A day off - Vegetarian Lasagna - Orange Scented Chocolate Cheesecake

Hey there. Hi there. Ho there. It's me. Thought I would drop in and say hi to any followers who might still be following me. :)

I had a day off today. A day off  from my house cleaning business and a day off from Starbucks. That meant I could sleep in and play in my kitchen. Playing in my kitchen makes me happy. In fact, playing in my kitchen makes me very happy. I knew ahead of time that I would have today off and had chosen a couple of recipes I wanted to try. One was for my Chocolate with Francois group and the other one was a practice run of an all vegetable lasagna. My beautiful daughter-in-law, who is pregnant with my first grand-child, is a Vegetarian. I am getting together next week with her and my son, my daughter and her hubby and we are going to have dinner together and play Quelf, a really fun board game. It will probably be the last time we can all get together before Baby Gulla is born. I plan on baking a pan of the vegetable lasagna and putting it in the freezer so that Sean and Katey have something they can just heat up and eat when they come home from the hospital with the baby. At least one night they won't have to worry about cooking dinner. :)

So, today I decided I would make a vegetable lasagna that I had come across a recipe for. It's from Italian Food Forever and it sounded easy and yummy. I even made the home-made sauce she links to. I used my submersible blender so that there wouldn't be chunks of tomatoes but kept to the basic sauce recipe.

I also bought my lasagna noodles. I do have a pasta roller, but I use it for my cake decorating business. Besides, I was more interested in what was going between the noodles rather than the noodles themselves. The recipe suggests using eggplant, roasted red peppers, fennel, and onions. I could not find fennel anywhere (and should confess here that I wouldn't know fennel if I bumped into it) so I decided to go with zucchini, eggplant, red peppers and onion. Knowing my hubby and his "it has to have meat or it isn't dinner" attitude, I bought some "Gimme Lean" sausage style veggie protein. I know, it isn't meat, but, I wanted to see if he would even notice.

I also cheated by buying roasted red peppers in a jar. I could have roasted some, but, I don't have a gas stove, it's electric. I do have a gas grill, but hated to crank it up to roast three red peppers. Thus, the jar of already roasted peppers.

I made the sauce first. It was super easy. Heat up some oil, drop in some minced garlic, pour in diced Italian style tomatoes, bring to a boil, lower heat, add salt and pepper and fresh chopped basil. And, any other spices or seasoning you would like. Super easy and really good.

I worked on the veggies next. Sliced the eggplant, brushed it with olive oil and grilled it under the broiler. Sauteed the onions till they were soft and light brown. Sliced the zucchini and sauteed that up. Fried the "sausage". Drained the roasted red peppers. Once I had all the ingredients cooked and on separate plates I began to assemble the lasagna.

A little sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. A layer of noodles. A little more sauce. Some "sausage", cheese and eggplant. Cover with noodles. Sauce. "Sausage". Cheese. Roasted red peppers. Noodles. Sauce. "Sausage". Cheese. Onion. Final layer noodles, sauce, "sausage", cheese, zucchini. Last layer of noodles, a little more sauce and a good amount of cheese. Covered the whole thing with foil and put it in a 375 degree oven and baked it for 45 minutes. The recipe on Italian Food Forever doesn't call for covering the dish with foil and it bakes for a shorter time, but I think that's because the noodles are fresh made rather than boxed.

The lasagna smelled fabulous while it was baking and looked wonderful when I took it out of the oven. I let it set for about 20 minutes before cutting and plating it.

I loved it!! So many flavors blending together. It was not greasy or overly heavy like some lasagnas can be. The vegetables were soft but not mushy. There was just enough sauce, not overpowering the dish or drowning the noodles, but just enough to enhance the flavors of the veggies and bind the noodles, cheese and veggies together. What was even better was that the hubby also loved it! At one point he asked about the ingredients, wanted to know if it was all veggies, besides the sausage. It was then that I told him the truth about the "sausage". He shrugged and kept eating. Success!!

Even if you aren't a Vegetarian, you should try this lasagna. Trust me when I say you won't miss the meat that's not in it. Or the ricotta cheese that's not in it. Or the eggs. Just roast or grill some veggies. Layer them with some shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. A little sauce and you are good to go. :)

In the title of this post I mention an Orange Scented Chocolate Cheesecake. That recipe is from my CWF group and it is my pick for the month of June. According to the rules of our group, I am afraid I can't post my review until the 30th of June. But, trust me (again) when I say you need to come back at the end of June and get the recipe for it. Wonderful! Light yet rich. Orange and chocolate flavors blending together. A tender, sandy, sable' crust. The cheesecake baked up tall and beautiful. I really liked it. The hubby thought it was okay. He said I have made better cheesecakes before. However, he is not a big orange/chocolate combination fan. Guess you will have the try the recipe and decide for yourself.

I will be back on the 30th of this month, if not before, to post the latest CWF review...Chocolate Tiramisu. This was unbelievably delicious! I kid you not when I say that the 11/2 quart bowl I made lasted just over two days. And, there were only two of us here to eat it. :] You can find that recipe at Seattle Pastry Girl's blog. It's worth the effort. Trust me. :)

Sweet Melissa Sunday - Black Bottom Brownies

This weeks recipe , which was chosen by Cynthia of Bakingtherapist's blog, was Black Bottom Brownies. I am sure she will have the recipe up on her blog soon, just in case you don't own The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. And, if you are reading this and you don't own the book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. It's full of wonderful, yummy recipes.

I am going to keep this short and sweet. A very wonderful, kind, funny, caring woman I knew, who was in fact a neighbor of mine, passed away this morning from lung cancer. I was fortunate enough to have spent some time with her last Sunday and was able to tell her how grateful I was to have known her. A friend of the family just called here a little bit ago to relay the news. I am going to miss Corinne very much. She was spunky and a fighter and never let the terrible disease she had get her down. She was smiling the last time I saw her and that is how I will always remember her.

Anyway, back to this weeks recipe. These brownies were pretty easy to put together. I had really high hope for them as I have a favorite brownie cheesecake I make and I thought that these would be like that.

I may have over baked them a tad. My top looked more brown than golden. I cut them into small bars and hubby and I gave them a try.

The first night we had them, we weren't impressed. The brownie part was kind of dry and the cheesecake part kind of blah. The best part was the middle where the chocolate chips had settled and melted. But, the next night we tried these, we couldn't believe they were the same bars. The brownie part was chewy and chocolate-y, the cheesecake moist and creamy and the combination of all three layers was rich and satisfying. Go figure. I found that the bars kept getting better as more time passed. I am glad we gave them a second try because it changed my opinion of these completely. I still think my brownie cheesecake is better, but, these bars are a good "eat with your hands" substitution.

Want to know what the other bakers thought? Head over to SMS and see.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Low and Luscious Cheesecake

I remember the first time I heard the word "cheesecake", I wondered why on earth anyone would make a cake out of cheese!? Of course, I was young and foolish then. :)

This weeks recipe is a cheesecake, a chocolate cheesecake, and it was chosen by The Tea Lady of Tea and Scones. Yummy choice! Thank you Margaret! I love cheesecake and chocolate so this was one I had to make.

This was super easy to put together. I "played around" with mine and made the Cappuccino Swirl Chocolate Cheesecake. My swirl didn't turn out very "swirly" but the taste was wonderful. I upped the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon. I love the flavor of cinnamon with chocolate. There is a chocolate/cinnamon cake I bake that is one of my hubby's favorites. But, I was talking about this cheesecake.

I made my crust with chocolate graham crackers as I had some on hand and in my book, you can never have too much chocolate!

You use a food processor to mix the filling. Using  the food processor makes putting this cheesecake together a breeze! I may use my processor for more cheesecake fillings in the future.

I also made the homemade hot fudge sauce and drizzled it over the cheesecake when I severed it. (See above comment about too much chocolate!)

The verdict? I loved it! The hubby however wasn't overly impressed. He felt it wasn't as creamy as some I have made. He did eat the piece I gave him though, and ate a piece each night for the consecutive nights I served it for dessert. Go figure! :D

If you'd like to see what the other bakers thought, head over to TWD and check them out.

Sweet Melissa Sunday - Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake with Blackberry Glaze

I write this post with mixed emotions. It is the our last SMS post for 2009. We will start again in January. While I am grateful for the "free" time it will give me, I will really miss my Sunday evenings which are spent reading posts from the other bakers. I am new to this whole experience, blogging and baking with groups on-line. I have to say I really enjoy it. All the new friends I have met. All the wonderful recipes I have tried, many I might not have tried were it not for the groups I bake with. I guess I am just a bit melancholy at this time of year and it is bleeding through to my blog.

But, back to business. Shandy of Pastry Heaven picked this recipe. Any time the word cheesecake, chocolate and espresso are in the same sentence I am hooked. I actually looked at this recipe and had it earmarked to pick if it was still available in April when it's my turn to choose a recipe.  I am not at all upset that Shandy picked it now.

This was (is) a delicious cheesecake! I believe it will be a bit boozy for my hubby. Not that he doesn't drink, but he's funny about alcohol in his foods and if he can taste it he usually doesn't like the dish. While I could taste the dark rum (it's more of a warmth in the mouth and throat than an actual taste) I still liked the cheesecake every much.

As cheesecakes go, it's pretty typical to pull together. A bit more work cooking the cream, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt, and melting the bittersweet chocolate, but it's really just making a crust, mixing the cream cheese with other ingredients and baking it. It bakes in a water bath and from all the cheesecakes I have made, water baths = creamy filling. This was no exception to that rule. The filling turned out silky, creamy, smooth,and intensely chocolaty.

The crust was a wonderful surprise. A good many crusts get soft and  almost cookie like. This crust stayed crispy, crunchy. It was a nice contrast to the smooth, silky texture of the filling. Perhaps the hazelnuts help to make it crunchy. Not sure, but I really liked it.

The glaze on top, pretty and shiny, is overwhelmed by the chocolate of the filling. I made extra glaze and drizzled it on the plate and that little bit extra added just a hint of the blackberry flavor to each bite. I really can't say I tasted the espresso. I think it serves to intensify the chocolate rather than add a coffee flavor to the dessert.

All and all, this is a fabulous dessert. Rich, creamy, crunchy, tons of chocolate flavor, beautiful on a plate with a bit of the glaze drizzled over each slice. I think you could easily omit the rum and still have a delicious cheesecake. I don't think I would omit it completely next time, but might knock it back to 1/8 of a cup rather than 1/4 of a cup.  I didn't have any fresh blackberries on hand, but think some chocolate curls might dress the plate up nicely, along with the extra glaze. I love how Shandy decorated hers. Stop by her blog to check it out! And, stop by SMS to see what the other bakers thought of this one, and if anyone is as melancholy as I am about not baking with Melissa again till January.

Tuesdays with Dorie (on Sunday night?) or you had me at chocolate/coffee/cheesecake

My whole reason for starting this blog is I wanted to be a part of "Tuesdays with Dorie", a group that bakes a different recipe a week from the book "Baking" by Dorie Greenspan. I had this book before I ever knew about the group and each week I would check the blog to see what they baked. Not having a blog kept me from joining the group...until now.

I haven't officially been accepted, but, I have gone ahead and baked the recipe for this Tuesday - Espresso Cheesecake Brownies. I am hoping that the fact that I baked on Sunday instead of Tuesday won't disqualify me. :) I will be cleaning houses on Tuesday (to pay the bills) and had the free time today to bake, so I did.

The recipe was pretty easy to pull together. I already had everything I needed on hand. I did use bittersweet chips rather than chopped bars for the melted chocolate part, but I don't think it affected the outcome. I whipped up the brownies in a 4 cup glass measuring cup. The batter seemed a bit thicker than I think it should have been, because when it came time to swirl it with the cheesecake batter it didn't swirl so much as just move around in the batter. The cheesecake batter itself smelled wonderful with the addition of the espresso and was a lovely "coffee with cream" color. I baked mine for the minimum time of 30 minutes.

They turned out fabulous! Delicious! I was already sold by the fact that the recipe called for espresso and chocolate, two of my favorite flavors. Not to mention cheesecake. I mean, how can you go wrong.  But I wasn't prepared for just how good the final result would be.

The tangy sour cream topping is the first thing you taste, it's tanginess cut by the addition of the confectioners sugar. Then, the espresso flavor floods your mouth, blending with the sour cream, and finally the chocolate of the brownies melds with the other flavors and it all comes together like a well orchestrated dance. My hubby said "it was a party in his mouth". They were smooth, creamy, rich, and considering how easy overall they were to pull together, I can see these being made quite often in my house. I wonder what the other bakers thought...