Oreo Cheesecake cupcakes

So I made these in MAY...  yeah, I know.  I make lots of stuff, but never have time to post it!!!

It's been over a month since my last post b/c I've been super busy with my new job and my new workout regime!!!  (These cupcakes are pre-workout craze)  I started a new job one month and a day ago.  I work for an insurance company that writes policies for specialty lines.  I handle claims, which I did before, but this is a whole different monster!  It's definitely fun, I love working in the city, where there is sooooo much good food!  And the people are great.  I'm so lucky that when I left my family at ELCO, I managed to find a good fit with Tower Group. 

I've also started out a whole new lifestyle in regards to what I eat, how I workout and essentially, how I take care of myself.  I joined XSport Fitness and I work out 5-6 times each week, which includes once a week with my trainer, Jason.  I feel great!!! 
So I've been super busy this last month, but I'm hoping to get back in the sing of things, and post some of these GREAT recipes I've been trying out. 

These are obviously not healthy in any way, but they are deliciousness in a cup!!!  Who doesn't love Oreos?  YUM!

I also made the Cannoli cupcakes and bacon chocolate chip cookies (that recipe will be posted below as well)

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:
42 regular Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsley chopped
2 lbs of cream cheese 
1 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temp and lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Place one whole Oreo cookie in each cup.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.  Add sugar and beat until combined.  Add vanilla.  
Drizzle in the eggs, a little bit at a time.  Keep scraping the sides as needed to make sure everything is fully combined.  Beat in sour cream.  Stir in chopped cookies by hand.  
Pour batter into the cookie-filled cups evenly.  Bake about 22 mins, rotating half-way through.  
Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.  Refrigerate, in the tins, at least 4 hours or up to overnight.  Remove from tins just before serving.  

EAT!

  Doesn't it look like a sad face?

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies with vanilla pudding

Candied bacon
1 package thick cut bacon (about 10 strips)
brown sugar for sprinkling

Chocolate chip pudding dough
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 package vanilla pudding mix (four serving sized)
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 bag of chocolate chips

To make the candied bacon:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lay bacon on a parchment covered baking sheet so they are not overlapping. Sprinkle about 2 tsp brown sugar evenly on each strip of bacon.
Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven, flip bacon and drag it through the syrupy liquid that’s collected on the baking sheet. Put the bacon back in the oven for another 12-15 minutes, until it is fully cooked and very dark. Remove the strips from the sheet and cool on a wire rack. After they have cooked, chop them into tiny pieces.

To make the cookies:
Combine flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla pudding mix in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and bacon pieces.
Spray a cookie sheet with canola oil spray.
Spread dough onto the baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for aprx 12-15 minutes. I go a little less than that because I like soft gooey insides. 
Cool completely on a wire rack.  Cut into squares.

 These were such a hit with the kids.  Every one of them were like "ew" when they heard me talk about them.  And then they tried them...  Boy, were they devoured!!!

Plantain Cafe, Bolingbrook, IL

So, it was some time ago that I went to Plantain Cafe for the first time, but that's ok.  I knew I'd get to this post sooner or later!  I remember it all, so it's all good!
Plantain Cafe is a Puerto Rican/Mexican restaurant in Bolingbrook, IL, located so close to the Bolingbrook IKEA store.  You may be tempted eat in IKEA's restaurant for those CHEAP prices, but let me tell you, this place is the place to go!

We had a ton of food!  I went with my sister Katie and her boyfriend Freddie after we saw Alice in Wonderland at the IMAX in 3D.  It was pretty cool, btw.

The food was awesome, although I kinda wanted my sister's sandwich after trying it!  It was so good!
Sorry about some of the pics...  I forgot to snap some pics before we started eating  :)

I had the Caribeña- Roasted pork, mixed greens, grilled pineapple, chihuahua cheese, avocado spread

You have a choice of plantain chips or fries.  I'm not a huge fan of plantain chips, so I stuck w/ fries. 
The sandwich is so good.  The pork is thinly sliced, the pineapple is juicy and tart.  The sauce is has a kick w/out being spicy.  So good!

I also had and empanada, the Tinga- Skirt steak, chipotle, tomato sauce, onions, corn masa

 The dough was so flaky and soft.  The filling was delicious, again it had a kick w/out being spicy. So good!

Katie had the Sonora - Steak, mixed greens, onion, poblano peppers, chihuahua cheese, avocado spread

 Yum, this was GOOD.  Juicy and delicious.  I'd go back to get this, for sure!

Freddie had a lot of stuff...  He had a tamale, the Pork - Stone ground corn and pork served with red salsa and Arroz con Gandules - Rice with green pigeon peas

And Relleno de Papa - Potato stuffed with chorizo sausage & cheese, black bean sauce, chipotle cream

 They also had some fresh juices. I can't remember them all, but they let you try them before you pick with one.  Three of the four we tried were really good and it was hard to pick one.  But I managed to.  :)

I would say this is definitely a place to try if you live out there or drive out that way for anything in particular (like going to IKEA).  I don't know if you'd drive out there just for the cafe, but hey, to each their own right?  I mean, I drive out to places just to try the food, even if nothing else is around there...  But I am a nut  :)

Review of Shine Restaurant in Lincoln Park

I love trying new places all over the place.  While I think that there is nothing better than a home cooked meal, going out is awesome!

So I came across Shine Restaurant while in the city with a couple of friends.  We were at 1154 Lill shopping for a new purse---> don't you love it!  It's the Sandra purse.  I love Lill!!!

So anyways, we were walking around, looking for a place to eat...  We were going to try Toast b/c I've wanted to go there for forever, but they had a crazy 1 hour wait and we were STARVING!
So we walked down a couple of store fronts and there was Shine.  I've heard of them before and we all like Asian food, so we stopped in.

We were sat at a table close to the open window, which was nice since it was sunny out.  It was a tad windy that day, so at points, it was chilly, but still decent enough not to need to move.

What we ate:

Spring rolls: crispy egg roll stuffed with shrimp & chicken

,

Crisp lettuce wraps: beds of chicken snow peas, red peppers, scallions, sprinkled with pine nuts and a spicy plum sauce

Volcano Roll: a combination of tuna and avocado with special strawberry sauce, served with sprinkles of tempura, topped with fresh tobiko (we had our sans tobiko, none of us are fans of fish eggs!)

I don't like shrimp so I skipped the spring rolls, but the girls loved them.  The lettuce wraps were good, but I wish the lettuce they gave us was more green.  The volcano roll was delicious!  The tuna was fresh and the avocado was creamy.  The strawberries were an amazing addition, nothing I ever would have thought of.  The Tempura on the outside was the perfect touch.  All around, my favorite roll ever!




Our main dishes were... ok.  Honestly, I think we should have just gotten a bunch of appetizers.  


Garlic Sauce: zucchini, peapods, chestnuts, onions and mushrooms in spicy sauce with beef.  (I had mine sans mushrooms)

Spicy Kung Pao:  diced vegetables and roasted peanuts in spicy szechwan sauce with chicken

Harvest Stir-Fry: a seasonal medley of steaming vegetables in light sauce with chicken

We all thought the Kung Pao was the best of the three.  It had the best flavor of them all.  I wish I had gotten that instead...  Mine wasn't really super enjoyable, kinda boring actually.  And there was bamboo shoots in the mix, even though it wasn't on the menu.  I'm not a fan, so I picked around them.

The plus side is that they had super fresh veggies and the meat was not mystery meat like some hole in the wall places... Although, if you ask me, those place are the best! 

Either way, Shine is def a place to try.  Especially the appetizers!  Next time I go, and believe me, I will cuz I loved that roll, I would love to try the satay, tempura, soft shell crab appetizer, fresh duck wraps, hamachi carpaccio and the oyster shooter.  Yummm....
Oh and about 100 more rolls.  Please and thank you.  :) 

2010 Stanley Cup Champions!!!!!!

Congratulations to the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks!  I've been waiting for this day since I was 8 years old!  Great job to the Hawks for their amazing performances through this regular and postseason! 

You guys are the best!!!! Thanks for bringing home the best trophy in sports!!!!

CSN Stores giveaway on Moms Own Words!

Le Creuset Hey everyone, Kristi and CSN Stores are giving away a $60 gift card to use at any one of their 200+ stores!

It can be used for clothing, bathroom vanities, cookware, Le Creuset, ANYTHING!!!

Go check it out!

http://kristimaloneyblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/csn-stores-60-gift-card-giveaway.html

Paula Deen's Blueberry Muffins

Okay, so this is going to be quick and to the point.  These muffins are not good as the recipe is written. 

My mother made them with the blueberries she just bought (don't worry, she's making up for the horrible muffins by making her yummy pie that I am having the tiniest sliver from b/c the BBQ sauce on the ribs we had for dinner had WAY too many calories).  She was so super excited about them b/c she loves watching her make stuff and things, well, this has tons of fat in it, it has got to be good!

Well, apparently, she didn't remember the chocolate cream cheese pound cake.

She remembers now.

Well, the problem with this recipe is that it is so bland.  There is NO FLAVOR in the muffin.  NONE. 
The blueberries taste all good, but the muffin isn't all blueberry.  There is batter.  Flavorless, gag me batter.  It's a soft muffin, don't get me wrong.  But it tastes like metal (from the 2 TABLESPOONS of baking powder) and nothing else.  There is no salt in the muffin, no vanilla, and just plain white sugar.

If you are going to make these muffins, please, cut the baking powder to 2 tsp, add at least a tablespoon of vanilla and use either salted butter or add a tsp of salt. 

Also, if you are going to add the sugar on the top, do it before 10 mins of baking time or it won't stick to the top.  You can either add them after 5-6 mins, or (even better idea for more flavor) dip the top of the fully baked muffins in melted butter then dip them into some brown sugar w/ a speckling of cinnamon.  That would be good.

Okay, I'm done warning you guys.  I'm gonna go help her make blueberry pie now. Ciao.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!

Happy One Year Anniversary to my Babes!!!!

So this is a sort of food post!!!  The love of my life and I celebrated our one year anniversary (which is today) last night.  We actually have a two-fer celebration, we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner last night and we're going to Ron White on June 4th! 

Dinner was amazing, and seriously if you have never been to a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse before and there is one nearby, go!!!  It is delicious!!!

We went for the first time in KY this past October.  He spent hours and hours driving down to Irvington to go camping on his property only for it to be pouring rain all day, so we skipped camping for a hotel and haunted houses in Louisville.  He was so disappointed about not camping so I took him to Ruth's Chris to make it all better. 

I've been to TONS of steakhouses before.  Tons.  I've been to Morton's, Krapil's, Harry Caray's, Jack Gibbons...  to name a few.  I have yet to try Gibson's, but one day.  Maybe.

Anyways, back to the food.  Ruth's Chris has been around for 45 years, w/ over 100 locations.  That just goes to show you how DELICIOUS their food is. 
Their steak is brought out on a plate that reaches a temperature of 500 degrees F.  The steak is literally sizzling on the plate as it is being brought out.  The steak continues to sizzle as you cut into your first bite... second bite...  I'm not even sure when it stopped sizzling b/c I was in such a state of bliss. 

I would like to say that I would try something new every time I go somewhere. But since this place isn't an everyday (hell, maybe once a year) place, I stuck with what made me happy last time.

They have something called Ruth's Classics.  It's a menu that you choose the starter, either a specific soup or salad, then the main meat, there are four meats for $39.95 and another four for $49.95, then one side and then a dessert.

You can substitute for a charge, which neither of us really cared about.  For us, last night it was about having everything and anything we wanted. 

I chose the Harvest Salad again.  OMG, I dare say it was even better than the last time.  I'm not joking when I say I will drive the hour out there to specifically buy a couple of these salads for work lunches throughout the week.  Not kidding. 
Mike had the Steak House Salad with blue cheese dressing. 

For our main course, I had the 11oz Filet and Green beans with roasted garlic (and i mean there were like 10 cloves of fresh roasted garlic in there!!!).

Mike had the 16oz Ribeye and Sweet Potato Casserole. 

Sweet Jesus.  Let me tell you this, it didn't look just like this picture.  It looked about 4,000 times better.  The top crust is brown sugar and pecans and deliciousness.  Thankfully, we shared our sides and it was pretty even in splitting this.  I can tell you right now, if he hadn't shared, I might have stabbed him with my fork.  No joke.

For dessert, it comes with this cute little chocolate cake w/ a side of fresh berries in a sweet cream sauce.  Mike got that, but I opted to get Creme Brulee. 

Okay, now this picture.  Oh, this is EXACTLY what it looked like.  Pure decadent deliciousness.  I mean really people, this was pure sin. 
Thank God Mike doesn't like creme brulee b/c if I was making this at home...  oh Lord, let's not think about those arteries...

I cannot tell you how hard it was to get up, nor how much it hurt to sit up in the car on the way home.  I was sooooo full, but it's ok since I ate nothing all day in preparation.

I really think that next time, I am just going to have steak and a side.  I really think that dessert put my WELL over the edge of fullness.  But omg, it was so worth it!  Who am I kidding, I'm so gonna get it again!!!

So here is to the most wonderful man in the world by my side, through all the good times and bad, through nearly killing each other while remodeling a house, through the moments of pure bliss and the moments of quiet splendor...  Happy Anniversary my love.  I love you more than anyone can love another, and I never want to go through life without you by my side.

Okay, no more sappy boring pictures  :)

Happy Anniversary Babes!!!

Spanakotiropita (Spinach Cheese Pie)

My mom's spanakotiropita is my FAVORITE!!!
I have always wanted to make this with her b/c one day I'll be the one making it all the time.  We make it three different ways in this house, logs, triangles and sheet pan.
First, you have to make sure you get good filo dough.  Apollo is good, it doesn't dry out to quickly.  You;re going to find this mostly at ethnic produce markets than you would at your local Jewel or Dominick's.  She always gets #7 b/c it isn't too thin and believe me, too thin can be a major pain in the butt!

Next is the filling.  Here are the ingredients:

3 pkgs of chopped spinach or 3 lbs of fresh cooked spinach
6 tbsp olive oil
6 scallions, minced
1 lb feta cheese-don't get the pre-crumbled stuff
1 lb cottage cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dill
6 medium eggs, beaten well at room temp
1/2 lb sweet butter
1 lb filo, at room temp

Directions:

Thaw spinach (if using frozen) and drain well.  If using fresh spinach, cook first and remove moisture.  Chop if necessary, discarding any coarse stems.  Heat oil and saute scallions until soft and wilted.
Add spinach and simmer until moisture evaporates completely.
Rinse feta under cold water,drain and crumble it in a bowl.  Blend in cottage cheese, parsley, pepper, and dill.
Add beaten eggs and mix well.
Add spinach and scallion mix to the cheese and eggs and mix well.

This is the final inside product.  Cover and chill until ready to use.
This stuff is good.  Try not to eat it before you make the pastry, ok?  :)

Next, melt some butter in a saucepan

This is going to be your glue to hold the filo dough together.

Using a nice clean flat surface, lay down one sheet of filo dough.  I'm going to show you logs first.

Take a spoonful of the spinach mix and spread it in a line about 1 1/2-2 inches from the bottom of the sheet.  Fold the bottom over the top of the spinach and roll over once.

Take a pastry brush and brush the melted butter along the sides.  The fold the buttered sides over on top of the filled section.

 

Brush the sides again w/ the butter and roll until there is no more dough.  

Brush the top crease w/ a little more butter and set aside to do the next one.

Next, triangles.

Take a sheet of filo and cut if in half lengthwise, using sharp scissors so it is a skinnier piece. 

 

 Place a spoonful of the mix in the corner and fold over like the above picture.  Brush some melted butter over the top and continue to fold to each side.

Brush a little butter on the edges to seal and move on.

The logs and triangles bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-20 mins depending on how brown you want them.

We like them like this:

Yum!!!!

Now for the easiest of them all (and the one my mom likes best b/c it is so easy!)

The sheet pan is so easy, but it uses a lot more filo dough.  

First, use a cookie sheet that your filo dough will fit.  Ours was slightly bigger than 9x13.  You can spray the bottom before putting the first layer on or not, it should be fine if you don't.  Place the first layer on, brush melted butter over the entire sheet.  Make sure there is enough for the ends of the sheets to flap over the sides of the pan.  

After you brush the butter on, place another sheet of filo over that and brush more butter on it.  Repeat until you have at least 6-7 layers of filo dough.  

Next, press the spinach mix on top of the filo dough.  

 And then put a sheet of filo on top of that, brush more butter on top...  Well you get the picture.  Repeat the filo dough, then melted butter until you have another 6-7 layers of buttery goodness.  Did you really think this was going to be healthy just because there is spinach in it??  Really?

 Next, cut the edges off, leaving a little left over, about a 1/2 inch from the edge of the pan.

 Then you are going to make an edge by folding the layers together and under, kind of like pie crust.  

 Now it is done.  

Bake in the oven @ 350 degrees F for 1 hour.  It'll be all golden brown and delicious.  Yum!

 

Soooo buttery and spinachy and yummy!

Enjoy!

****Note****

If can freeze these before you bake them so you can have them on hand when ever you want.  Since the one batch can make a ton of filling, you can make some for that day in a smaller pan or make all logs or triangles and freeze some for later use.  We always have some in the freezer ready to take out and cook for a couple of servings for just the couple of us. :)

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Greek Spanakopita