Peanut Butter Banana Cheesecake

As promised, I wrestled this recipe from my God-daughter's mom, and made it tonight. It's still cooling, so I haven't dug in yet, but boy does it smell good!

Crust:
1 1/4 cup old fashioned or quick oats, uncooked
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
3 Tbsp packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used creamy)
3 Tbsp flour
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
3/4 mashed, ripe banana (I used 2 bananas)

Combine oats, peanuts, brown sugar, and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9" spring-form pan. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter, and flour, mixing at medium speed until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in milk and banana, pour over crust. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 250° and bake an additional 40 minutes.

Cool and loosen cake from rim of pan. Chill. Serves 10-12.

Tomorrow is the last day for my give-away, so if you haven't already, go ahead and take a guess at the jujubes! I'll announce the winner Sunday night or Monday morning.

For a free Kashi meal, go here and enter your information. They'll send you a coupon to try one of their frozen entrees!

Alisa at One Frugal Foodie is having a GIANT giveaway here.

And, finally, some much delayed Top Chef discussion. I was so, so glad to see Leah go. I thought Leah was this season's Lisa - she just hung around way too long and really needed to go. She had a really crummy attitude and I didn't like that this year's restaurant wars episode ended up being all about her and Hosea's personal cheating drama, rather than focusing more on the restaurants.

When they brought those three chefs back, I was pissed Leah had a second chance. I was really gunning for either Jeff or Jaime at that point, because I didn't want to live through Leah again. I thought Jeff did a good job, but in the end I was glad that he was booted off again - I wouldn't have felt like it was a fair fight if he made it all the way to the end, or won, after having been eliminated. He was eliminated for a reason - he shouldn't get a chance to win it!

The last episode, I absolutely LOVED that they brought back Marcel (love him!), Richard, and Casey. I adore Marcel, both Johnny and I really love Richard, and Johnny had a huge crush on Casey during her season. Those were three great choices to bring back, since they'd all made it to the end of their seasons and fell short at the very end. I still think Marcel and Richard should have won their seasons, but the past is the past.

Now -- I was actually really shocked when Stefan chose Marcel for his partner. When Carla drew the knife and it said 3, I instantly thought "she got Marcel," because I didn't think anybody would want him. Plus, I thought Stefan would choose Casey because she's an attractive woman and that had been his strategy so far this season - cuddle up and flirt with all the girls (straight or not!) I think if Stefan had chosen Casey the outcome would have been very different. Casey took a very front-seat approach to helping out her partner, and Stefan wouldn't have put up with it. Richard and Marcel seemed to just help their partners, so had Marcel been Carla's partner, I think she would have cooked food more of her own style, versus the suggestions Casey gave.

In the end, I was heartbroken for Carla. She had been doing really well and I thought she was a sweet, honest person. She does need to learn to stand up for herself in the kitchen, though. She can't let others boss her dishes around, she just learned that the hard way! I think Hosea deserved to win based on his final meal he cooked, because Stefan seemed to just think he had it "in the bag" and almost played it safe. He got overly cocky in the end, and I think that was his downfall. But, based on the entire season's performance, I find it almost shocking Stefan didn't win in the end!

Oh, and a funny thing - John Besh, the chef and restaurant owner who dined with the judges during the last meal, was the graduation speaker for Michael's CIA ceremony in August. Here's a picture I took of him:
You'll notice he's wearing the same blazer he had on during the Top Chef episode! When we were there, my brother said he had worn it to every event that weekend, and a few of his classmates noted that they've seen him at other events and places, wearing the same blazer! We've also heard from others that they've seen him a few times in magazines - again, the same blazer!!! So - the secret is out - John Besh must only have one blazer and he wears it to every.single.event! Invest in a new jacket, buddy, people are starting to notice!