Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cheesecake

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything on this blog. But I found this awesome recipe I wanted to pin that Pinterest wouldn't let me pin. So I'm going to add it to my blog and see if it will work.

Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cheesecake

GLAZED PECANS:

3 c. sugar

1/2 t. cream of tartar

1 c. water

perfect pecan halves

Combine the sugar, cream of tartar and water in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, scraping the sides of the pan to remove the sugar crystals, then cook without stirring until it threads crisply when dropped from a spoon.

Using a long sharp pin, stick into a pecan half and dip into the sugar. Set on a piece of buttered wax paper to cool and harden. Set aside.

Ok, now for the cake...

PUMPKIN PECAN CHEESECAKE:

Pecan Filling:

1  graham cracker crust  10- inch springform pan. 

3 eggs

3 T. butter, melted

1/2 c. sugar

1 c. dark corn syrup

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven 350*

Combine in a medium bowl, the eggs, melted butter, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla. Pour into a 10-inch , graham cracker crust, springform pan, cover with the pecans. Bake 20 minutes or until the filling is firm, but not fully cook. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack, while making the cheesecake.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling:

2 1/2 lb. cream cheese

1 c. sugar

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 T. all-purpose flour

2 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. ground cloves

1 t. ground ginger

1 c. heavy cream

1 T. vanilla

1 can (1 lb) mashed pumpkin

Preheat oven 425*.

1. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and yolks.

2. Add the flour, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

3. Beat in the cream and vanilla, then add the mashed pumpkin and beat, medium speed, electric mixer , until thoroughly combined.

4. Pour the mixture over the pecan layer and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 275* and bake for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and leave the cake in the oven overnight to cool.

5. Top the cake with the glazed pecans, making circles from the outside, then another one inside the first row, repeating to the center of the cake. Make whipped cream rosettes around the outside of the cake and you should have it.

recipe from: http://askville.amazon.com/Pumpkin-pecan-cheesecake-Cheesecake-Factory--recipe/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=5219365

picture from: thecheesecakefactory.com

S'more Brownies, PLEASE!!

Just in time for summer...

Crust:
1 package graham crackers
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
2 Tbsp sugar

Brownies:
1/4 cup (1/2 cube) butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Topping:
1/2 container marshmallow creme
1/4 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350.
Melt butter for crust. Crush graham crackers super fine (in food processor or food chopper) and mix sugar, crackers and butter. Press into 9x9 pan and bake for 5-8 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter for brownies and mix with sugar and cocoa powder. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread brownie batter over the graham cracker crust. Spread carefully so as not to pull up the crust. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool and cut brownies into 16 pieces. Spread marsmallow creme on top of each brownie and place on baking sheet. Place under 500 degree broiler for 30-60 seconds, until marshmallow is slightly brown. Melt 2 Tbsp butter and chocolate chips in microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring between each interval. Drizzle over the top of the brownies and serve.

Salad 101

I truly love salads. They are so versatile and healthy and can be as light or filling as you need them to be. They are great for lunch, dinner, or snack. I've even been known to eat them for breakfast. (I know, I'm weird).
A friend asked me for some salad recipes, and the following is my response to her.

Honestly, most of the time I just throw salads together. I try to keep a variety of vegetables on hand and then I just put in whatever I'm in the mood for. I do have some recipes for dressings that are listed at the end, but first I'll just give tips of how I "compose" salads.

The process for an interesting throw-together salad:
1- Start with the lettuce/spinach.
2- Decide on the type of dressing I'm in the mood for (creamy or vinegar-based)
3- Add at least 3 types of vegetables (more if I have them on hand) and 1-2 proteins to match the dressing. I'll give you ideas of my preferences of what types of dressings go with what types of toppings.

First, here are some hints to keep it interesting:
Lettuce: I prefer romaine or green leaf. The red (or purple) leaf goes bad too fast and (to me) iceberg lettuce is completely pointless. I buy two to three heads of lettuce each week, cut it up, and then rinse it out and "spin it" in my salad spinner. I have a Tupperware spinner but you can get them just about anywhere (Pampered Chef has a great one :-). I find that having the lettuce already cleaned and ready to go makes me more likely to choose a salad for a quick lunch or dinner. It also keeps it from going bad so quickly. Besides being more cost effective, I also thinking buying it by the head and cleaning it yourself gives you more nutrition from the lettuce than when you buy a bag of salad. (Although it is mostly water, the darker green ones have a lot of vitamins, too.)

Spinach: This is great to throw in with the lettuce to add more texture, flavor, and nutrition. You can add spinach to ANY salad. It does go best with vinegar-type dressings, but even with just plain old ranch, it is delicious. You can get spinach by the bunch and clean it yourself, but I'm kind of lazy so most of the time I just get a huge bag of it at Costco. Even if it goes bad before I use it all, it's much less expensive than buying those tiny bags at the grocery store. You can also chop it up and put it into other dishes (scrambled eggs are my favorite). If I'm feeling especially frugal, I'll chop it up in the food processor and then freeze it in little bags to add to brownies (a 'la Deceptively Delicious).

Toppings:
Vegetables: Always keep the standby's on hand: carrots, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes (if regular radishes are too strong for you, try a Japanese radish (called daikon). They look like long, white carrots and have a milder flavor. I've seen them in regular grocery stores, occasionally). And try adding some different textures like jicama, sugar snap peas, beets, canned corn, mushrooms, artichokes, sprouts (you can do these yourself very easily in a quart jar), parsley (a little bit adds a lot of flavor), avocados (guess technically, that's a fruit), cabbage (this can be a salad in it's own right, too).
Fruits: with the right dressing (usually a vinegar-type) fruits like pears, mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, pineapple, mango etc give a salad an awesome flavor.
Protein: I try to always add some kind of protein to my throw-together salads. At least one type, sometimes more, depending on how many carbs I've had that day :). Some I like best: Chicken (shred or chop some of the leftovers from last night's barbecue), tuna fish, turkey bacon, fake krab, boiled eggs (keep a few on hand already boiled so you don't have to think about it), canned beans (black, garbanzo, pinto, kidney), edamame, nuts (almonds, sunflower seeds, even peanuts work) cheese (cube it or even sprinkle the salad with shredded). Feta is by far my most favorite salad cheese.
Extras: I really like "chunky" foods so if I look at my salad and it is mostly soft-textured foods (canned beans, cheese, softer vegetables) I'll add some croutons, nuts, or chips to give me something I can chomp on. For some reason, this also makes the salad more filling to me.

Dressing: This is the fun part of the salad. Depending on the dressing, you can totally change the salad. Here are some of my favorites:

Creamy: I guess I'm not much of a creamy salad dressing type of person. There are only two that I like and use regularly
Hidden Valley Ranch: IMHO, the only way to have ranch dressing is to make it from the powdered mix. I buy the mix by the bottle. I can then mix it up with low-fat milk and low-fat mayo. I prefer ranch dressing with the toppings I list as "standbys", though in a pinch, it can be used on just about everything (It's not so great on fruit, tuna or feta).
Creamy Caesar: Ken's Steakhouse brand is my favorite. They make a "lite" version that makes me not feel so guilty. I use this for the standard Chicken Caesar Salad: romaine, chicken, Parmesan cheese, and croutons.

Vinegar base: I don't really like pre-made vinegar dressings (like Italian). They are usually too overpowering on the salad for my tastes. I like to taste the toppings and have the dressing just enhance the salad. Frankly, most of the time if I'm making a salad that I want a vinegar-based dressing on, I'll just drizzle it with a little olive oil and vinegar (or olive oil and lemon juice) and grind some pepper over the top.

Here are some of my favorite recipes.

Greek: (this is from Pampered Chef's "It's Good For You" cookbook) This will dress about 6 servings. For a large family dinner or a potluck, you can mix it all up and toss it together. For individual servings you can mix up the dressing, use what you need, and store any leftovers for later. Serve it over lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives, drained tuna, crumbled feta. If you want it as a full meal, you can add some cooked pasta (shell or falafel) and you can substitute diced chicken or fake krab for the tuna. I also use this dressing on any kind of salad one would normally dress with Italian dressing.
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (other vinegar will work)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp oregano
salt and fresh ground pepper (the fresh grind makes all the difference)

Avacado dressing: I got this from Rachael Ray ages ago, but I can't remember the exact proportions from her recipe so I just add the basics and then fiddle with the liquids until it is pourable. It doesn't store well so you should use it all up for one meal. It makes two large servings.
Combine in a food processor (or if you are in a hurry and don't want to have to wash extra dishes, just mix it up by hand in a bowl):
1 avocado
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (other vinegar will work)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste
After it is all mixed together, add more olive oil until it is pourable. You don't want the olive oil to over-power the avocado, though, so if you find you are adding more than an extra tablespoon of oil, just leave it and put it on the salad as-is. This is great on a salad of romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, turkey bacon, and cheese (usually cubed of whatever I have on hand, but it is best with Swiss cheese). I'll also use fake crab instead of the bacon and omit the cheese.

Spinach salad dressing: this is just a poppy seed dressing but it is awesome on a spinach salad and/or any salad with fruit (strawberries, pears, etc). It makes enough dressing for a pot-luck salad, but if you are only making individual servings or enough for a small family, you can store the dressing leftovers in the fridge. Once you've dressed the spinach, it wilts pretty quickly and doesn't store well.

Mix together until sugar is mostly dissolved:
1 cup vinegar (I like a mixture of red wine and white but it also works fine with apple cider)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
Add:
1/4 finely chopped red onion
8 oz sliced mushroom
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
This is best mixed up a few hours (at least) before you plan to use it. Overnight is even better. It gives the mushrooms and onions time to marinate. If you aren't making it for the spinach salad or if you don't like mushrooms, they can be omitted.
For spinach salad: mix together:
bag of spinach (about 12 oz, I think?),
crisp bacon crumbled (turkey bacon is great for lower fat)
4 oz feta cheese (you can also use cottage cheese or ricotta)
1/2 cup craisins

Toss with dressing 5-10 minutes before serving.

2-For-1

I had a party this weekend and the food turned out so yummy, I just had to share the recipes. Neither one is a Pampered Chef recipe. :)
The first is the best spinach-artichoke dip I have ever had! It uses fresh spinach, which makes a huge difference. It's the hostess' recipe but she was kind enough to share it.
The second is a molten chocolate lava cake I found online. The texture was perfect and the flavor was not overly-rich (which I liked). I'm still working on getting it to not stick in the prep bowls.
Enjoy!

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts drained and chopped

1/2 cup fresh spinach washed and chopped

3 slices of onion (thin but not razor thin) chopped

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tablespoon of garlic (crushed or chopped)

hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste

Set the oven to 350 degrees

Mix the 1st 5 ingredients together. Then add each 1/2 half mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and garlic. Add salt and pepper then hot sauce - as much or little as you like. cook mixture for 30 minutes. Once the mixture comes out of the oven - add remaining Mozzarella and parmesan and serve with your favorite bread or crackers for dipping.

Molten Chocolate Lava Mini Cakes
* 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
* 1/2 stick butter
* 2 cups powdered sugar
* 4 eggs
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* Nonstick spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray 8 1-cup prep bowls, small custard cups or souffle dishes with nonstick spray. Place on baking sheet.
Heat chocolate and butter in a glass bowl (the classic batter bowl works perfectly) in microwave for about 1 minute. Stir and then put back in the microwave on 20-30 second intervals (stirring between) until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. It will be really thick, but when you add the eggs it will smooth out. Blend in eggs 1 at a time, so that the eggs do not cook. Stir in flour.
Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute.
Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. You may need to run a knife around the edges to loosen before inverting onto the plates. Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping

Freezing the Love

If you've spoken to me in the last 4 months, I'm sure I've complained to you how TIRED I am. This pregnancy is wearing on my old body. I've been too tired to even want to cook which, for me, is a big thing. I can tell you my food budgets in November and December were pretty ridiculous because when I didn't feel like cooking, I'd make Jason stop on his way home from work for something to feed the hungry masses. But with the new year came a kick from reality that our finances just can't really handle restaurant food 3-4 times a week. And everyone was getting sick of PB& J or microwave "quesadillas" on the other nights.
So, I turned to my good friend, Elizabeth, and she pointed me back onto the straight and narrow path of healthy, inexpensive, meal prep. I call her the "Freezer Meal Queen" because one day every month she does this massive prep day and has enough meals in her freezer for the whole month. It's amazing. And it TASTES good!
Elizabeth has inspired me to greater heights and I've turned over a new leaf.
I call it my "Freezing the Love" day.
One big day (about 3 hours, plus travel time) of grocery planning and shopping for the stuff I don't already have in my pantry, 6 hours the next day (including clean up) to cook what needs to be pre-cooked and put everything into freezer bags. And I still have $$ left over for the rest of the month to get the fresh stuff (salads, veggies, fruit).
I planned my shopping trip around a sale on meat because that is the most expensive item on any of the recipes. I got the cheeses from Costco and froze the portions I didn't use into smaller bags.
It is almost a month since my first Freezing the Love day, and I still have some meals in my freezer. Even on days I didn't feel well, I could help a sick friend with dinner for her family. What a great feeling to not be totally useless! I was so excited about this, I did another day of Freezing the Breakfast Love. I made a super huge batch of muffins and sweet breads and froze them. Now, my 9 year-old can make a healthy (non cereal) breakfast for the whole family while I drag my old bones out of bed.
So, I am on my soapbox now to encourage you all to try it. Even if you don't want to have a whole month's worth of meals in your freezer, even making 4 or 5 will take you maybe an hour and save you, oh, so much time on those truly hectic nights.

Pros:
-Save money. Price per serving is less than $2 for most of the recipes. Ain't no way you can get a filling, healthy, $2 meal "eating out". (And no more $20 here and $15 there at the grocery store all week. That really adds up.)
- Save time (I used to spend at least 1 hour every night making dinner plus another 30 minutes for washing pots and pans afterwards. That makes about 45 hours a month spent on meals. Now, it takes about 15 minutes for the meal prep and usually only one pan to wash afterwards).
- Meal planning is done
- My husband will even make a nutritious dinner, now.
- Leftovers. Jason always has a wide array of choices for his lunch all week so we are saving money on his "allowance", too.

Cons:
-Can't really think of any except that now I have no excuse to get Papa Murphy's pizza.

If you'd like some starter recipes, email me and I'm happy to send my tried and true list (I've narrowed out the ones that just don't reheat well). I would even be happy to come to your house and prepare you three freezer meals, when you host a Pampered Chef party. :)

I'm Back

Wow, where have I been?! I can't believe I've been such a slacker the past couple of months. But I'm back from vacation, holidays, and morning sickness (mostly) so to make up for my MIA status, here are THREE recipes I picked up on my trip. I fell in love with gyros in Greece so I had to find a recipe that could duplicate that experience. These come pretty close. The sauce is the only thing that can be made in under 20 minutes but trust me, the time it takes to put this meal together is worth it!

Tzatziki sauce
This is literally the icing on the cake of a gyro. Slather this on a fresh pita, add gyro meat, diced cucumber, diced tomato, lettuce, kalamata olives, and feta cheese. HEAVENLY! This also makes a great dip for vegetables or pita chips.

Ingredients:
1 lb Greek yoghurt
1 cucumber
4 garlic cloves
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1-2 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 -1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Mince (use the garlic press) the garlic and mix it with the salt and vinegar. Peel the cucumber and grate it. Place it in a piece of cheese cloth or just a clean kitchen towel and squeeze it until all the water is removed. Mix the yoghurt and the cucumber and then add the garlic/salt/vinegar mixture. Chop the dill and add. Mix well, add oil to desired consistency. Can be served immediately but is better when it is allowed to sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors combine. The garlic flavor gets more pronounced the second day.
Number Of Servings:a lot
Preparation Time:20 minutes

Gyro Meat
This is really just a very flavorful meat loaf, but it uses spices I never would have thought of. I substituted pork and turkey for the lamb and beef and it still tasted very much like what I had in Greece.

Ingredients:
* 1/2 onion, cut into chunks
* 1 pound ground lamb
* 1 pound ground beef
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
* 1 teaspoon ground dried rosemary
* 1 teaspoon ground dried thyme
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
1. Chop the onion. Scoop the onions onto the center of a towel, gather up the ends of the towel, and squeeze out the liquid from the onions. Place the onions into a mixing bowl along with the meat. Season with the garlic, oregano, cumin, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and salt. Mix well with your hands until well combined. Cover, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Place the meat mixture into the food processor, and pulse for about a minute until finely chopped and the mixture feels tacky. Pack the meat mixture into a 7x4 inch loaf pan, making sure there are no air pockets. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the loaf pan on the towel, inside the roasting pan, and place into the preheated oven. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
4. Bake until the gyro meat is no longer pink in the center, and the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) on a meat thermometer, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Pour off any accumulated fat, and allow to cool slightly before slicing thinly and serving.
Note: This took about 1.5 hours to cook in CO.
Number Of Servings:8

Pitas
This pita would also be good with falafel (my next adventure). They are awesome cut up and served with hummus dip!

Ingredients:
Pita Bread
3 cups flour (1 cup wheat, 2 cups white is recommended)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil


Directions:
Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water

Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. Place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
Punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
Spray a light mist of water onto your baking surface and close the oven for 30 seconds.
Place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. Experiment with the time a bit. In CO, I think it would be better to let them go for 4-5 minutes, but at sea level, the 3 minutes might be enough.
Number Of Servings: Makes 8 pitas

Pumpkin Dip

Pumpkin Dip:
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup Cool Whip, thawed
Chopped pecans - optional
Wedged apples & pears - optional
Combine pumpkin, sour cream, brown sugar & cinnamon in large bowl with Whisk. Fold in Cool whip. Pour mixture into serving bowl and sprinkle with pecans, if desired. Serve with cinnamon chips, and apple or pear wedges.