As long as I have my Cheerwine, I happy grilling in any weather!
The girls are downstairs eating cereal for breakfast. Nariah has a bowl of Fruit Loops.
Out of the blue, Nariah says : “Mommy… I’m so smart… Let me tell you something”
“What Nariah?”
“I’m so smart I know what Fruit Loops really are. These are nothing but cheerios with some food coloring, sugar and frosting on them!”
**silence**
“They can’t trick me!”
I’ve seen them all over, but I’ve never actually tried a bacon flavored dessert. Toya convinced me to try one today. Since I was making strawberry swirl cheesecake already, I decided to try a maple bacon cheesecake too.
This is a tweak of a recipe I found here : http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2006/09/mini-cheesecakes/
This recipe makes 12 mini cheesecakes.
For the each set of crusts:
6 tablespoon butter/margarine softened
1 1/2 cup crushed gingersnaps
1/4 cup sugar in the raw
Blend together and press into mini cheesecake pan. Bake for 10 mins at 350 and let cool.
Maple bacon cheesecake filling:
Blend one 8oz package of cream cheese (make sure its at room temperature).
After blended, add one egg, and 1/4 cup of sugar. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extra, a small handful of fresh crumbled bacon, and about 4-8 tablespoons of grade B dark maple syrup. (the amount of syrup depends on your taste). Mix well. and pour into cheesecake pan.
Strawberry swirl:
Dice 8 strawberries and in small sauce pan, cook uncovered on medium heat with 3/4th cup of water and 3 tablespoons of agave nectar. You can use sugar or honey, but I prefer agave nectar. Stirring occasionally, cook for about 10 mins until thickened. Remove from heat.
Blend one 8oz package of cream cheese (make sure its at room temperature).
After blended, add one egg, and 1/4 cup of sugar. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extra and mix well. Pour into remaining cheesecake pan.
Scoop tablespoon of Strawberry mixture into each cheesecake and use a toothpick to carefully “swirl” the strawberries into the cheesecake. Do not over-swirl as you do not want to blend in. Also make sure you do not dig into the crust as your swirl.
Bake cheesecakes for 20 mins at 350 degrees. It may take 30-40 mins to set, but I would check it at 20 mins and then monitor at 5 min increment to make sure the middle of the cheesecakes are set.
Let cool and enjoy room temperature or refrigerated.
I learned tonight that I can’t get over with spur of the moment comedy with Nariah anymore. She can definitely hold her own with her wit and I have to now step up my game.
I walk into our bedroom to see Toya changing Toryn’s diaper on our bed with Nariah looking on intently. It’s a big ol’ poopie diaper with a multitude of colors in a nice claylike lump.
“Look daddy! Toryn pooped! Wanna smell it?”
“Ummm… Sure… Mmmmm, this smells great! Did you eat some already?”
Nariah : **Blank stare**
“What? I’m thinking add some cereal to this, maybe a little milk, not too much…”
“..sigh… No daddy… But… I can make you a burrito!”
Nariah proceeds to wrap up the poopie diaper just like a Chipotle burrito and hands it to me.
“Here you go daddy! Your turn to throw this away!”
She’s not supposed to be leaving me speechless, its supposed to be the other way around!
Nariah is talking to Toya during breakfast.
“Mommy, daddy has a thousand gray hairs. Did you know that? You only have about two right? Isn’t daddy younger than you? How come he has a thousand gray hairs?”
See how she treats me when I’m not around? LOL
Its birthday party planning time, and we’re trying to figure out what type of party Nariah wants.
Date… Check
Guest list… Check
Location… Check
Theme… Kinda check
Food… Now here’s where it gets interesting.
“Are we gonna have pizza?”
“Yeah, I was thinking we’d use that papa johns nearby, they have great party deals”
“Oh…..” she replies with a somewhat sad face.
“Why… did you not want pizza?”
“No, we always have pizza. I want something different”
“Oh… Well… Ummm…. Ok….. Well what were you thinking of?”
This huuuuuge grin forms on her face… “How about…… grilled turkey!”
As I laugh and think to myself “what in the world”, I stop laughing because as I look at her, she is serious. She is staring back at me patiently waiting for me to stop laughing. I glance over at Toya who shares my perplexed look.
“Daddy, it is sooooo good, you can grill it, then slice it up and bring it to the party!”
I think I’ve set the bar high on this child’s culinary appetite with this bacon weave grilled turkey. She will probably ask for my grilled lobster tails when she starts having sleepovers.
grillsidestories 