Author: Chez Starz

I have a passion for food and travel. I am always looking for delicious recipes to cook and share with my family. This site is simply a way to share family recipes and those I find in cookbooks and online.

Bolognese Sauce

This delicious bolognese sauce is a recipe my BF has mastered and tweaked to perfection. The longer it simmers throughout the day, the better, so start early with the cookery. Use the pasta of your choice.

Ingredients:

1/2 stalk celery, diced

1/2 carrot, diced

1/4 yellow or white onion, diced

2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lb ground pork

1/2 lb ground beef

25 oz can crushed tomato

Water, use the empty tomato can, you will need 3/4 of the can and may need to add more

1/2 cup dry white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp oregano

Chili flake to taste

Pasta

Directions:

Heat olive oil and sauté vegetables on medium until softened, about five minutes. Add beef first, brown, add pork to beef and vegetables, brown. Do not pour off fat, leave it in there for flavor. Add wine and cook until alcohol is cooked absorbed. Add water, tomato, and spices to taste. Simmer covered for at least two hours, the longer the better.

Once it is ready to eat, boil the pasta of your choice and enjoy!

Mom’s Cheesecake Recipe

My mom told me this cheesecake recipe is from Betty Crocker, but I have had no luck finding it on their website so I am giving her full credit because she has been making it throughout my childhood. You have to start this recipe the day before because it requires a cooling of 6-12 hours between bakes.

The picture is my first attempt at this recipe and, as you can see, it is a bit thin. I will double the cream cheese filling on my next attempt and change the recipe accordingly if it works out. This is the original recipe, not doubled.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

6 TBS butter, melted

Cream cheese filling:

2 eggs, well beaten

3/4 lb soft cream cheese (12 oz)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

Sour cream topping:

1/2 cup sour cream

2 TBS sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

Heat up the oven to 325F. Mix the first three ingredients together and press into a springform pan.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Let cool for 3-5 minutes

Turn the oven up to 375F. Mix the cream cheese filling ingredients together and pour into the graham cracker crust.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for 6-12 hours

Heat oven to 425F. Mix together sour cream topping ingredients and pour into on to the cooled cream cheese cake. Bake for five minutes. Let cool and refrigerate.

Cherry Tomato Pork Chops

Christmas has come and gone, but we’re still celebrating. With another week off of work and my studies completed, I have more time to cook and share my favorite recipes.

If you are looking for a side, this pork chop recipe pairs well with the vegetable rice pilaf found in the side dish category. I am attempting to get all the delicious recipes my boyfriend has in his hand written book of recipes on this site for ease of shopping. This is another one of his gems.

Ingredients:

2 bone-in pork chops

3 TBS olive oil

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 slices of mozzarella cheese

15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes

1 sprig fennel

1 garlic clove

1/4 tsp oregano

Fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Season pork chops with salt and pepper and get them to room temperature, about 30 minutes non-refrigerated.

Heat olive oil in a pan on medium and add garlic clove for a few minutes. Sear pork chops on both sides and cook until internal temp 160 degrees.

Turn heat down to low and add tomatoes, season with more salt and pepper, fennel, chili pepper, and oregano. Add wine and cook for 5 minutes while consistently moving ingredients in the pan to avoid burning or sticking.

Add water if too dry.

Add mozzarella to chops during the last few minutes of cooking and serve once cheese is melted.

Garnish with fresh basil.

Cannoli Cake

This is a cake my Bf’s daughter has made several times and it is so good. The picture is my one try at making it for her recent birthday. My advice is to make it as a sheet cake. The layered cake did not set well, but tasted good. It is a twist on the cannoli cookie. Original recipe found on bakingbeauty.net.

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Additional powdered sugar

Directions:

Bake cake mix according to directions.

Once cake is cooked, poke holes all over the top of the cake (I used the handle end of a spoon). Pour 1/2 of the can of condensed milk into the holes. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Make frosting: combine ricotta, mascarpone, cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add powdered sugar a little at time until combined. Mix in remaining condensed milk.

Once the cake is cool, frost and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Dust with additional powdered sugar.

Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Spicy Calabrian Pesto

This delicious pesto is another one from my boyfriend’s collection of recipes. He usually makes this with homemade gnocchi. You can use it with any type of pasta.

Ingredients:

2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup white onion, chopped

2 red bell peppers, chopped

25 cherry tomatoes, halved

6 basil leaves, fresh

7 ounces (a little over 3/4 cup) ricotta cheese

1.75 ounces (approx 1/4 cup) Pecorino cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Chili flake to taste

Oregano to taste

Directions:

Heat olive oil in pan and add onion, cook until soft. Add bell peppers and cook for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, chili flake and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Blend in a blender or food processor until smooth while adding basil leaves.

In mixing bowl add ricotta and Pecorino and mix by hand, add oregano.

Old Fashioned Potato Salad

The best potato salad I have ever tasted!

I had my bf walk me through this potato salad because he makes it often and I wanted to learn his technique. This recipe relies a lot on taste. The basic ingredients are below but the measurements will alter to your taste.

Ingredients:

5 Russet potatoes

3 eggs

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup sweet relish

1 dill pickle, chopped

1 TBS mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp celery salt

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil potatoes, cool, peel, and chop

Cool eggs, cool, peel, and chop

Combine all ingredients, mix well, and chill in the fridge

Vegetable Rice Pilaf

The aroma of a vegetable rice pilaf wafting through the air. That is what you will have when you bust this flavorful, yet simple, dish out. Another one from my boyfriend’s recipe book. Also, his video below to follow step by step directions. He has made this IG cooking profile for his daughter.

Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil

1/2 carrot, diced

1/2 celery, diced

1/2 cup onions, diced

1 1/2 cup rice

4-5 cups chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1 TBS butter

1 TBS parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions:

Heat olive oil and add diced onion, cook for 4 minutes, add the rest of the chopped vegetables and cook another 4 minutes, or until softened. Add rice and sauté until rice is toasted. Add chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer covered for 20 minutes or until the perfect consistency of your liking. Add 1 TBS butter and let stand for 5 minutes and add parsley before serving.

Buon appetito!

Perfect Pancake

This is another recipe from my boyfriends book of recipes. It truly is the perfect pancake and is very simple to make.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

2 TBS sugar

1 TBS baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup warmed milk

1 large egg, separated

4 TBS melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Mix the first four ingredients, the dry ingredients, together. Then, in a separate bowl mix the milk, butter, and vanilla together. Separate the egg, put the whites in a small bowl and set aside while mixing the yolk into the wet mixture.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients together.

Fluff the egg white until it peaks and then fold into the mixture.

Cook and eat

Goulash by Frank

I just recently found out that my best friend, Georgette, asked my dad for his Hungarian Goulash recipe and he wrote it out for her. The picture above is that very special recipe of which I am grateful she kept and shared with me. His recipe calls for a crock pot, however, I made it stove top and just kept an eye on the water level.

The important ingredient in this one is the seasoning pack, which you can get at Cost Plus World Markets, if they are in your area.

My mom and dad use to make this meal throughout my childhood. When she made it my dad would talk about how he grew up eating this dish and how his family had a Hungarian lineage. In fact, he would speak of memories of his mom making Hungarian Goulash for him when he was young. Unfortunately, his mom died when he was nine-years-old so I never had the chance to meet her.

The picture below from the left, my dad, his mom, and his brother in 1936. Other picture below is my dad in me in San Diego 1998.

Ingredients:

Lean stew meat

Olive oil

2 cups water

2 yellow onions

Knorr’s Goulash seasoning pack

2 tsp paprika (hot flavor)

4 potatoes (peeled and diced)

Salt and pepper to taste

Egg noodles

Directions:

Cut stew meat into 2 inch pieces, salt and pepper and brown in olive oil.

Add all ingredients other than potatoes and simmer on the stove top for several hours, or use a crock pot.

During the last hour of simmer, place potatoes in pot and continue to simmer until potatoes are cooked through.

Serve over noodles.

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