The Ultimate no Bake Cheesecake started out in January to be a St. Patrick’s Day post. Cheesecake with a St. Paddy twist. Sounds good, right? Wrong. Total. Fail. Forget St. Patrick’s Day – this was personal now! Never one to back away from a challenge, I stirred my way through many cheesecakes searching for THE recipe that tasted great, looked good and came out the same every. single.time. Strangely, my taste testers never complained. They just urged me to keep trying. But that team effort paid off. I created a wonderful baked cheesecake – coming soon. And then this no bake winner! The Ultimate No Bake Cheesecake! This is a soft cheesecake. Meaning, the cheesecake holds its shape well, but does not have the fork firmness especially associated with baked cheesecake. ... [Read More]
sour cream
Crunchy Pea and Cauliflower Salad with Ranch Dressing
We like the crisp crunch of cauliflower. Add celery and peas and ranch dressing, a bit of tangy onion and crispy bacon, a handful of chopped cashews -- a quick and easy, delicious and colorful Crunchy Pea Salad. You can thaw the peas in the fridge ahead of time. Or not. (I usually don’t.) Break or cut the cauliflower into bite size pieces. I like the looks of the little florets in the salad, but sometimes a knife is needed to keep the pieces small enough to eat easily. Crisp the bacon yourself and crumble. Or use about 3 tablespoons of genuine crumbled bacon off the shelf to save time. Add cashews, just slightly chopped for a bit of texture and taste to “fancy” it up, if desired. I don’t usually keep cashews on hand because they disappear long before they can go into a recipe. (oh, ... [Read More]
Creamy Pasta and Veggie Salad
Creamy Pasta and Veggie Salad makes a great dinner salad for cool summer eating. It’s also perfect for potlucks and family. However or whenever, this salad makes an appearance it is a well balanced blend of carbs, veggies and proteins. It’s healthy and makes a big salad so it will serve a large number of people – or be a made ahead dinner salad a couple of times for three or four eaters. It’s also a nice change from mayo dressed salads and always disappears quickly. I like for my ingredients to “even out” so there aren’t little bits of leftover ingredients setting around. Three cups of dry pasta is generally about a 16 ounce package. That’s what I use if the dry pasta measures out between 2 ¾ cups and 3 ¼ cups. Any less and the salad won’t have the pasta base needed to carry the other ... [Read More]