Valentine's Day Cheesecake

My man loves cheesecake, while I don't care for it. So it really is an unselfish gift that I made him one for Valentine's Day.

I used a recipe from a blog called What We're Eating. It's a recipe I've used before with the luscious caramel spilled all over the top, but this time I opted for a melted berry sauce. Berries obviously aren't in season, so I used frozen ones.

I also added the juice of one lemon plus the zest to the cheesecake batter, as per Brian's request for lemony goodness.

This cheesecake is dreamy, just like the title suggests. It is smooth and rich with a delicate tang that offsets the nutty crunch of the Nilla wafer crust. The crust was a little tough to break through with a fork, so maybe I wouldn't press it so tightly into the pan next time. Being Valentine's Day, I decorated it with a red-food-coloring-heart that I fingerpainted in the middle. Brian was mine with this valentine.

Classic Dreamy Cheesecake based on a recipe by What We're Eating

3 (8oz) packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbsp good vanilla extract
3 eggs
juice of one lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp salt

For the crust:
about 1/2 a box of Nilla wafers
1 stick (1/2 cup)unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the crust, place Nilla wafer cookies in a large (gallon-sized)freezer bag. Smash and roll them with a rolling pin until they are finely ground. Place the cookie crumbs in a small bowl. Add sugar and flour and stir to combine. Add in the softened butter and stir until the butter has coated all of the cookie/sugar/flour mixture and there are no dry bits in the bottom of the bowl. Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor.

Pour the crust mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Using a flat-bottomed measuring cup or a glass, press the cookie crust firmly in the pan, creating an even layer. Some folks work it up the sides, too, but I think this is frustrating and also unnecessary.

Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until crust begins to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for half an hour before adding filling to the crust. It will smell heavenly.


Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Position the oven rack in the center of the oven.

Start on the filling while the crust is cooling. Beat the cream cheese with an electric beater or stand mixer at medium speed until softly smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and then add the sugar and continue to beat at medium until fully creamed together, another 1-2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined and smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides frequently.


Once the crust has completely cooled, wrap tightly with 2 layers of foil. This is very important or else water will seep into your cheesecake while it is baking. When wrapped, pour the filling into the crust. It should be liquid enough to spread out on its own, but if not, give it a nudge with a rubber spat.

Place the cheesecake into a large roasting pan. Add enough water to the roasting pan to go halfway up the side of the spring form pan to create a water bath. (I don't have a large roasting pan, so I use my broiler pan with the top part removed. The water does not come up more than 1/4 of the way up the sides of my springform, but it works!) Bake the cheesecake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/4 hours. At this point, turn the oven off and leave the oven door open to let the cheesecake cool slowly.

After 20-30 minutes, carefully remove the pan from the oven and the springform pan from the roasting pan. Allow the cheesecake to cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Transfer the cheesecake to the refrigerate and chill for at least 12 hours before serving.

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This month's theme for Weekend Cookbook Challenge is love. I think my cheesecake qualifies. The challenge runs through February 28, so get your posts ready and send them to iliketocook AT shaw DOT ca.

Organics to You

I'm doing my own version of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, where dedicated folks post every day in the month of November). I'm going to try to post ONCE a week.

My first Organics to You bin arrives tomorrow! This is what will be inside:

3 sm. Gala Apples
2 Anjou Pears
2 HoneyCrisp Apples
1 Hosui Asian Pears
1 bunch Kale
1 Peppers
1-1.5lbs. German Butterball Potatoes
1 Onions
1 Garlic
1 Winter Squash(mixed types)
1 bunch Parsley
1 Celeriac(Celery Rt.)


I also added a loaf of bread from New Seasons and a dozen farm-fresh eggs. Yippee!

Also yay for kale and celeriac! Sounds like a good soup for fall.

WCC#32: Garlic

This month's Challenge is hosted by Carla of Chocolate Moosey and the theme is Garlic. It was a toss up between Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic and 44-Clove Garlic Soup. Can't go wrong either way, in my opinion. I've been trying to work my way through my Del.icio.us recipe bookmarks - I now have 198 - so I checked out what I had tagged under garlic. The soup sounded good, too, but Brian (no longer bf and hi, I'm Lisa, by the way) loves chicken, so I went with the classic Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic. I had been wanting to try this recipe since seeing Ina Garten make it on her Barefoot Contessa show. This one I found from smitttenkitchen, who in turn got it from the NY Times.

The recipe is pretty simple, especially if you can find those already-peeled garlic cloves. This was the first time I tried them, and I am officially a fan. These we picked up at Fred Meyer near the bagged salads and mushrooms.

I used my Lodge Dutch Oven for this with good results. I made some changes, though - I didn't use the chicken stock called for in the last step because I didn't have any made. It seemed to have enough liquid - and what's the point of browning chicken, creating perfectly crispy skin, and then sogging it up with too much liquid? I used chicken thighs instead of a whole cut-up chicken as well. Next time I make this I won't start with the heat on high like the recipe suggests as my garlic got a little browner than I wanted. It was still good, though. The recipe's a winner, especially served with Brian's mashed potatoes.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

from "Bistro Cooking" by Patricial Wells via the NY Times and Smitten Kitchen

1 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
About 40 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock or canned broth (optional)

1. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Place a deep, nonreactive skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add oil and butter. When fats are hot but not smoking, add chicken pieces skin side down and cook until skin turns an even, golden brown, about 5 minutes. Work in batches, if necessary, and carefully regulate heat to avoid scorching skin. Turn pieces and brown them on other side for an additional 5 minutes.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Bury garlic cloves under chicken to make sure they settle in one layer at bottom of skillet. Saute, shaking or stirring pan frequently, until garlic is lightly browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add wine and stock (if using), scraping bottom of pan.

3. Cover and continue cooking until juices run clear when a thigh is pricked, 10 to 15 minutes more. Check this after 10 minutes, because mine was definitely done then. Serve chicken with garlic and pan juices and, if desired, rice or potatoes.

I Won! I Won!

My dear Lizzy from Lizzy Dishes Portland hosted a contest giveaway and I won! I won a $50 gift certificate to the new Pearl restaurant Mercato.

Thanks, Lizzy!

Weekend Cookbook Challenge Round-Up

Hey, everyone! The round-up for WCC26: Pressure Cookers, Dutch Ovens and Crockpots is up. Thanks again to Lis from La Mia Cucina for hosting (and for thinking my pot roast looked good!)

April's theme is Vintage Cookbooks and is hosted by Carla of Chocolate Moosey. Pick a recipe from a cookbook written earlier than 1980, make it, blog about it, and send it all to Carla at mooseymoosecc AT hotmail DOT com. All entries are due Saturday, April 26.

I'm especially excited about this theme because I received Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Christmas and haven't cooked anything out of it yet. Guess I got some reading to do...

WCC#26: Not Too Romantic

...but it's pot roast.

It's supposed to be something using a Dutch Oven, Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker, according to the rules of Weekend Cookbook Challenge Number 26. So, I pulled out this random piece of meat from the freezer and gave it a go.

The recipe is loosely based on this one from Tyler Florence's Ultimate series. I guess I'm not really following the spirit of WCC by not using a cookbook, but I'm doing it in the spirit of making something I've never made before! Plus, I got to use my wonderful Lodge Dutch Oven that bf gave me for Christmas.

The roast I used was a shoulder roast, I think. Actually, I'm not sure at all what cut it was. It was on sale and I grabbed it up for the freezer. Use any big bone-in roast. I took it out of the freezer 2 days early and it still wasn't completely thawed, so I stuck it in the sink under running cold water for 20 minutes. (I also overflowed the sink and flooded my kitchen doing this, but that's another story.) Then I patted it dry with a multitude of paper towels and let it sit for about an hour to warm up.

Now, I was ready to rock! I generously salt-and-peppered the meat on all sides and rubbed it in a little. Then I set the oven to 200 degrees and set my Dutch Oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat. I dumped some olive oil (NOT EVOO) in it, enough to coat the bottom, plus a little more. I let that heat up a few minutes, then got ready to brown the roast.

Problem. It was a little too big for my Dutch Oven. Oh well, I just smooshed it down with my tongs and hoped for the best. Anyway, it browned up just fine and smelled good, too. Go me.

After the browning, I turned the heat down and added one big can of crushed tomatoes, a cup of water, two onions, a couple celery ribs, a bunch of baby carrots, an equal amount of button mushrooms and plenty of baby Yukon Gold potatoes to the pot. The onions and celery I cut into big chunks, but the rest I left whole. I grated a couple-three garlic cloves and tossed them into the pot as well. I seasoned it with rosemary and thyme and more salt and pepper. Use fresh herbs if you've got 'em, but I didn't and it was fine. Also add 2 bay leaves and another glug of olive oil and kinda stir the best you can to try to coat the veg.

I covered it with my tight-fitting Dutch Oven lid and slid that heavy thing into the oven. You probably should cook it 4-6 hours or so and baste it a lot. Mine wasn't quite done after 3 hours and I had to go to bed, so I just left it overnight.

What? Pot roast is good for breakfast, too.

And it was good. The meat broke apart and combined with the tomatoes and liquid from the veg and created a kinda stew-like mess. I loved it. I was going to give some away, but bf refused to let me. It'll be gone by tomorrow.

Thank you to this month's host of Weekend Cookbook Challenge, Lis from La Mia Cucina!

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I know I said it was Mom's Mac-n-Cheese next, but I had to get this up before the deadline of March 26th! So forgive me, please.

Also waiting in the wings are Shrimp and Andouille Gumbo and a Blueberry Tart.

WCC25: Chocolate Cloud Cake

First things first. WCC25 stands for Weekend Cookbook Challenge Number 25. Each month a different food blogger picks a theme, other bloggers post their recipes and the host collects the results. February's theme is Nigella Lawson, hosted by foodiechickie. Ideally one would choose a recipe from one's library of cookbooks, but I found a great recipe online from her book How to Eat. A word of warning, Nigella is a sassy Brit gal and so uses the metric system. Grams and millilitres don't convert so well to cups and spoons. After consulting an online conversion site, I gave up and purchased a digital scale.

The recipe I chose was a Chocolate Cloud Cake, a version of flourless chocolate cake finished with mounds of flavored whipped cream. I've made flourless chocolate cakes before, however, this one folds in beaten egg whites just before baking. This creates a delicious, light texture to a cake that is usually dense and fudgy. (Not that dense and fudgy are bad!) The cake's texture is smooth and quite similar to the whipped cream topping but with a little more substance.

Chocolate Cloud Cake à la Nigella

250g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
125g unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs: 2 whole, 4 separated
175g caster sugar: 75g in the cake, 100g in whites ( I used Superfine Baker’s Sugar)
2 tablespoons Cointreau – optional (didn’t use it)
Grated zest of an orange – optional (didn’t use it)
23cm springform cake tin

Cream Topping

500ml double cream (used heavy whipping cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Cointreau (substituted Kahlua)
.5 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder for sprinkling

Method: (these are pure Nigella with my notes alongside.)

1.Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. (This converts to 356F – I used 350F with great results)

2.Line the bottom of a 23cm Springform cake tin with baking parchment.



3. Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave, and then let the butter melt in the warm chocolate. (First time I used the microwave. 30 seconds at a time is a good pace to let the chocolate melt a little, stir, and let it go again.)

4.Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 75g caster sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture, the Cointreau and orange zest. (I hate how fruit and chocolate tastes together, so I omitted the Cointreau and orange zest in the whole recipe. I added nothing in place of it in this step.)

5. In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the 100g of sugar and whisk until the whites are holding their shape but not too stiff. (I saw Alton Brown and his egg whites episode the night before, and he recommended not using a stand mixer for your egg whites, as it tends to leave a pool of unbeatened whites at the bottom of the mixing bowl. I attempted to whip these to a ‘soft peak’ state by hand, and couldn’t do it in 15 minutes. My advice is to do it by hand as long as you can manage, then transfer it to your mixer. If you have a hand mixer, by all means use it.)




6. Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites, and then fold in the rest of the whites. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the centre is no longer wobbly. Cool the cake in its tin on a wire rack; the middle will sink as it cools.

7. When you are ready to eat, place the still tin-bound cake on a cake stand or plate for serving and carefully remove the cake from its tin. Don't worry about cracks or rough edges: it's the crater look we're going for here.



8. Whip the cream until soft and then add the vanilla and Cointreau and continue whisking until the cream is firm but not stiff. Fill the crater of the cake with the whipped cream, easing it out gently towards the edges of the cake, and dust the top lightly with cocoa powder pushed through a tea-strainer. ( I decided on Kahlua for the whipped cream; however, bourbon would be good, too)


Uh, I obviously forgot to dust with cocoa powder, too. It was a great cake, though!