Sweet little Peanut, Avery, has become my BEST kitchen helper lately. She BEGGGGS me to cook something, so she can help. Bread dough is her favorite by far, because she gets to play in the flour on the island … Continue reading
This is Post 2 for today, head back one Post to check out Heritage Day photos!
Drea made this for us while she was here this summer, so we could celebrate our summer birthdays together! 🙂 It was out of this world good and probably the best cheesecake we have EVER, EVER had!
Yup, it’s that incredible.
{click title to print}
FOR THE RASPBERRY RIBBON:
FOR THE CRUST:
FOR THE FILLING:
In a small saucepan on the stove top, mix raspberries and corn starch until blended. Bring to a boil and stir until thickened. Press through a fine mesh strainer and discard seeds that remain. Cool and set aside.
Grease a 9 inch x 3 inches high springform pan, and wrap it in a double layer of heavy duty foil, covering the bottom and part way up the sides to create a water tight seal.
Preheat oven to 350* and make your crust by mixing flour and sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly, then press into the bottom of your pan. Place pan on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and reduce oven temp to 325*.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in cream, vanilla and eggs until just blended. Stir in cooled chocolate.
Pour half of the mixture over the crust. Spread with half the raspberry puree. Top with remaining batter and drop puree by tablespoonfuls over the top. Cut through with a knife to create swirls.
Place springform pan on a jelly roll pan or something with an edge, and add 1 inch of hot water to the baking sheet.
Bake 1 3/4 to 2 hours, or until cheesecake edge is set and golden brown. {Note: the center of the cheesecake will still jiggle and that is ok.}
Remove springform pan from water bath and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing foil and running a knife along the edge of the cheesecake pan. Cool 1 hour longer, then refrigerate overnight before removing rim and serving.
Enjoy!
~T
I told you yesterday, that we were all still a bit green around the gills, so we stayed home last night. But, Destiny had been well since Sunday, so she went to Fall Fest last night with some friends. You know I wouldn’t be ME, if I didn’t have a photo to share. 🙂
I was very pleased with the way the skirt and outfit turned out.
Sweet lil’ Peanut knew she wasn’t going, but asked so nicely if she could at least try her outfit on for a picture like big sis.
Consider this a sneak peek for next year:
Ok, so I KNOW, you’ve already gone through your kids’ candy from last night, and divided out the chocolate from the other stuff, right?
I mean, come on, we don’t want that chocolate starting to taste like GRAPE now do we?!
Save those Snickers, because do I have the dessert for you!
I found this recipe at Weekend Potluck by Jessica at A Kitchen Addiction. Oh my stinkin’ yum, was it ever DIVINE! And it’s the perfect way to use up your collection of mini Snickers!
This pie makes my top 5 dessert recipes!
Did you hear me?
The best Snickers Pie E-V-E-RRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
A huge thank you MUST go out to Jessica, who invented it. Genius I tell you, sheer Genius!
(click for easy printable)
1. Drizzle 4 T. each of caramel and fudge into the bottom of your chocolate crust. Refrigerate.
2. Mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the peanut butter and vanilla, stir well.
3. Add in 2 chopped Snickers bars and cool whip. Do not over stir!
4. Pour into pie crust.
5. Drizzle with caramel and chocolate sauce and add last Snickers bar, chopped to the top.
6. Refrigerate 4 hours to set. Serve cold and slice it small, this pie is RICH!
~T
Today is Avery’s Born Again Birthday!
She asked Jesus into her heart a year ago tonight when Nana was babysitting. My mom chose not to tell us that night when we got home from our date, just to see if it was “real” to Avery. Would you believe that early early the next morning she came racing into our room and from the doorway announced:
“I asked Jesus in my heart and I get to go to Heaven!” in her little teeny sweet 2-year-old voice, then did the sweetest little celebratory jump in the air. “Yipee!” 🙂
Precious, precious moments in the lives of our children. We will wish her a Happy Born Again Birthday when she wakes up today and remind her why we celebrate this special day:
Jesus washed away her sins, she can go to Heaven for eternity and that on this very day a year ago, the angels had a Born Again Birthday party for her as God wrote her name in the Book of Life! Now THAT is reason to celebrate! 🙂
On to the dessert:
The title says Caramel Apple Cheesecake, what more could you want to know?! 🙂
Ok, it was delicious……caramel is my WEAKNESS! It was the perfect fall dessert and I am SO excited to own a Springform pan so I can make this sorta thing. (finally after 10 years of wishing I had registered for one, I now own THREE springform pans, all in different sizes thanks to a Bed, Bath and Bey0nd gift card. I LOVE that place!) Thank you, Lisa for sharing this great recipe!
1. Place a greased 9 inch spring form pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. (about 18 square inches) Securely wrap foil around pan.
2. In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of prepared pan. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
3. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, melt unwrapped caramel squares and milk until smooth and melted. Pour 1 cup over crust; sprinkle with 1/4 cup pecans. Set remaining caramel mixture aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, 1 T. flour and remaining sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low-speed just until combined. Combine apples, cinnamon and remaining flavor. Fold into cream cheese mixture then pour into crust.
5. Place springform pan in a large baking sheet; add 1 inch of hot water to larger pan. Bake for 40 minutes. Reheat reserved caramel mixture if necessary, gently spoon over cheesecake and top with remaining pecans.
6. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until center is just set. Remove pan from water bath. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.
Refrigerate overnight before serving.
Enjoy your GORGEOUS creation! Its super delicious!!!!
And Happy Born Again Birthday to my precious little Peanut, Avery!
~T
Yesterday was an exciting day in the land of All Things Ferguson. Not only was it my 100th post, which due to exhaustion of recent sleepness nights thanks to 3 of my 4 little Ferguson’s, I was only semi-excited about, BUT I also had my largest blog day EVER.
EVER!!!!!!
Funny how God works, because yesterday’s sleep-deprived post, just happened to be the post that over 2,000 people came to read. 2,040 visitors as of 9:30 pm last night to be exact! I have never hit over 300 before now, which is great by me, but really Lord, did it HAVE to be that post that the multitudes visited?
Oh well, I’ll take it, and count it for the blessing it is. I can see by the numbers, they stuck around on the site long enough to read the About Me and About Us pages, as well as 4 little Ferguson’s, 4 Big Miracles. Besides, here’s the low-down about this subject….
This blog is a peek in my world. And like true life, sometimes it’s happy, sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it’s funny, and sometimes it’s exhausted and uninspired. Sometimes exciting things are happening, and sometimes I do nothing but laundry all day long. These post can’t always be amazing, and I am ok with that. I blog for me, for my kids. I aspire to print off the entire blog one day, bind it and give it to them. What a fun way to remember all the great things they did and said!
So why all the extra traffic you ask? Well, it was due to the fact, that one of my recipes was featured on Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen step-by-step food blog, by my TK friend of Eat, Live, Run, a blog I frequent thanks to her yummy recipes & beautiful food photos. Now THAT is a way to celebrate 100 posts, it made my day! Thanks Jenna!!!! 🙂
So, on to the recipe you clicked on here to see. Oh man, was this ever GOOD! I am talking like, P.F. Chang’s good! This is based off a great recipe my friend, Sarah sent me!! (Thank you, Sarah!)
Salt and pepper
1 box (13.25 oz) whole wheat spaghetti
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
4 large cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 c tamari or soy sauce
6 T honey
4 T tomato paste
4 T rice vinegar
2 T sesame oil
1 t Sriracha hot sauce (do 2 t. if you like heat)
[found in the ethnic section of your local grocery store, it’s Dale’s FAVORITE hot sauce]
2 T oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken meat, cubed
1/2 bag cole slaw mix
½ red pepper, thinly sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms, sautéed in butter
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and place in large serving bowl.
Combine in a small pot, a splash of water, the ginger, garlic, tamari, honey, tomato paste, vinegar, sesame oil and hot sauce whisking until smooth and heated. Pour sauce over noodles and keep warm.
Get all of the remaining ingredients ready for a quick stir-fry.
In an oversized skillet, saute mushrooms in 2 T butter, remove from pan. Add 2 T oil, and heat over high heat. Add the chicken cubes and stir-fry until browned, about 3 minutes. Add the cabbage, carrots and bell pepper and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the green onions and toss for 1 minute. Add back in the mushrooms and empty skillet contents over noodles and top with sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Take a bite, and marvel at your fantastic creation! Pinch yourself to make sure you aren’t dreaming…..
Yup, you just made something THAT delicious!
For dessert I made CHEESECAKE BARS. [Read that:What I had for dessert, after the kids went to bed, while watching the Bachelor, was a delicious Cheesecake Bar.]
YUMMY!
The dessert that is, you didn’t think I meant Bachelor Brad, did you?!
Scandalous! 
I found this recipe here on The Country Cooks blog. I love her site, she has great recipes!
Now don’t get me wrong, I love No Bake Cheesecake like nobody’s business, but sometimes you just need the texture of a baked cheesecake! You know, the kind you make in a springform pan.
Alas, I have no such pan, so I was very happy to find this baked version I could make in my 8 x 11 baking dish. (Brandie used a lined 8×8, which I also do not own.) Oh, and I was a rebel and did not line my dish as directed, just lightly sprayed it.
My favorite part was how much crust there was! Look! It’s as thick as the cream cheese part and just plain FANTASTIC!
I used the canned cherries I had on hand, because I was too lazy to thaw the Blackberries we have in our freezer from last year’s Blackberry patch. Maybe next time? And YES, there will be a next time!!
Go on, make these recipes for supper tonight, you know you want to!
And go buy the Rice Vinegar, Sesame Oil, and Sriracha, don’t try to substitute, you’ll be sorry you did! It’s SO worth getting them, and I know you’ll use them again. Especially if you make Pioneer Woman’s Simple Sesame Noodles sometime, a GREAT side dish for a Chinese night, with Sweet Sour Chicken and your favorite stir-fried veggies.
And if your husband loves hot stuff like mine does, he’ll be putting Sriracha on EVERYTHING!
According to the back of the bottle: “It is excellent in soups, sauces, pastas, pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, chow mein or on anything else to give it a delicious, spicy taste.”
I swear the only thing Dale hasn’t tried it on is ice cream………yet!
Happy Cooking!
~T 🙂
4 little Fergusons 