Pumpkin Cheesecake

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake (The cooked kind)

Ingredients:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crusts
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed



Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325*F.
2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

*I love cooked cheesecake and have tried many recipes to cook it at home.  This recipe was so easy and turned out great, easily the best recipe I've tried!  Enjoy!!

Ginger Bends (Soft Gingersnaps)

4 cups flour 1 ½ cups cooking oil

4 tsp. soda 2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt 2 eggs

2 Tbsp. ginger ½ c. molasses

2 tsp. cinnamon

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. With beater, blend together thoroughly the oil, sugar, eggs, and molasses. Stir in dry ingredients until blended. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Form into balls, using 1 tsp. dough for each. Roll in granulated sugar and bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 for 8 minutes [takes 9 minutes in my oven—KV]. Cool on rack. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Variation: Roll chilled dough ¼-inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Decorate with slices of gumdrops, candy corn, red cinnamon candies, etc. for features; then bake. They really are a hit!

from Margie (my Aunt)

Pumpkin Spice Muffims

COOKS.COM

3 cups bread flour (or you can sub 1.5 C with whole wheat)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1 1/2 cups golden raisins

1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, melted butter, oil, eggs, pumpkin and water. Beat for 90 seconds, or until well mixed.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, stirring
  until no streaks remain.
• Combine flour mixture and pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts and raisins; stirring only until all ingredients are mixed.
• Cover batter and allow to stand at room temperature for 60 minutes. (I was skeptical of this step the first time and have skipped it once, big mistake. It's kind of what makes the muffins)
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until muffins tops spring back when lightly touched.
• Brush tops of muffins with melted butter while still warm and sprinkle lightly with coarse sugar, if desired (omit this step if freezing).

We LOVE these, we have put mini chocolate chips in them and left of the sugar topping. They freeze really well and are perfect. We have never put the raisins or nuts in them. Makes 4-6 dozen.

Pumpkin Pecan Crunch Cake

We made this for a Halloween Party, and it was a hit!  It kinda tasted like a pumpkin bread pudding.  Super easy to make and super yummy!


Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar (I cut out a bit of the sugar and you couldn't tell)
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I used a mixture of 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t ground ginger, 1/2 t allspice, and 1/4 t nutmeg)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 package yellow cake mix
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup margarine, melted 

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well, and spread into the prepared pan.
3. Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture, and pat down. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the cake mix, then drizzle with melted margarine.
4. Bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until done. 

*Optional: Serve with whipped cream

 

Source:  Allrecipes.com
 

Cabbage-Tomato Pasta Toss

Made this tonight since I had all the ingredients and didn't want to go shopping.  It was super quick, easy, and really light and tasty.  I did use Balsamic Vinegar instead of Red Wine because that's what I had on hand.  But it worked great.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar - balsamic vinegar works great
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 8 ounces uncooked pasta - we like whole wheat
• 2 cups shredded/chopped cabbage
• 1-1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter - we nixed the butter and just did the olive oil, and the 1/4 cup was plenty

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, vinegar, basil and parsley; set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding the cabbage during the last 2 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute the bread crumbs, almonds and garlic in oil and butter for 6 minutes or until golden brown.
• Drain pasta and cabbage; place in a large bowl. Add tomato and crumb mixtures; toss. Yield: 6 servings.

Source: Taste of Home via Yummly.com

BBQ Pineapple

Mix together 4 T butter,4 T brown suger, 2 T honey.  Cook over stove while stirring until it thickens slightly.
Cut pineapple into long strips.  Start cooking it on the BBQ and put the sauce on top.  Cook for 5-10 minutes.
Soooo good!

Peach and Pork Kebabs

2 Peaches

1 Lemon

2 T honey

Soak eight wooden skewers in cold water for 5 minutes.  Cut pork and peaches into cubs of same size and put them on skewers.  Mix honey and lemon juice together and brush on the food.  Cook on grill/barbecue for 10 minutes.

Recipe/pic is from recipetribune.com