Better Late Than Never

Last night was a little crazy. I never even did the dishes!! Ben was at work yesterday for almost 12 hours!! And not because he wanted to be. The owner of the company had the bright idea to play "musical employees" with everyone. He moved Ben's boss and another co-worker to do Ben's job and the moved Ben into his boss's job and added the work of two other co-workers. It's a VERY long story, but we're pretty sure the owner is trying to get Ben to quit. They don't dare fire him (1, because they have no just cause to and 2, because they'd NEVER get everything done). It's been a rather frustrating couple of days.

So without further ado, here are the recipes for last night's supper. Because I was chasing after dogs, cats and a toddler, don't have a picture for anything but the cheesecake. And I only have the cheesecake photo because it's the most AMAZING cheesecake I've ever made!!!

Skinny Turkey-Spinach Meat Loaf
Originally from www.cookinglight.com

Cooking spray
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey breast
1/2 pound ground beef, extra lean
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen leaf spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1/2 cup ketchup

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350°.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic, and sauté 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Combine onion mixture, breadcrumbs, and the next 8 ingredients (breadcrumbs through spinach), stirring well.
Shape meat mixture into a 12 x 5-inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking sprhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifay. Brush ketchup over the top of the loaf. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°; let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Variations: To lower the carbs, substitute 1/2 cup of bread crumbs for 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.


Calories: 292
Cholesterol: 66 mg
Fat: 9.6 g
Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
% Calories From Fat: 87.6 %
Protein: 31 g
Carbohydrates: 20.2 g
Sodium: 765 mg
Fiber: 3.1 g

We also had twice backed potatoes, recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks. The thing I like about this is that they are SO easy!!! All my life I've heard how complicated twice-baked potatoes are, and it's simply not true. Maybe it was just because no one wanted to make them for me. I'll leave that one to my counselor and let you have the recipe.

This recipe calls for 6 potatoes. If you use fewer, then cut your other ingredients back a little—you can just eye it. A good rule of thumb is that you'll want one or two more potatoes than you have people. That way you can really stuff the skins generously. Wash and pat the potatoes dry, and put them in a 400 degree oven for an hour and fifteen minutes. You can microwave them if you like. Just make sure they're thoroughly cooked. While you're waiting for those, place together in a bowl, two sticks of butter, one cup of crumbled bacon (you can used pre-packaged stuff if you wish), one cup of sour cream, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of season salt (she uses Lawry's), one cup of Colby/Jack cheese and fresh ground pepper.


Once the potatoes are done, cut them in half length-wise, and then scoop out the insides, careful to leave a little of the potato on the skin so it won't tear or collapse. There's nothing worse in the world than a collapsed potato. Okay, maybe not in YOUR word. Anyway, scoop the insides into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mash 'em up all together. If the mixture looks a little too dry, you can cream it up again with a little milk. Just don't put in too much and make it soupy.

After it's all mixed together, spoon the mixture back into the hollow (but structurally sound) skins. And if you want to be really fancy, you can pipe it in with a pastry bag and decorating tip. If you really stuff them, you'll probably have skins left over. That's why you'll want to fix a couple more potatoes than you have people eating them. Once they're all stuffed, top them off with a little salt and pepper and a little more cheese, and pop 'em back in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until everything is warmed through. You can also freeze these if you want! Just don't put green onions in the mixture if you plan to freeze them. Pioneer Woman says that freezing onioins chemically alters the taste of green onions and ruins the the whole thing.

And finally, my pièce de résistance, my Key Lime Cheesecake. I've been making my own cheesecakes for quite a while now, and this is THE FIRST TIME that my cheesecake hasn't cracked!! I can't be sure, but I have a feeling that it's due to the extra two tablespoons of flour that I added to the recipe.

Key Lime Cheesecake
1 1/2 Cup finely ground graham crackers
2 Tablespoon white sugar
1/3 Cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 Pound cream cheese, softened
3/4 Cup white sugar
1 Cup sour cream
3 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 Each eggs
1/2 Cup key lime juice
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions: 1. To make Crust: In a bowl stir together the graham cracker crumbs and 2 tablespoons sugar, stir in the butter well. Pat the mixture into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the side of a buttered 10 inch springform pan and bake the crust in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degree C) oven for 8 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool.

2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth, beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream, flour, lime juice and vanilla. Beat the mixture until it is smooth.

3. Pour the filling over the crust. Bake the cheesecake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) and bake for 50 to 55 minutes longer, or until center is barely set. Let the cheesecake cool on a rack, then chill it, covered, overnight. Remove the cheesecake from the pan and transfer it to a cake stand.


Variations: If the batter looks a little runny, add two more tablespoons of flour.

Mmmmm....I think I'm going to go have a piece right now....

posted by Brandi at 1:37 PM