Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

I know it's pretty un-American, but I think pumpkin pie is kinda gross. In fact, I don't think I've eaten any the last 4 or 5 Thanksgivings. A few weeks ago my mother-in-law made this pumpkiny dip and paired it with gingersnaps... I knew I had to make a cheesecake that incorporated those same flavors. Turns out there are others who like this combination as well, but I took the standard recipe I use for cheesecake and just tweaked it a bit to be Thanksgiving worthy.

Ingredients
Crust
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup crushed gingersnaps (use a high-quality kind with lots of ginger!)

Filling
4 (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice {can google for recipes to create your own with correct ratios}
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a water bath by placing a large baking dish with 1" of water in the oven. To make cheesecake, grease bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan. Wrap outside of pan with two layers of foil.

2. To prepare the crust,  in a medium bowl combine butter, sugar, and gingersnap crumbs. Press onto greased spring-form pan.

3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar just until smooth. Be careful not to over beat. Switch to a wooden spoon and blend in eggs (one at a time), mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and flour til smooth. Pour over the crust.

4. Place pan in 1" water bath. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Turn oven off- allow cheesecake to cool in the oven for 1-6 hours with the door closed. Remove from oven and chill in fridge until serving.

Thai Salad with Creamy Cilantro Peanut Dressing

Friends don't let friends eat crappy food. I'm so lucky to have some dear friends who appreciate recipes that don't involve cream-of-anything or massive amounts of heavy cream. I'll admit, there was a time when I thought it tasted good (okay, I still think some of those things taste good), but when I indulge I'd much rather it were on a baked good-like the cheesecake posted below. This recipe that my friend Courtney found is so fresh and delicious. We enjoyed it for dinner and I ate it for lunch as long as it would last- even when I was out of bell peppers and bean sprouts and only down to greens, carrots, and a bit of dressing. I can't wait to make it again and again.


Ingredients

Salad
1/4 lbs whole wheat angel hair pasta
3 cups finely shredded green cabbage
2 cups finely shredded romaine lettuce
1 cup shredded carrot
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 cup shelled edamame beans (find in the frozen foods section)
2 cups bean sprouts
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup chopped raw peanuts

Creamy Cilantro Peanut Dressing
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup all-natural smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1/2-3/4 cup canola oil
juice of 1 lime + lime zest
3 Tbsp. tamari, or soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp. fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. honey
1 teaspoon or small piece of dried chipotle pepper (a small piece of canned chipotle in adobe may be substituted) * I didn't have this on hand, but want to try it next time, I did a dash of chili powder
1 ½ cups fresh cilantro leaves (about 1/2 bunch)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
green onion, to taste



Directions
1.Cook the whole wheat angel hair pasta until al dente. Combine the pasta, cabbage, lettuce, carrot, red pepper, and edamame in a large bowl. Toss with Creamy Cilantro Peanut Dressing.

2. To prepare dressing, combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend well. Make sure that it is smooth and creamy. Store in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. Makes 1 ¼ cups.
3. To serve, on a large platter or individual dishes, plate the salad and top with bean sprouts, cilantro leaves, and peanuts. Serves 4-6.

Note: Since I knew Siena wouldn't eat salad for dinner, I make a little extra angel hair pasta and then just topped it with some of the dressing. It was a great alternative that didn't requite any extra work to  make it part of a toddler-friendly dinner.

slightly adapted from My Green Diet  via Posh Ganache

Frijoles Negros- Authentic Cuban Black Beans

       With a Cuban mamacita, I was eating black beans as soon as I could gum them. This was, however, the first time I've made them from dry beans. After a trip to California where I saw my Tia Nora make them I realized there was no reason to be timid. If time permits, this is certainly the way to make beans. Unfortunately, as with most good cooking, things aren't really measured- a lot is "to taste," but I think that is part of what makes something delcious-ly personal. I've given approximations below.

Ingredients

1 lb dry black beans, rinsed in cold water and picked over
enough cold water to cover the beans 1/2-1"
1 bay leaf

Sofrito
2-3 Tbps. olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2-3 tsp. ground cumin (to tate)
few dashes of oregano
2 Tbsp.white vinegar or cider vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
1 spicy sausage (I use turkey sausage)
*specialty spices- my aunt uses a Goya seasoning, but since it is not available everywhere you can add a bit more of the spices listed above, to taste.

Directions

1. Rinse beans in cold water, picking out anything odd. Place beans in a large pot and soak overnight in cold water- covering the beans by about 1 inch. Remove any beans that float to the top.
2. The next day, make sure that there is still water covering the beans, add water until it they are still covered by at least 1 inch. Add bay leaf, bring to a boil over a high heat, reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, until the beans are tender and have almost cracked open. Check the beans periodically and add more water as needed.
3. To make the sofrito, in a separate skillet heat the olive oil over low heat. Add garlic, onion, and bell peppers, cooking and stirring until the onion is transparent approx. 8-10 minutes. Add cumin, vinegar, oregano, vinegar, whole sausage and other optional specialty seasonings. Mix well. When the sofrito is ready, I remove the sausage due to personal taste- if not, break it up with a wooden spoon. Add the sofrito to the beans, mix well and continue to cook over low heat until the beans crack open. Season to taste and serve. {Since these beans are dried you will need to add more salt than you would with canned beans.} Be sure to remove the bay leaf!

To make it more soupy, add more water while cooking, to make it thicker, use less water-both ways are fantastic.

I doubled this recipe and froze portions. To reconstitute, I found it best to add a little chicken broth and warm on the stove.

Hummus

  I love the versatility of hummus. Usually we just have it with veggies (carrots, broccoli, bell peppers) or some type of chip (pita chip, tortilla chip, crackers), but it is a great spread on a sandwich or pita etc. This is a really basic hummus that can be played with to your liking.

Ingredients

1 can garbanzo beans, drained*
2-3 Tbsp. tahini
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove
cumin, to taste
salt, to taste




Directions
     In a food processor, combine garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic and blend until smooth. Season to taste with cumin and salt.

*If you desire a thinner consistency, you an either use the juices from the garbanzo beans or some water to gradually thin it out. I like mine a littler thicker, so I usually don't do this.



-Can add additional flavors, to taste:  extra garlic, roasted red peppers, etc.

Christmas Guacamole

One fun thing about living in Arizona is that come fall and winter, pomegranate and all sorts of citrus trees are ready to share their bounty. We got free pomegranate passed to us and we enjoyed it in salads as well as this festive guacamole. I brought this and some hummus to our ward cooking club- they were a little out of place among the sweet dips, but I think it can be a welcomed taste during a time of so many sweets. I first tried this 3 or 4 years ago when Amber brought it to choir practice and I'm so glad Jessie had the recipe on the blog because it should surely become a Christmas tradition.

Ingredients

3 large avocados, peeled and pitted
1 lemon, juiced (or lime)
2 Tbsp. yellow or white onion, minced (next time I might use 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp. organic cane sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (to taste)
1 small or 1/2 large pomegranate, seeded
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Place avocado in a medium sized bowl. Pour in lime juice and mash with a fork until smooth but chunky. Stir in onion, cilantro, sugar, and salt. Gently fold in pomegranate seeds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate, in an airtight container, until ready to serve.

Serves 4.


 original recipe from Amber Sanovich, with adaptations from ahintofhoney

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

Is it too close to Halloween to post something like this? At the end of September my sister-in-law requested a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake for her bridal shower. This was incredibly rich, but it was just that- incredible. I did manage to cut a piece to save for Nick to eat the next day, and being the nice husband that he is he took a few bites and let me eat the rest. He tried to play it off like he was too full, but a few days later I got it out of him that he really just knew how much I wanted it so he let me finish it off. What a guy.

Ingredients
crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup crushed cream-filled cookies
6 Tbsp butter, melted
Reese's & Butterfingers, crushed (optional)
3/4-1 cup creamy peanut butter, slightly melted

cheesecake filling
3  (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2-3 Tbsp. flour

toppings
melted hot fudge
additional Reese's cups cut into pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a water bath by placing a large baking dish with 1" of water in the oven. To make cheesecake, grease bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan. Wrap outside of pan with two layers of foil.

2. To prepare the crust,  in a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, crushed cookies, and butter. Press onto greased spring-form pan. Add optional layer of Reese's and Butterfingers. Add layer of melted peanut butter.

3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar just until smooth. Be careful not to over beat. Switch to a wooden spoon and blend in milk and eggs (one at a time), mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, peanut butter, vanilla, and flour til smooth. Pour over the crust.

4. Place pan in 1" water bath. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Turn oven off- allow cheesecake to cool in the oven for 1-6 hours with the door closed. Remove from oven and chill in fridge until serving.