We Made Room For Dessert 13 - Apple Pie Cheesecake Bites

We made room to have dessert this week!  I am not much of a baker or dessert maker, but when I saw the recipe for these on Pinterest I knew even I could make these.  Plus they sounded deliciously decadent!  You can find the original recipe here, on Julie's Eats & Treats.  Find the my pin here.

Cheesecake, apple pie, yummy glaze... What's not to like?  Super easy, I modified the recipe a little for what I had on hand.  You can sub whatever pie filling is your favorite, and I had the idea as well that subbing Nutella for pie filling would be AMAZING.  The original glaze is just two ingredients (super simple), but I added cinnamon and vanilla as well to mine to amp up the flavor factor.

I had my bf and a girlfriend try it... They both loved it.  I think you will love it too!!!

Apple Pie Cheesecake Bites

Ingedients:

• Cheesecake *** Important note - this cheesecake filling is amazing, and if you doubled the recipe, a great idea would be to use it as a dip for fruit (try it!)
• 4 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbs milk
• Assembly
• 1 package of cresent rolls (mine contained 8)
• 1 can pie filling (I used Comstock Caramel Apple)
• Glaze
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Grease muffin tin.
Mix together cheesecake ingredients until mixture is smooth and free of lumps.
Unroll and separate cresent rolls.  Place one in each muffin tin. Top with a spoonful of pie filling.  Top with a spoonful of cheesecake mixture.  Fold corners of cresents over top.  Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.
Mix together all ingredients of glaze until smooth.  Drizzle over top of bites.
Enjoy!

Special Post - Spaghetti Squash Casserole Recipe

We are doing something new this week!  Instead of me cooking, my friend Sarah (the one you saw get 2nd place in the chili cook-off contest), did the cooking.  Sarah has to follow a gluten free diet, and with so many other people now who are on the GF plan I thought it would be fun to have a GF recipe here on No Room For Dessert.  So I send Sarah a lot of pins I think she might find interesting, and last week she decided to make the recipe I found her for spaghetti squash casserole.  She added her own spin to the original recipe (which you can find here.) by adding sauteed mushrooms and onions, chicken, and then putting in extra garlic, basil, and oregano.  Sarah also added Parmesan in addition to the mozzarella.  She declared that it came out delicious, and sweet friend that she is, brought me some leftovers to try so that I can see how it tastes!

I was so happy when I tasted it!  Sarah did a great job.  If you leave out the chicken this is a good vegetarian meal.  If you subbed ground beef for chicken, you would have a great potluck dish.  You could also add in other veggies such as broccoli, carrots, or zucchini.  This is a totally customizable dish, and I hope you try it soon!

Ingredients:
 1 spaghetti squash

1 egg, beaten
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tbs oregano
3 cups baby spinach
1 package mushrooms, sliced or chopped
1 onion, diced
1 lb chicken breast, diced and sauteed
1 8 oz package shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup pasta sauce (pick your favorite, jarred or homemade)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.
Prep squash.  Slice in half, scoop out seeds.  Wrap in plastic wrap and microwave for 8 minutes.  Let cool before handling.  Use a fork to shred out flesh, it will look like spaghetti!
While squash is cooking, saute mushrooms and onions together until tender.  Once squash is done, and onions and mushrooms have been cooked mix together all ingredients except sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan.  Smooth in to a baking dish.  Top with one cup of pasta sauce.  First sprinkle mozzarella on top, and then the Parmesan.  Bake casserole for 25 minutes.
Enjoy!!!

Special thanks to Sarah Eastburn for making and photographing this recipe!  Your efforts were well worth it!!!

Restaurant Review 18 - San Jose's Original Mexican Restaurant

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  In celebrating today, I thought I would write a post about Mexican food.  I recently moved and there is a great little Mexican place close to my house.  It is not the best Mexican food I ever had, but is pretty good, and more than satisfies my cravings.  
San Jose's Original Mexican Restaurant has three locations in the metro Orlando area.  One is Clermont, one in Ocoee, and one in Altamonte Springs.  In addition to sitting down at one of the locations to eat, San Jose's offers both carry-out and catering.  You can find more out about the restaurant, including hours and addresses by visiting their website.
As you may have guessed by reading this blog, I LOVE enchiladas.  San Jose's offers a dinner platter with 5 different enchiladas, called Enchiladas Supreme.  They are topped with pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole.  They also offer lettuce, but I am still in the phase where I cannot stand warm lettuce so I ask them not to put it on my order.  They are very accommodating there, and instead of getting all 5 different varieties, I get my plate with 3 cheese and 2 shredded beef.  Yum!
They have a lot of standard fair, including tacos, burritos, chimichangas, fajitas, and quesadillas.  There is a whole section of House Specialties, and Monday through Saturday they have a lunch menu.  There are also daily specials.I am going to be trying the fajitas on my next visit, we saw someone order them the last time I was there, and they looked and smelled delicious.
San Jose's California burrito is enormous.  If you are especially hungry, this is the burrito for you.  You get your choice of meat, and sauce for the top.
The chimichangas are delish, fried to perfection, and a much more reasonable size.  My friend was so enamored with hers that she ordered it again the next time she went.
I did not try them yet, but the quesadillas are said to be quite tasty. 
Service is a hit or miss sometimes.  On a Sunday visit, our server was prompt, attentive, and sent over other workers when he was busy to make sure our party's needs were met.  One Saturday when it was just me and my bf we got excellent service, but on another Saturday, the service was poor.  I am fairly confident this was due to a bit of a language barrier.  The server did try to make up for this by not charging us for our drinks. 
Give them a try if you are near one of their locations.  It's worth a visit where you will get a tasty meal!

Easy Salisbury Steak - Home Cooked Recipe 48

Who doesn't like comfort food?  And who doesn't need a new ground beef recipe?  Well, in this post, you get a little of each.  As always, in searching for new recipes I checked out Pinterest.  I found this recipe, and thought it was perfect for a weeknight meal.  So I made it last night, and my bf and I both agreed, it was delicious!!!  Find the original recipe here.

As a side, instead of noodles or potatoes or rice, I paired it with my famous savory cheese pies!

Easy Salisbury Steak


Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 packet onion soup mix (I used Lipton Beefy Onion)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup cracker crumbs (I used Ritz Garlic Butter flavor)
dash of seasoning salt
lots of fresh ground black pepper
a couple of dashes or Worcestershire sauce
GRAVY
1/4 - 1/2 cup sour cream (I used whatever was left in the container, and mixed the gravy right in the sour cream container so I didn't have to dirty another dish!)
1 packet brown gravy mix (I used the Aldi brand, super cheap and super good)
1 cup water
lots of fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. (Luckily, my cheese pies also cook at this temp, for the same amount of time - score!!)
Mix together ground beef, beaten egg, soup mix, cracker crumbs, Worcestershire, and spices.  Form in to 4 oval shaped patties.  Brown in a frying pan on both sides (about 2 minutes a side).  Place in a baking dish.  
Mix together sour cream, gravy mix, and water, then season with black pepper.  Pour over beef patties in baking dish.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven, wait five minutes, serve!
Enjoy!

Cheeseburger Muffins - Home Cooked Recipe 47

Need a new recipe for ground beef?  I am always looking for one, and am glad I found this one.  It is simple, delicious, and is great for dinner OR as a party snack!!!  My boyfriend originally brought me the recipe on the back of a calendar page.  I did some research and found the recipe comes from Betty Crocker and you can find the original here.  I did adjust it a little bit, because the biscuit batter was way too thin.  I also added minced garlic, and a touch of ketchup and dijon mustard to the burger mix.  Delish!

Cheeseburger Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• black pepper
• 1 tsp ketchup
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard (or any mustard)
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used a three cheese cheddar blend)
• 1 cup biscuit mix
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease muffin tin with cooking spray.

Brown ground beef with onion in pan.  Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute. Turn off heat and remove pan from burner.  Stir in garlic salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire. Let cool 5 minutes and stir in cheese.

Mix together biscuit mix, eggs, and milk.

Spoon a small tablespoon of biscuit mixture into each tin.  Top with burger mixture in each tin.  Top burger with 1 tablespoon of biscuit mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes.  I serve mine with a mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, horseradish sauce; use whatever condiments you like on burgers.  

Enjoy!!!