GROWING PAINS

Hi Kids!  Just want to send a little note your way to let you know I've been experimenting and making some changes to the blog design.  My friend, Susan, over at Raisin-Toast has been helping me along the way.  But in the meantime, I'm running into a couple of head scratchers.  If you subscribe to the blog and have been receiving posts that you may have already received in the past, please forgive me for the annoyance. I'm trying to figure it out myself!  Hope to have it worked out soon, and I appreciate your patience!

Since it is Halloween today, here's wishing everyone a spooky day!

Peace and Love from SingingirlCooks (aka Beth)

Chocolate Crusted Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Whew... that's a big name for this little pie.  But I couldn't just call it a pumpkin pie.  One member of my household called it a Hybrid Special. I thought that was pretty funny. But who would find my pie searching for Hybrid Special?  If you own my cookbook, you know that I feature this pie in the dessert section, except that in that recipe I use a regular pie crust and glaze the top of the cooled pie with a maple syrup concoction.  Sounds pretty good, right?  It is.  But not being able to leave well enough alone, I decided that these four things, chocolate, pumpkin, orange and cream cheese would taste pretty good together.  And they do.  Try this one of these days before the holidays and decide for yourself if offering a variation on a theme would be a good idea.  I offered a choice last Thanksgiving, and everyone loved both the traditional pie and the Hybrid!  Here's the recipe.

CHOCOLATE CRUSTED PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE PIE
1 chocolate pie crust (such as Oreo brand)
1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese, softened (I used the Neufchatel 1/3 less fat)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. freshly grated orange peel
1 egg

1 1/4 cups of canned pumpkin (don't stress over the little bit that's left in the can)
1 cup evaporated milk (use the rest for your coffee or cooking)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
Dash of salt
Whipped cream for garnish

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the pie crust on a cookie sheet and set aside.
• Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, orange peel and egg. Beat on low speed with a mixer until smooth. Spread onto the bottom only of the pie crust and even it out with the bottom of your spoon.
• Combine remaining pie ingredients and mix very well until nice and smooth. 
• Carefully pour this mixture over the cream cheese mixture. You might have a little bit left that just won't fit.
• Place pie in the oven on the cookie sheet to prevent a spill and bake for around 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
• Remove pie from oven and cool on a rack completely.
• Chill and garnish with whipped cream. A few chocolate sprinkles on top of the whipped cream, or a couple of candy corn arranged nicely would look great!  Enjoy!!!

Note ~ you can substitute 1 3/4 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice for the individual spices above.

Cauliflower Quiche

Does the sound of cauliflower just not thrill or excite you very much? Give it a chance!  I decided to experiment tonight. I had a whole head of cauliflower in my refrigerator just begging to be used for something or throw it out!  Here's what I came up with:

CAULIFLOWER QUICHE

2 cups cauliflower florets, broken up into small florets

1/3 cup of sliced or slivered almonds

1 Tbs. butter

2 green onions, tops and greens sliced thinly

1 small clove garlic

2 cups of cheddar cheese

1/4 cup Asiago cheese OR Parmesan

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups of milk (try not to use skim in a quiche)

1 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 tsp. of oregano

2 Tbs. flour

1 big spoonful Dijon mustard

1 nicely frozen, ready to use, why make your own, deep dish frozen pie crust!! lol

 

• Steam the cauliflower florets in the microwave for about 4 minutes until soft. Drain well and set aside. 
• Melt the butter and brown the almonds, remove them from the pan to a small dish and set aside.
• Add a bit of olive oil to the same pan and saute the green onions and garlic for a minute or two to soften.

Assemble all of this on a baking sheet on your counter.

• Using a pastry brush, spread about a Tbs. of Dijon mustard around the bottom and sides of the crust.
• Layer the cauliflower in the bottom of the pan.
• Top with your sauteed onion/garlic mixture, and then distribute the shredded cheddar over the vegetables.
• Sprinkle half the toasted almonds over the top of the cheese.
• Whisk together the 3 eggs, milk, salt and pepper, oregano, and flour and pour over the top.
• Sprinkle with the Asiago or Parmesan and sprinkle with the remaining almonds.

Carry it over to your oven which has been preheating at 375 degrees. If some of the filling does not fit, don't stress.  Bake for about 55 minutes, maybe a few minutes less. The top will be beautifully browned, puffy, and delicious looking! I am serving this with a combination salad of romaine, fresh spinach, tomatoes and fresh blueberries with raspberry vinaigrette. But if blueberries are not in season, switch that out for diced pears or apple.

Have you tried my Broccoli and Swiss Cheese Quiche ???  It is delicious!  This recipe and a hundred pages of great recipes, stories and photos are included in my cookbook, "Singingirl Cooks!" It's for sale.  If you don't own a copy and would like to, ask me!

Very, very good!

New Fashioned Potato Salad

This is a maiden voyage for me with blogging. I'm sure this initial post is going to look quite silly and amateur to just about everyone. But give me a minute, and I will get it together. My friend, Susan, will be rolling on the floor over this, but I'm trying. Anyway, on to this recipe.

Don't those store bought containers of potato salad just leave you a little cold? Tons of mayo and no personality??  Kick up your potato salad a notch this holiday weekend and try this recipe. Finely chopped colorful vegetables give this great flavor.  I used my food processor to achieve the really small chop for the vegetables. If you don't have a processor, just chop away by hand. The overall   result should be uniformly small pieces of vegetables resembling confetti that you will mix into the salad. No one wants to chomp into a huge piece of jalapeno or onion. 


Start with:
3 to 4 lb. of potatoes
1/2 of a red onion
1 small jalapeno, seeded
1 medium carrot
1 medium stalk of celery
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup of fresh parsley
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1/3 cup of sour cream
1 1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt (such as Emeril's Essence)
Freshly ground black pepper and extra salt to taste


Boil the potatoes whole with the skin on until firm tender, adding a generous amount of salt to the boiling water. Drain and allow to cool until you can handle them.


Place the onion, jalapeno, carrot, celery, garlic and parsley in your food processor and process until they are chopped very small. Place in a large mixing bowl.


Mix the mayo, sour cream, mustard and seasonings together.


When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skins. This is a whole lot easier to do after they're cooked. Cut them into edible sized pieces. You should have about six or seven cups of potatoes. Dump these into the large bowl with the vegetables and toss gently to mix. Pour the dressing over the warm potatoes and vegetables and gently mix again. Check for seasonings. Cover and chill.


Enjoy everybody. Have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend. And don't give up and buy that store bought stuff, EVER! 


If you like this recipe, please let me know by leaving a comment for me, and thanks for stopping by. I need encouragement to go on! And from time to time, I will bother you about my cookbook Singingirl Cooks! which is proudly for sale and full of recipes, pictures and stories just like this. Ask me about it.

Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips...Yum!

Yesterday was Taco Salad night.  We love that around here. And even though everyone has their take on a taco salad, I'm offering up my method here, along with the recipe for awesome, crunchy, better than store bought, thick, restaurant style tortilla chips. I posted my recipe for Chicken Taco Salad back in July. You can click on this link, and it'll take you to the recipe. I make Salsa Lime Dressing to go with my salads, and it's delicious, recipe for that is included on the same page.   And of course I don't forget my new fav cheese of choice in the salad, Cabot Hot Habanero and Seriously Sharp Cheddar. Seriously hot and seriously good.

I like a crunchy texture and always add crushed up, store-bought tortilla chips but decided to try a recipe I had seen on line for homemade chips. Fun to make, your kids will enjoy making the tortillas into shapes and seasoning them.  I made some of mine with just kosher salt and garlic powder and some with Emeril's Seasoning. Here's the simple recipe....

HOMEMADE CORN TORTILLA CHIPS
1 1 lb. pkg. 6" diameter corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
Your imagination with seasonings

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. With a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut the tortillas into wedges. One 6" tortilla with make 4 tortillas. Place on a cookie sheet that has been coated with cooking spray.  Place a small amount of oil (I wouldn't use olive oil for this) into a dish, and brush each tortilla lightly with a little oil.  Sprinkle each with your choice of seasoning. I know someone who used Ranch Seasoning Mix with some powdered garlic, and the chips came out tasting better than a Dorito!  After seasoning, bake the chips for 10 to 11 minutes. No need to turn!  Remove from the oven and transfer to some paper towels.  While they are warm, give them an extra little hit of seasoning.  Delicious! and Baked not Fried!!!

Enjoy, and tell me who didn't like these!!!

Seasoning Tip~ Another great idea for seasoning ~ Cinnamon and sugar!

My Not-So-Famous Turkey Chili (Yet)

October, football, falling leaves, cooler weather. Only two of those things apply to me here in south Florida. Be that as it may, the weather this week did actually take a plunge into the 70s! (Is anybody laughing right now?) So I thought a cool weather recipe would be in order. My last blog entry, Mushroom Chowder, was kind of a cool weather recipe and a huge hit as well. With all the talk about it from my friend, Cathy, and how it came in second place in her church contest, I decided I had to make it this past week and remember what I did that made it so good.  You gotta try it.   And even though this will be another meal-in-a-bowl type of recipe, I'm doing it anyway because who doesn't need another chili recipe to consider?

The inspiration for the recipe that I use came from Alice's Restaurant Cookbook, which I purchased in 19...., well back a long time ago. Alice May Brock was a hippie, and I guess so was I.  I have to say here that I have never used anything but beef when making chili.  This time around I took a chance on turkey, and I have to tell you it is delicious! It isn't so much that turkey has that much less fat than, say, ground sirloin.  Ground turkey is still 90/10 ratio for fat. It's just that I was feeling a tad more conscious today about the beef thing.  Go ahead and use whatever your choice of meat is, but if you haven't given turkey chili a try, don't turn your nose up until you try it this way and tell me how great it is afterwards!

MY NOT-SO-FAMOUS TURKEY CHILI (YET)
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 large green peppers, chopped
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, mostly seeded, and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 lb. of ground turkey (not ground turkey breast)
2 28 oz. cans of whole tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
4 Tbs. of chili powder (or more to your liking)
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. of salt (add more to taste)
Lots of freshly ground pepper
2 whole bay leaves
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. basil
2 tsp. or more of Worcestershire sauce
Cayenne pepper and Tabasco to taste
2 cans of dark red kidney beans, drained

Okay, this looks like a lot of ingredients. But you probably have most of the seasonings.  So let's go.

In a large skillet, saute the onions, peppers, jalapeno and garlic in the oil until soft. Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, brown the chopped meat. Drain the fat, and then add the sauteed vegetables to the meat in the large pot.  Add the two cans of tomatoes, juice and all, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of your spoon. Add the tomato paste and all the rest of the seasonings up to but excluding the kidney beans. Give it all a good stir, cover and simmer this for a good long time, a couple of hours at least, stirring occasionally and checking for seasonings.

Towards the end of the cooking session, add the kidney beans. I like to use the dark red beans, they show up nicer in the chili, and I definitely don't add them earlier on, they get mushy.

Remove the bay leaves before serving!

Serve this in big bowls and pass around all the favorite chili toppings such as sliced jalapenos, shredded cheddar, chopped raw onions, extra hot sauce - and don't forget to pass around a piece of cornbread. For those of you who own my book "Singingirl Cooks" check it out on page 99.  Now what channel is the game on???





This recipe and more than one hundred pages of other great recipes, stories and photos is for sale. Just ask me!

Alice May Brock would be proud of me!