Cheesecake Bar

Okay, so I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks for cheesecake bars. Nothing elaborate, just a crust, cheesecake filling and crumb topping. Well, the eldest wanted cheesecake for her birthday and I was happy to oblige. But instead of making 5 or 6 different flavors of cheesecake, I decided to make up the cheesecake bars and then add the toppings as to people's choices. Hence a cheesecake bar. We've got strawberry, hot fudge, butterscotch, caramel, pineapple sauces, whipped cream, nuts, bananas, all varieties of candy chips, heath bars, kit kat bars, butterfinger bars. Oh my goodness, we're going to have cheesecake coming out our, well you know!

And that's not to mention the day long smorgasbord we're planning. I got a wonderful 3 set slow cooker with independent controls, so we're doing J-Mexi Dip, little weiners in bbq sauce and cola chicken drumies that need to stay warm. Several dips with crackers and veggies. There's be eggrolls, crab rangoons, pizza rolls, a shrimp ring, pigs in blankets, shrimp pinwheels, the list is huge. I can't wait to get some pictures up!

Yummy Supper

Ah, dinner came off pretty well tonight. Was wondering what on earth to make and then it just popped in my head, that I should have everything I needed for Spaghetti Carbonara. And I did have ingredients on hand, but not enough eggs. So I improvised. The kids got spaghetti tossed with bacon, sauteed onion and green pepper with a little oil, garlic salt and parmesan. It was pretty darn good. But because I was low on bacon, I added some minced clams to mine and hubby's. Oh man! That was manna. I will definitely be making this again and I might try adding the eggs in and see what difference that makes. But even without, I think I had a hit on my hands tonight.

Holiday Treats

Well, I've started my list of holiday treats that I am going to be making this season. It's getting pretty long. It doesn't help that I'm taking requests from the kids. My husband is easy, he'll eat anything I make and take anything I offer to work to share. And then, to make matters worse, my eldest decided to take some recipe books out from the library. We spent the weekend taking note of all the recipes (majorly desserts) that we wanted copies of.

And I've started stocking up on ingredients. The hubby will only allow me to get a few items each shopping trip. So I've got a few special extracts, like the mint, raspberry and almond. The chocolate powder. I know I'll want some more extracts. Of course I can only get the dry or bottled ingredients at this point. Cream cheese certainly doesn't last around this house. And it'll be fun to experiment with the homemade jams and jellies that my daughter's boyfriend gave us.

So the list so far:

Spritz Cookie- Almond and Eggnog flavored.
Chocolate Chip cookies- which include chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, cherry, toffee, chocolate mint chip, cinnamon and chocolate raspberry chip batches
Minty Cookies
Russian Tea Cakes
Ginger Snaps
Stove Top Cocoa Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Rum Balls
Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls
Gumdrop Cookies
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
White Chocolate Raspberry Macadamia Nut Cookies
Mocha Truffle Cookies
Lemon Snowflakes
Raspberry Kisses
Chocolate Filled Poppy Seed Cookies
Mini Peanut Butter Treats
Cream Cheese Dainties
Mocha Cookie Pretzels
Chocolate Pecan Thumbprints
Raspberry Ribbons
Chocolate Meringue Stars
Peppermint Biscotti
Scottish Shortbread
Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments
Gingerbread Cookies
Cappuccino Flats


Other treats include
Marshmallow Ghosts
Frightening Fingers
Sweet 'n' Spicy Halloween Munch
Puppy Chow
Chex Mix- in which we like the traditional, taco flavored, jalapeno flavored and about any kind we can think of
Apple Pies (multiple pies!!!)
Pumpkin Pie
Marbled Pmpkin Cheesecake
and last but certainly not least
Samoa Cheesecake Bars

It's gonna be an exhausting time, but I'm gonna love it!

Haha! Food Ahoy!

Okay, I've started this blog for the sole purpose of focusing on the things or crafts that I enjoy most. so some days, there might be cooking or baking, or perhaps progress on one of the many knitting projects that I have going. Perhaps something about a book I'm reading (currently the memoirs of James Herriot's son) or even new music I've discovered. It's just, with the holidays coming up, meaning Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm already getting into baking mode, buying items to stock away in preparation. Thoughts are going to would the grandparents rather have a hand made gift or a family chosen thingamabob. That sort of stuff. And since I like taking pictures of the stuff I do, on occasion, this might be fun. If there is interest I am certainly amenable to posting links or the pertinent facts so people can do the same thing on their own. So let's go!