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,