Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

This week's SMS recipe is Coconut Pecan Frosting on the cake of your choice. We're not big on coconut, so I am posting this delicious recipe instead. SMS is being hosted by one of my blogging friends, Eliana of A Chica Bakes. Stop by her blog, I am sure her creation is amazing.

Have you met my blogging pal, Gnee of Singing With Birds? If you haven't, stop by her place and introduce yourself. Gnee shares the best recipes and takes amazing photographs.

What are your favorite desserts? For me it's anything chocolate, cheesecake and creme brulee. I am not a fan of fruit desserts. Why is that? I think it's because as my father said last weekend, I was raised on donuts and ice cream. When I saw Gnee's Creme Brulee Cheesecake bars, I knew I would be making them soon!

If you're watching what you eat, close this post now!! I can't even imagine the number of calories and fat grams in these bars. I'm sure that's why they are so decadent. It's a good thing I shared these with friends and co workers. Otherwise, I'd have eaten way too many.

Crème Brûlée Cheesecake Bars from Betty Crocker
Recipe Courtesy of Singing With Birds

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup toffee bits, finely crushed

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and 1 whole egg until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan.
2. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over crust in pan.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center. Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
Makes 36 bars

Happy Pink Saturday!

Penne With Sage Brown Butter Sauce

We've all experienced it, life getting in the way of blogging. I feel like I have a good routine for blogging. For the most part, my posts come together pretty easily. I try to plan out my posts for the week and whenever possible bake for my baking groups in advance. This week wasn't one of those weeks. We were out of town last weekend. I've been working on securing in home help for my 91 year old father and step mother. Life just got in the way!

As I was looking through my drafts folder, I find I have drafts with photos but no content. I was pleased to see NO dessert recipes in the folder. I think that's a first. :) Lots of pasta recipes in there though, guess you can't win them all! I don't consider myself a writer. I often find myself struggling with what to write and where to find my inspiration. There's so many of you who write beautiful, funny and inspiring blog posts. Where do you get your inspiration?

With winter just around the corner, I am savoring the fresh ingredients from my garden and the farmer's market. My sage seems to be thriving in the cooler weather. Pasta With Sage Brown Butter Sauce is on my Top 50 list! It's always a good feeling to post a date next to an item on my list. Don't you just love browned butter and the flavor it imparts?

Pasta With Sage Brown Butter Sauce
Recipe courtesy of Sidewalk Shoes

•6 tablespoons butter
•20 or 30 fresh sage leaves (or 1 tablespoon dried)
•salt and fresh black pepper to taste
•1 pound pasta (like ziti or penne)
•1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
•Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the sage, salt and pepper. Cook until the butter turns light brown, about 10 minutes.

Salt the boiling water and cook the pasta per package directions. Reserve 2 or 3 tablespoons of the pasta water and place in a warm serving bowl. Drain the pasta and in the serving bowl, toss it with the butter mixture and half the Parmesan cheese. Serve with additional ground black pepper and the rest of the Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4

I am linking this recipe to Foodie Friday's. I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Night's, hosted this week by Ruth at 4Every Kitchen.

From The Good Life

As the weather begins to cool off and the leaves start to turn one of the only Fall flowers in my garden is my Maximillian Sunflower. Much to my husband's dissapointment, I am not much of a mum fan. So our yard is lacking in Fall color. I need to change that, what are your favorite Fall flowers?

Today I should be posting this month's Chocolate With Francois recipe, Apple Saffron Tart. Unfortunately, life has just gotten in the way of my blogging this week. You can find the recipe at our host for this month, Accro's blog. Links to the other CWF bakers can be found here.

Root Beer Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken at our house. For me, the challenge is finding new and different recipes. I found this recipe at Monster Mama through Foodie Friday's quite a few weeks ago. If you've never been to Foodie Friday, check it out. There's so many awesome recipes and Michael's site is amazing!

I've made Dr.Pepper Flank Steak but never anything with Root Beer. I don't drink much soda or pop, as we call it here in the midwest. As a kid, Root Beer was my favorite.

I am giving you the recipe as written on Monster Mama's site. I decided to make this a slow cooker recipe. I doubled the sauce and cooked it on low for about 5 hours. It didn't have the same thick glazed finish as Monster Mama's did but it was delicious nontheless. You could put it under the broiler for a few mintues to carmalize the glaze. This one goes in my make again file.

Root Beer Chicken
Recipe Courtesy of Monster Mama
1/2 bottle of root beer (about 1 cup)
1/2 c dark brown sugar,packed
1/2 c of ketchup
1 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tbsp pepper jelly or other jam/jelly
1 tsp spicy mustard (I used Dijon)
4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into halves
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced and thickened. Hold over a very low heat until needed. Separate the sauce into two bowls (one for brushing on raw chicken and one for serving with your chicken on the side)
Preheat oven to 350º and line cookie sheet with foil or spray with non-stick spray.
Season your chicken with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder on both sides. Place on baking sheet and brush them with the root beer sauce. Bake about 10 minutes then turn over and brush with more root beer sauce and continue baking in oven until they are done how you like them and thoroughly cooked through - about 15 minutes more.


I am linking this to Tuesday's at the Table, Tasty Tuesday's and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam - SMS

I've always been a little intimindated by the thought of making jam. When I mentioned to one of my co-workers I was thinking about making jam. She said she hoped I had better luck with jam than she did. Okay, do I really want to try this? A couple of months ago, I ran across this recipe in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. It sounded easy and delicious. Besides this way I will be done with a SMS recipe ahead of time! :) Melissa's recipe says you can make this with the traditional canning method, which I knew I didn’t want to do, or you can freeze. Freezer jam is perfect for me.

If you’ve never made jam, I would recommend trying this recipe. It’s easy and fun. I love that this recipe uses Granny Smith Apples as a natural source of pectin. This recipe was a great example of something being so much easier than I expected. The most challenging part determining when the jam had cooked long enough.




This week's SMS recipe is Plum Raspberry Preserves. Thanks to Margot of Effort To Deliciousness for choosing this week's recipe. Margot has a feature on her blog, she gives every recipe an Effort to Delicousness ratio. You can see all of the other SMS gals preserves here.

Happy Pink Saturday!!

Wildflowers from a summer drive.

Happy Pink Saturday!!