Chocolate Kahlua Mini Cheesecakes

Here's the recipe for the cheesecakes for those of you who were asking.

They are truly phenomenal! If you don't have a mini cheesecake pan, and live in MI, you can borrow mine. For the rest of you...you'll either have to buy the pan or come visit:) I have not yet tried to adapt it to a regular pan, so I do not know how it will need to be adjusted. You can either play around with it, or try to google a similar recipe for a larger pan.

Chocolate Kahlua Mini Cheesecakes

Crust
10 chocolate wafer cookies
1 Tablespoon + 1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup Kahlua

Preheat an oven to 350 F. Lightly butter the wells of a miniature cheesecake pan.

To make the crusts: In the work bowl of a food processor, combine the chocolate wafers, 1 tablespoon sugar and the salt and pulse until the mixture is finely ground.

Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and add the melted butter. Stir to combine. Divide the mixture among the 12 wells in the prepared cheesecake pan and press evenly into the bottoms.

Bake until the crusts are set and golden brown around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Reduce the oven temperature to 250 F.

To make the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the cream cheese, the 1/3 cup sugar and the pinch salt and beat on low speed until smooth, 8 to 10 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl often.

Beat in the egg slowly and scrape down the sides of the bowl after adding it. Pour in the melted chocolate and Kahlua and beat until completely blended and no streaks of white remain, about 1 minute. Spoon the filling into the crusts, dividing it evenly among the 12 wells.

Bake until the filling is set, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before removing the cheesecakes from the pan.

Sweet Potato Casserole

So every year around this time, my phone rings way more than normal, and I get lots of extra emails. ALL for this recipe. Not that I don't love talking to everyone, so feel free to call anyway, but I thought I would share this with everyone. The short story behind this is: We moved to GA, a few weeks before Thanksgiving. Bryan decided to sign me up for sweet potato casserole for the unit Thanksgiving get-together. I FREAKED! I don't even LIKE sweet potatoes. And I don't like MARSHMALLOWS, either! SO... I went searching for a recipe, hoping not the embarrass the both of us, being new and all. It is AMAZING! We eat this often during the year- pretty much anytime we have turkey. The boys devour it. And I have never had so many requests for a recipe. I am not joking that people track me down for it. So try it out and let me know what you think. We'll be having it here- and all are welcome to join us!

Sweet Potato Casserole II

Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes Ready In: 45 Minutes Yields: 16 servings

INGREDIENTS:
4 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cold stick butter
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, mix together mashed sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup butter, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs. Spread sweet potato mixture into the prepared baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and flour. Cut in 1/3 cup butter until mixture is crumbly, then stir in pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the sweet potatoes.

3. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

By the way, the recipe is from http://www.allrecipes.com/ which is the best recipe website EVER! I get most of my recipes from it- they are all peer-reviewed (so to speak)- so you kind of know what you are getting into before you start.

Just another day in paradise

Noah, standing in his new favorite spot- the heat vent when the heat kicks on.
Selah and Daddy
Selah is staying warm in the outfit Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Mike sent!

Noah, looking especially handsome, out "getting the bad guys!"

Selah "hanging out" with Daddy.

Or is that hanging on to?
Bryan's comment a minute later:

"Ugh! She puked in my hair!"

Hazards of the job, I'm afraid.

Notice she is not on my shoulders? I know better:)

Hockey practice....or not.

Well, we all know life with 3 little kids can be a bit (BIT? did I just say BIT? HAHAHAHA) Crazy. Getting to hockey is always a bit rushed. Mass ALWAYS runs over, and so we rarely get home before 1. (Forget going to an earlier one, we have 3 kids!) And we have to leave for hockey by 1:20. In that time, Selah has to eat, and so does everyone else. Plus Jonah has to get dressed- the locker rooms are too hectic and they SMELL! So in the rush, somehow we forgot some of his pads. So instead of hockey, Bryan and the boys went to open skate. We were already there, so it seemed silly to go back home. (Mind you it was 20 for open skate or 25 to buy new pads. Should've bought him new pads.)

Bryan swears he will never skate again, and I doubt that I will be able to get Noah back on the ice this season.

SUPERMAN- skating in to save the day!

Noah, "skating"

PLEASE, PLEASE let me quit Mom!

AHH, so much better. I will just watch the ZAMBONI machine!

In awe of the Zamboni.

Mug shot

Hasn't taken his eyes off of it yet.

This is one of the five million things that he is going to be when he grows up.

Along with fighter pilot, CID or FBI agent, garbage truck driver, construction worker, shall I continue, or do you get the picture.

(Why don't they ever say "stay at home mom?")

Gotta get that last look as they put it away!

WOW! Look at all the SNOW!

That is what Jonah said, anyway.

Bryan and I laughed, and said wait until we have inches!

The boys have never lived anywhere that really got snow until now (well, Missouri, but we were only living there in the summer.) So the thought of having snow at their convenience is an exciting thought for the boys. You should see their excitement every time they see a few flakes floating down!

Anyway, we got a bit Sunday night and Monday morning, and took some pictures. The boys were out right after breakfast on Monday- and good thing, too. The snow was gone by the time Bryan got home from work, much to their disappointment!

Bryan Making snow balls, to throw at his kids and the neighbors windows. Don't you wish you lived next door to us?

Noah HAD to ride his jeep in the SNOW-
And got it stuck in a big ol' drift.
Yeah, not really, he just isn't the best driver.
He can't keep his eyes on the road, err, sidewalk.

Good thing Daddy was there to help!

Jonah, showing off his snowball...

That he then threw at me through the window.

Wonder where he learned that...

MONDAY MORNING

Noah wants me to stop telling him that he looks cute.

But he DOES!
In his "Buckeyes" snowsuit!

The boys posing together.

Do you like Jonah's scarf?

What's the point, it is not supposed to be a fashion statement!

He gave it to me after this picture and told me he didn't NEED it. Yeah, not when you wear it like that!

Throwing snowballs at me AGAIN.

HE found this hilarious, notice the grin.

A PERFECT snowball.

What he does not want you to know, is that there is a tennis ball in the middle of it ;)

They had fun and are eagerly awaiting some accumulation so they can go sledding.

Not that we have sleds...

Hmm. Might want to get those....

BOYS

So Jonah tells on Noah for sitting on the "water tower," aka the back of my couch. And as I am convincing Noah to get down from the "water tower," Jonah decides to climb up the chair to hang from the top windowsill. Um, hello? I am RIGHT HERE! So I send Jonah to time out, which he finds hilarious. And Noah is now sitting on the top of the couch pillows, like he is riding a horse. When I remind him that he is to be getting down from the "water tower," he INFORMS me that this is cushions are NOT FURNITURE. So he can play on them. Well, now that I have been put in my place, life can continue as normal. (And no, I did not let him continue to play on my couch.)

Science Experiments

Uncle Jonah and Miss Allison gave Jonah a science experiment kit for his birthday- and still have not received a thank you- nor has anyone else....I actually have a bunch of them written out, just needing to be addressed. I'll get on that.

Back to the science experiment kit.

The boys did a few with the neighbors the other night.

First up, touchable bubbles.

They stick and do not pop!

Noah is truly amazed.

They are stuck in Tyler's hair.

Alright, next up...
Make your own bouncy ball.

Just what I need bouncing around my house!

First hold the mold in the water for 2 minutes...

Poor Jaclyn.

Then hold it like this for 2 more minutes...

And voila!

Homemade bouncy ball.

And it really does bounce!

Great, thanks Jonah;)

Next, snakes.

Blue ones.

These ones were more like snake eggs.

But they figured it out.

And Jonah was smart enough to keep his hands clean.

20 minutes later, Noah still has a bubble attached to him!

Last up was hide and seek.

Noah would not come out of the couch cushions.

He became very easy to find...

Bounce House

Here's a picture of Selah, since I did not get any of her while we were at the Bounce House.

Just playing.

I am a happy baby!

We went to one of those jump place- you know, the ones that cost a fortune. And my boys barely even jumped. Bryan and Jonah played video games and Noah rode the grocery store rides and the little tikes car. But they had fun. I was holding Selah the whole time, so that is why there are no pics of her, and why the pictures of everyone else are a little less than perfect...

The three boys playing a race car game.

AHH, get me out of here! They are throwing balls at me!

I don't think Jonah has much of a chance...

Racing some more

Jonah and Daddy boxing,

And Jonah gets the Knockout!

(Hey, it's my word against Bryan's)

Noah, the submariner.

Noah the fighter pilot.

Noah the Calvary Scout.

We are just missing the marines. But we never did like them anyway...

Noah just having a ball!

What do you do with this thing?

OH, THAT's what you do!

They had a lot of fun.

OOPS!

I accidentally deleted my background, so I decided to find a new, less girly one. I like this one, and didn't have time to go through them all - Allie Brown is amazing and has a ton of these! It was really hard because I am so drawn to the pink ones! Guess 7 years of blue made me ready for a change...

Do you think he could use a haircut?

He'd been playing outside with a hat on,, and when he took it off, this was the result.

SCARY!

A trip to see Uncle Todd

Bryan came home Friday, and announced that he took Monday off and had a holiday Tuesday. So with four days off, we decided to make a quick trip to see Bryan's brother in Dayton, OH.

We got up Sunday morning, went to early Mass, and headed down there. We were a bit worried, as it is a 4 1/2 hour drive, and Selah hasn't had any trips yet, but she did wonderfully! We only had to stop to feed her once on the way down and once on the way back!

It was a quick trip, we just stayed Sunday night and came back Monday afternoon, but everyone had a good time and some good food. Nicole made some really great BBQ chicken and we got pizza from this place called Marion's. It was a lot like Donato's, but I think it may actually have been better!

Selah hanging out with Uncle Todd and Miss Nicole

Jonah and Lexi, showing off the holes in their mouths!

Would you please leave me to make bubbles in peace!

Lexi was really into the song they were playing on Guitar Hero!

Bryan and Todd, gotta compete at something!

Noah and Jayden, playing the Wiggles game.

Jonah and Lexi hiding out on the top bunk, playing Perfection and Sorry.
(It's the only way the little ones won't mess with them.)

Miss Nicole, you look good enough to eat!

Jonah and Daddy, having a jam session.

It was a nice break from the ordinary for all of us!