Recipes | Page 2 of 15 | Coffee, Clutter and Chaos

Jan, 2018

Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake Recipe

A few years ago I was looking for a Turtle cheesecake recipe for my love. She had asked me to make a cheesecake for Christmas Dinner, and I know that caramel and chocolate are two of her favorite things! So I tweaked a recipe and came up with this Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake!

The kids are not huge cheesecake fans, and Karol doesn’t really like to share this cheesecake, so they have ice cream or chocolate pie instead.

I promise you this cheesecake is amazing! I have tweaked the recipe a bit over the years, but it is my “go to” Turtle Cheesecake recipe. I want to share it with you all! If you love chocolate, caramel and cheesecake this is the one for you too. Try it, you will love it!!

TURTLE CHEESECAKE
Ingredients:

¾ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (crushed) **I used chocolate teddy grahams, because I couldn’t find chocolate graham crackers.

½ cup melted butter (or margarine)

3 (8 oz) packages of softened cream cheese

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk  (I use the fat free kind)

½ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

2 tablespoons caramel sundae syrup

½ cup pecans (chopped)

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
** I add 1/2 cup sour cream to give the cheesecake a more “New York” style.

** I also take some caramel candies and melt them with a little bit of heavy cream and then pour on top of the crust to form a caramel layer between the crust and the cheesecake.

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees and grease a 9 inch spring form pan. Combine Chocolate graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press mixture onto the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the spring form pan.
Step 2: In a bowl beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until its smooth. Add sugar, lime juice, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat together until fully mixed.
Step 3: Microwave chocolate morsels in 10 second intervals until morsels are just melted. Stir 2 cups of cheesecake batter into the melted morsels. Then spoon separate batters alternatively into the crust. Start with the batter without the morsels, then with the morsels, and end with the batter without the morsels.
Step 4: Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cheesecake is set (when the center moves just slightly). When cheesecake is done, cool completely. After the cheesecake is cooled top with chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, pecans, and chocolate morsels. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

Crust in pan:

melt caramels mixed with about 3 tbsp of heavy cream:

Pour melted caramel on top of crust:

Mix Cream cheese, milk, and sugar until smooth:

Mix in eggs, vanilla, lime juice and sour cream (Sour cream makes it more dense like a new york style cheesecake. It is optional)

Mix together until smooth:

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler. (I prefer this to the microwave…less chance of chocolate burning)

Mix melted chocolate in with two cups of batter. You will end up with some chocolate and some white batter:

cheesecake pan with choc batter — Not sure why streaks in picture. It is chocolate batter in the pan. Then white batter goes on top, then chocolate and topped off with white.

cheesecake ready for oven — Not sure why streaks in picture. It is chocolate batter in the pan. Then white batter goes on top, then chocolate and topped off with white.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. The cheesecake will be slightly jiggly in the center. That is okay. Once it is out of the oven, decorate with caramel and chocolate syrup. I also put some mini chocolate chips on top. And pecans if desired.

Then slice and enjoy!!

Aug, 2017

Greek Chicken and homemade Tzatiki sauce

We have tomatoes! LOTS of beautiful, juicy lovely cherry tomatoes. So many tomatoes I don’t even know what to do with them anymore. Oh and cucumbers. We have those too! Lots of them.

So with lots of cucumbers and tomatoes, the first thing that came to mind was a cucumber and tomato salad, but Karol said she wasn’t a fan. So I had to think about what she does like. And what she (and the rest of the family) like are chicken skewers. With a greek marinade, and pita bread and feta cheese. We like Tzatiki sauce also, but the boys can live without that. We eat this Greek Chicken and homemade Tzatiki sauce many times in the summer because it is so easy and so Delicious!!

So off to the grocery store I went to get some greek yogurt and pita bread. I always make my own Tzatiki because it just tastes better. One thing I will say is that it tastes even better the day after you make it then the day you make it so if you can have the presence of mind to prepare (as I didn’t) and make your Tzatiki the day before it will be much yummier. In this case they got what they got. Just kidding, we loved it and we like it even more the next day!

First, you make a simple marinade for the chicken and let it sit in there for as long as you have — sometimes I have 20 minutes and sometimes (although not as often as I would like) for as long as 24 hours. Mostly I just forget to plan ahead. Either way the chicken will taste delicious. Then you make a huge amount of Tzatiki. More than you think you will need, but trust me, it goes fast. You chop lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and red onion (for others than my family I do this, we are not big red onion eaters). Then you grill the chicken. You can either grill your chicken whole or use skewers. For some reason my family just loves food on a skewer. We also always grill the pita bread. Grilling gives it a nice texture and takes away some of the “flour” taste. A super easy way to feed a family or even a large gathering, and you will hardly break a sweat. Added plus of making a light, summer meal that everyone will love and they can take what they want or don’t want, (onions and sauce for my kids, and pita bread for the people not eating gluten) and you can just simply enjoy a lovely glass of whatever your favorite summer beverage is (I like a white sangria personally, or wine spritzer) and enjoy the smell of grilled food and the sound of happy people on a summer evening!

I put my yogurt in paper towels (because I don;t have cheesecloth) and then put in over a large cup (a tall plastic container works also). I wrap a rubber band around it so the liquid will drip through the cloth and your sauce will be thicker. You definitely DON’T have to do this, especially if you use Greek yogurt which has less moisture. I just like my sauce thick.

We freeze the chicken with the seasonings on them. Makes dinner prep faster and easier.

Ready to assemble. Also, side note I used Naan bread.

Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
2-4 (depending on size of group) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Tzatziki dressing

1 1/2 cups (554 grams) plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 hothouse, English or seedless cucumber, unpeeled (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Assembly

1 red onion, thinly sliced (we skip this unless there is company that likes it)
About 1 pound small-medium tomatoes, chopped
1 hothouse, English or seedless cucumber, chopped
small can of black olives, sliced
4 large pitas (intending 1/2 per person) or more as needed
crumbled feta cheese

Prepare the chicken: Combine all ingredients in a large freezer bag. Rub all around, coating chicken as evenly as possible. Let marinate for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours, whatever time you have. (we put marinade on chicken and then freeze with marinade, easy peasy when thawed)

Make tzatziki: Place the yogurt in a medium bowl. Slice your cucumber in half, and remove the seeds. Coarsely grate your cucumber and after sitting for a few minutes, wring it out as well as you can. All of that liquid makes the sauce too wet. Add wrung-out cucumber to yogurt bowl along with lemon juice, sour cream, dill, garlic, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill until needed.

Prepare salad components: Arrange, onion, tomatoes, black olives and cucumbers on a platter, or in bowls.

Cook chicken: Heat your grill to high heat or a grill pan to medium-high. Remove chicken from marinade and grill on first side until dark lines appear, about 5 minutes, then flip and grill for 3 minutes more on second side. Cooking times will vastly range by the thickness and coldness of your chicken, as well as variations between grills. Transfer cooked chicken to a cutting board, let rest for a couple minutes while you quickly heat/toast your pitas on the grill. (or cube chicken and put on skewers)

Cut chicken into chunks. Cut pitas into wedges. Add to platter with vegetables and let everyone dig in.

Recipe Notes

This is a great recipe to make ahead of time. Add the marinade to the chicken, package for the freezer and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then grill or bake in the oven.

We make this a LOT in the summer. Definitely a family favorite and super easy!!

Oct, 2016

Arbonne detox Cauliflower Shepherd’s Pie

Okay so life has been busy and I haven’t been blogging as often as I would like during this challenge. I have been cooking diner almost every night and putting it on Facebook live. That has been fun. So I wanted to share with you how I am feeling, my results and one of the recipes we really liked. Well, actually we have liked them all. There were two that really stand out though as super yummy and I will post both of those.

I will say that I feel great!! I have tons of energy and I have been sleeping very well. No problems falling asleep. I did think I was going to have a problem with the no eating after 8 because I am a night owl, but I just have a detox tea and that works GREAT!

And the BEST part: I lost 3.1 pounds last week!!!! Y’all don’t even know how huge that is for me!!! Well, if you have been reading my blog for awhile maybe you do know how huge that is for me!!! It is HUGE!!!!!!

So here is the recipe I made for Arbonne detox: Cauliflower Shepherd’s pie! It was really good. Substituting cauliflower for potatoes. I do not like cauliflower but I really enjoyed it and I would eat it again!

Cauliflower Shepherd’s Pie

2 tablespoons EVOO

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery sticks diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

1/2 cup fresh or frozen English peas

for the cauliflower mash

1 heads cauliflower, chopped

salt and pepper

splash of coconut milk

chives

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Chop 1 head of cauliflower and place in a large pot of water to boil

3. While the cauliflower is boiling, sauté onions and carrots in the oil in a saucepan over medium heat until they begin to get soft.

4. Add garlic and stir to combine then add beef, salt, pepper, and cook until brown. Then sprinkle the meat with the flour, stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, and parsley and stir to combine.

6. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer about 10 minutes.

7. Add the peas to the beef and spread evenly into individual ramekins or an 11.5 by 8inch baking dish.

8. Put boiled cauliflower in food processor and

season with salt pepper ( I also added a splash of milk).

9. Top beef mixture with cauliflower – and sprinkle with chives. Bake until golden brown and bubbling, about 25 minutes.

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