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Brazilian Cheese Bread

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This past weekend, we went out for dinner with our friends to Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse. We always enjoy a good meal there and I was not just looking forward to all the delicious meat but the cheese bread.

Pampa Cheese Bread

Cheese Bread from Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse

Brazilian cheese bread, also known as Pão de Queijo, is a small little cheese puff. It’s made with tapioca flour so so perfect for those who are looking for something gluten-free. It bakes up a little crisp on the outside and hollow on the inside. It is a cheesy, chewy delight.

Brazilian Cheese Bread

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Nutella No-Bake Cheesecake

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How did this Nutella lover almost miss World Nutella Day? It’s no secret that it’s one of my favourite things. Just a spoonful makes the perfect dessert, don’t you think?

Nutella Cheesecake

I have the perfect dessert to celebrate today – Nutella No-Bake Cheesecake. This is the perfect dessert when you’re having people over. It only takes minutes to make, so you can focus on the other courses.

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grilled eggplant with honey, lime and goat cheese

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A couple months ago, hubby and I escaped to Spain for a few days. It was a whirlwind trip that I still need to share with you. Soon. Of course we had lots of tapas, loving the little bites.

One item that we loved was from Ultramarinos where we had gone for dinner our last night. We had the eggplant fritters with honey and lime and were surprised by how great the flavours worked together.

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cheesecake stuffed strawberries

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There’s not many people that I know who don’t like cheesecake. These Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries are perfect when you feel like cheesecake but don’t feel like all the work. They are great for entertaining because they take minutes to make, leaving you with lots of time to focus on other things. The sweetened cream cheese mixture is piped into the centre of a strawberry and topped with graham cracker crumbs. All the components of a cheesecake in one bite!

I prefer the idea of turning the strawberry upside down and just make a couple cuts to fill the luscious cheese mixture in. You could make a hole and scoop out the inside but why waste the delicious fruit?

I’m excited to participate in the Canadian Food Creatives Strawberry Collaboration. Thanks so much to Amanda for hosting! Check out all the fabulous recipes and see this recipe below.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries by Food Mamma
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Covered Strawberries by 365 Days of Easy Recipes
Dark Chocolate Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes by She Bakes Here
Rituals + Strawberry, Rhubarb, Ginger Shrub by Eating Niagara
Simple Macerated Strawberries by She Loves Biscotti
Strawberry Cheesecake Popsicles by Homemade & Yummy
Strawberry Ice Cream with Drunken Rhubarb by Sugarlovespices
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble with Toasted Almonds by Crumb Kitchen
Strawberry-Rhubarb Streusel Buns by Crumb: A Food Blog
Strawberry Rolls with Basil Cream by The Cinnamon Scrolls
Strawberry Shortcake with Lavender Lemon Cream by My Kitchen Love
Strawberry Streusel Shortbread Bars by The Bluenose Baker
Strawberry Vanilla Cream Tart by Tiny Sweet Tooth
Yogurt Cake with Roasted Strawberries and Rhubarb by Making Healthy Choices

 

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

15-20 strawberries
1 block cream cheese
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 TB graham cracker crumbs

Cream the cheese, icing sugar and vanilla until combined.  Put the mixture into an icing bag.

Wash and dry the strawberries. From the bottom of the strawberry, make two cuts but not all the way down. Pipe the cheese mixture into the cut, letting it fill to the top. Sprinkle the filled strawberries with the graham cracker crumbs.

three cheese pasta

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When I stayed at the Banff Springs Hotel a couple months ago, I indulged one day with their Grown-Up Mac and Cheese –  a pasta dish made with Boursin and lobster. It was a comforting meal and was so delicious. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I ate it.

I decided to give it a go, and make some Mac and Cheese tonight. I’m hoping Q will love it and that it will be a hit for school lunch.

Using this recipe as a reference, I made the pasta dish with lots of mushrooms. I ended up not putting the pasta in the oven with breadcrumbs because I wanted the dish to be creamy through and through. The addition of three different cheeses – Boursin, Cheddar and Parmesan – made the dish ooey and gooey.

This pasta dish was definitely a splurge but oh so worth every single bite!

Three Cheese Pasta
Slightly adapted from here.

1 pound pasta
4 TB butter
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 TB flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups milk
2 stalks of thyme
1 package Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, following package directions. Drain and set aside. In a large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms until they are cooked. Add 2 TB butter and add the flour and stir until well blended and bubbly. Add salt and pepper, and the milk. Cook, stirring, until thickened. Add the herbs, Boursin cheese, and Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.

Cook, stirring, until cheeses have melted. Stir in the drained pasta. Indulge!

Grown-Up Mac and Cheese

my little foodie and his ultimate grilled cheese

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I can’t believe my little guy is six today! It’s been amazing to watch
him grow. There have been so many times that I have wanted to press
pause, making time go a little slower. But here he is in grade one, a
little man.

He has grown to be kind, loving and the best big brother ever. He has
also grown into quite the foodie. For his birthday dinner today, it’s
no surprise that he wants to go to his favourite restaurant Kinjo for
sushi.

At a sleepover recently at his cousin’s house, they were discussing
dinner and his request was duck. His cousins looked at him in disbelief,
happy to be eating the pasta they were served.

He loves coming up with creations like his bedtime snack a couple weeks
ago – French bread with Boursin, studded with pistachios.

He does love a good grilled cheese. When I asked him what the ultimate
grilled cheese sandwich would be, this is what he came up with.

French bread enveloping Boursin, Brie and Mozzarella. It was a good
combination and our one trial sandwich was not enough to fill our
bellies.
The Brie and mozzarella made the sandwich ooey gooey and the Boursin added an extra level of flavour.

Happy Birthday Q! Love you to the moon and back, a million times!

raspberry cream cheese frosting

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Today’s my sister-in-law’s birthday – Happy Birthday R!! As much as she didn’t want to celebrate, we did convince her that cake was in order. Her cake of choice was one of my faves, red velvet. I decided to change up the frosting a little and use some of the great raspberries that we have been enjoying.

With the weather being nice and hot, and not really conducive to frosting, I kept the consistency perfect for spreading. For a stiffer icing that you can pipe, just add a little more icing sugar.

The icing was yummy and complemented the red velvet cupcakes perfectly. With lots leftover, it will be hard to not go dunking everything in it!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 block cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup raspberries, mashed with a fork
1 1/2 to 2 cups icing sugar

Cream the cream cheese and butter together until nice and smooth. Add the raspberries and mix again. With your mixer on, slowly incorporate the icing sugar until you reach the desired consistency.

cheese stuffed turkey meatballs

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In our house, we are cheese fanatics. Usually, any dish loaded with cheese is a hit. These cheese stuffed meatballs were no exception.

The turkey was packed with flavour with the addition of pesto and the ooey gooey bocconcini centre was a very pleasant surprise.  I used the Trestelle Bocconcini* which were the perfect size to wrap the flavourful meat around. (Please excuse Q’s fuzzy picture.)

The meatballs were cooked and tossed into our favourite marinara sauce. The boys ate theirs with pasta while I chose to eat my meatballs with a runny egg. So tasty!

Cheese Stuffed Turkey Meatballs

1 pound ground turkey
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 TB minced garlic
1 TB pesto
1 egg
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
salt
pepper
12 bocconcini
marinara sauce

Combine the turkey with the cheese, crumbs, garlic, pesto egg and onions.  Divide the meat into 12 balls.  Form the meat around the bocconcini.  Pan fry until cooked.  Add some marinara sauce and enjoy with pasta (or an egg!).

*I did receive vouchers from Trestelle to try out their cheese.  Opinions are my own.

chocolate cheesecake

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We had a small family get together at my sister-in-law’s new place last weekend.  When we got the invite from her and her hubby, I offered to make dessert, and cheesecake automatically popped into my mind.  It had been a long time since I had eaten cheesecake, let alone made it.  Q decided we should make chocolate and I willingly obliged.

It was a great afternoon with spending time with family and eating good food. Both the kids and the adults kept themselves busy carving pumpkins. The seeds were scooped and roasted making them a perfect snack to go along with all the carving.

I found this recipe on the Hershey’s website.  I didn’t have enough chocolate cookie crumbs so mixed them with graham crumbs and it worked out just fine. The cheesecake was a hit.  This can be made into one big cheesecake or mini ones made in cupcake tins.

Chocolate Cheesecake
Adapted from Hershey’s

1.5 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
6 TB melted butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 packages softened cream cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
1 can condensed milk
1 TB vanilla

Add the melted butter into the crumbs and blend well.  Press mixture into bottom of 9″ springform pan.

Melt the butter and mix with cocoa until smooth. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese.  Add cocoa mixture and mix well.  Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Pour batter into pan prepared with the crumb crust.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until set.  Let cool and garnish with whipped cream and chocolate.

celebrating 37 years with a turtle cheesecake

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My parents just celebrated their 37th anniversary!  This definitely called for a celebration, and every celebration calls for cake.  Tired of making the usual though, I wanted to do something different.  I decided to do a cheesecake, a dessert that my dad loves.

I knew this cheesecake needed nuts, chocolate and caramel and after doing a search, this recipe was found on the Kraft website.  The layers of caramel and pecans are divine.  As good as it tastes when you first make it, it tastes even better the next day, if there’s any left!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!  Love you lots!

 

Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake

2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
6 Tbsp.  butter or margarine, melted
1 pkg. caramels
1/2 cup  milk
1 cup chopped pecans
3 pkg. cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
2 squares chocolate, melted

Heat oven to 325°F.

Mix crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and 2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan.

Microwave caramels and milk in small microwaveable bowl on high 3 min. or until caramels are completely melted, stirring after each minute. Stir in nuts; pour half into crust. Refrigerate 10 min. Refrigerate remaining caramel mixture for later use.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over caramel layer in crust.

Bake 1 hour 5 min. to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Microwave reserved caramel mixture 1 min.; stir. Pour over cheesecake. Melt chocolate and drizzle over cheesecake.