Yeah, coffee wins!

Thank you all for voting on the poll last week, Hannah and I are so glad that there are other coffee lovers out there!

The final results were:

Coffee drinkers-12

None coffee drinkers-5

Sometimes coffee drinkers:-)...8!

Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake

This recipe and picture have been sitting in our draft box for about a month, finally I have found the time to post it! This recipe does take some time to make so make sure you give your self about 1hour, though it is time consuming it is REALLY worth it. I think Hannah and I have mentioned before that we do not really get why people like cheese cake, we both agreed it is just to cheesy......if that make sense:-) But this cheese cake changed our option by a mile, I think that we do really like cheese cake just more gourmet cheese cake. So if you are one of those cheese cake haters, give this one a try and I'm sure it will change your opinion on the subject too!

Brown-Sugar Apple Cheesecake

From Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the crust

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the apples

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 3 large apples, peeled, cored, and cut into eights
• 2 Tbsp light brown sugar

For the filling

• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 6 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp apple cider
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

To make the crust, first butter the bottom and sides of a 10″ spring form pan.

Break up the graham crackers and put them in your food processor, pulsing until you have 2 cups worth of fine crumbs. Stir in the ginger.

Melt the butter and pour it over the graham cracker crumbs, stirring until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and up the sides, as far as it will go. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

When the oven has been preheated, remove the pan from the freezer and wrap the bottom in aluminum foil. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Cool on a rack while you make the filling and cook the apples.

To cook the apples, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in the apple slices and cook until golden brown. Sprinkle the apples with the brown sugar and cook a few minutes longer.Put a pot of water on to boil and get a roasting pan large enough to hold the spring form pan ready. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, for about 4 minutes. Add the sugars and beat an additional 2 minutes.

Beat in the cider, vanilla, and cinnamon. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one at a time. Then, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream until well-combined.

To assemble, pour about a third of the batter into the crust.

Spoon the apples on top of the poured batter.Cover with the remaining batter.Place the spring form pan on the roasting pan, and then pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the spring form pan.Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes, and then cover the cheesecake with a foil tent to prevent excessive browning. Bake an additional 45 minutes to an hour. If the center still isn't quite set when you remove it from the oven, that’s okay. Transfer the cheesecake to a cooling rack, and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 6 ours; overnight is best. When ready to serve, run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the crust. Then, open the latch on the pan and remove the sides.Serve plain, or with a dollop of whipped cream.

New Poll!

Waffles Win!

A few weeks back I posted a poll asking people to choose there favorite between Waffles or Pancakes. It seems that there are lot more Waffle lovers out there, the final score came in at 12 for waffles and 6 for pancakes!

No lettuce for lunch? Oh, what to do!?!

As 12pm. was swiftly on its way today, I scurried into the kitchen to make lunch for Esther and I, and for my siblings as well.
After making a good old Texas meal of Quesadilla's for our ever hungry and appreciative brother's and sister, I scrounged around in the fridge for a few minutes trying to see what I could find to make Esther and I something to eat.
What, no lettuce? How could that be! I was thinking a salad sounded really good especially since the high was 75 degrees today:-) ( I just love Texas!)
Anway, since I was obviously not going to get my salad, I decided to get a bit creative with our delectible fridge ingredients; tuna, red peppers, and zucchini..........what an interesting combination.

I was really excited though, as I thought I could make something really good and different with these ingredients. Plus, I was really needing a break from practicing my harp anyway, and having to create a new and exotic lunch was just the perfect "harp practice" intermission!

I sliced the zucchini with a vegetable peeler, and then sprinkled it with a bit of chopped red pepper for flavor and color. What to do with the tuna? I love asian food, so I mixed it with a bit of soy sauce and tahini. After that was all done, I topped the zucchini with the tuna mixture.
After a drizzle or two of flax oil, it was set!
Now for a side, that was easy. We had some hummus that Esther made a few days ago so I put that on the side with a few slices of red pepper. A little more color was needed, and there was also an empty spot on the plate that looked lonely;-) So a few orange slices and 3 blackberries would do the trick of filling in that bare spot.......and tada, presto, we have lunch! Of course I told Esther she had to let me take a picture of it before she could devour it:-)

Double Chocolate Brownies

Since Valentines day is arriving within the week, we thought we had better make something chocolate and share the recipe with y'all! These brownies are an adaption from a recipe we saw on Elana's Pantry, we thought they looked so scrumptious that we must try them! Upon viewing the recipe, we found that we didn't have all the exact ingredients on hand, so we switched a few things around from the original recipe. They were just as good as the picture looked and we will be keeping the recipe in our brownie archives:-)

Double Chocolate Walnut Brownies

½ cup dark chocolate chips 73% cacao

¼ cup coconut flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

½ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ cup chopped walnuts(opt)

⅓ cup dark chocolate chips 73% cacao

1. Place ½ cup chocolate chips in food processor and pulse until the consistency of coarse sand
2. Pulse in coconut flour, salt and baking soda until combined
3. Pulse in eggs, agave, grapeseed oil and vanilla
4. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pyrex dish
5. Sprinkle walnuts and remaining chocolate chips over batter
6. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes
7. Cool and serve

Autumn Vegetable Stew

Here is the recipe for the stew I promised!

Autumn Vegetable Stew with Cheddar-Garlic Crumble Crust

For the Cheddar Topping:

2 c. flour( we used whole wheat)

1 tsp. salt

1 T. plus 1 tsp. baking powder

6 T. butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

1-1/3 c. heavy cream( we used milk)

1 ½ tsp. finely chopped garlic

Pinch of coarse ground pepper

½ c. grated sharp cheddar cheese

For the Vegetable stew

About 3 T. olive oil

About 3 T. butter

1 red onion, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch rounds

1 medium celery root, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces(we used russet potatoes)

1 acorn squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces( we used butternut squash)

1 parsnip, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces( we used sweet potatoes)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 c. dry white wine

3 T. tomato paste (we skipped this)

3 c. chicken, vegetable broth or water

1 T. fresh chopped marjoram( we used dried)

Salt and pepper to taste

To make topping, mix flour, salt and baking powder in large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry knife until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the cream, garlic, and pepper. Add the cheddar cheese and mix lightly with a wooden spoon until mixture just holds together. Let rest.

To make the stew. Heat the oven to 400. In a large saucepan, heat about ½ the oil and butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery root, cook stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned about 7 min. Transfer the cooked veggies to a large 13x9 inch pan` . Add the rest of the butter and oil to the skillet. Add the squash and parsnip and sauté until they are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for another couple minutes, and then add all to the 13x9 pan. Increase the heat and add to high and add the wine, paste and broth to sauté pan. Bring to boil. Scraping up the browned bits stuck to the bottom, lower heat and simmer about 3 min. Add this liquid to the baking pan with the veggies, sprinkle with marjoram and season with salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil and bake the veggies just until tender about 30mins. Remove foil. Using a large spoon, dot the surface of the veggies with Ping-Pong ball sized dollops of cheddar topping. The top of the casserole should look like the surface of the moon; bumps and craters are ideal. Return the casserole to the oven, uncovered until topping is cooked and browned about 25 min.