Japanese Cheesecake

 

200g / 8 oz cream cheese 5 eggs - separated 100g/ 1/2 cup cream 130g / 1/2 cup plain yoghurt 50g / 3/8 cup cake flour 80g 3/8 cup sugar 20g / 1 1/2 Tbs lemon juice

1. soften cream cheese, add heavy cream, mix and stir well

2. add and mix to mixture, one egg yolk at a time

3. sift flour into mixture and stir well

4. add lemon juice and stir well

5. preheat oven 340 F

6. beat egg white separately and slowly add

Preheat the oven to 170C/338F Water bath method Bake at 160C/320F for 20 minutes then reduce the temperature to 120C/248F, bake for 60 minutes

--- Japanese Souffle Cheesecake, no butter recipe - YouTube

Strawberry Filled Sour Cream Cake

Today I decided to make a big birthday cake for my best friend. The weather is hot and humid, so I want to make a very summery cake. I ran early to the store early this morning to grab a tub of some sour cream thinking I will make a doctored sour cream birthday cake using some vanilla cake mix. But I didn't realize I didn't have the right cake mix at home. Darn !!! So I instead decided to make a summery strawberry themed birthday cake from scratch. I wanted this cake to be a white cake because I plan on filling the cake with strawberry filling, so I looked around for a good recipe, and this is the best one I found. here

I am making 1 1/2 the recipe because it will be a big 3 layer cake.

To bake this cake you'll these ingredients:

2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat the ovens
Begin by preheating the oven to 350º Fahrenheit.

Prepare cake pans
Prepare 2 10-inch round cake pans, lined the bottom of each pan with parchment paper.

Instruction:
In a bowl, measure flour and baking powder together, set aside.

In a bowl of your stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add eggs one at a time, making sure to fully incorporate each egg before adding another. Add sour cream to mixture and mix well. Next, mix in milk slowly while continuously mixing.

Next, mix in flour mixture to the mixer running mixer in low to medium speed until incorporated, do not over mix on this step. Then, stop the mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, to make sure all ingredients are mixed.

Batter into Pans:
Now its time to pour batter between the cake pans, using 1-cup measuring cup to even scoop to each pan. Place pans into oven. Bake for 35 minutes, test cake by poking a toothpick and should comes out clean.

Decorate the Cake
Once is cool, evenly cut the cake into 2 layers. Ice between each layer, secure the parameter by piping 1/2 inch icing border, fill strawberry preserve and place pieces of cut strawberries all over the cake on each of the layer. (see picture) I saw this decorating idea from Pinterest, will add the link here. (shortly).

Here are pictures of the cake.

Green Bean Casserole

I believe this is my first time making the traditional Green Bean casserole. Again, I was tasked with bringing a vegetable dish, preferably the infamous Green Bean casserole and honestly, I am not a fan of this particular vegetable dish. Based on my experience, there are many veggie dishes that are much better. But tradition is tradition, so I will participate will a smiley face and love in my heart. 

I did some online research for a variety of ideas and recipes that might be more appealing to me. Not a huge difference in ingredients, but maybe an improvement over what I have eaten, This was a good idea and I was really pleased with how the new recipe twists I learned about made a real difference,

For the most part, I decided to stick with the same main ingredients, but with a few minor changes. I am still using the store bought French Fried Onion as well as using a can of cream of celery (that is what I have in my pantry, I would use cream of mushroom if I have that but either is fine).

So, here it is.

             Green Bean Casserole dish ready, enjoy!

                           

                     Cooked green bean, mushroom and onions and 2 tablespoonful of fried bacon bits.     

                           Dish topped with cream of celery and ready to go into the oven at 350 degree

                               for 30 mins.

               Once the dish is taken out of the oven, I sprinkle generous portions of French Fried Onions and

                serve immediately, I have added more French Fried onions later on the leftovers! Great as

                leftovers. I will make these again.

Recipe:

1 pound green bean (snipped both ends of green beans)

1 8oz white mushroom

1 medium size onion, finely sliced

2 Tbsp oil

2 tsp ground basil

1 10oz can of cream of mushroom/celery

3/4 cup of milk

salt, pepper, 2 Tbsp soya sauce, 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 Tbsp bacon bits

1 can French Fried Onions

Instructions:

In a 4 quart pot, bring water to a boil. Add green bean and let boil for 6-7 mins.

Remove green beans and run tap water over green beans, set aside.

In another sauce pan, heat oil on pan. Add onions, saute for 2 minutes.

Add mushrooms, basil and soya sauce and saute for another 2 minutes.

Add green beans, bacon bits and balsamic vinegar, saute another 3 minutes.

Scoop to a casserole dish.

In a bowl, stir together cream of mushroom/celery and milk.

Pour cream of mushroom mixture over the casserole dish and spread evenly to cover dish.

Bake at 350 degree for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with French Fried Onions over dish and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Apple Cream Cheese Bar

We have been invited to our brother and sister-in-laws home for Thanksgiving dinner and we are tasked with bringing a second dessert, since pumpkin pie will be the star of the show, I decided to make this Apple Cream Cheese Bar. The idea is that this dessert will compliment the pumpkin pie.

This recipe requires multiple steps to prepare it as there are 4 layers in total to makeup this dish. 

                        1. The first layer is a crust at the bottom made of graham crackers and butter 

                               ... bake at 350 degree for 6-7 mins

                                2. The second layer, is a cream cheese mixture. You have to pay attention so it is layered smoothly and evenly. I used the back of a spoon or you could use a plastic knife for this purpose

                                    

                             

                             3. The third  layer is an apple pie filling, Just drop this filling over the cream cheese                                       layer.....

                      

                        ...here is the evenly smoothed 3rd apple filling layer

                  

                         4. The fourth layer is an oatmeal topping, Again tamp it down lightly using the                                              back of a spoon .

                              Bake in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees, 

                              Let it cool completely and then place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours. 

                              Then you can evenly and easily cut your Apple Cream Cheese Bar. 

           

Recipe:

Crust - bottom layer (1st layer )

1 1/2 cup of crushed graham crackers (from a pack of graham crackers )

3 Tbs soften melted butter or oil

2 Tsp sugar

Lined parchment paper on bottom of 8 x 8 pyrex pan dish.

Mix all ingredients and spread evenly on dish, bake for 7 mins at 350 degree.

Cream Cheese Layer

8 oz soften (room temp) cream cheese

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients, with patience, slowly and evenly spread cream cheese mixture using plastic spatula or knife on top of crust layer.

Apple Pie Filling

3 apples peeled and diced into small cubes

2 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbs cornstarch

In a sauce pan, over medium heat, cook all ingredients except cornstarch until bubbly.

Add cornstarch as soon as apples are soften/bubbly, stir quickly, turn off stove.

Scoop apple pie filling onto the cream cheese layer.

Again, evenly smoothen apple pie filling topping.

Oatmeal Crumbles layer:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 Tbsp melted butter

Mix well all ingredients, spread over top of Apple pie filling layer.

Lightly tamp down layer.

Bake at 350 degree for 50 mins.

Cool dish completely.

Place dish in freezer for an hour or 2.

Cut Apple Cream Cheese Bar to desired bite size pieces/bars.

Enjoy!!

 

Random Pieces Quilt

I just finished this quilt using lots of various fabric scraps. I struggled with this particular design and  wished I would have used bigger sized square pieces instead of the little ones. But since I already committed to the fabric I decided to throw in a few BIG pieces to mix the design up a little bit, hoping that things would somehow work out for the best.

For the quilt's backing, I decided to use a thinner fabric instead of the usual thicker and heavier backing I normally use. This makes this quilt much lighter than most of my earlier ones and makes it a better fit for a picnic blanket or table cover even a big throw blanket in the family TV room !

s

Mini Apple Pie Loaf

  With this being apple season, I really wanted to bake something with apples and fine tune some of my apple recipes. So here is my latest test recipe that I hope will be a big improvement over some of my earlier ones. 

  I was very happy that the taste and texture of this new recipe was really moist and delicate. The apples I used were really sweet and firm, which is what really made this apple cake special. So far the first little cake didn't last more than half a day, so that tells me that I did something right.  So once it is cut, you better get in line fast before it is all gone. So for now, I think this is my go-to recipe....at least for now!!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oil

1 ripe banana (or 1/2 cup apple sauce which ever you have available, I used banana)

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

4 apples

Additional to sprinkle on top of each mini loaf - cinnamon and 4 tsp sugar.

Directions:

* Line parchment paper on bottom of 4 mini loaf pan.

* peel each apple, quarter and chop 3 pieces of the 4 and line chopped apple into each mini loaf pan, chop the 4th quarter, set aside for topping to the loaf pan.

* In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar together.

* add egg and mix well, add mashed banana, and mix in oil, stir well.

* divide mixture and scoop/drop mixture onto each mini loaf pan

* top each mini pan with the remaining apple, sprinkle each pan with the last quarter of chopped apple, cinnamon and 1 tsp sugar.

* bake at 350 degree for 40-45 mins.

Chicken & Mushroom with Wine Sauce

 I wanted to try a new chicken recipe for dinner. I am not fond of cooking as much as I like my baking. I will cook for friends and family when we entertain, but most of the time I am just not very inspired. I will take my time and plan out my menu. I try my best to make things nice and hospitable, but for our daily meals, they are usually quick and simple dishes that we both know and like. But I would like to be as creative in my cooking as I am in my baking, so this is the dish that I felt would get my creative juices flowing and bring us a tasty dish and some imaginative satisfaction as well. 

This dish is easy to make with lots of juicy flavor that surprised us both. It goes really well with rice and corn or a side salad, Since it went so well, I think I will make it again soon as main dish for guests the next time we host a get together. 

btw: I hope to cook more quick and delicious chicken recipes!

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breast (fillet to 3/4 thick slices)

1/2 cup red wine

4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp. corn flour (in a small cup, mix enough water to corn flour to form a diluted mixture, set aside)

1/2 cup milk

2 cup chicken broth

3 tsp chopped garlic

1 sliced onion

1 sliced bell pepper, 1 stalk celery, chopped

12 oz. baby Bella mushroom

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp. fresh or dried oregano (or thyme)

1 tbsp. oil

Instruction:

Over the stove, heat cooking pan, pour in oil and brown both sides on chicken over medium heat,  flip chicken over when brown, smear 1/2 tsp garlic on top of brown surface of chicken, do the same on the other side, then scoop chicken and set aside chicken on a plate or bowl.

On the pan, add mushrooms, let mushroom cook for awhile before flipping over, once both sides are evenly cooked, gather mushroom to one side of the pan.

Add onions and sauté until tender, add and stir peppers & celery together, sprinkle in salt, balsamic vinegar.

Add in chicken broth, milk, Dijon mustard and wine, let this come almost to a boil, add in the chicken and let this come to boil. Stir in the flour mixture. Turn down heat to medium low and let it simmer for 10 minutes and turn heat off. 

Let pan sit for 5 minutes, scoop chicken dish over or next to warm rice topped with fresh thyme/cilantro sprigs. Dinner is served, enjoy!