Coffee & Donuts for Dessert!

What goes better together than coffee & donuts? That seemed like a great name for this creation of mine. I entered it into a recipe contest last year but they must have misplaced it, because it didn't win anything! hahaha. This is a very yummy donut-crust cheesecake bar. One of my friends still insists it's the best recipe I've ever come up with. If you can get Krispy Kreme's for this, definitely use them. I tried using store brand donuts once and it did not turn out as well.

Coffee & Donuts

8 - Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Donuts
2 - 8 oz pkgs cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/3 cup - sugar
2 - eggs
1 tsp - vanilla
1 tbsp - instant coffee
2 cups - semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup - heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9 x 13 baking dish. Cut up doughnuts in large pieces and place in food processor. Pulse until doughnuts resemble very coarse crumbs. Take doughnut crumbs and press firmly into the bottom of the baking dish. In bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, coffee, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Spread mixture evenly on top of doughnut layer. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes (until center starts to rise and look a little dry). Let cool. While bars are cooling, combine chocolate chips & cream in a double boiler. Stir until the chocolate chips have melted and mixture is smooth. Pour chocolate over the cheesecake bars and spread evenly. Put bars in the refrigerator to cool. After 2 hours, cut into 24 squares and then place back in the fridge. Cool for 2 more hours or overnight. Then serve and enjoy!

Food Fact Friday: Paella Por Favor

Today is National Paella Day (Ole.....Ole Ole Ole!). I haven't eaten all that much to be honest, but I'm sure my sister has. She lived in Spain for about 6 months and loved the food there. This one's for you Andi!

Paella is a rice dish which originated in Spain's Valencian region. Many non-Spaniards view paella as a Spanish dish. Most Spaniards however, consider it to be a regional Valencian dish.


There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (paella valenciana), seafood paella (paella de mariscos) and mixed paella (paella mixta); but there are many others as well. Traditional Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat, escargot, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood and sometimes beans.

Paella is a Catalan word which derives from the Latin word patella for pan. Valencians use the word paella for all pans, including the specialized 2-handled shallow pan used for cooking paellas (this pan is also known as a paellera).


The Moorish people of southeastern Spain often made casseroles of rice, fish and spices for family gatherings and religious feasts, thus establishing the custom of eating rice in Spain. This led to rice becoming a staple by the 15th century. Afterward many combined rice with vegetables, beans and dry cod, providing an acceptable meal for Lent. Fish always predominated with rice along Spain's eastern coast.

On special occasions, 18th century Valencians used paelleras to cook rice in the open air of their orchards. The marsh rat (yes, a rat!) was one of the main ingredients of early paellas, along with eel and butter beans.

Living standards rose with the sociological changes of the late 19th century in Spain, giving rise to reunions and outings in the countryside. By then the original ingredients were replaced by rabbit, chicken, duck, seafood and sometimes snails. This dish became so popular that in 1840 a local Spanish newspaper first used the phrase paella valenciana to refer to the recipe. Also during this time, Spaniards came to Louisiana and brought the paella recipe with them, but substituted local ingredients, creating Jambalaya.


During the 20th century, paella's popularity spread past Spain's borders. As other cultures set out to make paella, the dish invariably acquired regional influences. Consequently, paella recipes went from being relatively simple to including a wide variety of seafood, meat and sausage (the most popular being Spanish, chorizo).

Paella Pandemonium: Valencian restaurateur Juan Galbis claims to have made the world's largest paella in 2001. This paella fed about 110,000 people.

Burgers in SoBe

I had been dying to try 8oz Burger Bar, the new burger place from Table 8's Govind Armstrong. I probably get to South Beach less than once a month, so on my last detour there I knew I had to go! It was definitely worth it.


We walked in around Noon on a Sunday and it was about half full. I browsed the menu and my mouth was watering. They had great sounding apps, like Mini Kobe Corn Dogs and Fried Olives stuffed with Chorizo. We opted for the olives and were impressed. They were crunchy but not greasy. You could taste the olive and the chorizo equally.


The burger comes with the basics...lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and "special sauce" (which is basically ketchup & mayo mixed). Any toppings beyond that cost extra. The price can definitely add up quickly if you want to pile everything on your burger. They have alot of cheese options (for $2 extra) from cheddar to the very intriguing bel paese (which I heard was really yummy). They also have different sauces and toppings ranging from $1 - $2 additional. My sister got fried green tomato which she said was great.


I ordered the basic 8 oz with fried mozzarella (yes, it's actually a topping!!). I couldn't resist. The burger was really good. It was not over seasoned, so the flavor of the beef really shined. The fried mozzarella had a nice smooth flavor and even added a little crunch. I really liked the brioche bun, which wasn't too heavy and tasted fresh.

The sides were good too. The kennebec fries were the most "potato-y" french fries I've ever had. I also like the onion rings, but I got a bite that was kind of doughy...they might have needed to wait to get some of the extra batter off before they fried it.


I will definitely come back! It's not cheap, but it's an innovative burger place that's great for a treat. The service was good overall, but started lacking at the end when it started getting really busy.

Food: 4 out of 5
Service 3.5 out of 5

Food Fact Friday: Ravioli

Today is National Ravioli Day. I'm definitely a big fan of ravioli, whether it's stuffed with cheese or meat or both! I've attempted to make it before with egg roll wrappers, and it was easy and tasty. Here is a great recipe for an easy Ham and Cheese Ravioli, that was featured on Ultimate Recipe Showdown.


Ravioli is a type of filled pasta composed of a filling sealed between two layers of thin pasta dough. The word ravioli comes from the Italian verb ravvolgere ("to wrap"). The filling is most-commonly meat-based or cheese-based. Ravioli can come in all shapes and sizes. Other traditional Italian filings include ricotta mixed with grated cheese and vegetables such as spinach, artichokes or swiss chard or they may be a puree made of potatoes, mushrooms or pumpkin.

Traditional ravioli is often topped with a tomato-based sauce, though tomato sauce would not have been used until tomatoes were introduced to Europe in the 15th century. More delicate fillings are often paired with sage and melted butter, or more rarely with pesto or broth-based sauces. Cream sauces typically not used for ravioli in traditional Italian cuisine.


Sicilian ravioli and Malta's "ravjul" (the Maltese word for ravioli) may be older than North Italian ones, with recipes dating from the 1290's. Maltese "ravjul" are stuffed with "irkotta" (locally produced sheep's milk ricotta) or with Gbejna (traditional fresh sheep cheese). In Italy, some of the earliest mentions of the dish come from the personal letters of Francisco di Marco, a merchant in the 14th century.

Similar foods in other cultures include the Chinese jiaozi or wonton – in fact, ravioli and tortellini are collectively referred to as "Italian wonton" in parts of Asia. Eastern and central Europeans have pierogi (one of my favorites! pictured below), which are filled with mashed potatoes and usually served sauteed in butter. In Lebanon, a dish called shish barak contains pasta filled with minced beef meat and cooked in hot yogurt.

Food Fact Friday: Irish Cuisine

Since I've been in the St. Patrick's Day mood, I thought I'd keep up the theme for Food Fact Friday this week. We've all heard of Bangers & Mash and Soda Bread. But there are many other traditional Irish dishes that most of us haven't even heard of. Here are a few...


Coddle: a dish associated with Dublin. It consists of layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and rashers (thinly sliced, somewhat fatty bacon) with sliced potatoes, and onions. The dish is semi-boiled, and semi-steamed in the stock produced by boiling the rashers and sausages. The only seasoning is usually salt, pepper, and occasionally parsley. It is considered a comfort food in Ireland, as it is inexpensive, easy to prepare and quick to cook. It is often eaten in the winter months.


Colcannon: is a food made from mashed potatoes, kale or cabbage, butter, salt, and pepper. It can contain other ingredients such as milk, leeks, onions, garlic, boiled ham or rashers. At one time it was a cheap, year-round staple food. An old Irish Halloween tradition was to serve colcannon with prizes of small coins concealed in it.



Boxty: is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The most popular version of the dish consists of finely grated, raw potato and mashed potato with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and sometimes egg. The mixture is fried on a griddle for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake. They can also be found in restaurants with various toppings and stuffings. The most noticeable difference between boxty and other fried potato dishes is its smooth, fine grained consistency.

You Say Potato: The Irish were the first to call potatoes "spuds". The name comes from a type of shovel used to dig up potato hills.

St. Paddy's in So Fla

St. Patrick's Day is on Tuesday. Too bad it's a workday...but there's always time for happy hour and green beer! Here is a list of some of my favorite places in South Florida that are celebrating.


The Briny: Drinks, live Irish music and food will be available from 11:30 a.m. until 4 a.m. at this nautically themed pub on the New River. 305 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale

Dicey Riley's: Outside this pub in Fort Lauderdale's Himmarshee Village, vendors will serve Irish food, including beef stew and wheaten bread, and several varieties of beer throughout the day. 217 S.W. Second St., Fort Lauderdale

The Dubliner: Opening at 11 a.m., The Dubliner will serve coddle, boiled pork sausage and beef stew all day. 435 Plaza Real, Boca Raton


Gold Coast Roller Rink: The gay-friendly, weekly roller-skating party Intoxiskate will celebrate St. Pat's from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Skating games and beer pong contests will take place and drink specials will include $3 beers and $4 cocktails. 2604 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale

Murphy's Law Irish Pub: If you're looking to stay out all night this St. Patrick's Day, Murphy's is the place to be, as the pub never closes. 5703 Seminole Way, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood

Roxy's: In addition to live Irish music and drink specials beginning at 11:30 a.m., Roxy's will serve a great selection of Irish cuisine that includes beef and vegetable stew and soda bread. 309 Clematis St., West Palm Beach

Food Fact Friday: Peanut Butter Me Up!

March is National Peanut Month. I wanted to write about my favorite form of peanuts, peanut butter! When I was a kid, I hated peanut butter for some reason. But when I went to college, I started eating tons of it. Now I eat peanut butter a few times a week. I would freak out without my weekly dose of pb&j sandwiches. Plus...I love a good peanut butter brownie or peanut butter pie! Here is some history of how peanut butter came to be...


There are many claims about the origin of peanut butter. Africans ground peanuts into stews as early as the 15th century. The Chinese have crushed peanuts into creamy sauces for centuries. Civil War soldiers dined on "peanut porridge" These uses, however, bore little resemblance to today's version of peanut butter.

In 1890, a St. Louis physician supposedly encouraged the owner of a food products company, George A. Bayle Jr., to process and package ground peanut paste as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn't chew meat. The physician apparently had experimented by grinding peanuts in his hand-cranked meat grinder. Bayle mechanized the process and began selling peanut butter out of barrels for about 6¢ per pound.

Around the same time, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in Battle Creek, Michigan, began experimenting with peanut butter as a vegetarian source of protein for his patients. His brother, W.K. Kellogg, was business manager of their sanitarium, the Western Health Reform Institute, but soon opened Sanitas Nut Company which supplied foods like peanut butter to local grocery stores. They patented the process in 1895. But their "nut meal" was not as tasty as today's, because the peanuts were steamed instead of roasted.


Joseph Lambert, a Kellogg employee, began selling his own hand-operated peanut butter grinders in 1896. Three years later, his wife Almeeta published the first nut cookbook, "The Complete Guide to Nut Cookery".

In 1922, Joseph L. Rosefield began producing peanut butter in California. These peanut butters were churned like butter, so they were smoother than the gritty peanut butters of the day. He soon received the first patent for a shelf-stable peanut butter which would stay fresh for up to a year because the oil didn't separate from the peanut butter.

One of the first companies to adopt this new process was Swift & Company for its E.K. Pond peanut butter (renamed Peter Pan) in 1928. Rosefield eventually left the company and moved to Skippy, where he created the first crunchy style peanut butter by adding chopped peanuts into peanut butter at the end of the manufacturing process.


In 1955, Procter & Gamble entered the peanut butter business by acquiring W.T. Young Foods in Kentucky, makers of Big Top Peanut Butter. They introduced Jif in 1958 and now operate the world's largest peanut butter plant, churning out 250,000 jars every day (no salmonella there! woohoo).

We're PB Crazy! Americans eat about 3 pounds of peanut butter per person each year, totaling about 500 million pounds... enough to cover the floor of the Grand Canyon.

Penne-palooza

I was home a little early Monday night, so I decided to make a dish that I could eat for the week and not get sick of. I had an onion and some chicken sausage I needed to use. Voila...out came a really tasty dish. The caramelized onions give a night sweetness to complement the sausage. I've been eating it for 3 nights and I'm still not tired of it!


Baked Penne with Chicken Sausage and Caramelized Onions
1 lb chicken italian sausage (raw)
1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
5 oz whole wheat penne (about 1/2 box)
1 cup marinara sauce
4 Laughing Cow light swiss wedges
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese


Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x9 pan. Boil penne pasta according to directions. Heat a nonstick skillet to medium and add a tablespoon of the olive oil. Remove sausage from casings and crumble in pan. Cook sausage until browned, about 7 - 10 minutes. Remove sausage and set aside. Add the remaining oil and add the onion. Turn up to med-high and cook until onions are brown, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat then combine with sausage. In a small saucepan, combine the Laughing Cow wedges with the marinara sauce. Stir until thoroughly combined then set aside.

Assembly: On bottom of 9x9 dish, spoon half of the chicken/onion mixture, then half the pasta. On top of the pasta, ladle half of the tomato/cheese sauce. Then repeat. On the 2nd sauce layer, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Then bake for 20 minutes. Makes 3 large servings or 4 small.

Wrap Me Up!

I was starving and needed something quick for dinner. I had a leftover piece of parmesan crusted chicken, and made a healthy, delicious dinner in 5 minutes.


Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wraps
2 small La Tortilla Wraps
1/2 pre-cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup baby spinach, raw
1 1/2 tbsp Light Ranch (My favorite is Bolthouse Yogurt Dressing)
1 tbsp Frank's Red Hot Sauce

Place spinach on top of wraps, then top with ranch dressing. Cut chicken into strips and evenly divide between the 2 wraps. Drizzle hot sauce on the chicken and then your good to go! This is the perfect size for one person.