Pumpkin Cheesecake

Every Thanksgiving, and sometimes Christmas, I make Pumpkin Cheesecake. The basis for the recipe I use is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe:

Crust:
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Cheeesecake
2 8-ounce pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 cup half and half
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 eggs


Step 1:
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. For your crust mix graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup sugar and melted butter until well combined. Press in to the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9 inch springform pan. Place springform pan on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for 5 minutes.

Step 2:
Place all remaining ingredients, except eggs, into mixing bowl and beat until smooth. (Start slow with this as the half and half may splash, once it starts to get mixed up you can up the speed.) Once it is looking smooth and well combined, add eggs all at once and beat on low only until combined. If you overbeat the eggs in the mixture the top of your cheesecake will crack as it bakes.

Step 3:
Spoon filling into the crust. Place in the oven for 1 hour, the center should appear nearly set when gently shaken.

Cooling:
 This is the most time consuming part of making a cheesecake. Once removed from the oven place the springform pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Then loosen crust from the side of the pan with a rubber/silicone scraper and let sit 30 minutes more. After that, remove the sides of your springform pan and let sit for 1 hour. Finally, put the sides back on and cover and chill for at least 4 hours (I usually make this the night before I need it so I don't feel rushed).

Enjoy!!

Here's wishing you time to enjoy tasty treats this holiday season.

Summer Salad

Whenever we are invited to a summer BBQ I always make the same pasta salad. It is super easy and I always get requests for the recipe. So without further ado, here is my top secret summer pasta salad recipe.

You will need:
1-box rotini pasta
1-can black beans, drained
1-can corn, drained
1- can diced tomatoes and green chili's, drained
Spicy Ranch salad dressing (I end up using most of one bottle)

Cook and drain your pasta, and rinse under cool water until it is no longer hot. Add beans, corn, tomatoes and chili's and salad dressing.

Mix together and add more salad dressing if you need to. Enjoy! (We also like to add grilled chicken to this the next day if we have any leftovers.)

Here's wishing you great summer get-togethers with friends and family.

Rock Chalk Birthday

This year for the boys' combined birthday party with family they requested a Jayhawk theme. Easy enough, we kept things pretty simple and they were more than happy with the results.

Plain white cards, stamped and stickered

Stamped inside for details and a "Cheat Sheet" with
the boys' sizes and likes.

The spread of Crimson and Blue treats.

Red Velvet cupcakes with white frosting
and red and blue sugar sprinkles.

The two tasty treats below were a couple of Pinterest finds that I couldn't wait to test out. The cake I have had pinned for quite a while, I knew as soon as I saw it I had to make it, the boys favorite candies are M&M's and Kit Kats. I altered it a little from the original idea, I cut my Kit Kats so they didn't tower over the cake and I used mini M&M's (sorted by color of course).

By the way this cake lasted all of 5 minutes at the party,
not an M&M was left.

The original idea for these cookies is awesome, but I was lazy and didn't make it to the bakery supply shop for the correct sprinkles (also it was like 110 degrees outside and the last thing I wanted to do was walk around downtown). I ended up using red and blue sugar sprinkles and it worked, they were super yummy!

Here's wishing you many happy birthdays! Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU!!

Happy Heart Day

We celebrated a pretty low key Valentine's Day. Julian started the day a little sad because school was cancelled so that meant no party. But once he knew the party was moved to the next day he was much better. The boys opened there Valentine bags in the morning and Kevin made us all a yummy dinner that night.

Polish Chicken, cream peas and carrots, scalloped potatoes and salad.

Below are a few pictures from Julian's school Valentine's Day Party:

Here's hoping that you got to spend some time with those most special to you!

Silly Hotdogs

For lack of a better name, we made "Silly Hotdogs" tonight for dinner. I found the idea on Pinterest (I know, imagine that! We have found many recipes and have tried a few already, watch for details on those to show up here later.) Below are the directions for "Silly Hotdogs":

Bring a pot of water to a boil. While that is getting started, slice up your desired amount of hotdogs, we prefer to use turkey dogs, and break a few pieces of whole wheat spaghetti in half.

Carefully push 3-4 pieces of spaghetti through each slice of hotdog.

Place all the hotdogs into the pot of boiling water and continue to boil and stir occasionally until spaghetti is tender. Drain and let cool for a couple minutes.

 Serve with your favorite sides and dipping sauce.

The boys enjoyed their silly dinner, and it will definitely be getting made again. Here's wishing your family a silly dinner too!