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Hi All-

I created a facebook  page for my sweet treats. So if you like what your reading, you can find me now on Face book. Look up Mama Z's Sweet Kitchen Treats and like me. I m hoping it will take off and I will be a busy person, but anything can happen. Thanks for everyone who has been reading me.

No Bake Cheese cake

After looking at many recipes for no bake cheese cakes. I combine a couple of them to come up with this. It is very rich, but it works . I chose to do it in mini cups. It is dense. I added a little vanilla. Here is the cake recipe. You can buy  a pre made crust or you can make your own. If I want a little different crust, I will crush pretzels and use those as the crust.

Cake:
1 bag of white chocolate chips. I use Ghiradelli
1 pint of heavy whipping cream or you can use 1 8oz frozen whipped topping , thawed
2 8oz bricks of cream cheese. Cube it for easy melting

Melt the chips until smooth, reduce the heat to low and mix in the cream cheese. Stir  until smooth. Remove from heat. then slowly fold /stir in the the whipped topping or heavy cream. Make sure the mixture is smooth.
Then pour into pie crust. Refriderate until firm.  Serve.  I had done the two in  the picture, one with a Carmel topping the other with a chocolate sauce topping.

Sugar Cookies

So I have found a great recipe that works and I have a couple pictures to show. I need work on my frosting technique but its getting there. they seem to go like pringles.

Birthday cake attempt

So my daughter turned 1 this past weekend. Yea! and  I made her a cake. It was ok. Not how I would have liked it to come out. The cake was a little dry and pressed for time with the unexpected early arrival of my in laws, I used frosting in a can. I will not do that again. I never realized how yucky it tastes. How can they sell something that tastes that bad. So its suppose to be a lady bug although the little monster at the party called it a balloon.

General Tso

I found this recipe while up in Wisconsin.  We couldn't afford to eat chinese out, so I would make it at home. My husbands favorite is General Tso chicken. I first marinade the chicken in oyster sauce, cooking sherry, and cornstarch. While that is sitting I chop my veggies. I use what ever bell pepper that I can find or is cheeper.Celery, some times baby corn. Then I make the sauce that goes in later. It has Honey, rice vinegar, cooking sherry, soy sauce, asian sesame oil,corn starch and water. I use 2 tablespoons of everything.  Then in a frying pan /wok I use 2 table spoons of canola oil and fry the chicken just so its not pink. Add vegetables, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, and minced ginger and crushed red pepper to taste. I cook everything for 3 minutes then I add the sauce and cook for another 2-4 minutes. Sauce should thicken. Its best if served over rice.

Taco Salad

I have had many taco salads in my life. I have found its usually the same stuff. I was blown away by this one. Its huge. I was doing a show in Lisle, IL and Chef Tim Carden (sorry if I butcher it) had made this salad. It a small little cafe inside a corporate building. I had the choice of Chicken or beef. I went with chicken. I had told them to put everything on it. Figuring it would be the normal lettuce, beans tomatoes and olives. To my shock there was salsa, jalapenos, sour cream, corn, rice, and the other ingredients. It was great. A little spicy for me. I am not a fan of jalapenos with seeds. Overall, if I ever get a chance to go back, I would order it again, without the peppers. 

Places to eat out

Its been a cray couple of weeks, so I'm behind on posting, again. I have a few places in our travels that we have stopped and ate. Grande Jakes,in Lindnhurst has always been a favorite. I had their bbq burrito. Awesome. Could not finish it all. My husband had something called steak oax. It was good, you could taste the garlic in the steak.

The other place we visited recently was called Crandall's its in Hebron,IL. I had a grilled chicken sandwich. It was a nice place. I heard the fire place there in winter is great. I wasn't too impressed with the sandwich. It was good, but nothing that stood out and grabbed my attention.