Simply Delicious Cheesecake

A recipe from my mom. Simple but elegant and wonderful tasting.
Crust

• 2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

Combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter, blend well. Assemble springform pan using flat bottom: pour crumb mixture into pan; press crumbs onto bottom and up sides to within 1 inch from top.

Filling

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Beat eggs until light, fluffy; add sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Add softened cream cheese, vanilla, lemon juice; beat thoroughly. Pour into crumb shell; spread evenly. Bake 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees F. Note: top will not be brown and center may appear slightly underdone at end of baking period. Remove from oven; cool about 1 hour.

Topping

• ½ pint dairy sour cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• Nutmeg

Combine sour cream, sugar, vanilla, spread evenly over cake. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Note: top will still not be brown. Sprinkle top with nutmeg, cool, chill. 12-16 servings.

Pumpkin Seeds Two Ways

My daughter has always hated most nuts and seeds, but for some reason she loves toasted pumpkins seeds and can't wait to roast them after the annual carve-fest. Here's how I did them tonight.

• Seeds from two pumpkins (3-4 cups)
• 6 cups water
• 6 tablespoons salt

Remove seeds from pumpkin and rinse Boil in salted water for 1m minutes, remove from heat. Divide boiled seeds in half.

For Garlic:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or other seasonings)

Toss half of seeds with oil, salt and garlic powder, spread in one layer on cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until brown. Cool before serving.

For Sugar and Spice:

• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon oil

Bake the other half of the seeds on a second cookie sheet with no flavoring. While they are cooking, mix 2 tablespoons sugar and spices in a mixing bowl. When seeds are brown, remove from oven. Heat oil in skillet to medium-hot, add seeds and sprinkle with 4 tablespoons plain sugar. Stir with wooden spoon a minute or so, until sugar caramelizes. Dump seeds into sugar-spice mixture and stir to coat. Spread on baking sheet and cool.

Zebra Pudding

Inspired by Union, Trueheart and Courtesy' remembrances, I now present my grandmother's version of this classic, which differs from my old friend's by the addition of Jack Daniel's. My guess is that this was one of the few ways in which Jack Daniel's would cross my grandmother's lips.

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons Jack Daniels whiskey
• 1 package Famous chocolate wafers*

Whip cream until stiff, gradually adding sugar and whiskey. Place one dollop on a cookie, press another on, sandwich-style, and set on edge in serving dish. Continue adding cookies until you have a long log. frost with remaining whipped cream, cover with plastic and chill overnight. Cookies will soften and become cake-like in texture. Slice diagonally; dessert will have a "zebra" appearance.

*For some reason, these cookies tend to be found in the ice cream cone section.

Easy Deep-Dish Apple Pie

My 11-year old likes to make this on her own.

• 6 cups peeled and sliced apples
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 double-recipe pie crust
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Toss apple slices gently with lemon juice. Mix sugars, flour and spices, add to apples. Pour into pie-pan lined with bottom crust, top with the remaining crust, seal edges and cut four slits in top crust. Cover edge of top crust with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Change of Pace

Taking a break from the usual recipes/crafts to showcase a new meme from the folks at Scienceblogs. Since it's an experiment in propagation, I thought I'd put it on my public blog.

The Pharyngula mutating genre meme

There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

You can leave them exactly as is.

You can delete any one question.

You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is…" to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is…", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…".

You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…".

You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable.

Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions.

Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.

My parent is: Pharyngula.

1. The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…

Back to the Future

2. The best romantic movie in historical fiction is…

Gone With the Wind

3. The best break-up song in rock is…

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

Banana Pudding

Don't kid yourself by using a mix or Cool Whip; this is the real thing.

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• dash salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
• 1 box vanilla wafers
• 5-6 ripe bananas

Separate 2 eggs; reserve whites for meringue. Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, flour, salt, 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks in top of double boiler. Add milk and stir continuously over boiling water until thick and boiling for a minute or so. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Place a small amount of custard at the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Add a layer of vanilla wafers, then a layer of sliced bananas. Pour 1/3 of the remaining custard on top. Repeat layers twice more, ending with custard. Beat egg whites until foamy; add cream of tartar and corn starch, then gradually add sugar until soft peaks form. Spoon over pudding, seal edges. Bake at 425 until meringue is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

All-in-one Pork Chop and Potato Casserole

I adapted this recipe when I was looking for a full meal casserole I could carry to my husband's elderly grandmother's house to serve for Christmas Eve dinner. It got the full approval of the family!

• 8 pork chops
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 14 oz can chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 10 oz frozen peas and carrots (optional)
• 4 cups prepared mashed potatoes

Grill or pan fry pork chops, reserve 1/2 cup drippings (I like the George Foreman for this). Prepare frozen vegetables, if desired, drain and set aside. Place pork chops in large casserole dish. In skillet, heat butter with pork drippings. Saute onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add flour and stir until pasty. Mix in salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Gradually add chicken broth, then water, stirring constantly until thick and bubbly. Mix in vegetables and heat thoroughly. Pour over pork chops. Spread mashed potatoes over mixture, seal edges. Cook 25-35 minutes at 350 degrees. If refrigerated before cooking, allow plenty of extra time.