Rocky Road No-Bake Cheesecake

My honey's birthday was coming up, and I was looking for a perfect cake recipe. I browsed through all my cooking books but could not pick anything. Everything seemed just wrong. Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. Rocky Road! It is Dave's all time favorite ice cream and candy bar. It would be just perfect. 

The next moment I was googling. No-Bake Cheesecake? Hm, I made a regular cheesecake before, it worked for me but this no-bake version seemed easy yet delicious. I decided to give it a try.

Preparing Steaks for a Dinner Party Made Easy

This is a guest post by Mark Johnson

So, what are you cooking for dinner tonight? Is it the same and old lobsters or one of those continental delicacies that you prepare every time for a dinner party? Well, if you are planning to prepare something new and delectable, why don’t you get steaks to your kitchen interiors? In fact, you can try so many unique recipes with steaks and leave your guests amazed.

Now, if you are heading to try a new recipe, it might take a lot of time and this might further result in making you delay for setting up the party decors. In this respect, preparing steaks is so easy, and you don’t need to kill hours behind it.

So, you must have got excited to know the recipe, right? Without keeping you in further suspense, let me give you the detailed cooking procedure for a mouthwatering recipe called ‘Steak with Red Wine Shallot Sauce’. Let’s take a look:

Lip - Smacking Lobster Recipes for the Sea Food Enthusiasts

This is a guest post by Mark Johnson.

Lobster is highly preferred by the seafood lovers. You can use lobster meat to prepare some lip-smacking recipes, which are very healthy and involves minimum cooking time. Apart from lobster salad, hot lobster, lobster pizza, lobster club sandwich, grilled lobster with barbeque mayonnaise, other lobster recipes are:

Flourless Chocolate & Guinness Cake on St. Valentine's Day

It all started at the Periodicals section of our local Barnes&Noble. I opened Food Network Magazine Special Chocolate issue, and I just could not put it down. The recipe for Towering Flourless Chocolate Cake looked so good! It asked for lots of chocolate and also some Guinness beer, both Dave’s favorite so that very minute I knew what I would make for my husband on St. Valentine’s Day. 

Last year I had kept it low key making just heart-shaped cookies so this year I was thinking about treating him to something unusual.

Orthodox Christmas 2012

My second Christmas this holiday season, and my second Orthodox Christmas in the States. We decided to keep it quiet and simple, have some food (and gifts, of course) and invite my father-in-law over for a family night. As for menu, Dave was really craving Thanksgiving food - I think because last year we skipped it (read here why). 

I didn’t see any problems with that but my cooking adventure started with an epic fail - I forgot to thaw the turkey:((( My fault, but my wonderful husband came to my rescue and while I was watching pirozhki being baked in the oven, he rushed to the store and brought two giant turkey legs already cooked and a nice piece of ham. I was saved!

Merry Christmas!

Last night I was staying up late and then I noticed that our radio in the bathroom was not playing Christmas songs anymore. Christmas is over, at least the first (Western) one. Hope everybody who celebrate it December 25th had a merry and joyful one. We spent the Christmas Eve at my father-in-law’s with the family, lots of food and Christmas music and movies. It was good to see everyone and have some peace and quiet together (well if you can have peace and quiet with 4 kids running around:) 

Upon my husband’s request for Chritsmas party I was making Russian salad (aka Olivier salad) and pirozhki. I’ve made it several times before so I won’t repeat the recipes. Pirozhki really worked out this time, and everybody enjoyed my food. 

South Beach Recipes - 10 Best South Beach Diet Dishes

This is a guest post by Alia Haley.

It is a common misconception that healthy diets are bland and distasteful. Even the South Beach Diet that replaces the unhealthy carbohydrates and fats with healthy whole grains and unsaturated fats could be an epicurean’s delight if cooked with the right ingredients.

Here are the recipes for preparing ten delicious South Beach Diet dishes that would encourage you to forgo the burgers and French fries for a healthy low calorie meal.

1. Oven fried chicken with almonds

In a medium sized bowl, mix a quarter cup of finely chopped almond, 1oz of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, two tablespoons of chopped garlic, ¼-teapoon of dried thyme, one crushed clove of garlic, a cup of bread crumbs and pinch of salt and pepper. Pour extra virgin olive oil on a pie plate. Dip a chicken breast in the oil and cover it with the bread crumb mixture. Place the chicken breast on a baking tray and put it inside a preheated over. Bake for about 20 minutes.

In the kitchen with... George Washington

On our recent trip to DC we visited not only Gettysburg but also Mount Vernon, the estate and plantation that belonged to the first American President George Washington, now his burial site and a world famous museum. The place is no doubt very historical and a must-see. When Dave is into historical figures, I am more of low key and interested in everyday life of people in different times. Mount Vernon satisfied us both. Dave saw where George Washington lived and buried, and I saw how people lived back then and how they ran their household.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is just round the corner, and the Halloween weekend is in its full gear now. Last year I missed this holiday just by a few days but this year I can feel it approaching. We are not doing any Halloween parties (yeah we are that boring:), and the kids said they are too old for trick-or-treat. OK, but we are also doing Halloween our way. 

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch and got our pumpkins. The patch itself I didn’t find too much fun but I am glad I checked it out. Then the kids and I had a great time carving the pumpkins and just lonely my cleaning up the mess:) The whole past week we’ve been enjoying our Jack-o-Lanterns, and it is something really delightful.

Going back in time: a Gettysburg-inspired dinner

Food and traveling always come together, and I am not talking about just eating out but expanding your own culinary skills as well. In September Dave and I were visiting DC. After checking out the major attractions and going to the Nationals vs Marlins game (the new Nationals ballpark is amazing!) we decided to do a day trip to Gettysburg, the site of the famous battle during the Civil War. 

To tell you the truth I had not know about it until recently (shame on me!) but Gettysburg was on Dave’s bucket list for a long time. The trip turned out to be a real eye opener for me. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle was the bloodiest in the American history with 50,000 people killed or wounded and is described as a turning point in the whole Civil War.

Cook Like a Cowboy - Bison Burger Recipes

This is a guest post by Kara Taylor, a freelance writer who loves to write about a number of topics including cooking, health, and the outdoors.

For burgers, it's bison or bust! After falling into a long-time nationwide bad habit of poor diet and nutrition, with belts a bit too snug around the waist, America has started to look for ways to stop their old bad habits and seek healthier alternatives.

One of those healthier, more nutritional alternatives is bison meat. It's probably not something most people would even expect, but it's true.

Bison meat is a hit across America, and for a whole lot of really great reasons. Excitement mounts as the trend continues to grow and the popularity of this healthier, leaner, better tasting meat soars. Hopefully soon everyone will have tried it for themselves and know just how amazing bison meat is. The flavor, texture, and nutritional benefits just can't be beat by other meats. The chemically enhanced and genetically engineered pre-packaged meats just don't stand a chance.

Quick fix cinnamon rolls

There are Saturday (and Sunday too) mornings when you sleep in and while laying in bed realize you ran out of all breakfast stuff - cereal, milk, eggs etc. You are too lazy to go grocery shopping (it is your relax time, anyways) or go out for breakfast or brunch (pijama day, yes!) but starving is also not a good way out. For days like that I have a simple solution that I call ‘quick fix cinnamon rolls’. It is an easy and simple recipe requiring very few ingredients that you always have in your kitchen. This is a no-yeast recipe that makes it a quick fix. 

Andersen’s split peas soup w/garlic bread

Two weeks ago Dave and I were driving from LA back to San Jose and stopped at Buellton for a bowl of the famous Andersen’s split peas soup. Dave loves it, and I was very excited about trying it for the first time. It turned out to be very tasty and a little bit different from the peas soup I got used to back in Russia. When we finished our lunch, I headed to the restaurant store to buy some stuff for my kitchen. I ended up with some Andersen’s seasoning and a lb of peas - yes, I know, you can buy them at any grocery store but the pack contained the recipe, and it was inexpensive so it was hard to resist. Branded soup bowl we had at home from own of Dave's prior visits to the restaurant. 

Hearty family-size pasta dish

Back in Russia I was not a big fan of pasta: I grew up and grew out of being in love with macaroni, and pasta became an eat-out meal only after a long and busy day at work. That’s it. Pasta was a seldom guest on my home menu. 

Everything has changed after I married Dave. He had an Italian Grandma. Enough said. Sometimes I think he has pasta sauce instead of blood running through his veins:) 

Now pasta is an essential in my kitchen, and I worked out several ways of cooking it but this one is probably my favorite.

Guilty salads

The center of Easter table is for sure kulich, paskha and meat dishes, salads are always a nice starter though. I decided to take it easy and make something simple, fast and enjoyable for everybody. Since the whole Easter celebrations this year were all about combining two different traditions the plan was to make the kid’s favorite macaroni salad and Russian (or rather Soviet) classics - Olivier salad (aka Russian salad). Yes, I know it is not fancy and back in Moscow I would be embarrassed to serve Russian salad for a special occasion but since my American family is new to it and never welcomed new year in with a giant basin of this stuff so I found it ok. Plus, I wanted to give the kids something they would definitely eat.

Meet my new friend: Mr. Smoothie Maker

Last week I was looking for something in the pantry and found a kitchen appliance I totally forgot about - a smoothie maker. Once a gift from my father-in-law, it was successfully buried under grocery stuff and was absolutely virgin, just from the store.

Oscar night

With practically all the nominated movies being seen, I was very excited about the Academy Awards night, and it was going to be my first Oscars watched in the States! I must admit: living in California has its advantages - show stating at 5 pm is much better than at 4 am. Last year Dave and I were in Moscow and had to set up an alarm to wake up and watch the ceremony. This year I was also looking forward to the Red Carpet but any important TV show also means a party.

Red hearts for St. Valentine’s

St. Valentine’s Day has come, and I wanted to treat my honey to something sweet. Plus, I was also going to see my father-in-law. So why not to make some cookies? Heart-shaped cookie cutter was obtained from Target last Saturday. Red food paint is the pantry. Yes, cookies, an all time favorite treat by a cooking anti-fan:)