My Cooking Adventures

Source: Kraft Foods

Ingredients:
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
2 milk chocolate English toffee candy bars (1.4 oz. each), chopped, divided
1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.) (I made mine from scratch; see below for recipe)
1 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted (I omitted; could use chocolate syrup instead, or caramel topping)

Directions:

Beat milk and dry pudding mixes with whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in half of the whipped topping and all but 3 Tbsp. of the candy.

Spoon into crust.

Top with remaining whipped topping and candy. Drizzle with chocolate. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

1 pkg Oreo Cookies, pulled apart from cream and crushed

1/3 cup butter, melted

Mix together cookie crumbs and butter. Press crumb mixture into 8 or 9 inch pie pan. DO NOT BAKE.

I made this while home in Alabama, to accompany a BBQ dinner this past Saturday evening. It turned out nice and light, fresh tasting if you will. I would have preferred a little more flavor, so next time I think I will add balsamic vinegar to "spice" it up a tad. There are suggestions at the end of the recipe for things you can add, so feel free to either leave as is, or add whatever you like. It's great for a summer salad, for a big family gathering like ours was, or just for a nice side to a hearty dish like ribs or BBQ pork.

Fresh Basil Pasta Salad
Source: sentimentsbydenise (All Recipes.com)

Servings: 6-8
1 lb. Rotini Pasta
2 lbs. roma tomatoes, sliced or diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
fresh basil leaf, chopped coarsely (about 1/3c)

1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

Mix together the tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and basil.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Cook pasta, drain, rinse in cold water.
Mix pasta with tomato mixture.

**I added more basil to my pasta salad, for more flavor, probably about 2 Tbsp.
Sprinkle with cheese.

**There are a couple things that you can add, if you desire: black olives (sliced), green onions (chopped), balsamic vinegar, and mozzarella cheese can be substituted for the parmesan.

I am not a big fan of just plain cheesecake, but my family wanted some good desserts this weekend, so I made this so that we could all "dress it up" to each our own liking. I followed the recipe exactly, and yet it still cracked at the top and the texture wasn't 100%...however it still tasted yummy, and everyone ate it up! I guess cheesecake doesn't have to be perfect!

New York Cheesecake
From: sakura (All Recipes.com)

CRUST:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted
1/3 cup powdered sugar

CHEESECAKE:
3 8oz packages cream cheese, room temp
4 eggs room temp
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and butter
3. Press into bottom of an 8 inch springform pan. Wrap a square of foil around bottom of pan.
4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Pour mixture over prepared crust.
5. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes (until center set).
6. Place a pie tin, or shalow baking pan filled with water on bottom rack of oven. For added moisture, and to help prevent top from cracking.
7. Let cake cool completey before removing from pan.
8. If you prefer, you can spread 1 pint of room temperature sour cream over the top of cheese cake, and return to oven for 5 minutes. (I never do this). <--note from the recipe author, I didn't do this either 9. You can also add any fruit pie filing to the top after cooling.

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup Panko Japanese bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp garlic salt

3-4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix mayo and lemon juice in medium bowl; set aside. Combine bread crumbs, cheese and garlic salt in separate medium bowl. Dip chicken in mayo mixture, then roll in bread crumb mixture until evenly coated on all sides. Place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 20 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Source: Kraft Foods

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 cloves galic, minced

1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp salt

2 lb new potatoes, cut into quarters

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Mix oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt with wire whisk until well blended. Pour over potatoes in large bowl. Add grated topping; mix lightly.

Place in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes.