Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Happy 4th of July, Folks!  Picnic season is in full swing and if you’re anything like me, you feel like you may die if you have to look at another potato salad.  This Southwestern Quinoa Salad is a nice change of pace from the standard cold summer salad.  And it’s super healthy too, so you don’t have to feel bad about drinking that 6th beer!

Southwest Quinoa Salad

 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Quinoa cooked per instructions

1 Cup Canned Black Beans drained and rinsed

1 Cup Corn

1 Cup Frozen Edamame (optional, but I like it)

1/2 Container Grape Tomatoes halved

1/2 Cup diced Red Onion

1 Jalapeno seeded and diced

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Lime Juice

1 tsp Adobo Seasoning

 

*** Please note:  all measurements are approximate – becuase I really hate measuring things, so use your discretion***

Cook Quinoa per instructions on package,  chop up your veggies, and combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  I recommend letting this one sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before eaiting to really let the flavors combine.

Enjoy!

Simple Guacamole

Happy Cinco de Mayo, Everyone!  I hope everyone is celebrating with a giant margarita!  But Kate, it’s only 10 AM…  Exactly!  

This, oddly enough, may actually be one of my favorite holidays.  A day of sitting around, eating Mexican and drinking Tequila… what could possibly be better?  These are a few of my favorite things (queue Julie Andrews… boy that would be a different song if I wrote it: Red Wine, and Tacos and Cats that might hate me…)

Anyway, I thought this would be a great day to share my basic guacamole recipe.  It’s delicious and comes together in just a few minutes, which is good, because you don’t want to waste any precious time that could otherwise be spent drinking!

Guacamole

 

Ingredients

2 Ripe Avocados

1/3 Cup Red Onion Diced

1 Jalapeno Seeded and Diced

1 tsp Minced Garlic

1 Lime

Salt 

 

Place peeled Avocados in bowl and mash up with a fork. Add diced Red Onion, Jalapeno and Garlic.  Squeeze in juice of one Lime.  Mix together until smooth.  Add Salt to taste.

 

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

white chocolate raspberry cheesecake

 

You know those people who are always running a good hour late, and time just seems to slip away from them?   And when you make plans with them, you know to tell them to be there a good half hour to an hour before you actually need them there?   Well, that’s a large portion of my family.   They run on Czlapinski time.  It’s different from the time system followed by the rest of the universe, and it’s OK because we love them and we’re used to it.   We all have our flaws, and to love someone is to accept them in their entirety – flaws and all.   And while I typically do not run on Czlapinski time,  my blog totally does.  I don’t post about things until sometimes a good month or so after they’ve happened.  I must apologize, because once again, my blog is running on Czlapinski time… I’m posting a recipe that I made for Easter which, according to my calendar, was a good 3 weeks ago.  Where did the time go?  Since i’m fairly certain my reader base consists mainly of my family, I think they’ll forgive me.

Like most holidays spent with my family, there was a ton of food, and the dessert table was absolutely out of control.  My contribution to the table this year was this White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, pictured above.  It might not have been the prettiest cheesecake I’ve ever made, but it was pretty tasty – light, not too sweet, and the raspberries add a lovely tartness.

 

Ingredients
Crust:
  • 1 cup slivered almonds
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter,  melted
Filling:
  • 8 ounces fine-quality white chocolate
  • 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 whole large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups fresh raspberries
Crust:
Grind almonds and crumbs in a food processor and add melted butter, blending until combined. Press over bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan.
Filling:
Preheat oven to 350 F
Melt white chocolate in a  metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth, then remove from heat and set aside.
Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy, then beat in the sugar. Add whole eggs and then the 2 yolks, 1 at a time at low speed, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
Beat in flour and vanilla until combined, then slowly mix in the melted chocolate until filling is well combined.
Lay berries in 1 layer over crust and pour  the filling into the crust. Bake in middle of oven 45-55 minutes – until filling is set, but center is still wobbly when pan is shaken.
Run a thin knife around edge of cake to loosen, then cool completely in pan on a rack.
Serve room temperature or chilled.