Strawberry Cream Cheese Cobbler...a little slice of heaven IMO

So one of my friends post this recipe on my facebook wall and it looked so yummy.  It has my two favorite things in the whole wide world....strawberries and cream cheese.  How can that be a bad thing?  So I decided to make this for Easter for my family get together (I totally slacked and did not make what I originally planned on making).  Lets just say it was a huge it!  Everyone loved it and I will probably make it again.  I cannot wait until I can get freshly picked strawberries to try this with.  Fresh berries always makes it seem better.  So here is the recipe and what I did.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cobbler

1stick of butter (1/2 cup)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 quarts whole strawberries, capped and washed (I used two pounds and I sliced them up)
4 ounces cream cheese, cut in small pieces (I used 8 oz because what use to I have with a half of thing of cream cheese.  Plus I love cream cheese.  No one seemed to complained about me double the cream cheese.)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and pour into a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together the egg, milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour directly over the butter in the baking dish, but do not stir.

Add the strawberries, arranging in a single layer as much as possible. Sprinkle cream cheese pieces over strawberries. Place in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown and edges are bubbling. (Crust rises up and around the fruit, but fruit will still peek out of top.)

This is what my lovely creation looked like when all said and done.

Source: Recipe Online

Since I was super impatient I did not cut up the cream cheese pieces small enough and that is the only thing different I would do.  I also think this would be awesome with raspberries or blackberries.  I think I am going to try this with raspberries next. 

Let me know if you tried this recipe and how you liked it.

Up In The Air series

So I just finished the Up In The Air series by R.K. Lilley.  They were freaking amazing.  I read all three books in the past two days. They were a little along the line of Fifty Shades of Greyish but way better than FSOG.  To me, there was a lot more story behind it and not a lot of fluff like FSOG. It starts with a flight attendant catching the eye of a handsome billionaire.  The series take you through the ups and downs of their relationship and with them working out the "demons" of their childhood.  Two thumb up, five freaking stars all of the way for this series.  (FYI, I don't do spoilers in my reviews.  I hate when reviews do that so I refuse to do it. I will give you the bases of the storyline though.) So if you into reading erotica I would suggest this series.  Here is the Amazon link to the  books in the series.  Enjoy and happy reading.

Book 1: In Flight
Book 2:  Mile High
Book 3: Grounded
Spin off book: Lana

Vegan Banana Bread!

I have always loved baking.  I work as a chemist so baking just seems easy, natural, and relaxing to me.  I am trying to eat healthier and bake healthier so that is what I decided to try my hand at baking something vegan.  So looking around my kitchen, I saw that had some bananas that I had to use before I had to get rid of them.  Sooo...banana bread!!  I goggled some recipes and decided to try my hand at making it.  I used the recipe that I found here http://www.theppk.com/2007/10/banana-bread/ and it turned out awesome.  It was so yummy and even my picky husband liked it.  So here the recipe I used.

Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup room temperature margarine
• 3 well ripped bananas
• 2 cup flour (I used 1 cup wheat flour and 1 cup AP flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk with 1teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice 
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

  Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8×4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.

Instead of mashing the bananas, I just peeled them and used my hand mixer to mix into the creamed margarine and sugar.  I think next time, I am going to add some nuts like pecans or even raisins.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it.  Enjoy!