Talk about a tempting centerfold... This recipe was inspired by the center pic in some of our recent junk mail. The picture not only looked tasty, I had most of the ingredients on hand. In terms of being a fan of cheesecake, I'd put myself on the lower end of the scale. There just doesn't seem to be enough mixture of flavors for my well-seasoned pallet (ha!). Well, this puppy did the trick. And, it was actually the first time I tried to convert from English weights (grams) to US measurements (cups). I've been advised that converting is a bad idea and that it never turns out quite right, but with a little creative flare added, I think I did a good job (I'll just reduce the amount of cocoa that I mistakenly doubled for our dessert-whoops!).

Ingredients:
Brownie Base
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips, or 3.5 oz
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs

Cheesecake Topping
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300F

Grease a spring-form pan (ours was about 7inches in diameter). Take a piece of foil and wrap the base of the pan because it will cook sitting in a roasting pan of water to keep the cheesecake from cracking. You're basically water-proofing the bottom of the spring-form pan.

Melt butter and chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave and mix together. Then add dry ingredients and finally the eggs.

Spread the brownie mixture in the bottom of the pan.

Mix together cheesecake topping ingredients in another bowl. Spoon over the brownie mixture in the pan.

Place the filled and foil-bottomed spring-form pan into a roasting pan. Fill the pan with about a half inch of water. The cake pan should be sitting in "the bath".

Bake for 1 hour or until the cheesecake is set around the edges. Turn off the oven and let the cake sit in the oven until the oven cools. I let ours sit for about 45min. This keeps the cheesecake from cracking.

You can decorate the top with drizzled, melted chocolate or shaved chocolate bits.

Dig in, it's divine. The best centerfold ever.

Now I've never been to Mexico, but I've had this soup a few times and always find it fab. I have fam that have actually been to the home of this delight so they would probably be the first to attest that this is not incredibly authentic, but it is still yummy. The soup actually provides a bright taste for cold winter days... in Mexico...hmmmmm. Maybe I should call this English Lime Soup with Mexican flare, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it and I don't think you find too many limes in the UK... Alright, I'm sticking with the original. The ingredients are pretty basic because we're keeping it cheap! (my only out-of-the-ordinary purchase was cilantro and limes, since England has something against selling lime juice in a bottle)

Ingredients:
7 cups chicken broth
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped (or a 1 tea garlic powder)
2 tea oregano
1 tea basil
1 tea salt
1/4 tea cayenne pepper
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup corn
4 limes, or 8 Tbs lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Crumbled tortilla chips for the top (make sure you do this, it's sooo yummy. We didn't have chips the day I took this picture but I bought some for the leftovers and it was worth it.)
Shredded cheddar for topping

optional:
1 cup cooked rice (I like to add rice to make soup a little more filling)

Directions:
So I always feel as though my directions are missing something because they feel a bit brief...

Bring broth to a boil

Add all the ingredients.

Let simmer until all is cooked through.

Top with chips and cheese and serve.


Now I just need to figure out what to do with all my leftover cilantro...