Red Pepper Cheesecake

Each time we make this, we find ourselves and all of our guests crowding around it, taking turns digging in for the first hour of our visit...it's a big hit. We're anticipating friends for dinner tonight and we made this special pre-dinner snack again. I also made a 2 layer sour cream chocolate cake with strawberry jam filling with a dusting of confectioner's sugar! Our friends regularly treat us to meals straight from their garden, delicious European treats, liquors and homemade limoncello. It's payback time. I'm making Vietnamese noodles with shrimp for dinner.
Here is the wonderful appetizer recipe taken from Giada's cookbook:
"Despite the apricot topping, this is a savory dish, not a dessert, and it’s a knockout addition to an appetizer buffet. Be sure to pat the bell peppers dry with paper towels and don’t chop them too fine or they will turn the cheese filling pink. Note that the pan size is a bit unusual so make sure you have the right one before you start the recipe."

4 to 6 serviings

4 ounces ricotta cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
Kosher salt
2 jarred roasted red bell peppers cut in thin strips and halved (about ½ cup)
4 pitas
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup apricot jam
1 to 2 teaspoons hot water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap the outside of a 4½-inch round springform pan with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil.

Place the ricotta, cream cheese, and goat cheese in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the sugar, egg, and a pinch of salt and pulse a few times until well mixed and thick and creamy. Fold in the red pepper strips with a rubber spatula. Pour the cheese mixture into the springform pan.

Place the springform pan in a roasting pan and pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the cheesecake is golden at the edges and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes (the cake will become firm when it is cold). Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool for 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.

To make the pita chips, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the pitas into 8 triangles each (like a pie). Place the triangles on rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle the triangles with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until crisp and golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.

To serve, combine the jam and the hot water in a small bowl and stir until the jam is liquefied. Remove the cheesecake from the springform pan and place on a serving plate. Drizzle the jam mixture over the top of the cheesecake. Serve the pita chips alongside.

Eggs in Purgatory

We just tried this for the first time this week and it is definitely coming into regular rotation. We LOVED it.
Saute garlic in olive oil over medium heat, add 1 cup of marinara sauce, simmer covered for 15 minutes. Gently crack four eggs into the sauce, making room with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and cover for 3 more minutes. Serve with crusty bread, we used pita.

Baked Eggs

This is one of my favorite breakfasts. Having recently discovered an allergy to egg white, I now eat around the white but still enjoy this dish.
Layer in each ramekin:
Sliced tomato
other steamed veg or cooked meat
1 egg
shredded cheddar and pepperjack, crumbled feta, or any kind of hard or soft cheese
T of cream
Salt and Pepper
Broil for aprox 15 min?

Korean Beef Ribs

I came home from work to this fabulous dish cooking in the slow cooker. Thank you awesome husband! The house smelled like a yummy Chinese restaurant.
Soy sauce
Brown sugar
2 Jalapeno, cut in half
Cook on low for 8 hours

Roast Chicken in the Crock

Cut the veg in half or quarters, no need to peel, skin or trim anything. Place in bottom of slow cooker. We use:
Carrot
Onion
Celery
Jalapeno
Rinse 5 lb chicken and stuff with halved lemons and any fresh or dried herbs on hand.
Place chicken on top of veg & douse with:
Soy sauce
Garlic minced
Salt & pepper
Set the cooker on low for 8 hours & marvel at how the house fills with a homey scent.

Suet bird Feeder

These days we spend a lot of time watching birds enjoy their feeders in our garden. I think I could watch them for hours from the warmth of the kitchen table. I decided to venture making a suet block for them with leftover suet from our roast chicken dinner.
Mix any of the following together:
1 C flour
1/2 C suet (rendered fat)
1/2 C oats
1/2 C peanut butter
1/2 C nuts
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C bird seed
1/2 C any other dried fruit, nuts, seeds you have lying around.
Mush into a sort of paste with a spatula & dump it onto wax paper. flatten into a block shape with another piece of wax paper & refrigerate to harden.

We cut our block into 3 even squares to fit the suet cage we picked up at the local hardware store for $3.99. Since hanging it up we have seen myriad more varieties of birds, and many dark small ones that we can't yet identify.

Citrus and Cheese Tart

Today, I made a citrus fruit tart to use a surplus crust from yesterday's pie making session. I decided to top the tart with mandarin oranges as we have half a box of these left over from Christmas time.

Combine the following and pour in a par baked graham cracker crust:
8 oz Cream Cheese (room temp)
1/4 C butter (room temp)
1/2 C sugar
2 egg yolks
Pinch salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
T lemon or orange juice
Bake on 425 for 10 minutes, reduce temp to 325 and bake for 30 minutes more.

Should be browned and slightly firm feeling. I love how it puffed up...

And fell way back down as it cooled. Resist the strong urge to dig in at this point.

Once custard is completely cool, arrange your fruit of choice on the top.

Brush on a glaze using some fruit jelly that you've heated a bit, or added hot water to.

Key Lime Pie

There's a lot more cooking and a lot less gardening around this house lately, it must be the middle of Winter! We made a wonderful Key Lime Pie for a dinner with friends last night. We had served this to them before & got a request for it again. We all agree it is amazing. For the recipe look up Oprah's key lime pie. Instead of graham crackers in the crust, we used almond biscotti from Christmas time. It was quite good.

Dry Fried and Marinated Tofu

Delicious and flavorful tofu-made delectable with a sweet and salty marinade.

Mix up a marinade using:
1/2 C Soy
1/2 C Rice Vinegar
1/4 C Sweet Rice wine
1/2 an onion minced
1 inch piece of peeled ginger root, minced
T chili paste
T lime juice

Cut tofu into the shape and size you would like to bite.

Fry on both sides in a dry pan to remove water. This allows the tofu to suck up all the marinade in the next step.

Fry in batches to give them room and add to marinade as they come off the pan.


Fry up 20 minutes or a day later. Layer with steamed veg, cooked noodles and chopped nuts...even better the second day as a cold noodle salad! This has me practically licking the plate.

Winter Veg

The last of the Winter harvest. Parsnips, leeks, parsley, beets, shallots and jalapenos! There are just a few leeks left in the garden for an early spring harvest.

The Last Tomato Harvest

This morning I pulled up the tomato plants and composted them. I was surprised to find a lot of lovely fruit on the vine!

I kept some green ones to make fried green tomatoes; one of my favorite garden treats last year.

San Marzano and Yellow Pear tomatoes.

Heirloom Sun Drop and Black Russian, I think? These were in an heirloom mix so I am guessing at the varieties.

Drying and ready for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Gifts from Sharon

My gardener friend Sharon called me over to pick up some plant divisions from her garden. They are now all safely planted, waiting until next spring for me to figure out what they are! I love that about gifting plants...sometimes you get a delayed surprise.
A Saxifraga with deep green rosettes for foliage. Planted under the coral bark maple in the front yard. I can't remember if she said a pink or white bloom.

Unknown, with compact low growing foliage, and a pink flower to float above on taller stems. Planted in the cutting garden.

White Aster, I believe, planted at the back of the millstone.

Unknown, lots of poky stems! planted in the south hill garden, between the rhody, crepe myrtle, Russian sages and diablo ninebark. Also: Poppies and forget-me-not.

Bishop's cap. Planted in the front shade garden next to the Snowberry tree.

White edged Hosta. The root on this was huge! Planted in the front shade garden.

Astilbe with pink shorter flowers. Planted beneath a leaky downspout, as I know Astilbes love water and I don't have much of that in my garden.

A tough year for Tomatoes

The tomatoes are finally ripening, unfortunately they are also splitting and showing signs of disease (blossom end rot) which is due to inconsistent water conditions.

Even though the weather has been hard on the plants and fruit, it was still worth it to me, I had a ton of dinners from these, and now getting to the see the rich colors of the heirloom varieties is very rewarding. Is it wrong to be inpatient for next years crop when this years is still on the vine?

Ripening Cherokee Purple.