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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Additional Flavors rolled out today

I thought about a few more flavor combinations for my little dessert creations and went tropical on one, traditional on the other.

I love pineapple and coconut, and those flavors come together perfectly in a "Pina Colada" so here's that combination in a little cheesecake, topped off with some mint and a raspberry, just because it looks pretty.

The traditional flavor is on every American Child's list of favorite foods "Peanut Butter and Jelly" so I chose to do that as my traditional flavor. Topping it of with a slice of banana to give a nod to ELVIS favorite, a deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich stuffed with banana.


Soon, hopefully these will out somewhere for everyone to try.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Wow.......

these little cheesecakes were a HUGE success in the office. Here's the current result in flavor preference

1. Mint Chocolate
2. Caramel Frappuccino
3. Vanilla-Strawberry

If you're in my area and want to order some, let me know and send me an email.

Single Serve Cheesecake and Cheesecake Bites



Here are the results of last nights hard work. I made three different flavors of individual size cheesecake.


Caramel Frappuccino












Vanilla Strawberry


Mint with Dark Chocolate











And here are the Mini Cheesecake Bites! YUMMY!



Thursday, May 20, 2010

Whew.....

I made 3 different flavors of cheesecake bites today, in 3 different sizes, so I can pass the little ones out as treats and little tester bites. Tomorrow we'll take some nice pictures, so I can show off my hard work.

I hope I won't forget my decorations and that I actually have to buy some mint. I wish I could get all of you to taste my little delicious bites.

Mini Cheesecakes on FoodistaMini Cheesecakes

Spicy Tuna and Tuna Roll with Buckwheat

We hadn't had sushi in a while and I've tried to make some before, but really wanted to do it again. So on my way home from work I stopped by Mitsuwa in Culver City to pick up some of the essentials for really easy rolls.

To get some additional texture into the rolls, I decided to mix some buck wheat into the sushi rice and it gave it a little bit of a nutty flavor, which went very well with the tuna.

When you buy your tuna, make sure it is sushi/sashimi grade tuna, it has to be super fresh and here in LA the Japanese markets are the best to get this. On top of that you'll find everything else you need there.

Start with cooking your rice/buck wheat as per instructions and season with sushi rice seasoning , set aside and let cool. While the rice cools down prepare the spicy tuna. I chopped about 4 oz of tuna finely, then seasoned it with a tablespoon of mayo and two dashes of  red pepper sauce (tabasco will work) added a splash of ponzu and some freshly ground black pepper. There is your spicy tuna.

Take your nori paper (seaweed) moisten it with your fingers and lay the cooled rice on top, leaving some bare. Top it with julienned cucumber (I used my Zyliss Mandoline for this) and daikon sprouts, then add the spicy tuna and roll up tightly.

For the regular tuna roll, just slice your tuna thinly and layer it with cucumber, daikon, radishes, carrot or whatever you like and roll it up the same way as you did before.

Slice up the rolls, arrange on a nice platter and serve!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Happy Friday...

Petite Sweets: Bite-Size Desserts to Satisfy Every Sweet ToothChicago Metallic Commercial 12-Cup Mini Cheese Cake Panand yeah it is, because not only do we all get paid today, but I also got some new goodies from Amazon.com. I ordered a mini cheesecake pan , so I can make individual size cheesecakes and i got myself a little book "Petite Sweets", about bite size desserts for some inspiration.


I'm looking forward to having the next two days off, so I can experiment with all the new things I got lately. Hopefully I can show off some of my creations soon.


Check back often!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Shrimp in Garlic White Wine Sauce

Well, yesterday I didn't really know what I wanted to make for dinner, so I had to come up with something on the fly. I had to go grocery shopping anyway, as I forgot to take any chicken or fish out of my freezer.

There I was, pulling together the pieces in the store, cereal, salad, juice, milk, bread all the necessities and as I was nearing the fish counter, I caught something in the corner of my eye..... SHRIMP, reduced 50 % last day...... oh yeah that was it, I could use those to make a quick and reasonably healthy dinner. How can you beat that.

I quickly finished off the rest of my shopping and headed home to marinate the shrimp. They were already deveined, so all we had to do is quickly peel them and then they headed for a bath in a marinade of:

Olive Oil, fresh minced garlic, mediterranean herbs, salt, pepper and a little bit of hot sauce. I let them sit in the marinade for about an hour. While the shrimp were enjoying their bath, I minced one more pice of garlic, finely chopped 1/4 of an onion and a handful of parsley and put the rice in the rice cooker.

I heated a large frying pan and melted some butter added the onion/garlic and sauteed them for about 3-5 minutes, then add the shrimp, including the marinade, to the pan and quickly sautee until pink. Add the parsley. Sautee for about another minute and then pour in about a glass of white wine (I used Chardonnay) to deglaze the pan, add a couple of pieces of butter, and if you like to thicken the sauce, mix some corn starch (Maizena) with a tiny bit of water and pour in the pan. Once you stir that in the sauce thickens immediately.

Now serve over a bed of rice and with a side of salad! Bon Apetit!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Yes I've got a new Toy

and I plan on using it today. I always wanted this kind of thing, cause every single hobby or professional chef needs it when they are into deserts....... SO as it was my birthday, my hubby gave me one of these as a present........

BonJour Brushed Aluminum Chef's Torch with Fuel Gauge

So the "Creme Brulee" is already made and cooling down in the fridge. In a couple of hours, I will test this baby! Yeah!

Update: Apparently this thing also works very well as a Cigar Lighter! ;-)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

Well, I love cheesecake, but most of the time, they are really heavy and I wanted to make something a little lighter for summer. I had some strawberries in my fridge and needed to do something with them. So before I even thought of the cheesecake, I'd decided I wanted to make a strawberry sauce.

That strawberry sauce or coulis, I then used in the cheesecake, to create little pockets of fruity deliciousness in the cheesecake and, I must say, it made it look pretty too.

So, here's what you need to make this delicious and pretty easy dessert.

For the coulis:

2 cups of strawberries, cut in pieces
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook for about 10 minutes until the strawberries are really soft and almost fall apart. Remove from the heat and put in a blender or use an immersion blender to blend for a smooth consistency. Strain through a sieve to get the seeds out and then put back into the pan, keep simmering until its thick and syrupy in it's consistency, cool.


For the crust:

1 1/4 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 cup Sugar
5 Tbs Butter or Margarine melted

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl so everything is well combined, press the mixture in a 9 inch spring form so it is well covered and push up about 1/4 inch on the side, then bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes (this will make the crust a bit crunchier). After 5 minutes take out of the oven and cool.

For the filling:

16 oz Cream Cheese or light Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup boiling Water
2 Tbs Vanilla Extract (I also added the seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean)
1 Lemon, Zest only (finely grated)
1 envelope Gelatine

In a mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, lemon zest and vanilla. Bring one cup of water to a boil and stir in the sugar and gelatine until it is fully dissolved, about 3- 5 minutes. Then slowly blend the gelatine mixture with the cream cheese.

Pour half of the cream cheese mixture on the cooled crust, then with a spoon drop little pools of strawberry coulis on top of it, so there is a bit all over the mixture, cover with the rest of the cream cheese. drop some more coulis on top and then take a knife and just move it through the coulis drops, so you create a nice marble effect on the cheesecake.

Once you are finished, cover your cheesecake and cool in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.

Then enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake on Foodista