Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

Nothing makes me happier that a successful party.  I love cooking for people, from full out plated dinners to just finger foods. It makes me happy when people enjoy my food.
This past weekend I hosted a party, and I made a numerous amount of food, but this this post I'm going to highlight dessert!
I have apparently been living under a rock, I don't know how I've never managed to have Nutella before. I've known about it for quite a while and how everyone loves it. I've even served it to small children with strawberries, but I've never actually tried it before. Holy cow, I didn't know what i was missing!!

I love chocolate and hazelnut together, and Ferrero Rochers are my favorite so when I came across this cheesecake I knew it was something that I HAD to make.

This Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake was a hit! Everyone loved it and it is so simple to make with just a few ingredients. This is a no bake cheesecake, just whip up the ingredients and chill it in the fridge until you're ready to serve!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Oreo Crumbs

1/2 Stick Butter, melted

3 8oz Packs of cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 Cups Nutella

Topping:

3/4 Cup Nutella

1/4 Cup chopped hazelnuts

10-12 Ferrero Rochers

Directions:

1. Combine Oreo crumbs and melted butter and press into the bottom of a buttered spring form pan. Chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

2. Cream together cream cheese and Nutella with a hand mixer and pour over chilled crust. Return to freezer until firm.

3. Spread remaining Nutella over top of cheese cake, sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and line edges with Ferrero Rochers. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Adapted from http://www.littlesweetbaker.com/

Breakfast Casserole

I'm sure you've heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? I live for breakfast, I can eat breakfast food any time of the day and be a happy woman.

I've recently discovered this wonderful thing called a breakfast casserole. They are so easy to make and there are tons of different variations you can make.

The possibilities are endless!

My husband is a meat lover, so my go to is a sausage and potato breakfast casserole. I make one almost every weekend and it lasts all week to bring left overs to work.

Frozen ingredients are quick & easy.

 I usually buy bags of frozen peppers, onions and hashbrowns so I can whip this casserole up at any time.

 I saute the peppers and onions until they are soft and then set them a side.

 Next I brown up the sausage, drain, and they combine with peppers and onions in a casserole dish.

 I  add the still frozen hashbrowns to the sausage mixture and then move on the the eggs.

My secret weapon!

 A couple of years ago I watched my mother make some omelettes for family who stayed over. I noticed she was putting the eggs into a blender before putting them into the pan. At first I thought it was just a quicker way to scrabble all those eggs. Little did I know it would change the way I made eggs forever.

I will NEVER scramble eggs by hand EVER AGAIN. Even when it's just scrabbled eggs for myself. Whipping them up in the blender makes them so light and fluffy. I use the single serve attachment for my Ninja when I'm just making a few eggs, but when I make the casserole I pull out the big guy.

I add all my eggs and a nice amount of salt and pepper to the blender. I hit the blend button and just let it go for at least 30 seconds. You're looking for a nice frothy finish. Pour it over the sausage and top with cheese.

 I give it a quick stir before tossing it in the oven just.

Once it's set, pull it out of the oven, slice it up and devour!

I'm a huge fan of hot sauce on my eggs so i topped mine with some Chipotle Tabasco.

What's your favorite breakfast combination?

INGREDIENTS:

You really can't go wrong here, add whatever you like! Here's what I used...

1 lbs ground sausage

1/4 C frozen chopped onions

1/4 C frozen chopped peppers

2 C frozen hashbrowns

18 eggs

Shredded cheese

Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Saute onions and peppers over medium heat until cooked through, set aside.

2. In the same pan brown your sausage. I like to sprinkle salt & pepper in while it is browning.

3. Once the sausage is cooked, add it along with the cooked onions and peppers to a 13x9 baking dish. (you'll wan't to grease this first)

4. Scramble your eggs! I throw mine into my Ninja Blender and whip them up until they are nice and frothy. I also like to add more salt & pepper to the eggs while in the blender.

5. Pour the eggs into the baking dish and top with cheese. Give it a little mix and throw it in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the center is set.

6. ENJOY!

Monday Musings

May is a new month and hopefully that means May is a new me.

I am always so hopefully that I can turn my life around, make a better me, be happier and more active. Then two days pass and I've lost all ambition to do so, and I say I'll start tomorrow, or the next day or the next week.

I need to stop starting tomorrow, I need to start now.

This is going to be a busy month,  among all the things I have to do this month I have projects I want to complete and a workout schedule I was to stick to. (Which I am already failing at)

Saturday I spend the morning the the DMV to switch over my name, unfortunately I have to go back because I need power of attorney to change my registration. Another thing to add to the to-do list!

After the DMV I met up with my friend Hannah for cocktails at 11AM. 

Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere right?!

Cute box with a Candle inside.

She's getting married next July and she asked me to be in her bridal party! I am so excited to share her day with her. She was my Maid of Honor in my wedding.

More motivation to get my booty into shape!

I need to start writing out that to-do list or nothing will ever get done this month!

Until next time xoxo,

Tuesday Thoughts

Did you even just wake up and wish you were someone else?

Different Job, different house, different lifestyle?

There are so many things I could change about myself if I could.

My problems is that I CAN change them, I just have no ambition to do so. 

I am stuck in a rut in this mundane life I am living.

There aren't enough hours in the day to do what is needed to be done.

It's not very encouraging.

Maybe I need to set smaller goals. Maybe I need to force myself a little harder.

Maybe I need to start living a little more.

Honey Dijon Garlic Chicken

I try to step out of the normal quick easy dinners I also make, Tacos, Meatloaf, Spaghetti. Most of the time when I try new recipes they are hit or miss. Some times I like it, and the hubby hates it. Others he loves it and I couldn't care for it. This was a quick easy recipe that's good in both our books!

I adapted the original recipe from Rasa Malaysia I only changed the amount of garlic I used, and didn't exactly measure the amount of honey.

You can really use any type of chicken you want here, but I had some tenderloins in the freezer so that's what I used. The honey Dijon garlic sauce would taste really great on a nice pork chop as well!

I served this with a box of Pasta Roni, which I totally forgot I needed to make until after the chicken was cooked! Whoops!

Honey Dijon Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken
Salt & Pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons honey
3 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup water
Pinch of salt

Directions:

Heat up a large skillet on medium heat and add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Mean while sprinkle chicken liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. 

Fry up the chicken until cooked on both sides and remove from skillet.

Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and stir-fry the garlic until slightly browned. Add the honey, Dijon Mustard, water and salt. Stir to make sure all is combined. Let sauce reduce just a little. Add the chicken back to the skillet and stir to make sure the chicken is all coated and reheated if necessary.

Remove from heat and serve. Making sure to spoon all the extra garlic pieces and sauce onto the chicken!

(Read more at www.rasamalaysia.com)

From MISS to MRS!

I AM MRS. WALSH!

The past few months since my last post have be crazy busy. The holidays came and went, my bridal shower, finishing touches on all the wedding details and finally the WEDDING AND HONEYMOON!

I don't have many pictures to post since it's only been a week and a half so my photographer hasn't sent my any proofs yet.

First Dance

We went to Sandals in Ocho Rios, Jamaica for our Honeymoon and it was such a good time! Nothing but relaxing poolside with drinks in our hands!

Dinner at Kelly's on the Dock

Sunset during dinner

It sucked come home to 50 degree weather and going back to work!

Now that the wedding is over we have a few things on our to do list, house hunting is our next step! I've been trying to do some research and man oh man is there a lot that goes into, it's going to be a though journey!

Until next time! xoxo

Product review: Albertini Intl. Devine

This stuff is amazing. I got it back in my August Glambag from Ipsy. It was one of those products that I let sit around for a while before I actually got around to using it. I have very dry skin and I use this in the shower and it really does help to make my skin stay hydrated all day.

There are two ways you can use this, you can apply in the shower and wash off, or you can apply to damp skin and leave on. I have used it both ways and they  work equally well. I mainly focus this product on my elbows and upper arms. Since my wedding is in four months I decided I really need to get a handle on my skin care. I have elephant elbows and this stuff really smooth's out my skin and lasts all day.

I work at a desk all day so a lot of the time my elbows are brushing up against my desk and the skin gets worse, but not when I have used this stuff in the morning!

It has a consistency of a very thick hair conditioner which really seems to lock in the moisture. I am not sure where to find this product in stores so I think I will have to make use of Ipsy's 20% off code (IPSY15) and order this product full-size once I run out.