Mini Cheesecakes

I just made these last night. They were so easy to make, and my husband (a.k.a. my official taste tester) said they were pretty good. I found this recipe at the can you cook? blog page, which is a great blog! The recipes all seem pretty easy, and the creator of the blog takes real pictures of the finished product. Check it out or just enjoy this recipe!

You will need:

paper or foil muffin cup liners
12 vanilla wafers (I used crushed graham crackers mixed with some mini snickers)
2 8oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Line your muffin pan with foil muffin cup liners, or two paper cup liners. Place a wafer in each one.

Mix the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla, with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the eggs and mix well. Pour (or spoon) the mixture over each wafer, filling cups 3/4 full.

Bake at 325° for 25 minutes.

Let them cool in the pan on a wire rack, then refrigerate. Garnish (or leave as is) just before serving. Mmmmmm!

Cheeseburger soup

This is one of my husband's favorite soups, probably because it has cheese and hamburger (his two major food groups) in it. It is really easy to make and very tasty. Even though we are going into the warm summer months, which are not very conducive to hot soup, I have had a couple of requests for this recipe.


1lb ground beef
3/4 c. chopped onion
3/4 c. shredded carrot
3/4 c. diced celery
3 Tbsp. butter or oil
3 c. chicken stock
4 c. diced potato
1/4 c. flour
8 oz. Velveeta cheese
1 1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. basil
1/4 c. sour cream
salt and pepper

Brown hamburger, drain, and set aside. Saute onion, carrot, celery, and basil in same pan for 5min. Stir in flour and add broth, potatoes, and beef. Bring to a boil then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15min or until potatoes are tender. Add cheese, milk, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until cheese has melted. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream then enjoy!

Diseased

For the past three weeks, I have been a walking pit stop for all microbes that can make a person miserable (well, okay not quite ALL...mostly just the cold/flu related ones--thankfully no Shigella!). First, I got a sore throat that then developed into laryngitis. I am a pretty quiet person, so no talking would not normally upset me too much. Unfortunately, I had to give a lecture for class, so not talking was not an option. I spent an entire weekend trying every possible measure to get my voice back. Luckily, I recovered enough to squeak through the lecture, and it actually went fairly well (here's a tip: if you lose your voice and have to teach a class, ask the students lots of questions so they do all the talking!). Was that the end of my misery, though? Perhaps I angered the gods in some way because within days of recovering my voice I got a major sinus infection. Were the microbes content to stay in my sinuses? No! They then happily took up residence in my eyes giving me pink eye! Again (I got pink eye in college. I think I got it after petting a cow, which is a very long story...)! So not only did I sound like a fog horn, I looked like I was doing crack. Let me tell you, no one wants to be around someone who looks cracked out. I recently helped a guy pick up something he dropped. He started to thank me when he looked up, took one look at me, and walked off (well, hopefully it was because of my pink eye).

Here is the upside to having pink eye. I wore sunglasses everywhere, which may seem weird, but it is actually a terrific way to spy on people. In the subway, you don't have to worry about not making eye contact with crazy people, and if you want to check out some cute shoes or a handbag someone is wearing, you don't have to worry that they think you're a crazy person checking them out.