Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

My sister requested dessert for her boyfriend's daughter's Graduation Party. I wanted to make something individually sized that would satisfy both chocolate lovers and non-chocolate lovers alike, and would look pretty! During the move I had packed my mini cheesecake tins, my muffin pans, and virtually everything else I would need for the recipe.

Throughout this cheesecake adventure I was haunted by a misquote:
Adversity is the mother of invention.

A successful kitchen rapidly adapts to numerous changes, accidents, errors, miscalculations, and freak incidents. A quick trip to Chef's Toys and I had beautiful muffin papers and the perfect carrying boxes for mini cheesecakes! Regretfully, a number of things went wrong in the creative process. I originally baked them in paper baking molds that I thought would be ideal for serving. Unfortunately, I grabbed panettone molds (way too tall) but after the baking & chilling process they were soggy. I quickly removed each cheesecake from its old wrapper and dropped it into a new cup. Phew! Then, what was supposed to be a mirror glaze (similar to the photo below) turned into a watery mess, making the plain cheesecakes unattractive. I then melted white chocolate hoping that outlining each cheesecake with white chocolate would hide the mess the glaze made. Somehow, my white chocolate was a yellowish off-white so I stirred in dark chocolate to rescue the hue! A quick drizzle around the edges and they looked marginally better. Messy, but...I was out of time! Ack!

All that aside, they tasted fantastic. The chocolate-raspberry (recipe below) was definitely my favorite. The recipe for the Mascarpone Cheesecake is here. Enjoy!

Makes 1 large cheesecake or roughly 20 individual sized cheesecakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups chocolate wafer cookies or chocolate grahams
• 1.5 Tbsp sugar
• 1 stick butter, melted

• Raspberries (1 pint for bottom, 1 pint for top)

• 1 (9.7-ounce) bar Scharffen Berger 70% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate (or any other high quality chocolate with same ratio), chopped
• 4 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temp
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar to taste
• 1/4 cup unsweetened high quality cocoa powder*
• 4 large eggs

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 6 oz Scharffen Berger 70% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate (or any other high quality chocolate with same ratio), chopped
• 1 Tbsp sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350'. Line muffin cups or butter 9" springform pan.
2. In processor, pulse cookies until crumbed. Add in sugar. Melt butter and add in slowly, mixing thoroughly. Make sure you only add enough to make it moist & stick together. You don't want a wet, buttery crust.
3. Press evenly into the bottom only of the pan.
4. Bake until set, roughly 5 minutes. Remove from oven & cool on rack.
5. Spread 1 pint of raspberries over the crust evenly.
6. Melt one 9.7oz bar chocolate in double boiler or in a metal bowl set over simmering pan until smooth. Remove and cool slightly until still pourable but not steaming.
7. Blend cream cheese, sugar & cocoa powder in large bowl until smooth.
8. Beat in eggs one at a time.
9. Mix in lukewarm chocolate.
10. Pour over crust.
11. Bake at 350 one hour until set but slightly jiggly in the middle.
12. Turn the oven off and keep the door closed. Keep the cheesecake in there for another 30 minutes.
13. Remove and cool on rack. Refrigerate, covered 5 hours up or overnight.
14. For topping, melt chocolate with sugar & cream in double boiler or over simmering water until smooth. Cool slightly. Spread over entire crust.
15. Chill until set, at least 1 hour.
16. Top with remaining raspberries.

Addendum: I strongly suggest that you invest in high quality cocoa powder. Please throw away that old stuff your mom used (this one?). Buy THIS one instead. It makes a huge difference in the taste of your finished product.

Grilled Pork over Crispy Polenta, Nectarines & Blackberry Salsa

Did you know that I used to be a picky eater? Fruit was to be eaten alone or as part of dessert. Period. Not in salad, and never on the dinner plate. I judged food by appearance, by a single bad experience, or by how I expected it to taste. I ignored many flavors because I didn't like them as a child, or because someone told me about their negative experience. Shame on me.

When discussing cooking or recipes, I often hear, "But, I don't like that..." or see people wrinkle their nose at the notion of something they don't fully understand (ahem, mother). Yet when I ask whether they've actually tasted it, the response is almost invariably no. Not liking something you haven't tried is just silly, and not liking something you've tried only once is no excuse to ban it from your diet forever!

The world abounds with countless flavors and textures: tastes that zing off your tongue or bring intense heat and smoke to the palate; textures of crunchy vegetables, or the burst of a perfectly ripe blueberry. Even such unloved characters as the Brussels sprout or broccoli can be prepared in many delicious ways! Think of the ingredients you don't like and try them in a new way: You may discover something delightful! Expand your palate and grow your culinary world!

Moving right along, this was our first meal in our new home! It also happens to be delicious. Spicy, sweet, cool, hot, crunchy, tangy, soft... everything you ever wanted in a dinner. Relatively easy to prepare & cook and health conscious.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Pork Tenderloin (sizes vary)
• 2 TBSP Chili Powder
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• Olive Oil
• 1 Tube Polenta, sliced into 1/4" thick rounds ( you really only need @ 3-4 each, but they are so good that you will want to eat them all!)
• 1 Nectarine, halved and pitted
• 1 pint Blackberries, rinsed
• 1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
• Juice of 1 Lime

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.
2. Rub pork tenderloin with spices, drizzle with olive oil & wrap in plastic wrap until ready to grill.
3. Slice polenta and sprinkle with spices on both sides.
4. Mix blackberries, cilantro & lime juice in a bowl & set aside.
5. Grill pork, about 6-10 minutes per side until done.
6. Place pork on plate & cover with foil, pork will continue to finish cooking.
7. Grill nectarines & polenta about 4 minutes per side until they have grill marks.
8. Chop nectarines and mix with blackberries.
9. Slice pork.
10. Serve polenta on plate, top with pork & salsa.

Shrimp Po'Boys & Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Okay, so you probably noticed these aren't really Shrimp Po'Boys. You probably came here expecting heavily battered shrimp on a bun with gobs of mayonnaise and what do you find? No batter. Now before you start hucking hush-puppies at me, hear me out! Spicy shrimp, tangy coleslaw, sweet chopped pickles, and crispy oven fries!

These are delicious, and what they lack in authenticity, they make up for in flavor and ease of preparation! I'm all about eating tasty meals without negating the time we spend exercising each week. Too often people think that eating light or low calorie means eating tasteless steamed veggies and poached chicken breasts (yawn), or pre-packaged frozen calorie-restricted meals that are packed full of processed ingredients with overlong names.

You know what's more important to me than calorie or carbohydrate counts? Eating food that is made from high-quality ingredients, well-balanced in nutrients and is as un-processed as possible.

Inspired by this recipe

Serves 2
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
• blackening seasoning
• spicy BBQ sauce
• 1 cup red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 TBSP low fat mayonnaise
• 1 TBSP non fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped pickles (we like sweet bread n butter pickles, but some like Dill here)
• 2 thick slices red onion, skewered for grill
• 2 pcs Iceberg Lettuce
• 2 Buns
• 1 Sweet Potato, cut into matchsticks
• Olive oil, salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425'.
2. Mix sweet potato fries with 1 TBSP olive oil (or less), salt, pepper & blackening seasoning.
3. Spread on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray or olive oil.
4. Bake, flipping every 10 minutes until crispy (takes about 20-30 minutes).
5. Season shrimp with blackening seasoning.
6. Make coleslaw: mix cabbage, pickles, mayo & yogurt. Refrigerate.
7. Heat grill over medium and begin grilling onion skewer.
8. Grill shrimp, brushing with spicy BBQ sauce about 3 minutes per side, until opaque.
9. Lightly grill buns.
10. Serve bun topped with lettuce, shrimp, slaw, and grilled onions!

Mushroom-Hoisin Burgers & Grilled Artichokes

Topic #1: Let's talk about burgers, shall we?
There are millions out there, but what separates good burgers from great burgers is quality ingredients. I don't believe you have to buy ground beef loaded with fat to make a good burger. I don't believe that you have to put a lot of stuff in it, on it, or near it to make it delicious. I don't believe in super-sized portions, half-pound meat patties, or god forbid, those unrecognizable grayish pre-formed patties at fast food joints. It's all about high quality meat, folks. High quality ground top sirloin makes a mean burger. I am lucky to live near the Irvine Ranch Market where the butcher hand selects what he grinds into his ground meats. He grinds the right balance of meat and fat, uses a respectable cut of meat, and refuses to include any of the crap that really just serves as filler where there need be none.

That said, there are a million roads to Burger Heaven. Tonight I selected a new twist on the classic Mushroom Swiss Burger. Fragrant sesame oil, hoisin sauce, green onions, soy sauce...very nice. Those sesame buns? They bake them fresh daily at the Irvine Ranch Market. You can taste the difference! Dieting? Eat it open faced. Not dieting? Dig in!

Topic #2 : Grilled Artichokes!
I love artichokes. LOVE. I grew up pulling their leaves off and dipping them in (I'm sorry pudgy belly!) mayonnaise. Loving them. I've heard about grilled artichokes and heard some horror stories as people tried to just toss them on the grill without steaming them first. (FYI: you get an unappetizing chunk of burnt foliage.) These were deliciously tender and the 5 minutes on the grill imparts a smoky flavor that can only be from time spent over a fire. It's summer, get out there and grill!

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Artichokes
• 1/4 onion halved and thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, quartered
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• dash salt

• 1/2-2/3 lb of Ground Sirloin (best you can find)
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 10 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 3 tbsp+ Hoisin sauce
• 1 TBSP ginger, grated or minced
• Sririacha to taste

• Buns
• Lettuce
• Swiss cheese
• 2 thick slices of onion on a skewer (for burger topping)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut stems off artichokes. Cut tops off. Halve lengthwise and scoop out furry choke using the edge of a spoon.
2. Place artichoke halves in pot with 1-2" water and the rest of ingredients (onion through salt).
3. Bring to boil, covered and then simmer 30-40 minutes until leaves pull away with a slight tug.
4. Set aside until ready to grill. Heat grill to 400'.
5. Saute mushrooms in 1 TBSP sesame oil until slightly softened and browned. Remove from heat and stir in green onions, ginger & hoisin sauce. Add sririacha to taste.
6. Mix all burger ingredients together (beef through garlic) and form into patties.
7. Place onions on the grill.
8. Brush artichokes with a little olive oil & lemon juice and place on grill cut side down on a medium heat part of the grill.
9. Add burger patties to the hottest part of the grill.
10. Grill covered, about 3-4 minutes.
11. Turn burgers, onion & artichokes. Continue to grill another 3 minutes or until burgers are done.
12. Quickly grill buns until toasted and melt cheese atop burgers.
13. Assembly: Hoisin sauce on bun, lettuce, grilled onions, burgers, mushrooms, bun! YUM!

Korean BBQ Pork Tacos

For those of you who have not (a) been swept up in the Twitter phenomenon and (b) do not live in Southern California, there is this ingenious new piece of mobile local cuisine called the Kogi BBQ Truck. Pique your interest? Read this short article. For those of you not on the left coast, we Californians love our tacos. It's a zombie-like sickness; a rampant, insatiable hunger for tortillas wrapped around, well... ANYTHING! Soft-shell, hard-shell, fish, beef, pork, chicken, tofu, shrimp, squid, mystery meat, lobster, veggie... Bring it on! It's a never-ending, 24-hour a day pandemic. We want them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and we definitely want them at 2AM.

OK, back to what you all came here for: the tacos we made. Tacos? LOVE! Korean food? LOVE! This time we improved the Quick Shredded Pork by scoring the seared pork with lengthwise cuts before the boiling process. Happy, succulent, tender piggy meat - I love you! We put kimchi and quickly pickled cucumbers on the tacos, but the kimchi was a little interruptive. Next time I will do thinly sliced napa cabbage and the quick cucumber pickle. Delicious!

Recipe inspired by the beautiful & talented Jaden from Steamy Kitchen

INGREDIENTS:

• 6" Tortillas: we used flour, but in the future we may try corn, maybe rice paper. Have fun!
• Pork Tenderloin (size varies)

Boiling Liquid:

• Water to cover
• 2 Tbsp Gochujang (Korean fermented hot pepper paste)
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar
• 2 tsp Sesame Oil

BBQ Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp Gochujang
• 4 Tbsp sugar (to taste)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sesame oil

Quick Cucumber Pickle:

• 3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp minced jalapeno (more for more heat!)
• pinch of salt

• Thinly sliced Napa Cabbage

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rub pork tenderloin with enough Gochujang to coat.
2. Heat sesame oil in large pan. Add pork and sear until sides are deeply browned. Reduce heat and continue to cook, covered, about 15 minutes, rotating occasionally in pan.
3. In large pot (or the same pan if deep enough) cover the pork with water. Add all "Boiling Liquid" ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat, covered.
4. Reduce to a simmer and keep covered, turning occasionally for 1 hour - 1.5 hours.
   
5. Meanwhile, mix your quick pickle ingredients and keep in fridge.
6. When the pork is done, remove from the water and shred with two forks.
7. Heat up the BBQ sauce in a pan and mix in pork, stirring to coat and warm.
8. Heat tortillas over fire or in hot pan.
9. Top with a heap of delicious pork, cabbage & pickles!
   

Ahi Poke on Wonton Chips

Ahi poke (pronunciation is Poh-keh) is a traditional Hawaiian dish that I love dearly. Fresh sashimi-grade Ahi tuna is cubed and marinated in soy sauce, green onion, garlic, sesame oil, and Sriracha sauce. Served ice-cold on a warm evening, it just doesn't get any better than this! I snagged this recipe from my friend Leah over at The Snacking Chef who made this months ago at one of our cooking club dinners. For those of you who balk at the price of sashimi grade anything, you can get a fair amount of high quality Ahi at Costco for an extremely low price! Can't find enough uses for that much Ahi? Try these insanely good Ahi Burgers!

This is a stunning appetizer for any size get-together! The amazing flavor and cool temperature of fresh Ahi contrast with the spicy heat of Sriracha sauce and the crunch of green onion... Outstanding!

Serves a crowd

INGREDIENTS:

• Wonton wrappers, cut in half into triangles
• Vegetable oil
• Sesame seeds

• 2 lbs fresh ahi tuna
• 1 small round onion, julienne cut (Maui Onions preferred)
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated fresh ginger
• 3 finely diced garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce (add more for hotter tastes!)
• 1 teaspoon Hawaiian sea salt or kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350'.
2. Spray baking sheet with vegetable oil or cooking spray.
3. lay wonton triangles on the baking sheet and coat spray with vegetable oil or cooking spray.
4. Scatter with sesame seeds and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
5. Mix all ingredients except fish & refrigerate about 30 minutes.
6. Cut tuna into small cubes (1/2"-1").
7. When ready to serve, toss fish with other ingredients and serve atop an ice bowl to keep it chilled.
8. Surround with wonton chips.

Wonton Cups with Shrimp & Mango Chutney!

I love everything about this recipe! Bite-sized, unique flavors, appealing colors, and SO easy to make! At first glance, there seems to be a lot going on here: mangoes, cilantro, shrimp, yogurt, curry!??! What?! Somehow all those flavors blend perfectly into one light, tangy bite.

The original recipe uses half a cup of mayonnaise. I thought it a travesty to smother the perfectly ripe mango and the succulent prawns I bought with mayonnaise, diet or otherwise. I admit, there are (few) times when mayo is absolutely necessary, but given my desire to cook healthy food that respects our fitness time every week, I opted for Greek Yogurt instead. It has a lower caloric count, and it's actually good for you!

Definitely give this recipe a try! It's perfect for warm summer evenings of entertaining!

Original Recipe here.

Makes about 24+

INGREDIENTS:

• Wonton wrappers
• Cooking spray

• 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
• 2 TBSP chopped cilantro
• Juice of 1-2 limes
• 1/2 tsp Green Curry Paste
• 12 oz shrimp, cooked & chopped

• 1 Mango, peeled & chopped
• 1/4 cucumber, seeded & diced
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1-2 tsp red jalapeno, minced
• squeeze of lime juice
• 1 TBSP mint, minced
• 1 TBSP cilantro minced
• sprinkle of cumin powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350'
2. In small bowl, mix all ingredients from mango through cumin. Stir gently and refrigerate.
3. In separate bowl mix all ingredients greek yogurt through shrimp. Stir to combine & refrigerate.
4. Cut 6 wonton wrappers into 4 triangles each so that you have 24 total.
5. If you have a mini-muffin pan, spray it with cooking spray. If you don't, spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (you are now making chips, not cups, but who really cares!?)
6. Push wonton triangles into each cup. Spray with cooking spray (both sides lightly coated).
7. Mix shrimp & mango bowls together and keep refrigerated.
8. Bake 10 minutes until golden brown.
9. Lightly cool so you can touch them and remove from pan.
10. Fill each cup with a little mango/shrimp mix and serve!

Quick Pulled Pork Sandwiches

We've been wanting, craving, and needing to make pulled pork for quite awhile now. The problem lies in our schedules. Traditionally, pulled pork requires a marinating process, a slow cooking process, a shredding process, etc... We rarely plan that far in advance and have so far been unable to get the pork thing taken care of. I was determined to make pulled pork sandwiches come hell or high water or lack of time for slow cooking. We had a pork tenderloin left over from a big Costco run and although that is technically the wrong cut of meat to use for pulled pork, I went ahead and broke the rules and used what we had.

Is it slow cooked? No. Is it with pork shoulder? No. Is it good? YES. We wound up with a weeknight do-able, healthier (gasp!) version of pulled pork sandwiches that rocked our combined worlds. I strongly suggest that you stop whatever you're doing and make this. Spicy, rich, decadent, succulent shredded pork atop steamed sesame buns with crunchy bursts of onion and sweet pickles left us speechless and covered in BBQ sauce.


Serves 2 Hungry People

Ingredients:

Spice Rub:

• 1.5 TBSP paprika
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp cracked pepper
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 pork tenderloin
• olive oil

• BBQ Sauce (We used Grumpy's Black Label - a spicy BBQ sauce)
• 2 TBSP cider vinegar
• water
• Buns
• Sweet pickles, diced
• Red onion, diced

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix all spice rub ingredients.
2. Pat pork dry and coat with the spice rub.
3. Heat a frying pan till hot with olive oil and sear the pork on all sides until seriously browned.
4. Reduce heat and cover, cook until done (about 15 minutes+) test doneness by touch. (can be done a day in advance, cool and chill, wrapped in fridge).
5. Score outside of pork with lengthwise cuts (this helps get the moisture IN)
6. In heavy pot, combine pork with enough water to just cover it. Add cider vinegar and 1/3 cup BBQ sauce.
7. Bring to boil and then simmer over medium heat covered, 1 hour or more.
8. Remove pork and shred.
9. Heat remaining bottle of BBQ sauce in pan over medium high, stir in shredded pork and heat thoroughly, allowing sauce to soak into pork.
10. Steam buns in pot with steamer rack over high, about 2 minutes.
11. Top bottom half of bun with pork, pickles and onions. Finish with top half of bun.
12. DIG IN PIGGIES!