Valentine's Day Cheese Cake | Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Strawberries

Let the Vanilla Bean obsession continue...

I warned you.  I'm on a kick.  I'm on a Vanilla Bean kick.  A Vanilla Bean and a dessert kick.  My post-prego sugar cravings are insane - much more so than when I was pregnant.  I'm trying to balance them with healthy dinners, but I can't kick the insane need that I have for dessert at the end of every day.

Last night I asked Mike 4-5 times what kind of sweet treat he'd like after dinner.  He'd say, "Oh, I don't need anything" or "I don't care - whatever you want, I'm not really craving anything."  Ugh.  What I wanted him to say was, "Will you please fix me a chocolate cake!  I'm starving for a chocolate cake!"  Then I would have to make him a cake and I'd have to have a piece before bed.  And for breakfast.  And as a mid-day snack.

Anyway... so, here is the 30th dessert post of the month.  Not really 30th, but pretty darn close.  My blog seems to have been taken over by them.  I made this Vanilla Bean Cheesecake on Thursday - oh, AND I did go ahead and make Mike (ok, myself...) that chocolate cake last night, too.  Did I say my blog has been taken over by dessert?  I meant my life.



I decided to put a Valentine's Day spin on this cheesecake by putting strawberries on top in the shape of a heart.  You can do this with raspberries, too, or not at all.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
serves 6

Crust :
8 graham crackers
4 tablespoons of butter

2 blocks of 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Prepare the crust by breaking the graham crackers into crumbs by hand or in a food processor.  Melt butter and stir into graham crumbles with a fork.  Pack the mixture into a tart pan packing it all the way up the sides.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

For the filling, in a mixer, whip together cream cheese and sugar.  Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla.  Pour filling into the crust.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until slightly brown around the edges and no longer giggly.  Allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours - overnight.

Football Watch Party Menu for "The Big Game" | Roundup!

I'm going to take a brief departure from all of the Valentine's Day blogging to feature some of my past recipes that will be perfect for the Big Game this weekend.  Interestingly enough, the menu for our watch party doesn't include any of the things listed - oops!  I'll post some photos of our party later.  For now, here is our menu for inspiration : 


Chili with lots of Garnishes
Seven Layer Dip
Hot Wings
Some sort of dessert...


On to other ideas that might inspire your watch party :

 Whoopie Pies shaped like Footballs - so easy and made from a cake mix.  Football Whoopies Recipe >>

Pin It

 

Pulled Pork Sliders

  

Peanut Butter Brownies | Chewy, Chocolate Fudge & Peanut Butter Brownie Recipe

 

 Creamy Spinach with Tortilla Chips

 Truffle Brownies - If you're headed to a party, brownies are always welcome.  Make yours a little special by making them from scratch - they are totally worth the extra effort. 

 If you really want a show-stopping dessert to bring to a party this weekend, make these Salted-Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes.  They are really easy to make (starts with a cake mix...) and are really impressive. 

German Chocolate Bars | Pecan & Coconut Cookie Bar with Brownie Bites | Dad's Birthday Package

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sliders : Mini Burgers Three Ways

 Pizza Bread & Veggie "Pizza" Soup

 Pizza Bread & Veggie "Pizza" Soup

 Pigs in a Blanket with Mustard Dipping Sauce

Barbecue Ribs

 Chocolate Cake with Warm Chocolate Icing 

Meatball Subs

  

Peanut Butter Brownies | Chewy, Chocolate Fudge & Peanut Butter Brownie Recipe

Popcorn Cake with Peanut M&M's

Valentine's Day Guide | Crafts, Desserts, Recipes, Iced Cookies & Homemade Gifts

Get all of my Valentine's Day ideas, recipes, crafts, DYI gifts, sugar cookies and downloads in one spot... my Valentine's Day Guide! 

Vanilla Bean Paste | This will change your baking!

Vanilla Bean Paste
a whole new level of vanilla

If you are like me and have been swooned by the warm, seductive flavor of real vanilla beans, then this will change your life.  Well, at least your baking.

When I went to buy some vanilla beans at our local gourmet store it was $10 for two vanilla beans.  Yikes.  If you haven't noticed, I've been Vanilla Bean crazy lately... it was getting to be an expensive habit at $5 a pop.  When I was browsing at Williams-Sonoma the other day, I spotted Vanilla Bean Paste.  Huh?  It is a thick, gel syrup that is packed full of real vanilla bean seeds.  No scraping, no cutting the beans in half, these seeds are already harvested.  The real kicker?  $11 for the entire bottle.  So, go ahead, use all you'd like.  Add the power of real vanilla beans to coffee, whipped cream, sugar cookies, custard sauce, cheesecake, brownie mix... whatever will make your day!

Vanilla Bean Paste $11

Some of my favorite Vanilla Bean Recipes :

Meringues on Warm Vanilla Bean Custard

Vanilla Syrup | Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake (link coming soon!)

Be Mine | Free Printable Tags for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Gifts
Free Printable Gift Tags

Print these tags on cardstock (Paper-Source has the best selection) to make anything into a Valentines Day gift for your loved one.

I've created two versions of the tag - a large (pictured to the left) and a small (featured on the individual bags of cookies).

Here, I've attached the large label to a cellophane bag (again, Paper-Source has the best selection) of sugar cookies tied with twine (from TheTwinery.com... my new favorite resource!).

Pin It


To print, click here to visit the Valentines Downloads page.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Valentine's Day Guide : All of my Valentine's Day Recipes, Desserts and Gifts



This is the large label - it prints as a single label per piece of paper.  To print, click here to visit the Valentines Downloads page.

Paper-Source Cellophane Bags & TheTwinery.com Twine



These are the small "Be Mine" Labels - they print multiples on one sheet.  To print, click here to visit the Valentines Downloads page. 

Paper-Source Cream Cardstock (Cream Cover weight paper)

Here, I've cut out the smaller "Be Mine" labels into tags by snipping the corners and using a small hole punch.   To print, click here to visit the Valentines Downloads page.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Valentine's Day Guide : All of my Valentine's Day Recipes, Desserts and Gifts

Chicken Tortilla Soup | Healthy Chicken & Vegetable Packed Mexican Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

a healthy, veggie packed recipe

There are many different versions of Chicken Tortilla Soup out there.  Most versions are called Chicken Tortilla Soup because the soup is thickened with corn tortillas that are softened in the broth, then pureed... my Chicken Tortilla Soup is not one of those versions.  Not because I don't like those versions, but because I didn't want to get my blender out and because I was looking to make a healthier version.  So... I'm calling my soup Chicken Tortilla Soup because it reminds me of those soups, but in reality it is more like a Mexican Chicken & Vegetable Soup.  And it is good.  Really good.

When I am making an effort to be healthy I don't like to limit myself from things I like (dessert, cheese, chocolate, pizza, pasta...), instead, I add things that are more healthy like extra fruits and veggies.   This soup helps me do that.  It is full of vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, spinach...) and roasted chicken, but it still has a just enough of the 'good' stuff (and by 'good' stuff I mean 'not-so-good' stuff : sour cream, avocado and cheese) to make it satisfying.  It is a chunky, vegetable packed soup that is full of flavor.  If you do want to make it really healthy, skip the garnishes.   

Chicken Tortilla Soup

a healthy, veggie packed recipe

1 pound of chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of taco seasoning

2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 carrots, large dice
1 (10 oz.) can of Rotel (tomatoes with Green Chiles)
1 (32 oz) can of whole tomatoes
1 quart of chicken stock
4 cups of spinach
4 green onions, diced
Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper
1/4 cup of heavy cream (optional)

Garnishes :
Sour Cream
Avocado
Tortilla Chips
Green Onion

Roast Chicken :
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  On a baking sheet, place chicken breasts, then drizzle with olive oil.  Season all sides with taco seasoning.  Bake for 20+ minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the breasts.

Soup :
In a pot, cook garlic and carrots on medium heat for a couple of minutes.  Add tomatoes, rotel and chicken stock.  Season with salt and pepper, if needed.  Bring to a simmer.  Add spinach.  Cook the soup for 10 minutes until the flavors are well combined.  Finish the soup with heavy cream to add richness (optional).

When the chicken has cooked completely, shred it with a fork.  Place the chicken into the soup.  Serve hot with garnishes.

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies | Heart Cookies for Emma's Baptism

my cookie decorating helper... snoozing on the job

Emma's Baptism Cookies

Emma is making her first trip back to Kansas City next week... on the outside, anyway.  While we are there she is going to be baptized at my family's Church in Lexington.  She'll be wearing the same Christening gown that my Dad, my sister and I wore - in the same Church at which we were baptized.  It is a beautifully simple gown that was handmade... by someone.  I'll have to find out who - I'm sure my Grandma will be able to fill me in.

After the service, we will be hosting a brunch for our family.  I'm thrilled to actually get to plan a party!  Since we've moved to Boston I've done a lot of writing about planning parties, but I haven't gotten to plan nearly as many as I did when I was an event planner and caterer in Kansas City.  While I don't miss loading and unloading platters, flowers and linens from my car, I do miss the excitement of envisioning then executing an event.  Anytime I start to plan a party my head starts spinning with florals, whimsical desserts, linens, color schemes... really fun for someone like me.  There is nothing that quite gets me going like planning a party.

For Emma's Baptism Brunch, I'll have limited time and resources as it will be held in the church... and I will be jumping from Moo-Moo's to Mi-Mi's (the grandmas...) so, I've prepared some sugar cookies ahead of time.  I decided that a heart theme would be appropriate since it is so close to Valentines Day.  Still in the 'hand-stitched' mode from the Holidays, I made the cookies to look like an embroidery sampler with an eclectic mix of shapes and patterns.  I modeled the different patterns off of the various dresses and outfits of hers that I love. 

Here's a link to my Sugar Cookie (and more Valentine's Day Cookies...) recipe!

My decorating area... when I decorate sugar cookies it takes over my entire kitchen.  It is quite the project.

I just made 'dots' to form the clusters of roses, then used a pastry bag snipped at an angle to create the leaves.  I think this is a cleaner, more modern way of creating that classic rosebud icing decoration that we're used to seeing on cakes.

I packed up the cookies in ziplock bags for the freezer to keep them fresh.  I'm going to check them in my suitcase at the airport... fingers crossed that most of them will arrive in one piece!

Here's a link to my Sugar Cookie (and more Valentine's Day Cookies...) recipe!

For simple packaging ideas and Free Downloadable Labels and Tags, click here!