Baba's cheesecake, sort of

Cheesecake
The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook Copyright 1997, 1998

CRUST:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together and pat onto bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform cake pan. Prepare filling.

FILLING:
2 eggs
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs and softened cream cheese together. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add topping.

TOPPING:
½ cup sugar
1 cup sour cream I used lite because that's what I had
½ teaspoon vanilla

Combine ingredients and put on top of cake; return to oven for 10 minutes.
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My husband's grandmother has several recipes that she seems reluctant to part with. I've had no luck at all figuring them out on my own, except for her cheesecake. This recipe was extremely close, if it had been cooked another 5 minutes and I left out the crust. Personally, I like a crust with my cheesecake.

Funnily enough, I made this cheesecake for my family on Thursday and on Saturday, when I had Thanksgiving with my husband's family, Baba made her cheesecake and somehow we (me, my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law) actually pried her cheesecake recipe out of her. It was very close to this one, same ingredients but different amounts (and no crust). I just found it kind of ironic that she gave it up as soon as I figured it out on my own. And no, I did not get the macaroni salad recipe but now I at least have hope that I might someday.

By the way, this is a great cheesecake. I think it just needed another 5 minutes in the oven to be perfect. I think fancy, flavored cheesecakes are great but plain cheesecake is best. Paula Deen did include a fruit topping recipe with this in the cookbook but I didn't use it.

I don't think I have any more Thanksgiving recipes. Maybe I'll blog about the pie I made that wasn't that spectacular. I'm not sure yet. The dinner rolls came out good for a first try but I never got a picture. I brought home a few leftover rolls to photograph but the cat chewed through the ziploc bag and ate them.

A Blast From The Past: Sausage and Mushroom Pasta from February 2006. We had this last night. It goes over very well in our house. I used turkey kielbas and Dreamfield penne last night.

Question of the Day: Do you like cheesecake? Plain or fancy?

Outed

French Silk Chocolate Pie
Easy Pies With Pillsbury Pie Crust Copyright 2004

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces
1 cup butter, softened (do not use margarine)
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 pasteurized eggs or 1 cup fat-free egg product I used the egg product
½ cup sweetened whipping cream

Chocolate curls, if desired

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Make pie crust as directed on box for one-crust baked shell using 9-inch glass pie pan. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
2. In 1-quart saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat; cool. In small bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in cooled chocolate and vanilla.
3. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on high speed 2 minutes after each addition; beat until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Pour into cooled baked pie shell. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Serve topped with whipped cream and chocolate curls. Store in refrigerator.
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While I was eating this I kept thinking it reminded me of something but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. It wasn't until I was copying the recipe that I figured out that it tasted like chocolate frosting. I only tasted it after eating a full Thanksgiving meal so it's hard for me to judge this fairly. Something so rich would stand better on it's own, not on a table full of other pies after a heavy meal.

So my sister found my blog. What the big deal, right? This isn't dooce.com after all, it's just a bunch of recipes. I would have shared it with my family except they have a history of mocking my hobbies. I know a lot of my readers are also food bloggers and you're probably scratching your head and wondering what's so embarassing about a food blog - there are probably thousands of them all over the world afterall. Well, I didn't think polymer clay was a ridiculous hobby either but I believe the phrase 'you really need to get a life' came up when I dabbled in that.

It wasn't as if I heard 'I found your blog, it's great' or anything like that. It was more of a whisper and then as soon as I left the get-together and then walked right back in for something I forgot, they were already talking about it. My other sister had that scrunched up face that signals she about to say something I don't want to hear (such as, 'you really need to get a life') so I just high-tailed it out of there.

I hope they got a good laugh and moved on. For the first time in almost 15 months, I'm not excited about blogging. I feel a little self-conscious right now. Every sentence I type suddenly looks silly. But I don't want to be one of those bloggers that disappears into thin air so I'll keep going.

One of those so-so dishes

Chicken Dijon
The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook Copyright 2006

3 tablespoons butter
6 skinned and boned chicken breasts I used tenderloins
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
1 medium-size sweet onion, diced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add chicken, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. My chicken was still sort of frozen so it didn't brown - too much liquid. Whisk together broth and remaining ingredients; pour over chicken. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings
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This was one of those dishes that was fine, not awful, but not that special either. It would have been better if I had good Dijon mustard in the house but when I went to make this I realized I had a brand that is okay for adding a tablespoon here and there but not my favorite for starring in a recipe. It was a simple recipe that I made out of ingredients I keep on hand so it scored extra points for that.

It's pie and dinner roll making day. I won't start until later. I want everything to be as fresh as possible. Grocery stores are open tomorrow if the rolls don't turn out that well!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving (or a Happy Thursday, if you're not in the states)!

A simple sandwich, no stumps needed

Iowa-Style Loosemeat Sandwiches
American Sandwich Copyright 2004

Loosemeat:
1 pound twice-ground beef I used the regular grind
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
1 (12-ounce) can or bottle of beer (do not use light beer)

In a medium frying pan, brown the beef over medium-high heat, then drain it in a colander. Return beef to the pan and stir in the onion flakes, pepper, salt, sugar, mustard, and beer. Simmer, partially covered, over medium heat until liquid is evaporated, about 30 minutes.

Sandwich:
Loosemeat
4 hamburger buns I used whole-wheat buns
fresh onion, chopped
prepared yellow mustard
pickles

Spoon beef into buns and serve immediately with condiments. Be sure to give everyone a spoon so they can scoop up any stray beef that escapes.

Yield: 4 sandwiches
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This week is all about convenience and nothing seemed simpler than these loosemeat sandwiches. I've never had a loosemeat sandwich before so I have no idea how authentic these were but they were good. The meat mixture was more understated than the 'barbecue' sandwiches that are the typical ground beef sandwich of this area, but the condiments added punch.

I got this cookbook from the library and it's actually quite nice, for a cookbook with a schtick. The book includes one sandwich for every state. I actually flipped to Iowa expecting to see the pork tenderloin sandwich, but Indiana claimed the pork sandwich.

The book also contains the anecdotal history of the sandwiches in it. For instance, the pork tenderloin sandwiches were supposedly originally made by a guy who had most of his fingers cut off in an accident, and the stumps were perfect from tenderizing the meat. I know, I know, your mouth is watering now, isn't it?

Blast From the Past: Barbecue from September 2005. This is how we make our loosemeat sandwiches 'round here.

Question of the Day: If you live in the U.S., can you guess what your state's sandwich is, according to this cookbook?

Blech!

Healthy Breakfast Muffins
Cakes 1,001 Classic Recipes From Around The World Copyright 2003

1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups wheat bran
¾ cup milk
¾ cup apple juice I used cider
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¾ cup raisins
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12-cup muffin pan or line with foil or paper baking cups. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda into a large bowl. Stir in the bran. Beat in the milk, juice, egg, honey and oil. Stir in the raisins and crystallized ginger. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Cool the muffins on racks.
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These were disgusting, so why I am blogging about them? Because they were fine (in a healthy, fiber-filled kind of way) except for the crystallized ginger, which apparently I don't like (REALLY don't like). I tried eating around the ginger but tiny pieces kept sneaking up on me. I like ginger in other forms, even ginger candy, but crystallized ginger is just not for me. I can file it with goat cheese under 'yuck'.

I should have gone with my gut instinct and made these without the ginger. They would have made for a nice, guilt-free breakfast muffin but I had to ditch them.

Thanks for the comments letting me know there are still people around. I wasn't just fishing for comments, I know people get busy this time of year and I was just curious who was still around. I don't know what my schedule will be like this week. I won't be posting Thursday. I still haven't planned this week's meals yet and it's Monday morning. I know I'll have a few pies to post about after Thanksgiving.

I went to Costco Sunday. I planned on going Wednesday morning but I got it out of the way. Now I can spend Wednesday making pies.

Blast From The Past: Sour Cream-Bran Muffins from June 2006. These were incredibly delicious but not very healthy.

Question of the Day: I'm making rolls for Thanksgiving. Should I make them Wednesday night or get up super early on Thursday? We have to travel 2 hours, so making them just before dinner is not an option. I have no idea how long homemade rolls stay fresh.