look for it in the pasta or frozen foods section.  So for those of you who are not leaving one sunny place for another, and are still stuck behind closed doors because of freezing temperatures and/or inches of snow, (I'm talking to you my hometown folks in good old Pocatello, Idaho), then this soup is for you!  Served up with some Parmesan bread sticks, this is the perfect cold-weather, comfort meal.  

PS...I have heard so much about the fantastic food at Disneyland, and even though I have been there more than half a dozen times, I have yet to discover any of these culinary treasures.  Does anyone have any recommendations for must-eat meals or restaurants in Disneyland?!  Please let me in on any secrets you might have!!  Thanks a million!  

Gnocchi Chicken Minestrone

1-1/4 pounds chicken tenderloins or breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 small green pepper

1 small red pepper

1 small yellow pepper

1 medium zucchini, finely chopped

1/3 cup chopped red onions

1/3 cup chopped prosciutto or deli ham

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans (14.5 ounce each) chicken broth

1 can (14.5 ounce) Italian diced tomatoes, undrained

3.4 cup canned white or kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup frozen peas

3 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 package (16 ounce) potato gnocchi

1/2 cup shredded Asiago or Italian blend cheese

8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Sprinkle chicken with oregano, salt and pepper.  In a skillet, saute chicken in 1 Tablespoon oil until no longer pink.  Remove from pan and set aside.  In the same pan, cook the peppers, zucchini and onion in remaining oil until tender.  Add prosciutto and garlic, and cook 1 minute longer.  Transfer vegetables to a soup pot.  Add the broth, tomatoes, beans, peas and tomato paste and chicken.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Meanwhile, cook gnocchi according to package directions.  Drain and stir into soup.  Garnish each serving with cheese and basil.  

Recipe Source:  Adapted from Taste of Home

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Coffee Cake Muffins

It is very unlike me to post two sweet treats right in a row.  However, these muffins were just so amazingly delicious, that I thought it would be quite unfair of me not to share them with you as soon as possible!  Coffee cake is one of my most favorite things in the whole world!  Anything topped with streusel is a-ok with me!  So when I found the recipe for these muffins that not only had a an amazingly delicious pecan streusel topping, but also had a ribbon of streusel tucked inside, I knew I had to make them immediately.  After my husband ate one of these this afternoon, he declared them the best muffin I have ever made!  I won't divulge to you how many of these things I ate because I would be embarrassed, but I am telling you that you should make them right away.  They were so so good.

Coffee Cake Muffins

Makes 12 muffins (I actually only got about 9 but I made mine pretty big)

Streusel topping:

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans

Muffins:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease twelve muffin cups or line with paper baking cups and set aside.  For topping, in a small bowl stir together the 3 tablespoons flour, brown sugar and the 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.  Cut in the 2 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in the nuts, set topping aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the 1-1/2 cups flour, granulate sugar, baking powder, the 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt.  Cut in the 1/4 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  

In another bowl, combine egg and buttermilk.  Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy and pretty sticky).

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each one-third full.  Top with half of the streusel topping, then the remaining batter and the remaining topping.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in muffin cups on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Remove from muffin cups, serve warm.

Recipe Source:  Better Homes and Gardens

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