Basque Cheesecake

Recipe from Aaron and hummingbirdhigh.com

So back in 2022, I had asked what Nat's favorite dessert was, and Aaron said cheesecake.  Looked like a complicated recipe, so I just bought from HEB, which wasn't that great. He texted me a recipe, and I never tried making - until this past Saturday for Nat's b-day. I searched a recipe to fit a 9 inch springform pan.  I'm not sure if Nat ever tried it, oh well.

Ingredients:

-4 cream cheese 8 oz boxes - ROOM TEMP (put in a ziploc bag in hot water for 15 min)

-1.5 cups granulated sugar (298 g)

-5 large eggs - ROOM TEMP (put in the hot water)

-1.5 cups heavy cream (340 g) - ROOM TEMP (forgot this room temp)

-1/4 cup all purpose flour (33 g)

-1 tsp kosher salt (note there are salt differences in weight)

-1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Use cooking spray or butter the 9-inch springform pan and line with 2 parchment papers making sure it sticks up 2 inches above the sides of the pan. I also used butter on the parchment paper on the inside, too (per the Allrecipes guy)

2. Beat cream cheese on medium until soft and creamy, 1-2 minutes. 

3. Add sugar and beat on low until light and fluffy, 1 minute.

4. Add vanilla

5. Add eggs ONE at a time - I used just a spatula to mix

6. Slowly pour cream down side of bowl and beat until combined, about 1 minute

7. Put flour and salt in sieve and add gradually, beat until combined on low for 30 seconds (used spatula)

8. Pour batter into pan and whack on counter to get bubbles out

9. Bake for 55 minutes until edges are set but center still wobbles

10. Cool at room temp for 2 hrs before putting in fridge

NOTES:

-I overcooked it because comments were saying how it never set, so I got scared and went too long, but 55 minutes or just when you see it turn brown on top would be good I think.

-I didn't beat the cream cheese before adding sugar - whoops

-I probably beat the mixture too long bc pouring cream too slowly - whoops. Maybe use spatula here

-I also beat too long pouring in flour/salt too long

-can be kept at room temp for 1 day, but stored in fridge up to 3 days

Chicken Biryani

Recipe taken from website indianhealthyrecipes.com

I used 2 cups rice, and it was to much. Next time 1 cup at least.

Rice was also mushy - too much water?

Had cooked the veggies separate in oven.

Ingredients:

Chicken marinade:

-6 TBSP plain yogurt/Indian curd (I used Greek yogurt)

-2.5 TBSP ginger garlic paste

-1-2 TBSP garam masala

-1 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp turmeric

-1-2 TBSP red chili powder

-2 TBSP lemon juice

Spices in pan:

-ghee

-1 bay leaf

-4 green cardamoms

-6 cloves

-1 inch cinnamon piece (FORGOT)

-1 star anise

-3/4 tsp caraway seeds

-1/2 onion (thinly sliced) yellow or red? + sliced serrano peppers

-mint leaves (didn't use)

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken for 1 hr or overnight

2. Rinse basmati rice (TRY 1 CUP), and soak for 30 min. Drain into colander after 30 min. 

3. Heat ghee in pan and add spices --> then add thinly sliced onions + serrano peppers

4. Boil 1.5 cups water with salt (rice cup)

5. Add marinated chicken and cook (don't overcook)

6. Add 1/4 cup yogurt + 1 tsp garam masala + mint leaves + 1/2 tsp chili powder (DID NOT DO)

7. Layer rice all over chicken

8. Pour 2/3 water across sides of pan + 1/3 water over the rice gently

9. Level rice on top + add mint leaves on top (DID NOT DO)

10. Cook on medium heat until rice completely cooked. Add more boiling water if needed

11. Rest covered for 15 min

Spicy Sweet popcorn

Wanted a popcorn that used cardamom.
Used macrocmama.com and 177milkstreet.com recipes

Amounts are estimated.

Try skipping the cayenne or try paprika instead as we were coughing

Ingredients:

-Ghee melted

-1/8 - 1 tsp cardamom

-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

-1/2 tsp cumin

-1/4 tsp coriander

-1/4 tsp ginger powder

-1/4 tsp hot paprika/cayenne -- NEXT TIME SKIP BC COUGHING

-1/8 tsp salt

-1/8 tsp turmeric

-1-2 tsp brown sugar

Kofta (sans Kebab)

Modified from themediterraneandish.com
I just used the spices from the recipe and added to ground turkey. Typically, you have a feeling how something is going to taste based on the spices, but I had no idea how it would taste, and it turned out pretty good! Eric appreciated that it was different than typical.

Ingredients:

-1 medium yellow onion, diced

-garlic, diced

-ground turkey- used 2 lbs total - 1 lb of 99% and 1 lb of 93% lean

-salt and pepper

-1.5 tsp ground allspice (used 2 tsp)

-1/2 tsp cayenne (used ~3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp ground green cardamom (used ~3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp ground sumac (used ~3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (used 3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp paprika (used 3/4 tsp)

Directions:

1. Cooked garlic and onions in pan 

2. Add ground meat + spices

Served with Mediterranean roasted veggies + Mediterranean rice

Sprinkle of roasted pine nuts, grape tomatoes (cold), and avocado as toppings.

Mediterranean chicken sandwiches

Eric likes chicken sandwich from Papouli's, so wanted to give it a try on the stainless steel pan.

Loosely used receipt from little spice jar.

Ingredients:

-Chicken breasts (I used 3 large chicken breasts and split in half for 6 servings, but next time would try the thinly sliced chicken breasts (5 to a package, buy 2 and freeze the rest for later).

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp black pepper

-1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

-1/2 tsp dried oregano

-1 tsp fresh thyme

-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

-1 Tbsp minced garlic

-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (1 lemon + zest)

-3 Tbsp olive oil

-1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken for 30 min - 2 hrs in everything from above

2. Grill (I used stove)

Notes:

-Would try the thinly sliced chicken breasts as above because uneven weights

-Served on brioche buns (Eric like HEB brand better), but he said he would prefer to use sourdough bread next time

-On the sandwich, also used red onions, butter lettuce, avocado, jalapenos and tomatoes from the garden.  Eric also made an asparagus dip from the ends of the asparagus that served as a sort of sauce - very yummy!

-Served with "double B potatoes" - boiled baby potatoes, then smashed them in the pyrex dish, seasoned with rosemary, garlic, and spices, then baked in oven.  On reheat, I put them in the ceramic pan to heat up (takes a while, so do this first)

-Also served with asparagus

Black Beans in Instant Pot

Used recipe from loveandlemons.com

Roughly 1 cup or half bag of beans to 3 cups of water. So if full bag or 2 cups, then 6 cups of water

Half a bag was too much too cook for 5 lunches, so would try 1/4 next time.

Still playing around with the times of cooking. Did 22 min cook time and a little firm, so would try 25 min next time.

If using in chili, would try soaking prior 8-24 hours beforehand.

*UPDATE* Black beans caused too much gas.  So recs online say to soak overnight and rinse thoroughly.

Ingredients:

-8 oz black beans (half the bag) ~ 1 cup --> yielded about 465 grams of black beans

-3 cups of water

-spices of your choice: minced onion, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, serrano, salt, black pepper; could try real onion, real garlic, lime juice, bay leaf.  Skip the oregano because Eric sensitive to it.

Directions:

1. Sort through beans and pick out rocks

2. Rinse beans

3. Add 3 cups of water to 1 cup of beans

4. Add spices

5. Cook 25 min + 20 min natural release

6. Drain again

Brazilian Cheese Bread

Got recipe from Simply Recipes.

Was really good and easy! Need to add to the party rotation.

There was more than enough batter for my mini muffin tin. So would just messy pour everything in instead of one at a time and pretty.

Dumped the olive oil into the blender, then used the dirty cup to grease pan.

Probably baked for 18 min.

Used the Gruyere cheese from prior recipe.

Ingredients:

-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan

-2/3 cup milk

-1 1/2 cups (170 g) tapioca flour

-1/2 cup (66 g) packed grated or crumbled cheese, your preference

-1 tsp salt or more to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  Grease olive oil onto pan.

2. Blend all ingredients into blender and pulse until smooth

3. Pour batter into muffin tin. Leave 1/8 inch from the top.

4. Bake for 15-20 min until puffy and nicely browned.