Cheesecake

As a disproportionately generous thank-you for some pet watching Chris did, our awesome neighbors Jake and Allana made dinner and dessert from scratch for us last weekend. Dinner was Olive Garden's Sausage and Peppers Ziti Marinara; it was delicious, but I unfortunately ate before I remembered to take a photo.

Dessert was the most impressive part: Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. Jake has one of those cookbooks with the secret restaurant recipes, and he and Allana made us a raspberry swirl, white chocolate cheesecake with Oreo crust. WOW. I'm in awe - I've never attempted cheesecake, but I hear they're pretty tricky. The cake tasted sooo good - cold, creamy, and sweet. Someday I hope I can make a cheesecake like that, but in the meantime I'll be nice to my neighbors and keep my fingers crossed!

Master Plan Pasta

This dish was going to be called "can't wait for summer pasta" but I came up with it after a spray paint project that wasn't properly ventilated and apparently referred to it as my "master plan." In front of Chris and our neighbor Jake. Who won't let me hear the end of it. Thanks, guys.

Anyway, Wednesday was sunny and warm (for Michigan) and I was craving summer flavors: roasted red pepper, lemon, feta cheese. This was the delicious and simple result. I recommend it with New Holland Brewing Company's Cabin Fever brown ale. Yum.

Hiatus

Sorry it's been so long. As you probably know, I'm planning my wedding and house-hunting too. Between that and volunteering 1-2 nights a week, I'm not cooking much and not up to blogging about it. I will post when I can, but don't expect much in the near future.
-Katie

Super-Easy Black Bean Soup

Thanks to my mom for this recipe! It's made from things I always have on hand, and it takes about 20 minutes from start to finish with only 5 minutes of work. As usual, I don't measure - I just throw things in. I think the only way to mess this recipe up is to overdo the chili powder or use salsa that's too hot for your taste. To make a small pot, I use one can of black beans; to make enough for three or four people I use two cans.

Zucchini & White Bean Pizza (from scratch!)

Another meal that's often hiding in an emptying kitchen, waiting to be made, is pizza. Last week I decided to get ambitious and make my own crust for the first time. It was much easier than I expected, though of course not as easy as pita pizza. I couldn't find much to put on it; then I remembered the chopped zucchini in my freezer and the can of white beans in the pantry. Bingo.


Zucchini and White Bean Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

Directions (ingredients in blue this time)

1. Prepare the crust according to your favorite recipe (I used this one from Andrea Meyers and it worked pretty well), or get out the store-bought crust or pita.
2. Move an oven rack to the lowest position. Preheat the oven to 500 F.
3. Spread tomato sauce (I used Prego onion & garlic this time) on the crust; add diced zucchini and white beans, some oregano and red pepper flakes, and shredded mozzarella.
   
4. Bake for 10-20 minutes - watch for the crust and cheese to start browning.

Note: My future father-in-law makes AWESOME pizza. I'll try to get a guest post from him sometime.

Need-To-Go-Shopping Soup

I don't like to grocery shop, so when the fridge starts emptying out I get creative before I give in and head to Meijer. Usually the ingredients for soup are hiding in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. Here are some ideas for a quick, Italian-inspired "need-to-go-shopping soup." These pictures are from some of the soups I've made in the last year.

Sweet Potato Soup

With all this cold weather, I keep craving warm food. Tonight I wanted soup, and we had two and a half big sweet potatoes left in the fridge. I've never made sweet potato soup before, but it just sounded right!

I started with this recipe from RecipeTips.com and (as always) changed some things up. It took less than an hour and hit the SPOT: temperature-hot, but also a little spicy on top of the other flavors.