Key Lime Cheesecake

Incredibly successful
Ingredients

• Crust:
  
  
  
  • 12 graham crackers
    
  • 1/2 tsp salt
    
  • 1 stick butter
    
  
  
• Filling:
  
  
  
  • 16oz neufchatel cream cheese (2 packages)
    
  • heaping 2/3c granulated sugar
    
  • 2 eggs
    
  • 3tbsp key lime juice plus a little more to taste
    
  • 1tbsp lime zest plus more to taste (we used a lot)
    
  
  

Preheat the oven to 350. Crush the graham crackers with the salt. When they're ground fairly finely (we used a cuisinart) add the melted butter. Spread evenly and then press into the bottom of an 8.5" springform pan. Make sure the crust is really good and compacted. Bake for about 5 minutes or until set.

Meanwhile, just beat all of the other ingredients together. We used a whisk and did it by hand, though a kitchenaid would do wonders at this. Pour filling into cooled crust. In a separate pan with deep sides, add some water. Put it in the oven on a low rack and let it sit (oven closed) about five minutes to create a humid chamber. Now add the cheesecake onto an upper rack. Bake until the filling is set but still jiggles a little in the middle when you shake it, about 45 minutes. Let it cool completely and then cover with foil and refrigerate at least three hours before serving. Overnight is better. Serve!

Thoughts:This turned out great. The crust didn't release very well from the first slice, but I think there are ways to work around that. Otherwise, I would say this was just the ideal cheesecake. I just hope I transcribed the recipe correctly (we didn't write it down and it was sort of made up and cobbled together from a few recipes).

Disaster Index: 1/10

Latin American Peanut and Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• about 6 red potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (about 7 oz)
• 1.25 cups of unsalted peanuts
• 6.25 cups of beef stock (or veg)
  
• salt and pepper
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• honey
• cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion starts to soften.
Add the garlic, potatoes, pepper, and tomatoes. Stir well to coat everything evenly, then cover and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Meanwhile, toast the peanuts by cooking them in a large dry frying pan over medium heat. Make sure they don't burn. Move them around often. You don't want burned peanuts.
Set a 1/4 cup of the toasted peanuts aside to use as a garnish. Put the rest in a food processor and grind them up. Add them to the vegetables.
When vegetables are done cooking, remove them from heat and transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.
Return mixture to the pot and stir in the beef stock. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve, garnished with the chopped cilantro and toasted peanuts.

Thoughts: This wasn't too difficult to make, and it was pretty delicious. I had the thought of adding some cayenne pepper, and Dan had the thought of adding honey. They make lovely additions to this dish, so by all means, add them both (probably just before serving). Also, I had the idea that buying fresh, in-the-shell peanuts would be a good idea because they would taste more fresh. This is probably not true, and they were a pain in the ass to shuck. So just go ahead and buy the canned ones (as long as they aren't salted! Christ!). We're having a little bit of difficulty coming to a consensus about the rating on this one. It was an unobjectionable soup, but it wasn't particularly striking. I would probably make it again.

Disaster Index: 1-2/10

Update!
only use 3c water,
4 cups worth of beef bouillon
about 2-3 tbsp honey (until you can JUST taste the sweetness)
juice of 1/3 to 1/2 a lemon
pinch of salt
pepper
cayenne to taste

Proceed as usual. About half way through the vegetables being cooked, throw HALF of them in a blender with the 3c of water. Blend smooth and re-add to the other vegetables with the 4 cups of beef bouillon. Bring to a boil and cook until the chunks of potato are tender - 10 minutes or so. Take off the heat and add remaining ingredients, tasting after each addition.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Chicken Enchiladas II

We used "enchilada sauce" as a huge shortcut, and it worked very well.

Ingredients

• 1 15oz can "enchilada sauce"
  
• 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast, trimmed
  
• 1/2c water
  
• 1tsp garlic powder
  
• 2tsp cumin
  
• 1/2c chopped cilantro
  
• ~2c shredded monterey jack cheese
  
• ~6 large (10"?) flour tortillas or ~12 6" ones.
  

Combine enchilada sauce, water, garlic, and cumin in a large pot. Bring to a boil, add chicken, cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is just done through (and a thermometer should read ~160*, though we don't have one) - about 10-12 minutes. If the chicken started out frozen, you'll probably have to remove the chicken after about 8 minutes, cut it into smaller pieces, and then add it back in for another 8 to 10 minutes. When the chicken is done, turn off the heat and remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Set the oven to 400 degrees. Shred the slightly cooled chicken using two forks. In a bowl, mix shredded chicken with 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce, 1c of cheese, and cilantro.

Stack all the tortillas on a plate and microwave them for about 40-60 seconds. Add about 1/3c (if you're using small tortillas) or 2/3c (if large) in a line down the middle of the tortilla. Roll tightly, and place seam-side down in a greased casserole pan. Repeat with all of the tortillas. Spray the tops of the tortillas with PAM. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce evenly over the top, and then top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I recommend using two spatulas to get them out of the pan.

Thoughts: I thought these were delicious, but Claire thought they needed a little more flavor. She prefers vegetables in her enchiladas. To that end, we sauteed some zucchini with some red and yellow onions. When they were done, we gave them the exact same treatment as the chicken (mix with cheese and cilantro, fill enchiladas, top with more sauce and cheese) and they turned out very well. Next time we will probably mix the vegetables in with the chicken. Also, we have some mole sauce, so next time we might make mole enchiladas, too, by pouring the mole over the top at the end rather than the enchilada sauce.

Disaster Index: 1/10

banana bread pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 banana, frozen and thawed
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup whole wheat flower
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  
• pinch of cinnamon
• milk, until the batter is the right consistency

Peel the thawed banana and mash it into a bowl. Add eggs, baking powder, salt, vanilla, flour, honey, chips, and cinnamon. Don't use a whisk for this. The batter will just get all stuck up in the whisk. You don't want that.
Once it's mixed, start adding milk until the mixture is about the right consistency.
Make them on the griddle.

Thoughts: Delicious. Although we could have added a pinch more salt and like, WAY less chocolate chips. The pancakes were soooo chocolate-y. Tooooo chocolate-y. But using whole wheat flour is a good idea because it makes the texture very satisfying. These really taste like banana bread.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Chicken Fingers

A healthy take on chicken fingers: no deep frying involved.
Ingredients

• about 2lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, trimmed of excess fat.
  
• Brining Solution:
  
  
  
  • 2c buttermilk
    
  • 1tsp garlic powder
    
  • 2tbsp dijon mustard
    
  • 2tsp salt, 1tsp pepper
    
  
  
• Breading:
  
  
  
  • 3c cornflakes, crushed (about 2.5c crushed)
    
  • 3/4c bread crumbs
    
  • salt, pepper
    
  • 1tsp garlic powder
    
  • 1/8tsp cayenne
    
  • 1/2tsp paprika
    
  
  

Thaw chicken and cut into "strips" of appropriate / desired size. Mix all of the "brining" ingredients together in a large bowl. Place chicken strips in bowl and let sit for at least an hour (overnight is better), covered, in the fridge.

When that's done, preheat oven to 400. Mix "breading" components and season to taste. Working one piece at a time, remove a chicken strip and cover in breading mixture, making sure to press the breading firmly into each piece and to cover completely. Arrange chicken strips on a sheet pan, giving a little space between each one. Bake 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown and done in the middle.

Thoughts: Claire and I really enjoyed these (and they're very healthy by comparison. We had to substitute buttermilk for half-and-half + skim + vinegar. It still turned out well, actually. But next time we could try the actual recipe. Also, the breading probably could have used a bit more salt (and pepper).

Disaster Index: 1/10

key lime shrimp with mushrooms and rice

This is based off of a Bobby Flay recipe. The original calls for lobster tail, so...yeah, we didn't use that. Because we have no money.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces of cremini mushrooms, sliced
  
• 2 cups of small shrimps
• 1 scallion/green onion, sliced
  
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 1/2 cup key lime sauce (1/2 cup margarine, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, generous pinch of pepper, generous pinch of cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp fresh key lime juice)
• 1 cup medium-grain rice

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and scallion and cook until the mushrooms start to sweat.
At the same time, start the rice. Add 1 cup rice with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Then reduce to simmer, cover, and let it sit until done (about 10-15 minutes). Don't stir it too often or check on it too often, otherwise it will get soggy.
Make the key lime sauce. Just mix all the above ingredients together.
When the mushrooms are tender enough, add the key lime sauce and white wine. Let cook for about 2 minutes.
Add the shrimp. Since we used pre-cooked shrimp, we only had to cook them for like, a minute to heat them through. If you're using raw shrimp, you'll want to add them sooner. But don't overcook them either way.
Remove from heat, serve with the rice. Nom nom nom.

Thoughts: I would have preferred a little less lime juice in the key lime sauce. It was a little too citrus-y for me. But Dan liked it. He actually added more lime juice than was in the original recipe. Maybe next time we'll add the normal amount of lime juice and serve key limes on the side so people can add the amount they want. Overall, pretty darn delicious.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Leek Rings

We saw this on Good Eats and thought it might be worth giving it a shot.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of vegetable oil
• One large leek, cleaned and trimmed of the dark green leaves
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp salt plus more for seasoning

Put the vegetable oil in a saucepan and put over medium-high heat
Slice leeks into 1/2 inch rings and separate them.
Whisk together milk and egg.
In another bowl, combine the flour and salt. Then divide this mixture up into two equal portions in two shallow pans (or whatever you have).
Dip the rings in the 1st flour mixture, then dip them in the liquid mixture, then coat them in the 2nd flour mixture.
Fry the rings until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Season with salt.

Thoughts: This was ok. Dan didn't like them one bit. I didn't necessarily MIND them, but after eating enough of them I got sort of sick because they were so greasy. And a lot of them got burned because we couldn't keep the oil at a stable temperature. Plus leeks aren't as flavorful as onions, so they sort of tasted like nothing. Just grease. I wouldn't recommend this.

Disaster Index: 7/10