Thursday, May 31, 2007

How can you make cheesecake better?

Add Oreos to it of course!! In one word...heavenly. This was a recipe I got off the WC board on the Nest and have been waiting months to make...and it's probably a good thing I waited so long because I've saved myself a lot of calories in that time by not making...and eating it sooner. This one will be a repeat offender...










Oreo Cheesecake

  • 1 cup crushed OREO cookies (about 12 cookies)*
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 4 pkgs (8-oz. each) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 eggs
  • 20 OREO cookies, quartered
*NOTE: Regular Oreo cookies are recommended, as cake does not set as well with Double Stuff.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees if using silver springform pan (or 300 degrees if using a dark non-stick springform pan). Mix crushed cookies and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently stir in quartered cookies. Pour over crust.

Bake 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with additional cookies or drizzle with caramel, if desired.

Source: Nestie Lalabee0425

Breakfast for dinner?

Oh yeah!! What's easier than a frittata? Not much...and it was so good that Kyle ate 3/4 of it!! Before last night, I had only "attempted" frittata once and since it came out so well the first time, I decided to modify the original recipe (tomato, asparagus and fontina frittata from Giada De Laurentiis, see below) to better suit our...err, Kyle's...tastes.

Broccoli and Fontina Frittata
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream or half-and-half
  • 3 ounces cubed fontina cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped
  • 1/3 cup bell pepper (red, orange or yellow), diced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, cream, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Turn oven on to broil. In a 9 or 10 inch non-stick, oven-safe skillet, heat oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add broccoli and peppers and cook for 3-4 minutes until tender crisp. Reduce heat to medium-low and add egg mixture then cheese. Cover and cook for 2 minutes until eggs have set but the top is still runny. Carefully move pan from stovetop to oven and broil for 4 minutes or until the top is browned and no longer runny. Remove from oven (handle will be hot!!) and let stand for 2 minutes. Loosen frittata with a non-stick spatula and slide onto serving plate.


Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Serves 4-6