Carrot Cake Cheesecake

I love Cheesecake Factory. Unfortunately Louisiana has NO Cheesecake Factory restaurants. This is truly sad, BUT, there are many great copycat recipes out there to recreate the deliciousness that can be found there. I found this recipe at CDKitchen.com and it is amazing. The cheesecake portion turned out perfect while the carrot cake portion was moist and delicious in all the ways a carrot cake should be. 

Cheesecake
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flour
3 eggs
Carrot Cake
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 can (8.5 ounce size) crushed pineapple, packed in juice, drained well, reserve juice
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon reserved pineapple juiceIn large bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in flour, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside. Meanwhile prepare Carrot Cake. 

Directions: 

In large bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in flour, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside. Meanwhile prepare Carrot Cake. 

Carrot Cake: 

In large bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract; mix well. Stir in dry ingredients; mixing well. Stir in drained pineapple, carrots, coconut and walnuts. 

Spread 1 1/2 c. carrot cake batter over bottom of greased 9- or 9 1/2" springform pan. Drop cream cheese batter over carrot cake batter by spoonfuls; top with large spoonfuls of remaining carrot cake batter. Repeat with remaining cream cheese batter, spreading evenly with a knife. Do not marble with a knife. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 50 to 65 minutes or until cake is set and cooked through. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. When cake is cold, prepare Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting. 

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting: 

In a bowl of electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and reserved pineapple juice. Beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. Frost top of cheesecake. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours before serving. 

Poor Man's Bolognese

Not quite a bolognese, but it's delicious! Also, I prefer sausage to ground beef and the addition of the fennel seeds gives the meat a taste somewhat like Italian sausage

1/2 lb. ground beef
2 small onions
1 cup frozen peas
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1tsp. fennel seeds
3 cloves garlic, chopped (or garlic powder to taste)
1 tbsp. italian seasoning
1/2 cup parmesan
1 - 2 tsp hot red peppers
pepper to taste

Cook the ground beef in a large pan with tall sides. Drain the liquid. Cook the onions and garlic until the onions are soft with the ground beef. Add the stewed tomatoes, cook for several minutes. Add tomato sauce, fennel seeds, red peppers and italian seasoning. Once hot, add the heavy whipping cream and the parmesan cheese. Continue cooking until smooth and hot.

Eat with any pasta - I choose whole wheat Penne!

Finals. Low-Carb Tortillas...THEY EXIST!!!!

The most horrible time of year is here. Finals. As a result, I will do absolutely everything and anything in my power to procrastinate. I will scrub toilets, do laundry, organize the refrigerator...ANYTHING but write a paper (two of which are due early next week) or study!

Not only do I procrastinate during finals, but I eat like shit. So, in an effort to curb the inevitable weight gain, I've made it my mission to find some tasty, but healthy snacks. With some help from my friends (namely my Mom - Louisiana friends are more likely to push me towards eating some cheesy, fried, fatty food) I have found a few nice items to replace everyday food staples with. 

I am addicted to carbs. As a result, I have a huge butt. BUT (no pun intended) I can do a little something about it. I can switch from carb-filled tortillas to something healthier, something low-carb. Here's what I found.
Courtesy of my mom:
La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber Tortillas.
These are a complete win. Tasty, so, so tasty. I have been eating the Flatout brand of flatbreads, but after a bite of one of these, never again will I put that cardboard-like product in my mouth. These are delicious and they truly are LOW CARB! YES! Go taste some, now. Throw some sauteed shrimp and avocado in there and call it a tasty, low-fat, cellulite-free day!
Courtesy of Winn-Dixie:
Ole Mexican Foods Xtreme Wellness tortillas.
I tried the spinach & herbs variety. It is as tasty as the La Tortilla Factory ones. Actually, it tastes better - well, I am a repeat-offender of the grab a piece of tortilla from the fridge ever 2 minutes until the entire pack is gone, sort of person...
Anyway, it is delicious, but slightly more calories (however it IS bigger) and the actual carb count is low, but is it lower than La Tortilla? Not sure, there is question as to whether or not the fiber is subtracted from the carbs on the nutrition information.
ANYWAY. These are some delicious alternatives to regular tortillas. Don't eat regular tortillas, just don't. Go buy these and enjoy as you watch your nasty muffin top melt away (here's hoping...).

Skinny Mudslide

I'm of the belief that when I drink a cocktail it should taste good. Yeah, yeah... a vodka redbull does come in handy when I need to dance my booty off, but really, when I have my choice, I'm definitely not a whiskey and water type of girl. I like strong pina coladas, margaritas and rum runners. Of course, the rum runner would preferably be enjoyed while in Key West, the pina colada in Hawaii and the margarita somewhere on the beach in Mexico.
These drinks are not figure-friendly by any stretch of the imagination, and possibly the very least figure-friendly (but incredibly tasty) cocktail is the mudslide. Oh lawdy, do I love a mudslide. It's super easy to cut a ton of calories out of a mudslide, though (not so much with the pina colada). A typical mudslide includes cream so when I want to enjoy, I swap the cream out for skim milk.

So, for my "skinny mudslide" these are the ingredients:

** Disclaimer: It still isn't "skinny" -- when you add up all the calories it is way more than I care to mention, but significantly less than the original.** 

Put all of it in a martini shaker!

1/2 cup crushed ice

1 oz. vodka

1 oz. Kahlua (I recently tried the Vanilla Kahlua - yum!)

1 oz. Bailey's 

4 oz. skim milk (more or less to taste)

Shake the hell out of the ingredients...the foamier the better!

Enjoy. 

You don't need the chocolate syrup! But if you must, find a sugar free version. 

Ok, ok...here's the calorie count:

1 oz of vodka = 56 calories

1 oz of Kahlua = 91 calories

1.3 oz of Bailey's = 94

4 oz of skim milk = 43

Grand total = 284

(Calories might be off a little, I got my information courtesy of www.calorieking.count, www.caloriecount.com and www.livestrong.com)

Kona Grill- Perkins Rowe

I have a confession to make. I hate smoky bars. I hate smoky college bars even more. I even hate bars that don't offer food. If I am going to spend money, I want to eat, relax, drink and enjoy.
It is for that exact reason that I love happy hour. I am constantly trying to gather groups of people to go to happy hours. I almost don't even want to go out if it isn't happy hour. I am a student so I usually can't afford to go to the type or restaurants that I like. That being said I have been on the hunt for a fantastic happy hour in Baton Rouge, since happy hour makes it affordable (to an extent) for me to eat at restaurants. So far, my hunt for a great happy hour has been mostly misses, with one great hit:
Kona Grill at Perkins Rowe.
 Kona has a nice patio seating area (yay outdoor seating!), and, from what I can tell, one of the best happy hours in all of Baton Rouge. They have pretty good margaritas - specially priced for the ladies coming in at under 4 bucks. They have a great selection of appetizers and a few sushi rolls that are half off the regular menu price making them amazingly affordable. While the sushi isn't the best, they do have an ahi dish that is amazingly delicious as well as a shrimp option that I find to be better than Bonefish Grill's Bang Bang Shrimp. Kona offers a few pizzas on the happy hour menu that are quite tasty and I've heard that the avocado egg rolls are great but I have yet to try them. Not only is the food good but the staff is very attentive and accommodating. I honestly can't say I have ever had a bad experience there and I tend to force my friends to go with me quite often.
I've heard negative things about the regular menu, but I've never felt the need to spend full-price for regular menu items since the happy hour is so great.
The point of happy hour is to sit with good company and enjoy affordable cocktails and food. Happy hour at Kona Grill is, indeed, happy.
Side note:
I despise bugs. Sitting outside at night is a huge risk since any bug in a 50 mile radius will find me and bite me. I don't know how I have survived in Louisiana so far. That being said, I love to sit outside and out of all the outdoor seating areas I have been to Kona Grill has been noticeably bug-free. This is probably because Perkins Rowe uses an inordinate amount of pesticides to keep nasty little insects away from their clientele. That is fine with me, after all, I really don't enjoy lugging a can of Raid around with me everywhere I go.
Pictures to come.

The Best Somewhat Healthy Shrimp Fried Quinoa

Ingredients:
4 cups cold cooked brown rice or even better QUINOA!!! (you can get pre-washed versions making it just as easy to cook as rice...but way healthier!)
2 eggs
1/2 pound shrimp (frozen with the shell gone and deveined so all the work is done for you)
1/2 head of cabbage chopped fine
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped carrot
1 white or yellow onion chopped
2 green onions
5 - 10 slices pre-cooked bacon (depending on taste)
1/2 cup snow peas (optional)
sesame seeds
low sodium soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil

Directions:
Heat up wok and add about 2tbsp. olive oil. When hot, add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add white onion and cabbage. Cook about 8 minutes until onion is soft and cabbage is wilted. Add bell pepper and carrot and saute for a few more minutes, until carrot has softened slightly. Add a little more olive oil and add shrimp and snow peas cooking for several minutes until shrimp are pink. Add the cold quinoa mixing with other ingredients slightly. Move the ingredients to the sides of the wok and crack the eggs in the center. Cook the egg while stirring it into the other ingredients, until done. Finally, add soy sauce and sesame seeds to taste.