Chocolate Covered Berries Secret Reveled

I don't know about you, but I've had a time mastering the art of chocolate covered strawberries.  My first flaw; over heating the chocolate in the microwave.  The key to this problem is following the melting instructions on the bag~shocking~.  My next big issue was; even though I followed the instructions, once I started dipping my, chocolate would become clumpy quickly, and I was only able to get 10-20 berries covered with one-two bags of chocolate, and only the first ones looked "pretty".  Then a wiser friend informed me that the berries must be completely dry, not freshly rinsed.  Since I've obtained this knowledge I haven't made berries until this morning. I have a ladies night to go to and thought this would be a lovely treat. So the secret is............ rinse your berries, place them on a towel to dry for a bit, then execute the chocolate melting and berry covering.  Like gardening...... the ground work is key. Look how many I covered with one bag of chocolate.

Spinach, Bacon and Egg Uncrusted Quiche

A friend shared this with me and it was yummy and easy!

8 slices of bacon

2 1/2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

6 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup half and half

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a pie plate with cooking spray and set aside. Chop backon into pieces and cook over medium heat until crispy. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.

Meanwhile, chop the spinach into bite size pieces.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, heavy cream, half and half and salt. Set aside.

Pour the egg mixture over the layered ingredients and place in oven for 35-40 minutes or until eggs are set in the middle and nicely browned on top..

Summer Rolls

I've been enjoying exploring the world of Thai Food. I've managed to replicate the summer rolls from a favorite restaurant, to our liking, but haven't had the same good fortune with an Entrée. It's making me a little trigger shy, but I'm hoping to work up the courage to try again. Any way... these summer rolls are very refreshing, they are basically a salad "to go".

Summer Roll

Rice or tapioca paper (at Asian market)

rice noodles (at Asian market)

Cilantro

Mint

Basil

lettuce

Carrot thin slices

You can really put in any veggies and herbs that you prefer. My parents have tried cucumber and avocado and found it to be tasty. We just went with this b/c it was the stuff that was in it at the restaurant that we enjoyed.

Watch This Video for good instructions

Peanut sauce

2 Tbl. Hoisin sauce (at Asian market)

1/3 c. peanut butter

splash of lime juice (or lemon)

1 tsp. sugar

5 Tbl. water

Sweet red pepper and gouda soup

• We love this! Probably our favorite, and with Fall upon us it's perfect. I serve it with the Rosemary Bread I posted a while back, I love to dip it. You girls make some mean bread, so I'm sure your loaf of choice will be just as yummy. I also usually double the recipe so are little family can get 2 plus meals out of it. Mike and I eat at least two hardy bowls full per meal. Enjoy!
• Sweet red pepper and gouda soup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 24 fluid ounces chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups shredded gouda cheese

Directions:

1. 1
   Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. 2
   Place the red bell pepper, onion and garlic in the saucepan and saute for 15 to 20 minutes OR until tender.
3. 3
   Pour in the chicken broth, stirring well.
4. 4
   Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. 5
   Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Do this in batches as necessary depending on the size of your blender. Be careful not to overfill your blender. I do a little less than half full. I did it to half one time and regretted it, the pressure from the heat plays in. I always put a kitchen towel over the blender just incase the lid isn't as secure as I think. I messed this step up twice. Both times it was messy, one time it was painful; hot liquid all over my arm.
6. 6
   Return the liquid to the saucepan over medium low heat.
7. 7
   Stir in the heavy cream, the ground black pepper and cheese, and allow to heat through about 5 to 10 minutes.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/sweet-red-pepper-and-gouda-soup-436946#ixzz1c7jAAdCp

Do it! I dare you!

No...........I double dog dare you!

A couple of years ago I started trying my luck at yeast breads, at a very slow rate. Given my culinary experience(except for confections) this was a "giant leap" for me in the kitchen. I would still consider myself an amateur, but I have enough bravery now to give any loaf a try. Sooo..... we of course love the rosemary bread at the Macaroni grill, my man especially digs it since rosemary is one of his favorite spices right under garlic, and tasty cooked dough is up there on the yummy list also. So I was aiming to please, or bless the love of my life with this one and the Lord was pleased, and manna rained down from heaven. Check out the recipe here, it's super easy and really tasty, especially dipped in olive oil with pepper. NO PRESSURE. YOU'VE GOT TO TRY IT!!

Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake

Ok, so this baby has been a long time coming.... My mouth is watering just looking at the picture. Let me give you some background. I didn't grow up eating chocolate.........gasp........... My parents, and my bothers for that matter do not like it, to this day. Crazy I know. I was introduced to brownies as a junior in high-school, and let me just say they were amazing and I got a major tummy ache from not using temperance. All that to say, my taste for chocolate has slowly refined itself. First I was a "milk chocolate" only person because all the dark chocolate I had tasted was very waxy, yuck. But then I learned you could have refined dark chocolate that is creamy, mmmmmmm. My first introduction to this was at the Cheesecake Factory, Mike ordered the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, we split it, b/c it is a $7 slice of dessert. We both relished every bite, and it struck Mike and I, there has to be a way to make this thing. So my search began. I found the recipe on the Godiva website. Of course they put it on there, the recipe calls for 8 Dark Chocolate Godiva bars, incase you didn't know they cost at least $2.50 each. That is one pricey cheesecake. I did make it once, just to get started I felt the need to be able to compare. But since I've done the expensive leg work, find rest in knowing you can substitute with one bag of 60% Ghirardelli chocolate chips from wal-mart, the whole bag is two dollars and something. Much better deal. I also started making the cake with two of the already made chocolate graham cracker crust from the store and finally bought a spring foam pan recently, so I can make the real deal. The result has been fantastic. I use a different recipe for the crust then the original recipe, and i add a thick ganache to the top which to us is "the icing on the cake", no pun intended. So with out further ado................
Introducing the Schloss Ghirardelli Chocolate Cheesecake




Preheat oven 325 degrees, tightly wrap bottom of spring foam pan with aluminum foil.

Crust:
1 sleeve chocolate graham crackers crushed
1 stick of butter melted
1/4 cup sugar
Mix together and press in to Spring foam pan

Filling:
1 12oz.bag of 60% Ghirardelli Dark chocolate chips, melt according to package instructions
2 packages of 8oz cream cheese softened
1 c. sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. brewed hot coffee
2 tsp. vanilla

Melt chocolate, stir until smooth. Beat cheese to creamy, add sugar and blend. Add eggs on at a time. Dissolve salt in hot coffee. On low beat in coffee, add vanilla and melted chocolate. Pour into crust. Put Spring foam pan into a larger pan with water in it, I use a cookie sheet, it recommends a roasting pan 1/2 way up the spring foam pan. I don't have a roasting pan. This keeps the cheese cake from cracking, i'm told. Bake 60-70 Min, until center is firm. Cool in oven 1 hr, fridge for 6 hrs.

After cool. Add Ganache.

Ganache
Heat 1 1/3 heavy cream
2 Tbl. butter
2 Tbl. sugar
Bring to boil
Remove from heat
Stir in 12 oz. 60% Ghirardelli Dark chocolate chips
Stir until smooth, pour over top of cooled cake.
Refrigerate until cool. Serve in very small slices, with cool-whip or homemade whip-cream. A cup of joe melts it right off your tongue. MMMMMMMM!

It's rich, but So delicious!