Chaz and Elijah

Chef Andy Ennis included recipes from Cher’s mother, Georgia, and her children, Chaz and Elijah, in the Cooking for Cher cookbook. I’ll make Georgia’s cornbread stuffing some coming holiday. But I often wonder if her kids really wanted to be involved in this cookbook or if maybe these were just recipes they picked because the kids liked them. Like “aww, mom. Do I have to be in your cookbook?”

Anyway, I spent one whole night, 21 July 2025, just cooking for the kids.

Here’s the picture of Elijah and Chaz from the cookbook, which were probably taken some time in 1996 (as the cookbook came out in January of 1997).

Chaz Bono’s Italian Spinach and Onions

Ennis claims Chastity gave him this recipe and he made it every Thanksgiving and Christmas. The spinach gets almost creamy, Ennis claims. He admits there is a lot of garlic in it, but it works.

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon salt (or more) (I tripled the salt)
4 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, roots removed and leaves washed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large onions (I used white onions)
1/2 cup finely chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I doubled the pepper)

To Prepare:

Bring a large pot of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to boil. In two or more batches, plunge the spinach into the boiling water and cook until wilted but still bright green, 3 to 4 minutes. Removed with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain well in a colander. Squeeze out the excess liquid. Roughly chop and set aside. Drain and dry the pot.

Heat the olive oil in the pot and sauté the onion over medium heat until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chopped spinach and sauté until very soft and most of the juices have cooked off, about 25 minutes, tossing to mix the ingredients. Season with remaining salt and pepper.

I would agree with the Chef here. This was delish. It’s the best non-creamed Spinach dish I’ve ever had. I’ll be making this again. It was a hit with Mr. Cher Scholar, too.

Elijah Allman’s Mustard-Caper Chicken Burgers

Ennis says Elijah Blue is “really great in the kitchen…when he’s not busy snowboarding or looking for his next tattoo design…” And this is one of his best creations. “This has, in fact, become one of the most popular lunches in the house.” It’s also quick and easy, Ennis says. Elijah recommends a Caesar salad and grilled ratatouille with the burgers (also in the cookbook).

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/4 pounds ground chicken or turkey (since I’m vegetarian, I used Impossible Burgers)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons capers
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Vegetable oil cooking spray
4 hamburger buns or slices of focaccia bread

To Prepare:

In a bowl, combine the meat, mustard, capers, garlic salt, black pepper and parsley. Mix thoroughly. Wet your hands and divide the mixture into four 5-inch round patties.  (Since my burgers were already made, I made a spread with the rest.)

Coat the bottom of a large nonstick skillet with a think film of vegetable oil cooking spray and place on the stove over medium heat. Brown the patties on one side about 8 minutes, then turn and cook them another 6 to 7 minutes. (I followed the Impossible Burger instructions.)

Grill or toast the buns.

This along with Chaz’s spinach above was a big hit with me and Mr. Cher Scholar. I used Impossible Burgers and made the sauce separate with the mustard, capers, garlic salt, parsley and some extra salt and pepper. Oh and we added cheese. What teenage boy doesn’t want cheese? (unless he’s lactose intolerant I guess.) I also used vegetable oil to fry up the burgers in a pan. Would make both dishes again.

Cher’s Mom, Georgia Holt

The Cheesecake!

This was billed in various food outlets as super easy and it wasn’t hard but it was time consuming, lots of time intervals to track. But I have to say it was worth it. Cheesecake-hater Mr. Cher Scholar was won over to this desert which he declared his favorite cheesecake and the only one he’s ever tasted that “wasn’t trying too hard.” This is a popular measuring point with Mr. Cher Scholar.

I’m not sure if this is a secret family recipe or not because Cher did an interview or something with allrecipes but then it has since been taken down. In interviews such as this (and the Christmas album interviews), Cher says the dessert shows up for Thanksgiving and Christmas (along with pumpkin, pecan and apple pies). Cher also admitted she hoards one whole pie to herself. This cake along with Georgia’s cornbread stuffing are the anchor foods of those holidays for them and after Georgia died, Cher’s sister Georganne found the recipe on a piece of notebook paper (dating, they think, back to 1962).

Cher also used the cheesecake as inspiration for one of her Cherlato flavors.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
25 graham crackers, crushed with a rolling pin (I had a hard time determining what a cracker was: a sheet, a square, a little rectangle? The graham cracker box had a pie crust recipe on the box and it said 1 + 1/2 cups of crushed graham cracker and that worked fine)
1 teaspoon sugar

Filling:

2 large eggs, beaten
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, softened for 30 minutes
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

1 16-oz container of sour cream
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Prepare:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Make the crust. In a large bowl mix together the melted butter, crushed graham crackers and sugar. Press the mix into a deep glass pie dish (mine was regular) and bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.

Prepare the filling. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla using an electric mixer until smooth. Pour filling into prepared, heated crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Then cool on the counter for 30 minutes.

Prepare the topping. Combine the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Spread gently (I got carried away with spreading joy and wasn’t gentle enough in one corner) on top of the baked cheesecake. Bake again for 5 minutes. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Refrigerate cake for at least 8 hours.

(I refrigerated for over 24 and the cheesecake was a big soft and if not runny it was oozing a bit on the plate. We left for an overnight trip and came back 48 hours later and it was the perfect consistency. Not as compact as a store-bought or restaurant cheesecake but solid.)

This Parade article by Choya Johnson has the recipe but none of the measurements! Johnson’s tips include setting aside time (I would agree with this), using an electric mixer (for smoothness) and experimenting with the toppings, like adding fruit, which I did with blueberries but the cake doesn’t really need it.

Mashed also had a story about the cake by Naomi Kennedy. Apparently guests to Cher’s parties often head straight to the cheesecake and hid slices throughout the house to make sure they got some. Apparently Cher tweeted a picture of the cake on Twitter in 2015.

Christy Bono’s Restaurant Ventures

From Karen Robes from the Press Telegram (2012):
https://www.presstelegram.com/2012/06/03/christy-bono-back-on-broadway-in-long-beach/

“I feel like I’ve come full circle,” said Bono, sitting at a table in Christy’s on Broadway, which she first opened in 1994, offering signature dishes inherited from her late father, Sonny Bono.

“It feels so much more like home,” said the petite blonde restaurateur, who reopened the 3937 Broadway establishment in March. “I know every square inch of it and it’s just a homier, more intimate neighborhood joint.”

In many ways, Christy Bono was meant to return to Christy’s.

Facing stiff competition in Santa Monica in the 1990s after the development of Santa Monica Place and Third Street Promenade flooded the market with restaurants, the production assistant-turned-restaurateur took a friend’s advice and met with Susan Shick, then-head of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency….

“The last time I was here was when I got my very small tattoo at the Pike when I was 16.”

She soon expanded into the space next door, then two more times in the next five years. She sold Christy’s in 2003 to open two more Long Beach restaurants, extending the business to include Nico’s in Naples and Bono’s in Belmont Shore.

She would sell Nico’s a few years later but maintained Bono’s until 2010, when rising rents and an economic downturn prompted her to sell the Second Street establishment.

“Second Street is not a picnic,” she said. “Rent was $17,000. You had to do that to open the doors, and I wasn’t going to lower my food standards.”

After selling Bono’s, the restaurateur was at a crossroads.

“I was deciding what I wanted to do, if I wanted to go back into this,” she said. “My son’s not in the house anymore. I was thinking about North Mission Beach in San Diego, thinking about shoes — anything but the business.”

She looked at other locations. Meanwhile, Christy’s was back on the market. It had fallen out of escrow with a previous buyer.

So Christy Bono bought it back in 2011.

After six months of construction, Bono reopened her namesake restaurant in March, still offering Christy’s signature rigatoni con carne.

In some ways, the restaurant is different from the original, relying more on creative cocktails and small-plate dishes with $8, $10 and $12 price points instead of more expensive entrees.

…

“I go based on what I like,” she said. “I like appetizers when I go to places, rather than being married to an entree. … You still get that fine dining, but with a more causal price.”

Other reviews:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-02-ca-6163-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-22-fi-1270-story.html