Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars

Now these are the kind of dessert that I (Anna) adore. They were so nice and creamy, and the raspberry swirl part was fantastic. I will be making this often.


Ingredients :

1 ¼ cups graham crumbs
¼ cup butter, melted
2 packages cream cheese (8 oz each),softened at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
3 tbsp of lemon juice
2 eggs
1/3 cup strawberry jam (or any other jam you'd like)



1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease and line an 8” x 8” square baking with parchment paper with leaving an overhang on both side (for easy removing you slices later)
2. Mix crumbs and butter together and press firmly into bottom of the pan. Set it aside.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and lemon juice in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition, just until blended. Pour over crust.
4. Heat up strawberry jam slightly in the microwave. Gently drop jam by small spoonfuls over top of batter. Cut through batter several times with knife for marble effect.
5. Bake 40 min. or until centre is set. Cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before cutting it.

Cheesecake Brownies

A nice combination of creamy cheesecake and brownies. Although I'm not a big brownie fan, these were ok.

You can make the brownie bottom out of a package, but that's not our style. So here's the brownie recipe we used.

Ingredients :

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 oz of unsweetened baking chocolate (I used 4 oz)
1 1/4 cup of sugar (I used only 1 cup)
2 eggs
1 cup of flour
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt

For the cream cheese topping:

1 (8 oz) low fat cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup of sugar

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 8 x 8 inch square baking pan. Set aside.
2. Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth (4 to 7 minutes). Remove from heat.
3. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix just until all ingredients are moistened and brownie mixture is smooth.
4. Spread brownie mixture into prepared baking pan.
5. For the topping beat the cheese, egg and sugar until smooth. Dollop the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter. Swirl together using a knife or skewer.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until brownies just begin to pull away from sides of pan. *Make sure the center is not jiggly; if it is, keep them in longer.* Cool completely and then cut into bars and serve.

Sherried Sardine Toast with Salad

This has become one of my new favorite meals. I love these sandwiches so much. They're so easy to make, and go great on any day and with anything. I ate them with salad.

Here's the ingredients:
Ingredients

* 2 (3.75-ounce 2-layer) tins brisling sardines in olive oil
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves, divided
* 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
* 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest, reserve the lemon and cut into 4 wedges
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 4 (1/2-inch) thick slices crusty bread, such as sourdough, country loaf or rye
* 1 ripe Hass avocado
* Coarse sea salt

Here's how you make it:
Drain the oil from 1 tin of sardines into a small bowl and set aside. Drain the oil from the other tin into another small bowl and whisk in 1 tablespoon of parsley, vinegar, lemon zest, and black pepper, to taste. Add the sardines, stir to combine and set aside for up to 1 hour.

After 45 minutes, put a rack 3-inches from the broiler and heat the oven to the broiler setting on high. Brush each slice of bread on 1 side with the reserved oil. Put the bread, oil side up, onto a cooling rack set inside a half sheet pan and broil 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Halve the avocado and remove the pit. Smash the flesh in each half with a fork.

Spread the avocado evenly onto the toasted bread. Top evenly with the sardines. Pour any remaining dressing on top and garnish with the remaining parsley.

Season lightly with sea salt and serve with lemon wedges.

---Instead of putting the bread slices in the oven, I just put them into the toaster (same concept). Also, you don't have to wait that long when you mix the ingredients together. It still tastes awesome if you eat it right away.

Cinnamon Apple Cream Cheese Crossover

Cinnamon Apple Cream Cheese Loaf

Ingredients :

* 6 oz of low fat cream cheese
* 1 egg – separated
* 3 tbsp of powder sugar
* 2 apples
* 1 (11 oz) tube of bread stick dough


Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

In a bowl combined soft cream cheese, powder sugar and egg yolk. Mix until well combined.

Cut up the apples into medium sized wedges. Heat up a medium saucepan and add the apples, four tablespoons of water, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a tsp of sugar, and half a tsp of nutmeg. Keep heating until the water is gone and the apples are soft.

Remove breadstick dough from the tube, unroll it and separate the dough and you will have two rectangles. Join the dough up by placing both dough rectangles horizontally on a lightly greased baking sheet. Press the steam together. Spread cream cheese mixture onto the centre of the dough. Layer the apples onto the cream cheese Separate the dough perforations up to the cheese mixture (You might need scissors for this). Slightly pull and stretch the dough strips. Start from the top and bring and braid dough strip to cover the filling. Make sure to tuck and seal both ends of the loaf.

Beat the egg white and brush it all over the loaf, (I sprinkled sugar on top too). Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool the loaf.

Potato Wedges

So, for lunch/dinner we had potato wedges. These are so easy to make. Cut 4-5 potatoes into wedges. They should be regular yellow ones, red ones, and sweet potatoes. That makes a variety to tastes. Then in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika. Toss this all together and your done. Pour this on a baking sheet, put in the oven at 400 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes depending on if you want them crispy or just cooked. Halfway through baking, turn them over. Eat them with ketchup, bbq, whatever. Enjoy!

Raspberry Loaf

This loaf was spectacular, and pretty easy to make. Here's the recipe:
Sour Cream Raspberry Swirl Loaf
Origin: Cooking Light
Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 55 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
● 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
● 3 tbsp. chopped walnuts, toasted
● 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
● 1 tsp. baking powder
● 1/4 tsp. baking soda
● 1/8 tsp. salt
● 3/4 cup sugar
● 1/4 cup butter, softened
● 2 tsp. grated lemon rind
● 1 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract, divided
● 1 large egg
● 1 large egg white
● 3/4 cup fat-free sour cream
● Cooking spray
● 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
● 1 1/2 tsp. 2% reduced-fat milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine raspberry jam and walnuts in a small bowl.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine sugar, butter, lemon rind, 1 teaspoon vanilla, egg, and egg white in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spread half the batter into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Spoon raspberry mixture over top, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Spread remaining batter over raspberry mixture.

Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Combine 1/8 teaspoon vanilla , powdered sugar, and milk in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over loaf.

It turned out so good we couldn't wait to eat it!

What we made today.

So, we had a baking extravaganza and we felt like making two dessert type meals. The first was a raspberry loaf, while the other was a cream cheese thing.
Here's the loaf:






Here's the cream cheese thing: