Jul 25 2012

Leftovers: Caramel Pretzel Crusted Strawberry Cheesecake

Posted on July 25, 2012 by thepoli3

As you might recall, we recently posted a Pinterest Tested recipe for Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark, where we had a ton of leftover pretzel-caramel pieces leftover since the chocolate didn’t adhere very well and separated from it. Now I am not one to waste food or time so I scooped up the leftovers and put them in the fridge for a rainy day. Then it dawned on me- these would make a delicious cheesecake crust! I pulled up my favorite cheesecake recipe on AllRecipes for the filling and got to work! These were so yummy! I made them cupcake size just for fun.

Jen’s Caramel Pretzel Crusted Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

I started by crushing up the leftover pretzel-caramel pieces from our Pinterest Tested: Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark recipe, mixing the finely crushed crust with some melted butter, and then pressed down firmly into cupcake liners.

Then, I whipped up a batch of my favorite cheesecake filling, poured into the individual cupcakes, and baked according to the cheesecake filling recipe.

Almost done! You can eat these plain or add a topping- I added some canned strawberry pie filling.

Voila! Let these settle and cool overnight (or a least for a few hours), and enjoy!

Do it yourself:

*Makes 12 cheesecakes in a regular cupcake tin

Make the pretzel caramel bark (don’t add any chocolate or sea salt) – half the recipe for just 12 cheesecakes like mine -, let cool overnight, remove from pan, and crush in a plastic bag until finely ground. Add a few tablespoons of melted butter (I used about 2) to the mixture, stir until well coated, and then firmly press crust into lined cupcake pans.

Whip up Chantal’s New York Cheesecake filling (skip the crust part) – I quartered the recipe because I didn’t need so much filling for just 12 cupcakes – and pour onto individual crusts in cupcake pan.

After baking, let cool for about an hour in fridge, then spoon canned strawberry pie filling onto the top of each cheesecake-cupcake. Be careful not to put too much- it can get messy!

Let cool overnight (ideally) and enjoy!

- J

May 23 2012

Leftovers: Easy Tomato–Vegetable Soup

Posted on May 23, 2012 by thepoli3

I’m not one of those people who can just throw stuff together and it turns into a delicious recipe. I also don’t really like soup.

I’m tastier than I look.

I made this because it was raining and I was thinking about that iPhone commercial where the girl has Siri order tomato soup.

I’m not joking. That’s why I made it.

I had a bunch of leftover veggies from testing Emeril’s Lasagna, and I just so happened to have some canned diced tomatoes that were about to go bad. I figured I’d throw everything into a pot and see if it turned into some form of edible. Well, it worked.

Leftover “EASY, DELICIOUS AND ALMOST FREE” tomato veggie soup:

6 tbsp butter (you can use less if you want it to be healthier)
2 cloves of garlic
Any leftover vegetables you have (I used a quarter of a yellow onion, carrots, and celery, and it came out DELICIOUS)
1 (14-oz) can of diced tomatoes, plain
1 (14-oz)can of diced tomatoes with basil (you could sub a can of plain diced tomatoes and just add basil)
1 cup of chicken broth (you can use slightly more or slightly less, depending on your preference and what you have on hand)
Salt
Pepper
OPTIONAL: Thyme, basil

Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium-low, then add in the garlic and onions (if using onions). Cook for ~15 mins, stirring occasionally. Add the rest of the veggies and cook (make sure to stir!) for ~8 mins. Then, add everything else, bring to a boil, then let it simmer for ~5 to 10 mins.

Yields 3-5 servings

Like I said, I don’t normally like soup. And by that I mean, I pretty much only enjoy creamy, fattening soups (ex. Broccoli Cheddar) and completely ignore any soup on the menu that sounds like I could probably see through it. But this was delicious (much to my surprise) and very filling. Added bonus: it was essentially free, since it was almost entirely made of leftovers that would have just gone bad and been thrown out.

Comment and let us know what vegetables you would use! I’d love new ideas for this soup!

-M

May 16 2012

Leftovers: Lasagna Noodles

Posted on May 16, 2012 by thepoli3

This week our Real Best Recipe challenge is lasagna. But you will hear more about that very soon! More importantly, lets talk about leftovers. Lasagna usually is an awesome leftover in itself. But what about all those extra noodles?! Am I the only ~~OCD~~ person who gets antsy seeing all those un-used noodles go to waste after building my lasagna? Well thankfully to our friend Google, it turns out that this is actually a popular bone of contention. So after peeking around at a few sites I decided to get out my leftover noodles and start experimenting. Therefore I give you, the Fried Lasagna Roll-Up.

Here is what you will need:

6-8 Cold (already cooked) lasagna noodles
6-8 toothpicks
1 1/2 cups of cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese)
3-4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of parsley
1 tablespoon of basil
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs (I used panko)
3 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Get out your noodles, make sure to separate them carefully if they have molded together a bit.

2. In a bowl, stir together the cottage (or ricotta) cheese, 1 egg, 2-3 tablespoons of parmesan (save 1 tablespoon for another step), basil, 1 tablespoon of parsley, salt, & pepper.

3. On a single noodle, put about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cottage (or ricotta) cheese mixture on the noodle and roll it up. Secure with a toothpick. Do this to all of your noodles and place in a baking pan, seen below.

4. Bake for 25 minutes. While baking, beat 1 egg & milk together in a small bowl. In a different bowl, stir together breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon of parsley, and 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese.

5. After baking, let roll-ups cool for about 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan to keep the bottoms from getting soggy. Remove toothpicks.

6. Heat olive oil in baking pan on stovetop over medium heat. Begin dipping roll-ups into first the egg wash, then the breadcrumb mixture. Place into hot oil, repeat until all roll-ups are in the pan.7. Let brown to a golden color, and using tongs, carefully turn over and let fry, to ensure all sides are browned. When browned to a golden color, remove from pan and place on paper towel lined plate to soak up excess oil.

8. Let cool for about 1-2 minutes and enjoy! I would suggest having some warm marinara sauce to go with these!