another pleasant valley Sunday

Well for Sunday Lunch...it was consumed rather quickly but I'll give y'all the recipe for my hot wings anyway.

Hot Wings:
4lbs of Chicken Wings
1 bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce
few squirts of honey out of the bear
1/4 c of Worcestershire sauce
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
few dashes of onion powder
little bit of lemon juice

Combine in a bowl with the wings and let sit at least overnight, the longer the better. Then grill and toss in any extra hot sauce you have.

Maybe you've noticed I'm not one for measuring.

Now for what I was so anxious to try...I had a cheesecake from good ole south Louisiana about a week ago. My uncle brought it down to celebrate anniversaries and found one with a pecan crust because my Nanny wasn't a fan of graham cracker crust{ex. her secret crust for her Icebox pie...that I knew how to make even though she would never tell me how;)}. The cheesecake was a huge hit by the way, and so much better than regular cheesecake. So in honor of Nanny I am gonna figure out this crust and make the best darn cheesecake ever. The one my Uncle had had a pecan crust but had two layers of cheesecake, one ricotta and one traditional...until I get the crust down pat I am gonna stick to making the ricotta cheese cake with it. Be ready to see many more revisions of this cheesecake to come.

I used Giada De Laurentiis's recipe for the cheesecake and also her directions for the crust too.

Honey Ricotta Cheesecake:

• 1 (12-ounce) container fresh whole milk ricotta, drained{I used a 15oz}
  
• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup orange blossom or clover honey
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 4 large eggs
• I also added some Mexican vanilla to her recipe, I add vanilla to everything, but Nanny especially loved Mexican vanilla so I used it to make this more for her liking.
  

My Pecan Crust{round one}:
small bag of chopped pecans
few graham crackers
5 Tbsp butter
brown sugar

Combine dry ingredients in food processor, mix with melted butter in cheesecake pan and pat out in bottom of pan.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Finely grind the graham cracker and pecan in a food processor. Add the melted butter and process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom (not the sides) of the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a cooling rack.

Blend the ricotta in a clean food processor until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the work bowl. Blend in the honey and orange zest. Add the eggs and pulse just until blended.

Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the cheesecake is golden and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour and 5 minutes (the cake will become firm when it is cold).

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.

{I think it needs way more pecan and a much thicker crust, but it came out really well. I especially love the actual cheesecake, so I will be using this for the ricotta half when I finally add the traditional half}



Gruddy: when the words gross and cruddy just don't fully describe the situation.

Yes, this creature waltzed through my doggy door with a head full of hair sticking straight up and completely stiff. After referring to her as gruddy my husband asked where I got that word. So I am now officially adding it to the Louisiana-Bride Dictionary of Made-up and Useful Words.

Is it just me...

...or did it rain a bit?