Easy Recipes – Quick & Easy Recipes – Easy Recipe Guide

No Bake Cheesecake

Published 06.21.2013 | By Raven Chelanee

No Bake Cheesecake

Ignore the horrible photos and focus on the cheesecake. Delicious, creamy, rich cheesecake. Dreamy melt-in-your-mouth cheesecake. An easy recipe that takes absolutely no work and no oven. I love a good no bake cheesecake. No water baths to worry about or cracks in the cheesecake. Wondering if it has baked long enough or waiting hours on end for it to set and cool. Nope, none of that when dealing with a delicious No Bake Cheesecake. This is my go to recipe for when I want a light dessert that doesn’t skimp on taste and that can be easily prepared and stored in the fridge until I need it.

Delicious Rating: Always a hit when I share… I try to share this cheesecake one out of every three times I make it! Ha! I do make my own graham cracker crust but you can go the even easier route and buy the already made ones from the store which are just as good. I love the canned cherry filling on top but have used fresh strawberries when in season and they are just as delicious, of course. What do you like to top your cheesecake with? Let me know so I can use it next time I make this!

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6 Comments | Posted in Cheesecake, Sweets

Loaded Potato Skins

Published 06.10.2013 | By Raven Chelanee

Cheesy, creamy, with bacon and a little bit of spice…what I wish every meal could be. Loaded Potato Skins or potato boats, as some like to call them, are the ultimate appetizer. It is a mini version of meat and potatoes but loaded with cheese. Who doesn’t want that before the actual meal? The only thing I hate about ordering potato skins from restaurants is that there is never enough bacon, or cheese, or filling. I have had some sad potato skins, I still ate them…but they were definitely sad. The only way to lift my spirits and gain a few extra pounds was to make an easy recipe that had enough bacon and cheese to make anybody smile.

Delicious Rating: OMGoodness! I didn’t want to share these at all. The first mistake when cooking something super delicious: cooking for other people. DH and I could have devoured the whole lot of these potato skins but instead shared them with company. Dang you company!

I think this recipe is perfect. Seriously. I overdid it on the cheese and the bacon so that there was no want. I used green onions for a more subtle onion taste but with some greenery. This is now my go to recipe for potato skins. I change the level of spice on the skins coating and the filling depending on my mood, as can you. Plus, this recipe is super easy and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Bake some up and let me know how they turned out for you!
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7 Comments | Posted in Bacon, Cheese, Potatoes

Pinwheel Cookies

Published 05.31.2013 | By Raven Chelanee

No matter how unspectacular a cookie tastes, the way it looks will make it spectacular. Case and point: Pinwheel Cookies. Don’t get me wrong, these cookies are delicious. Simple vanilla and chocolate butter cookies. But there are no bells and whistles with these cookies. What makes them great is the presentation, the way they look. Pinwheels. I have made these on numerous occasions and each time everyone is wowed, I mean, they can’t believe they are eating a homemade pinwheel cookie. “You baked these at home?” If I would have just baked up simple vanilla cookies or chocolate cookies nobody would have asked me that. But make a cool looking design and wham! You got some spectacular cookies. These cookies are made from an easy recipe and are just as easy to assemble.

Delicious Rating: These are delicious butter cookies. My chocolate was perfectly balanced with the vanilla cookie but held its own as well. The cookies will have a firm bottom when baked but the insides are soft and almost, just almost, cakey cookie. But not really. I hope that makes sense!

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4 Comments | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies, Sweets

Giant Hostess Cupcake Cake

Published 05.07.2013 | By Raven Chelanee

When we used to cross the border into Texas, we almost always went to this little gas station stop outside of the border town that had a Wendy’s and Dairy Queen. We would buy so much junk at that gas station, I think the workers thought we were going into Mexico. But we had been out for so many months we needed a good ol’ junk food fix. One thing that was for sure was that my DH would buy some Hostess chocolate cupcakes. He just loves those things and inhales them in two seconds! So when we were going on a ‘junk food dry spell’ down here in Costa Rica, I decided to make some Hostess Cupcakes but bigger…and better. So a Giant Hostess Cupcake Cake was born. Imagine the chocolate cupcake times a lot…yeah, it was pretty great.

Delicious Rating: Wow, cake is just perfect Hostess cupcake consistency. I love the chocolate ganache too. Once it firms up it really looks and tastes amazing. The marshmallow filling was spot on too, especially fresh. Unfortunately, we don’t have temperature control in the house so once it warmed up just a little the consistency started to change but it still was good and worked out perfect. This chocolate layer cake is a fun and easy recipe. It is great for parties or special occasions that require a giant cupcake cake. It put a huge smile on DH’s face once I cut into it. He wasn’t expecting that middle filling at all. Cake surprises are so much fun!