Quesadilla Pie

Here ya go friends, this dinner comes together in less than 30 minutes.  As long as you have some cooked chicken on hand...

Quesadilla Pie
From The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients
1 10 inch tortilla
2 cups shredded chicken*
1/3 cup diced jalapenos, I bought a lil' can and used about half of it
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
salsa, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Soften your tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds and place it in a greased 9 inch pie plate.
2. Mix chicken, jalapenos, cilantro, 1 cup cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Place in pie plate.
3. Mix eggs, milk, flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl (use the one you just had the chicken in). Pour over filling. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes until cheese is browned and melted.
4. Let cool 5 minutes.  Cut into wedges and serve with salsa on the side.

*I despise when recipes have cooked chicken as an ingredient.  Who has cooked chicken just laying around the house?!  I do...  I cooked up 5 chicken breasts, shredded them and bagged them up for times like this.  I highly recommend you do the same on a lazy Sunday. Each breast is about 2 cups of chicken.

You are definitely going to want to have some salsa with your slice of the pie.  It needs a bit of flavor punching, guacamole would be nice too.  I think next time I will put some salsa into the pie as well.

Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with Shortbread Crust

I whipped up this baby for Easter this year.  It's pretty simple and packed with spring-time flavor.  Need an added bonus?  It's damn good lookin' too.

Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with Shortbread Crust
Adapted from Closet Kitchen

Ingredients

for the crust:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour

for the cheesecake:
1 cup ricotta
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
sliced strawberries for garnishing

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Cream butter and sugar until smooth.  Mix in zest, salt, and flour until crumbly. Press mixture, using your hands, into 9 inch tart pan. Bake 15 minutes, crust will be lightly golden brown. Let cool before topping with cheesecake.
2. Mix ricotta, cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and zest.  Spread on cooled crust.  Garnish with sliced strawberries.

The cheesecake portion is no-bake, making it really easy to whip up!

Behold the beauty of sliced strawberries!  I am so happy there is new fruit at the supermarket.  I've been eating strawberries non-stop.

I really liked the freshness of the strawberries and the lemon in this recipe.  I will note that this recipe should not be made in advance.  The shortbread crust gets soggy the next day so make it the day you intend to eat it for the best results.  Happy spring!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Disclaimer: this was made using a mix that probably is not found at your supermarket.  Sorry if this post is a bit of a tease for that reason.

On to the food porn!

The pumpkin cake portion was delicious.  It had a nice spice to it.

The cream cheese frosting, I was not a fan of.  I will say these babies were gobbled up quickly, so not everyone felt the way I did about the frosting.

That's all for today kids, I'll have more for you on Sunday.

Lemon Ricotta Zucchini Galette

This recipe came from an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  The recipe is available online, but they force you to become a member in order to view it.  Ridiculous!  Here is Smitten Kitchen's version of it.  Just use store bought pie crust and add some lemon zest and juice to mix cheese mixture and it'll be the same as mine.

Another recipe note:  I made 2 of these for my family of 4.  I used 1 zucchini for each and doubled the filling requirements.  If they think 1 will serve 4 people they've never fed a family before, at least not my family.

Above are the galettes before the oven.  Below they are post oven, nice and golden brown.

We each got a half of a galette.  Which really is not a crazy amount of food ok? So quit judging us!

This really is just a perfect light, fresh, summer meal.

Chocolate Truffle Pie

I made this pie for the 4th of July which I was really excited to type out because it rhymes.  The recipe can be found here at the always helpful and always delicious Cookies and Cups blog.

It's a super simple batter that doesn't require any separate bowls, not like I would have followed a direction like that anyway.  FYI she wanted me to sift the cocoa powder, but I couldn't be bothered and surprise! no one knew!

Plop it all into a store bought pie crust.

Then bake it up.

I over cooked my pie a bit, that convection oven cooks things faster than I imagined, so my pie was a little drier than it should have been.

Top a slice with some whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries and there ya go!  Instant patriotic dessert.  Hope you all had a tasty 4th!