Flan de Queso "Cheese Flan"

National cheesecake day was celebrated yesterday, but we didn't have cheesecake at home nor did I have time to make one, so we had leftover cream cheese flan I made earlier this week.  I think that counts?

I'm a firm believer in celebrating as many food holidays as possible!

My husband and I were never huge fans of flan, but my gosh, this one churrascaria we frequent makes THE richest, smoothest, and best flan ever. It's not a thin egg custard that feel water-y to the tongue, which is what I feel is what you get out of those boxed flan mixes.

Those of you new to flan, it's essentially a latin egg custard with a caramel topping that can be jazzed up any number of ways.

We were craving our favorite restaurant's flan, which is a little more dense, and to mimic it, I used cream cheese to give it the smoothness and thickness we wanted. Basically a flan cheesecake sans the crust.

This recipe has a handful of ingredients including a super easy caramel sauce.  I think the hardest part of this recipe is the water bath because I didn't have a baking dish wide enough to fit my baking pan so I winged it and hoped for the best.  Other than that, this is one easy schmeasy dessert that is sure to impress.  The satisfaction you get when you flip that flan out of it's baking dish and into a plate without it breaking deserves a high five.  Luckily husband was around to give me one.

Flan de Queso

1 cup sugar
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz. can condensed milk
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
5 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Have a 9" circle baking dish ready to go.

In a small saucepan, melt sugar over medium heat until it's a beautiful caramel color, stirring constantly.  Don't worry, the sugar crystallizes into large chunks, but then slowly, but surely, the sugar melts and begins to brown. Voila! You have caramel sauce.  Did you know it is THAT easy to make caramel?

Pour the caramel sauce into the baking dish and spread/swirl around as much as possible before it hardens.  Don't worry if you don't get too far with the caramel.  It all comes together at the end.

In a blender, blend cream cheese until smooth. Add the condensed milk and evaporated milk and combine.  Blend in one egg at a time, scraping down the sides after each egg.  Add in the vanilla and give it one last swirl.

Pour the smooth milk/egg mixture over the caramel.

Now for the water bath...find a large enough baking pan to house the baking dish that contains the flan. I just used a large cookie sheet I had with raised edges.  Soak a dish towel and lay it in your empty baking dish.  Place your flan on top of the towel and then fill your empty baking dish with HOT water until it comes up halfway up the sides of the flan dish. My dish didn't allow it to come up halfway, but I just filled my cookie sheet up with water as much as I could.  It was just fine.

Bake for 45-55 minutes.  The flan should have some jiggle, but if you stick a knife in the middle, it should come out clean.  This is when you know it's ready!

Take the flan out and let it cool to room temperature and then stick in the fridge overnight.

The fun part...post refrigeration! Grab a large plate, place it over the flan dish, and flip the flan dish over. Gently tap the dish until the flan falls out onto the plate (hopefully in one piece). The caramel sauce will come out with it.  Feel free to scrape out every last bit of that sauce, or better yet, just lick the dish. No one is watching you. And then give yourself a high five! Garnish with berries, or sprinkle with cinnamon, or eat just as!

Enjoy!

Lobster Mac N' Cheese

I would like to wish my Muslim readers a very joyous and blessed Eid Mubarak!  I hope that these last 30 days of Ramadan brought peace, granted prayers, community, and perspective to your lives.

Now as we go back to our eating throughout the day lives, I bring for you as an Eid gift, lobster macaroni and cheese. You're welcome.

Disclaimer: It's not healthy.  It's an indulgent, rich, little ginormous bowl of happiness with three kinds of cheese, butter, and lobster.

I was feeling kind of fancy, and I was also fasting, so naturally, I was like, lobster mac n' cheese. Ha, just kidding. I don't even really like lobster! So to say this craving was random, is an understatement.  Lobster is amazing with cheese by the way, even if mixing seafood with cheese is a foodie faux pas.

I figured since I haven't eaten even a quarter of my daily calorie intake since 5am, we could have this for dinner.  This is my logic when I am not eating all day.

To make dinner even more extravagant for a Thursday night, we had it with steak. Sometimes we just have to celebrate a regular ho-hum day with a special meal.

This dish takes some love and good (aka slightly expensive) ingredients.  Please don't use the blue box and add lobster.  It would be blasphemous. Also, if you can find it, use the mini bow tie. Just makes it even FANCIER.  To help with cost, try to grab lobster tails when they are on sale and get the cheese from the deli if they have it available.  You can just ask for a nice chunk that you can take home and shred instead of buying a whole block of cheese for $8-$10 in the refrigerated section of the store.  I even had quite a bit of cheese left from all 3 after I used what I needed. So cheesy omelettes are coming my way for breakfast!

You can have still have champagne tastes on a  beer water budget!

Lobster Mac N' Cheese

serves 2-4
3/4 pound noodle of choice (mini bow tie was mine)
2 cooked lobster tails, chopped into pieces
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup Gruyere, shredded (I used smoked)
1/2 cup Wisconsin Medium Cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup Fontina, shredded
Cayenne
Red Pepper Flakes
Garlic Powder
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook noodles in boiling water until al-dente and drain.

Meanwhile, in a small pot, heat up milk.  DO NOT BOIL! Just get it really hot.

To make the cheese sauce, heat butter in a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Once melted, add flour and whisk until the flour smells nutty and is light brown in color.

Slowly whisk in the hot milk until it's thick and smooth. Now this is important! Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 30 seconds.  Add ALL the amazing cheese in small batches, stirring in between to make a smooth sauce.  Add the seasonings to your liking and taste. I would drink this with a straw if I could...

Pour the sauce over the cooked and drained noodles and combine.  Stir in lobster pieces.  Throw this beautiful sight into a baking dish, sprinkle the panko crumbs all over the top and stick in the oven until you see the cheese bubbling. Mmmmmm bubbly cheese...should take about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Creamy Dreamy Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

This post is dedicated to my husband, who will always be a lover of chicken alfredo from Olive Garden.

Before trendy, farm-to-table, let me milk this cow in our backyard farm for your cream sauce, hipster restaurants were the norm, chain restaurants reigned king.  The Olive Gardens and Outback Steakhouses of our childhood have a special place in our hearts, and sometimes you just want the comfort of hot garlic breadsticks and the brown bread, or creamy alfredo sauce that can only be found in these family friendly restaurants.

Although, I no longer frequent the chains as often as I did growing up, sometimes I just want a fresh basket of cheddar bay biscuits.  Who can't eat a whole basket of these gems?

Every year, husband picks a couple dinners for me to make during his birthday week, and every year, it is the same two things, pot roast and chicken alfredo.  So instead of taking him to Luby's or Olive Garden, I make these things for him from scratch. I am realizing that as I type this, I have a spoiled husband with no fault but my own...I love to cook, and he loves to eat. In my eyes, it's a win-win.

I suggest you make this chicken alfredo on a night where you just want to stay at home in your pajamas and make something special for yourself, instead of going out. Do not attempt to make this a healthy recipe by using the cauliflower recipe. I repeat, don't use the cauliflower alfredo recipe. Pinterest may make it look pretty, but the picture is deceiving.  Unless of course, you like a gritty texture cream sauce, then by all means...

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

serves 4
2 large cooked and seasoned chicken breasts, butterflied and sliced
1 cup raw broccoli florets, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
black pepper
sea salt
chopped parsley
16 oz fettuccine noodles

Cook your fettuccine according to package instructions until al-dente.  Once drained, toss with a little olive oil.

As fettuccine is cooking, heat a saucepan over medium heat and melt butter. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook until the garlic is fragrant and not burning.  Slowly add heavy cream and milk.  Heat through.  Add parmesan cheese and whisk until cheese has melted and sauce is smooth. Add lots of black pepper and just a dash of salt to taste.

Add sliced chicken, broccoli and parsley to the sauce. Let all of this heat through and come in harmony, and then toss with your cooked fettuccine!

Enjoy!

Baked Vanilla Bean Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

What had happened was...I ordered a donut pan on Amazon.  So, I made these baked donuts, dipped them in chocolate, and sprinkled them with goodness. And a Sunday morning was made.

Donuts were always a weekend treat growing up, and they still are. I am partial to the chocolate glazed with walnuts, and as you can see in the picture, I made sure to make my favorite.  I especially love vanilla bean anything because of the tiny flecks of vanilla beans that show up through anything it is used in, like vanilla bean ice cream, vanilla bean frosting, vanilla bean cupcakes, and these vanilla bean donuts!  Vanilla bean just adds a gourmet sweetness and touch to everything.  

Obviously baked donuts are not the same as their fried, yeasty counterparts, so I can't even compare. These baked donuts are great on their own merit.  They were pretty much tiny vanilla bean cakes with holes in the middle with chocolate drizzled on top.  Maybe we can call these a little healthy.  Maybe.  I mean, are they still considered healthy when you eat 3 (aka 4)?

I see myself making these pretty often, maybe taking turns with Sunday morning pancakes.  I really want to try some lemon poppyseed donuts with a lemon zest glaze. Or maybe lemon poppyseed pancakes with a lemon zest syrup! Or, dare I, both!

Definitely make these if you own a nifty donut pan!

Vanilla Bean Baked Donuts

1 cup all purpose flour, unbleached
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk (any)
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 large egg
2 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 vanilla bean pod, scraped (use a sharp knife to cut down the middle of the pod and scrape seeds out with a spoon or butter knife)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:

1/4 cup milk (any)
1 1/2 cups powdered/confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
Assorted donut toppings, optional

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Spray a donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.

For the donuts: whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Whisk the milk, yogurt, and egg together until smooth. Add the melted butter, vanilla beans, and vanilla, whisking until fully combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be very thick. 

Spoon the batter into the donut pan.  Or you can do what I did, take a ziplock bag, pour the batter into the bag, and cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup, filling 2 ∕ 3 –3 ∕ 4 of the way full.  This way was much easier!

Bake for 9–10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow the donuts to slightly cool before glazing on a cooling rack. Once the donuts are cooled a bit, they're easier to dunk in the glaze. Mmmmmm, glaze.

For the glaze: combine the glaze ingredients in a medium saucepan over  low heat. Whisk until the glaze is smooth. Remove from heat, and begin dunking the donuts, one by one, into the glaze.  Transfer each donut to a wire rack over a baking sheet to catch the glaze drippings.  If you have extra glaze, you can dunk each donut again to make it EXTRA glaze-y...

Sprinkle with any toppings you wish, or devour them plain jane!  Either way, they are fantastic little donuts to be relished on a Sunday morning with your coffee.  

Enjoy!!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps & Sesame Veggie Noodles

Oh Monday, the beginning of me working towards another weekend!  I put together a pretty great dinner plan through Thursday and I'm super excited for it.  It's pretty heavily Asian inspired.  Maybe I'll go with this and have a weekly theme...maybe. I always have a million ideas, much like my dad, but not equal amounts of follow through.  The flaw of a creative mind. We're dreamers and mind wanderers.  I'm the girl who wants to be a geneticist, a cook, a food truck owner, music festival vendor, bakery owner, event planner, a travelling foodie couple, and the list goes on, all in my lifetime.  Possible?  Perhaps.  But right now, as I sit in my bed, I'll be a blogger for half an hour and entertain you with my tangents.

Today I made a relatively quick and healthy meal, using pantry staples, and lots of veggies that I'll mix and match through the week.

Most of you probably hear lettuce wraps and think appetizer.  At least that is what the hubby thought we were having.  But I think lettuce wraps can be made into a complete meal just by adding a side dish!  I threw together some sesame noodles with veggies in a wok and served alongside these tasty ground chicken lettuce wraps.  I didn't make a dipping sauce because I was lazy.  Sorry! These were great without a sauce though!  Saved calories, so you're welcome. I'm sure a dollop of plain greek yogurt would be great on these if you need a little saucy-ness!

Just like the majority of my other recipes, feel free to use whatever ingredients you have on hand for veggies, meats, and toppings!  I hope I can provide you a somewhat basic "template" of doing things and you can use your creativity to make it your own!

Since we are on the subject, if you make any of my recipes, please take a picture and tag me on instagram with #liveloveatrepeat.  It would make my day to see my recipes being prepared by all of you!  You can also follow me @liveloveatrepeat on Instagram and "like" my page on FB.  Okay done with the promoting, but thank you, seriously.

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large portobello mushroom cap, diced
1 lb ground chicken
1 tbs minced ginger
3 tbs reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbs chili garlic sauce
fresh crack black pepper
minced cilantro
romaine lettuce leaves
shredded carrots
thin sliced cucumber
thin sliced radish

Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add minced garlic and brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic! It happens pretty quickly, so keep an eye on it.

Add diced mushrooms and saute until softened.  Add chicken, ginger, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, and a lot of black pepper.  Keep breaking up the chicken and brown.  Once chicken is almost cooked through, turn up the heat to evaporate the liquid. Top with cilantro.  Taste and add any additional seasoning you feel it needs.

Assemble the wraps by using the "cupped" side of the lettuce leaf, spooning on chicken, and topping with carrots, cucumber, and radish.  Chomp away!

Enjoy!
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Sesame Veggie Noodles

Ramen noodles (I just used some packets my mom in law keeps in the pantry and only used the noodles)
Sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 serrano pepper, thinly sliced (discard seeds and/or ribs depending on spice level)
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
1 roasted potato, quartered and diced (leftover potatoes from night before)
2 stalks green onions, large slices
2 tbs reduced sodium soy sauce
fresh cracked black pepper
1 tbs sesame seeds

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the noodles and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and drizzle with just a little bit of sesame oil to avoid sticky noodles.  Let sit in the colander to dry thoroughly.

Heat a wok over medium heat, add 1 tbs of sesame oil.  Add garlic, onion, and the sliced serrano peppers, and saute until the veggies have softened. Add zucchini and squash and cook until softened. Add potatoes and heat through for a minute.  Add dried noodles, green onion, soy sauce, black pepper, and sesame seeds. Toss and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Some of the noodles may stick to the bottom.  Feel free to add more oil, but I figured a few lost noodles were worth not risking "greasy" noodles.

Season with more soy sauce if needed.  I kept the seeds and ribs in my peppers, so the noodles were quite spicy, but in a good way :)

Enjoy!!

Barbacoa Tacos

I've never met a taco I didn't like.  I think tacos may be my 2nd favorite food after pizza, really. Soft, crispy, puffy, vegetarian, and meat filled, I love them all! So it's no surprise that I quickly began craving tacos once I came back from my trip to North Carolina,  mostly in part by the fact that I had some bomb ass mini barbacoa tacos at a baby shower! Homemade, straight out of a dutch oven, topped with crispy slaw, and wrapped in a tiny little flour tortilla. Super adorable and extra easy to eat way more than one.

A hunk of roast made it quickly onto my shopping list, along with slaw, onions, and smoky chipotle peppers. I started the roast with a sear in the pan and let it do it's thing in the slow cooker.  The barbacoa is spicy and smokey from the different peppers and so tender from hours in the slow cooker.  The tangy and crispy slaw is perfect for these tacos, topped with cool, greek yogurt and creamy avocado.  Oh my gosh, yum.  Make these!

Barbacoa Tacos

(feeds an army)

1 tbs olive oil
2 lbs roast
sea salt
coarse black pepper
1 medium onion thinly sliced
2 large dried peppers (sold in bulk bins and are shriveled up dried red/black looking peppers)
3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 jalapeno, roughly chopped
2 tbs minced garlic
1 cup chicken stock
juice of one lime
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Slaw:
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup ready made coleslaw, no mayo
3 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3 tbs water

Toppings: slaw, sliced avocado, Greek yogurt, limes

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a skillet.  Dry the roast thoroughly and sprinkle all sides with sea salt and black pepper patting it in.  Place the roast in the skillet and do not touch!  Let it get a good sear and then flip for the other side.  Make sure to sear all sides of the roast.

As the roast sears, add sliced onions and dried peppers in crockpot.  In a blender, blend the chipotle peppers, jalapeno pepper, garlic, lime juice, and chicken stock.

Add seared roast on top of the onions and dried peppers.  Pour chicken stock mixture over the roast and place lid on slow cooker.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, the roast should be falling apart tender.  Shred the meat with a fork and get it all in the sauce, add chopped cilantro, and continue on warm as you get the fixings ready.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slaw:

Toss red onions with coleslaw, red wine vinegar, sugar, and water.

We had our tacos on fresh made wheat tortillas, and all the toppings listed with a sprinkle of cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

Enjoy!!

Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup) & Curry Brown Butter Grilled Cheese

Oh myyyyyy, flavor explosion in my mouth!  A hot bowl of spicy, rich coconut soup served alongside bomb-diggity grilled cheese using brown butter seasoned with curry powder.  One of my absolute favorite dinners ever.  Sometimes I just need to give myself a pat on the back.

Please make this tomorrow.  Granted, you must like thai food and cheese and butter.  I mean, cheese. CHEESE.

I almost always order a bowl of Tom Kha from this Thai restaurant in Houston and eat it up with rice.  It's great Thai style comfort food.  I grew up eating my mom's chicken soup with fried rice mixed in and people thought it was weird.  It's not weird.  Don't make people feel weird about what they eat.  Back to the soup, Tom Kha is full of flavor from the lemon grass, ginger, and red curry paste.  There's no need for salt or black pepper in this recipe. I used the curry paste as a cheat because I could not find the galangal and kaffir lime leaves that give this soup it's signature taste.  The red curry paste includes these two ingredients.  Granted, I could have made an extra stop to the Asian market on my way, but I didn't want to.  All the ingredients listed in this recipe can be found at your grocery store.

Feel free to omit the chicken from the soup if you would like to make the soup vegetarian.  Add some extra veggies like sliced red bell pepper, or snap peas, or even tofu to make up for the chicken.  It's a great flavorful soup with an added richness from the coconut milk.  Use fresh ingredients and a good chicken stock. Or vegetable stock.  I adapted the recipe for the soup from Bon Appetit, best foodie resource ever.

Instead of rice, I decided on grilled cheese because cravings.  I upped the ante on the grilled cheese by making a batch of browned butter seasoned with curry powder that was used to coat the inside and outside of the sandwich.  I'll probably use the leftover butter to make my eggs tomorrow morning.  Butter is a good fat.  I hope you all know this.  Moderation is key.

Tom Kha Gai (adapted from Bon Appetit)

2 stalks lemongrass, woody leaves discarded, cut into large chunks

1 in. piece of ginger, peeled, cut in half
1 thai pepper, sliced in half lengthwise
zest and juice of 3 limes
4 cups chicken broth
1 lb. sliced chicken breast
oyster mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbs Thai red curry paste
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk (full-fat)
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
cilantro, chili oil, lime wedges (garnish)

Bring to a boil the chicken broth with the lemongrass, ginger, thai pepper, lime zest, and lime juice.  Once boiling, bring down the heat and allow the broth to simmer for 15 minutes.  This will allow all the good stuff to get infused in the broth.

Drain the broth through a sieve/colander into another heat proof bowl.  Discard the chunks.  Carefully transfer the broth into the pot and place back on the heat.

Add the sliced chicken and bring the broth back to a boil.  Add mushrooms, tomatoes, and curry paste and let all of this simmer for 30 minutes so the flavors come together.

Add the coconut milk, fish sauce, and brown sugar.  Allow this to simmer for a few minutes.  Serve hot with cilantro, lime wedges, and chili oil.  Enjoy!

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Curry Brown Butter Grilled Cheese

4 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp curry powder
4 slices sourdough
4 slices Muenster cheese

In a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add butter, let it melt and foam up. Begin whisking continuously until the butter takes on a dark yellow tinge and smells nutty. Once you see the brown bits appear, add curry powder and whisk for 15 seconds. Take the saucepan off the heat and continue to whisk.  

Using a brush, brush on the seasoned butter on one side of all the bread slices. Or use a spoon to drizzle on the slices. Add 1 slice of cheese to each slice of bread. Assemble the sandwiches. Brush one side of the bread with the browned butter and grill over medium heat until crispy. While the buttered side cooks, brush the top of the sandwich with butter. Flip and cook other side until crisp and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!