Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The CheeseCake Episodes: White Chocolate CheeseCake 2
Here’s the Ingredients List of what was used to make my latest version of the white chocolate cheese cake for a special someone:
6 packages of cream cheese
4 eggs, 2 cups heavy cream, I cup Whole Milk
Pictured above in the glass on the left is the heavy cream. The glass on the right is the whole milk.
1 whole bag of white chocolate truffles melted down
1 1/2 squeezed lemons, probably 1/2 cup of sugar, and our secret spice & liquid concoction.
After all the eggs were incorporated I added the sugar and lemon juice and other spices and liquids before pouring the batter into the cake pan.
For the crust I used two Keebler’s graham cracker crusts to fill the 12 x 3 bake pan. You could make your own graham cracker crust from scratch but for the sake of taste and time store bought graham cracker crust from Keebler’s just puts it over the top in my opinion. After baking at 250 degrees for 3 hours the cake was left to cool in the freezer before the white chocolate eggs were added on top.
The above cheesecake is a 12 x 3 inch cake. This cheesecake is made as a traditional dense cheesecake. If you like a light and fluffy cheesecake, addinig cottage cheese or lots of ricotta cheese and less cream cheese should do the job. I admit the taste didn’t come out quite as good as an earlier version but I realized that it was because I’d forgotten to add a secret ingredient. Even though the taste was off a little it still was quite good.
Having decided to get back on the horse and start eating healthy while also saving money on eating out the topic of juicing came up.
Cooking at home and juicing are our new norms so the first thing to do was to get a juicer, but which one? Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to introduce BELLA our new juicer. This is a great pick up for less than $80. Couldn’t wait to see how this 700 watt juicer would perform and so several carrots and cucumbers along with half a green apple made this juice. We added a little orange juice as well for an acidic balance in taste.
So far this juice was a decent concoction to sample and has us excited for more juicing as Summer approaches and we adjust to having a healthier lifestyle. This doesn’t mean that dining out is a thing of the past as far as we’re concerned.
It simply means it will be appreciated a lot more when it does happen. Saving money and eating healthy means cooking and eating at home the lion share of the time so here’s to embracing good changes.
For the juice above we used a half cup of orange juice to 3 whole big carrots, 2 whole cucumbers and half a green apple. Try this and let us know if you like it.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: THE COSTANERA EXPERIENCE 2014 PT II!!!
Location: Montclair, NJ
Last visit to this establishment had me completely impressed and excited to eat. This time around was no exception and we managed to bring several more friends along to experience what dining is like at Costanera.
After toasting with wine and tequila we ordered our respective dishes for the night.
Anticucho (Beef Heart), Quinoa crusted Chicharon de Pescado (Fried Catfish)
The Seafood Ceviche
Maduros (Fried Plaintain)
Lamb Shank
Bronzed Whole Fish
Steak & Eggs, Maduros, & Rice & Peas
Tres Leches soaked cake
The IceCream
Once again Costanera took care of us and as last time the place was packed. Our food was expertly prepared and almost nothing that we ordered remained on their respective plates except for some of the Bronzed Whole Fish which one of our friends took home in a doggy bag. 😛
5 out 5 Dinner Plates yet again goes to Costanera Peruana Restaurant. It’s official Costanera is one of our favorite Restaurants to visit when dining out. Definitely worth every dollar spent. Pay Costanera a visit, believe us you won’t regret it! Till next food experience. This has been Costanera Peruana Restaurant Experience 2014!!! Pt.II by THEJNSREPORT.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Stopping By A Trailer Park
As a prelude to St.Patrick’s Day and in need of a quick libation I stopped at Trailer Park.
This isn’t quite what comes to mind when one envisions what a trailer park looks like but it was a cool little stop I made last week having walked by this place numerous times never venturing inside till now. I snapped a few shots of this uniquely designed bar/restaurant.
That mannequin in the background creeped me out just a little. Just had flashbacks to horror flicks. LOL
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: In Honor of Patrons of The Pit
While one half of us here at THEJNSREPORT is Vegan, the other half is an Omnivore. That being said here’s some steaks that were grilled to perfection the other night with a lil salt n pepper before being thoroughly enjoyed with bountiful enthusiasm. In a word Yessum!!!
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: COSTANERA COCINA PERUANA RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE 2014!!!
Located in downtown Montclair, NJ.
I was invited to attend a dining experience of upscale Peruvian cuisine in this uniquely decorated Peruvian restaurant along with my significant other, my significant other’s sister and a friend. What a treat! We ended up eating something I never ate before. However, before I get to that allow me to introduce you to Costanera Cocina Peruana Restaurant.
When we arrived inside the entire restaurant was packed except for our reserved table.
We began our dining experience with our gracious hosts /owners Tatianna & Andre dining alongside us. We started off with a bottle of red wine, some toasted corn kernels and wasabi sauce. The menu at Costanera is extensive and we left our sampling choices up to our hosts.
What you see above is a shot of leche de tigre or “Tiger Milk” which tastes outstanding! We all took our shots of leche de tigre and toasted before tossing em back. Next we had two different ceviches( not pictured here) along with a plate of mussels & calamari in sauce. That was followed up by salmon on crustini, and chicharron de pescado which was insanely goood!!! Try Costanera’s chicharron de pescado against any cornmeal crusted catfish you’ve ever had and see if Costanera doesn’t come out the clear winner.
Over the course of the next several hours plus we enjoyed glasses of wine and shots of Hornitos Silver 100% Agave Tequila which we brought for our meal since in this area of Montclair most of the businesses don’t have liquor licenses. The staff of the restaurant was on point always ready to fill a glass that was low as our conversation about the decor & ambiance of Costanera turned our attention to the walls and bar of the establishment before our next course was presented.
Our gracious hosts told us that the previous owners of this space told them no matter what they did to the interior, they had to keep the bar. True to their word Costanera’s proprietors kept the bar intact while renovating the rest of the interior which was completely bare white walls. All the design and color scheme were completely those of the owners. And in case you’re wondering, yes that is real wood on the walls as well as the carved pieces across the room from where we sat.
Up next was what I alluded to earlier as having never eaten before. Anticucho (Beef Heart). The heart was cooked well and skewered on kebabs. Big kernels of corn and sauce adorned this dish and surprisingly it didn’t taste gamey or minerally at all. The consistency of the beef heart was close to that of hanger steak and yes I finished all of my Anticucho. 😉
Speaking of Hanger steak that’s what you see above. Again perfectly cooked steak served with fries, onions and red peppers garnished with a little cilantro if I’m not mistaken. Delish!!!
At the top of the pic above you see Causas (Classic mashed potato cakes with avocado, and lump crab meat) topped with drops of Huancaina sauce. Below the Causas are more Korn Kernels and roasted potatoes medley with crispy yucca also drizzled with Huancaina sauce. Uh Yassum!!! We liked our starches. The Huancaina sauce really brought everything together nicely.
Fried Sweet and Green Plantains followed. I’m a fan of both but the fried sweet plantain won out.
Another round of tequila shots with lime wedges helped cleanse our palletes before we perused the desert menu.
Naturally we chose the first three deserts on menu to share between us.
That there above is Costanera’s Mousse de Chocolate with a scoop of chocolate icecream accompanied by bananas, blueberries, and raspberries. Mmmm mmm Son!!! 😀
Next we had the Crema Volteada (Flan) that looked like a heavenly sliced piece of cheesecake topped in a rich caramel sauce. The Tres leches is obscurred by the chocolate mousse regrettably, but it too tasted out of this world amazing!!!
In all honesty everything we sampled was beyond reproach. I could find absolutely nothing that I didn’t like. The ceviche’s were incredible, all the meats, and sides more than satisfied. This truly was an experience to be had. Costanera gets 5 out of 5 dinner plates in every category, taste, presentation, price, service and food quality. OOOOO
This is a must try restaurant experience!!! Thank you again to Tatianna & Andre our gracious hosts of Costanera. Till next time this has been the Costanera Cocina Peruana Experience 2014 by THEJNSREPORT.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Dinner @ Rocking Horse Cafe
Located in Chelsea at 182 8th Ave
I’d heard that Rocking Horse was a good Mexican food restaurant. Having never eaten there before I decided to go try their fare with a friend of mine who knows good food places throughout the city.
This place has its charm. The lighting and interior go very well together. In any case once at our table I perused the menu for a few moments while sampling some chips & salsa before settling on something simple. Rocking Horse’s “Street Food” Burrito with KNK farms free range chicken breast.
Meanwhile my friend went to a personal favorite choosing Lamb shank with caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes epazote, over creamy cotija polenta and rice with black beans. Folks two words…Yesss! Yessuh!!!!
While my dish was excellent! I have to say the next time I visit this establishment for dinner I’m ordering the above. Wow is that an amazing dish!!! I had a small bite of the creamy cotija polenta with some of the sauce and a piece of lamb shank and my hands went up in the air without my knowing it. Lol
Rocking Horse scores high marks all the way round. In terms of presentation and taste. Rocking Horse scores a perfect 5 out of 5 dinner plates. OOOOO
I love spicy foods usually but I made a mistake when I bit into that there “devil’s finger” to the left on my plate. My mouth loved the spicy flavor but the onset burn became a bit too much to handle.
For a moment I thought my taste buds weren’t going to make it. I bit a healthy bite into my burrito to marry the burning spicy flavor to the incredibly constructed pieces of happiness that are the Rocking Horse Burrito.
Tequila on the rocks with lime helped to quelch the burning some along with several gulps of water. All that said I recommend Rocking Horse Cafe as a must visit if you love really goood Mexican food. Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: Rocking Horse Cafe Experience 2014.
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