Food Adventures: Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Hello, friends!

Guess what, guys! I made a cheesecake! :D

Mr. Kyle requested a cheesecake for his sweet this weekend. His one detail in the request was that it have pumpkin in it. So I went to the interwebs for a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. I found this one by Paula Deen (so you know it's good), but I decided that I didn't want to follow the recipe all that closely. I wanted to live dangerously. ;) And I wanted to get some chocolate in there, because pumpkin and chocolate are a beautiful couple.

I practically didn't follow this recipe at all... except for the the crust, which was a great crust recipe.

So here's my cheesecake recipe!

Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Ingredients

For Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

For Filling:

• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese (1/3 less fat), room temperature
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream (or light sour cream)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (15-ounce) can of pureed pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice\

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Follow the "For crust" instructions from this recipe. 
3. Get two double boilers (or two small pans of water with glass bowls that fit over them to work as double boilers) ready to melt chocolate. 
4. Place 1 cup of milk chocolate chips in one double boiler to melt and place 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to melt in the other double boiler. 
5. Melt the chocolate and let cool slightly, so it is not hot, but not to the point where it begins to harden. 
6. While the chocolate melts, beat cream cheese until smooth. 
7. Add eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar, flour, and vanilla. 
8. Beat until well combined. 
9. Scoop two cups of cream cheese mixture out of the "mother" mixture and divide into two small bowls, one cup of cream cheese mixture into each bowl. 
10. Mix the melted and cooled milk chocolate chips into the cream cheese mixture in one of the two small bowls that contains one cup of cream cheese mixture, until well mixed. 
11. Repeat with the semi-sweet chocolate and remaining small bowl of cream cheese mixture. 
12. Beat 2/3 of the can of pumpkin puree and the pumpkin pie spice into the remaining cream cheese mixture (the mother mixture).
13. Pour half of the pumpkin cream cheese mixture into the prepared crust and spread evenly. 
14. Dollop the milk chocolate cream cheese mixture into the pumpkin mixture in the crust, making spots in the pumpkin mix like you would see on dice. Use a knife to swirl the chocolate mix around. 
15. Pour the remaining half of the pumpkin cream cheese mixture into the crust, spread evenly. 
16. Dollop the semi-sweet chocolate mixture into the pumpkin mixture just as was done with the milk chocolate mixture. Use a knife to swirl the chocolate mix around. 
17. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour. 
18. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes. 
19. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. 

There you have it!!

I made mine with the lighter version of the ingredients, just to save some calories and fat. It was delicious! The pumpkin and chocolate are SO GOOD. I hope you enjoy it! I know we did!

Until next time, friends!
Stay excellent!

- Jenny -

Food Adventures: Valentine's Day Crepes!

Hello, friends!

So Valentine's day has come and gone. For some, I'm sure that you're relieved to see it go. I have once been one of those anti-Valentine's day people. I disapproved of the idea of having media and retailers demand and pressure us into purchasing items to display our affections. Of course, I was also without a Valentine on those days - but that was beside the point! or at least that's what I told myself then.

To be truly honest, with or without a Valentine, I love Valentine's day.

Here's what I posted to my Facebook as my status on Valentine's day:

"On this day, whether walking to your own beat or joining a special someone's melody, remember that today is a day to remember to love and to live in love. Don't let the day make you bitter and remember that love is far more than romance, the famed center of retail and media on this holiday. To live in love and to know love is to care for others, be they friends, family, lovers, or simply fellow humans. I think of it as an awareness day, making me aware of what not to take for granted in this life. Just my two cents."

That is really how I feel, too.

Just ask Anna, I love love and I love to love love. It's always been more than romance to me. I have so much love in my life. There are a couple friendships that come to mind that really take my breath away; I honestly can't even believe that some of my memories actually happened. They seem like they were taken straight from a movie or a book... Maybe one day I'll write a book, using those moments. Yes, *scribbles in life to-do list*

But, really, I love love. I love to volunteer in my community. I haven't in a long while and I'm looking to become more active again within the coming months; just have to find a project/organization to join or rejoin. :) The more I can do to make anyone feel more loved, the better everything is. That's my view at least.

With all of that, I also love romantic love, of course. I have a great man and I did have the opportunity to remind him of how much he means to me. An opportunity that I get every day and try to take advantage of every day.

So, because I only kind of give into the retail side of the holiday, I got him  a small box of chocolates and gathered him a movie date night pack, for us to enjoy. :) Then I made him a card and set out to make dinner and breakfast! Since Valentine's day landed on a Thursday, we postponed the foods until the following days. Below are some photos of his card. I'm pretty proud of it! I made a shnazzy popup card!

I visit him almost every weekend. I tallied up how many times I visited and calculated how many miles that's been. Impressive, eh? ;)

I cooked up some mixed veggies and New York strip steaks for the dinner; that was all fairly commonplace as it is kind of my go to date night dinner. O.o

My real adventure was my first stab at crepes! It was a real success! They were delicious, beautiful, and so fun! I was SO excited to have succeeded at this; I love crepes!

I followed this recipe for chocolate crepes with strawberries and cream cheese. I followed the batter and cream recipes to a "t." I made the batter in my blender the night before and allowed it to chill and settle overnight.

This recipe doesn't tell you much about how to cook the crepes, but don't worry I'll let ya in on my secrets. ;)

I don't have a crepe pan. I don't expect that many people do. Instead I used a ~10 inch nonstick saute pan.

I set my pan on the stove to heat at medium heat. As the pan heated, I brushed the cooking surface with some canola oil, using a basting brush. When I was confident the pan was fully heated, I scooped out 4 tablespoons of batter onto the pan and tilted the pan in a circular motion to cover the pan with a thin layer of batter.

It only takes about 10-20 seconds for the crepe to cook on that side. You want to go to flip the crepe when the edges start to curl a bit. Slide your spatula under the crepe... Then with a flick of the wrist - Flip! Then about 10 more seconds on that side and your crepe is finished! Out of the pan and on to a plate for cream and strawberries, followed by any method of folding or rolling for final presentation and eating!

Glorious!

They were so good. I know you're jealous - don't be! They're easy to make! Just have a little confidence & fun and crepes are a cinch!

Whether you were enjoying Valentine's day with your special someone or kicking it, enjoying the soundtrack of your own heart - I hope you had a great Valentine's day.

I send you love, all of you.

Until next time, friends - Stay excellent!

- Jenny -

Food Adventures: Boston Clam Chowder

Hello, friends!

I got a chance to have a nice foodie hoorah in the kitchen this Friday night. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy cooking and it's a great way for me to unwind. I was craving some clam chowder, specifically a recipe that Kyle and I had made for his parents over his Christmas break. We have made it a couple of times with slightly different brands of ingredients, so I knew exactly what I wanted for this go around.

We discovered this recipe for Emeril's Boston Clam Chowder, which is from his book Emeril's TV Dinners. It's easy to follow and tremendously delicious.

Because of the pace of the cooking of this chowder, I strongly recommend prepping everything before you get cooking. Chop up all the veggies and herbs and chop up the bacon. It's just easier to have it all ready to be added to the pot before you turn on the heat. ;)

As for the clams, we're not real close to the ocean in our neck of the woods, though we do have little neck clams available in our grocery store. However, I was a bit lazy for the prep that is involved for the clams. So instead of buying them whole, in-shell and cleaning and shucking them, I bought canned. I know, I know - not ideal, but! The clams we have found actually give a great end result chowder, despite the fact that we use canned clams. We used Snow's by Bumble Bee Chopped Clams in Clam Juice, the first time we attempted this recipe and it was delicious! We used a different brand the second time (I can't recall the brand); they were whole baby clams in water --- Not good. It resulted in a fishy and oft grainy chowder. No good at all.

So this time around, I went back to Snow's. It's also nice because Snow's also sells clam juice - though you nearly have enough of it after draining the chopped clams from their clam juice.

And I always serve my clam chowder with a delicious sour dough bread. I might even serve it in sour dough bread bowls, if I can find some.

Not only did I make the Boston clam chowder, I made a mocha chip cheesecake and some coconut walnut chip cookie bars for dessert!

The mocha chip cheesecake was super tasty but it wasn't really photogenic so you'll have to use your imagination. ;)

I love cooking and I don't get much of a chance during the work week so I revel in the times I get to on the weekend. Hope that you each have something (or many things, like me) that helps you unwind and enjoy your free time. Everyone deserves a hobby/passion outside of work to make life a little more exciting, and maybe even tasty. ;)

Stay excellent!
- Jenny -