Now that it’s papaya season, I thought I’d share a fantastic breakfast recipe courtesy of my friend Leilani. It’s fast, easy, healthy and delicious! Almost makes you feel like you’re having breakfast on a Lanai in Hawaii.

Ingredients:
Papaya cut in half and seeded
Vanilla Yogurt
Honey
Granola
Blueberries

Just fill the hollowed out papaya with yogurt and top it off with honey, granola, and then sprinkle on a few blueberries.

Ingredients:
- 1 can cherry pie filling
- 1 cup of shredded coconut
- 1 can of crushed pineapple
- 1 cup of chopped pecans
- 1 box of yellow cake mix
- 2 sticks of butter (1 c.)

Combine cherry, pineapple and coconut in a 13×9 pan. Sprinkle cake mix over the top followed by the chopped pecans. Slice two sticks of butter to form a layer over the top of the whole thing. Bake at 350 for 25-30 min.

I made this for my boyfriend's mom's birthday!

This recipe was inspired by a recipe my friend gave to me for NY Style Cheesecake. I changed up the crust and made a few adjustments, and it turned out fantastic!

Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup finely ground oreo cookie (no filling)
1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kalua

Filing:
*Be sure that all ingredients are at room temperature
32 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (or 2 tbs for a creamier texture)

DIRECTIONS
Crust:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and kalua. Then mix in the remaining crust ingredients with a fork aπnd mix until well combined. Press the cookie mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake the crust until fragrant and just set (about 8 to 10 minutes). Remove from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before adding the filling.
Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Filling:
In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth (Do not overblend! Mix until just smooth). Then with a wooden spoon, mix in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. It helps to crack the eggs into a cup and mix them up with a fork prior to adding them to the mixture. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Grease the sides of the pan to prevent the cheesecake from cracking when it sets. Pour filling into prepared crust.
Bake in a one inch water bath (use boiling water), in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for about 4 hours. Chill in refrigerator overnight.

I first made this recipe when I was in the 6th grade, and…. Yup, still good!

Caramel Cake
½ cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Combine the milk, eggs, butter and vanilla in a large bowl. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes.

Important:  Try to frost the cake while it’s still slightly warm.  This helps keep the frosting soft while you frost the cake before it hardens.

Frosting:

½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup milk
½ cup chopped pecans (optional
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter in a pan. Add brown sugar and boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Alternate milk and powdered sugar until you achieve desires consistency. Fold in pecans.

Note: If you’re using pecans, make another batch of frosting without the pecans to frost the sides of the cake. 

© 2009 Jennifer Fawn and I Love Recipes.

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil
1/3 cup diced pancetta or bacon
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 Tsp minced garlic
3 Tbs butter
5 Tbs flour
3 cups of Half-and-Half
1 cup of milk
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp white pepper
1/2 Tsp ground paprika
1/2 Tsp ground nutmeg
1 lb Pipe Rigate pasta, cooked al dente
4 oz. of Grated Parmesan
4 oz. of Grated White Cheddar
4 oz. of Grated Gruyere
4 oz. of Grated fontina
1/3 cup of Italian bread crumbs 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and cook the pancetta in the olive oil until lightly browned. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook until translucent. Stir in the butter and flour to the pot. Add the half-and-half and milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Season with the salt, white pepper, paprika and nutmeg and cook for a few minutes. Add the pasta to the pot and remove from the heat. Add the grated cheeses to the pot and stir to combine well.

Transfer the contents of the pot to a 3-quart baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake for about 40-45 minutes.

By the time I remembered to take a picture of it, this was all that was left. Oops!

More ingredients does not necessarily mean more flavor. Sometimes, less is more! Putting too many ingredients into a dish can overwhelm your taste buds so that the flavor of each ingredient can get lost in a hodge podge of spices. Stop making your taste buds work so hard!! This pizza will absolutely knock your socks off with flavor!

Warning: If you are not a fan of balsamic vinegar, don’t try this recipe! It has a moderate to strong balsamic vinegar flavor to it.

Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes in Balsamic Vinegar
(I got this recipe from my friend, Jason, whose genius ceases to astound me.)
Ingredients:

4 Tbs Olive Oil
6 Cloves of Minced Garlic
5 Leaves of Chopped Basil
Chili Pepper Flakes to taste
28 oz. Can of San Marzano Pureed Tomatoes    

1 Basket of Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes (cut in half)
1 Shallot (chopped)
1 Cup of Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp Fresh Cracked Black Pepper 16 oz. Shredded Premium Quality Mozzarella Cheese
Handful of Arugula to sprinkle on top of the pizza (optional)
2 Bags of Pizza Dough from Trader Joe’s (enough to make 2 pizzas)
Corn Meal (to keep dough from sticking) **For best results it’s recommended that you get a pizza stone and a pizza peel, but a metal pizza pan will work.

Place Pizza Stone in Oven and preheat to 500 degrees for about an hour (or a minimum of 20 minutes if you’re in a rush).

In a small bowl combine cherry tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper, and set it aside.

In a saucepan, heat olive oil and then add garlic and basil and the pureed tomatoes. Bring to boil and let it simmer while you prepare the dough. If you prefer a little kick to your pizza, add a little bit of chili flakes to your sauce.

On a floured surface roll the pizza dough or stretch with your hands to make a circular pizza shape. This part was particularly challenging for myself. Embarrassingly, this part took the longest out of the entire recipe. (I think I was in the kitchen fighting the pizza dough for about 20 minutes.) This pizza taste better when the crust is on the thinner side.

Sprinkle the cornmeal on your work area and set dough on top to coat the bottom of the pizza dough. Place the pizza dough on the pizza peel and spread a moderate layer of pizza sauce, followed by mozzarella cheese. Slide the pizza from the pizza peel onto the pizza stone and bake for no more than 10 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on the pizza as ovens vary.

Once you remove the pizza from the oven, immediately sprinkle some of your cherry tomatoes on top of the hot cheese. Be sure to drizzle some of the balsamic vinegar on top as well. Serve while hot.

© 2009 Jennifer Fawn and I Love Recipes.