Strawberry cheesecake tartlets

The older you get, the more people seem to dread, despise and passionately deny their birthdays. A marker of one year passed, one year older, one year closer to no more years. Which, from that perspective, is passionately depressing. But to me, birthdays are just that – days of birth. Without that day, there would be no you in the world, in the lives of people who couldn’t fathom that reality, who can’t imagine passing each day in their lives without you. It not about getting older – it’s about every person deserving a day to be celebrated.

Handheld, perfect for passing, adored by crowds, these Strawberry Cheesecake tarts say “happy any day.”

Obviously, I celebrate with food, and treating people wth treats. While fruit and dessert and I have had a … rocky … past (chocolate is my homeboy, yo), I have a whole backlog of things in the “not dessert for me but for a fruit-dessert-loving someone else.” This recipe was in that file – grown-up pop tarts, easy enough to make in the morning, perfect for a summer work birthday. Unfortunately, I sent David to the store and he thought puff pastry sheets and shells were the same. So, a little improv and here we are. (Also, this improv was WAY easier.)

Delicious strawberry cheesecake leftovers, in their glory.

You’ll need:

• 2 c strawberries (1 lb. container)
• 1 T sugar
• 2 boxes puff pastry shells (12 total)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 block cream cheese, softened
• 2-3 T honey
• 2 t vanilla

Get cooking:

1. Bake shells according to package directions.
2. While they’re baking, slice your strawberries (thinly) and mix with 1 T sugar. Set aside.
3. Whip your cream on high (stand or hand mixer) until you start to see peaks.
4. Add cream cheese, honey and vanilla – whip until well mixed. It will be a pudding like consistency. Taste for sweetness – I like a little bite, so feel free to add more honey or sugar.
5. Once your pastry is done, let it cool and Hollow out around the tops with a paring knife. That should leave you with a little well for the cream and berries. If your well isn’t deep enough, go ahead and dig in a little (gently) with your fingers and pull out a few more pastry layers.
6. Drain strawberries with a colander.
7. Fill each pastry with cream. You will have some left over, we’ll talk about that in a minute. Top with strawberries. (You can get fancy here and do a pattern – I was going for speed and didn’t.)
8. With the leftovers – spread leftover cream in the bottom of a 1.5-quart dish (or really anything about the size of an 8×8 pan.) Top with strawberries, then with the pastry tops. Not as cute of a presentation, but I hate to waste those tasty tops!
9. The actual tarts serve 12, the rest probably an additional 4-8 (serving vs spoonful.)

Recipe adapted from: http://www.jacquelynclark.com/2015/04/09/strawberry-vanilla-cream-hand-pies/

Gnocchi pasta pesto potato salad

Most people consider Memorial Day weekend the kickoff of summer fun – I consider it the kickoff of summer food. Sadly, many weekend BBQs are the same thing: floppy hot dogs, crushed potato chips, runny baked beans, pasta/potato salad slathered in mayo…blech. I hate it all. But no one wants to go to a BBQ empty-handed, or leave with an empty stomach – so go with this gnocchi pasta pesto potato salad, and no one will leave with an empty stomach.

This dish is an awesome addition to any table – using gnocchi in place of traditional pasta makes it a great pasta/potato salad hybrid, and all the veggies bring a light and refreshing feel to something that’s usually a heavy-handed gut bomb. Plus, using pesto as a dressing means it can sit out for longer than your average salad. Not that it will last that long. (It did not, in fact, last long at all – hence the only photo being in the creation stage.)

 

It’s pasta salad. And potato salad. And pesto. And delicious.

You’ll need:

• 1 pound packaged gnocchi, cooked
• 1 cup pesto
• 1 pint grape tomatoes or ½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
• ½ large red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 red, yellow or orange bell peppers, chopped
• 1 seedless cucumber, diced
• Parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler

Get cooking:

Combine ingredients in large bowl, toss to coat with pesto. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Serve cold or room temperature.

 

Chocolate cheesecake stuffed strawberries

There are times when show stopping dessert take hours of prep and baking and cooling and decorating – and then, there’s this. Three ingredients. Three steps. Super-fancy dessert. I mean, look at these – don’t you want them rightnowplease?

Chocolate cheesecake-stuffed strawberries are the perfect wine club – I mean book club – dessert. Or appetizer. Or snack in general.

I made these when I needed a fast book club dessert. I had a menu of about 5 million things (not really, but it was extensive) and I wanted a dessert that fit our ‘obsession’ theme. While carving out the strawberries takes a hot minute, this dessert comes together fairly quickly and easily. But it looks incredibly fancy, because it’s mini and stuffed. It’s light and refreshing but still satisfies the chocolate craving. And if you need to up your class factor, do what I did – and serve these as an appetizer. Hey, fruit and cheese is an appetizer, right?

You’ll need:

• 1 package strawberries, rinsed, dried and hulled
• 1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
• 1 c chocolate hazelnut spread

Get cooking:

1. When you hull the strawberries, use your pairing knife to carve out the entire middle of the strawberry. It’s tedious at first, but gets easier once you get the hang of it.
2. Beat together cream cheese and spread until well combined and fluffy.
3. Add mixture to piping tool (or a plastic bag with the corner snipped off.) Fill strawberries and serve. Look at you, so fancy!

Perfect Pineapple Rum Chicken

When David and I were first married, I committed to cooking something new at least once a week. It was a great way to expand my cooking skills from “broke college student” to “newly-married with a bit of money to play with professional.” I stumbled upon this recipe in a Rachael Ray cookbook and armed with a cupboard full of rum from our tropical honeymoon and a sale on fresh pineapple, I went to work. Slightly adapted from the original, it became and still is one of our favorite dishes. It’s also crazy fast to make.

You’ll need:

• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• ½ fresh pineapple, cut into bite-sized pieces (You can use canned here if you like. I always just wait for the sale because I love the taste of fresh pineapple.)
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T ginger, minced
• ½ – ¾ cup rum, any flavor
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ½ t crushed red pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Steamed rice for serving

Get cooking:

1. Heat skillet over medium high heat until warm, add oil.
2. Once oil is hot, add chicken and onions – cook for 5-7 minutes until chicken is browned and onions of soft.
3. Add garlic and ginger – saute for 1-2 more minutes.
4. Add rum, scraping browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or flat whisk (deglazing) and let reduce by half.
5. Add pineapple, chicken broth and spices. Boil until liquid is reduced by half.
6. Serve over rice (while listening to Jimmy Buffett.)

Marvelous Marinara Sauce

Everyone has those nights – you’ve worked a super long day, you want to come home and eat a comforting, warm, home cooked meal….but you have absolutely no patience to actually cook. Spaghetti (or more accurately, any kind of pasta) in a marinara sauce is probably my go to “comfort food meal,” and while I could just buy jarred pasta sauce…I can actually make a homemade marinara in the time it takes the pasta to cook. Which means I get the exact flavor I want, I know what I’m putting into it, and best of all – I get out my daily aggression by chopping.

This sauce is really versatile, depending on what you’re feeling like that night. The recipe below is just the base sauce, but I’ve been known to add diced chicken (for a faster, lighter version of chicken Parmesan), ground beef or turkey, and a variety of vegetables (bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes) as it sounded good.

You’ll need:

• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I just like the texture better, but you can use tomato sauce here if you’d prefer.)
• 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped (I’ve been known to use a whole head and no, I’m not ashamed.)
• 1 onion (Small, medium or large depends on how much you – or the people you’re cooking for – like onion.)
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup – ¾ cup red wine
• 2 T basil
• 1 T thyme
• 1 T oregano
• 1 t rosemary
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 T brown sugar (Optional, if you like a sweeter pasta sauce.)
• 1 pound of your favorite pasta

Get cooking:

1. Get water on to boil and boil pasta according to package instructions/to your preference.
2. Heat large skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil.
3. Once oil is warm, add onion (and meat/veggies, if using) and saute about 5 minutes, until onions are softened.
4. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes more, or until meat is done (if using.)
5. Add wine and scrape bottom of pan with wooden spoon/flat whisk (the fancy name for this is ‘deglaze”) and reduce by about half.
6. Add tomato sauce and spices. Bring to boil, then let simmer until pasta is done.
7. I always throw my pasta in the pan with my sauce and let them cook together for a minute or two, but that is totally up to you. Either way, dinner’s served! Don’t forget to top with Parmesan cheese.