Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree,canned or fresh

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

2 eggs,lightly beaten

1 cup evaporated milk,undiluted

2 Tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 unbaked pie shell (9inches)

Combine pumpkin,sugar,salt,spices,and flour in medium mixing bowl. Add eggs,mix well. Add evaporated milk,water and vanilla, mix well. Pour into pastry lined pie pan.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake about 35 minutes or until center is set.

After the first 15 minutes of baking I covered the edge of my pie crust with foil so the crust didn't burn.

This pie was good warm, but was even better cold!

Fruit Tart

CRUST

6-tablespoons butter softened

1/4- cup sugar

1-cup flour

2-tablespoon cornmeal

2-tablespoon lemon juice

in a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in flour, cornmeal, and lemon juice to form a ball of dough. Press onto bottom and up sides of a greased 9 inch tart pan with removeable bottom. Bake at 425 for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Leave in pan and cool completely.

*Also we mixed the dough in a food processor,think Martha Stuart. Thanks mom for teaching me that trick.

FILLING

1-package (8ounces) cream cheese softened

3-tablespoons sugar

2-tablespoons milk

2-cups fresh assorted fruit

For Filling beat cream cheese, sugar, and milk until smooth. Spread over cooled crust. Arrange berries or fruit over filling. Refrigerate while preparing glaze.

FRUIT GLAZE

1/3- cup apricot nectar (or Peach)

2-Tablespoon sugar

1 &1/2-teaspoons cornstartch

2-teaspoons lemon juice

For fruit glaze, in a small saucepan, combine nectar,sugar, and cornstartch. Cook stirring until mixture thickens and boils. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Cool; brush or drizzle over fruit. Refridgerate for 1 hour before serving. Refridgerate any leftovers. This is a very yummy treat and really easy to make.

I got this from a Taste of Home cook book.

February Taster's Night - Chocolate!

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES submitted by Julie Roberts

Make Brownies (I use a mix) for first layer. Let them cool.

2nd layer:
1 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla

mix together and spread evenly over brownies

3rd layer:
melt 4-5 semi sweet chocolate squares
with 1/2 stick of butter

stir and poor on top of peanut butter.

I refrigerate to have the choc. harden!

Really easy and yummy!!


Serves 16. Published December 14, 2006.

Although you can substitute natural cocoa for Dutch-processed, the cake won't rise as high. If you don't have baking spray with flour, mix 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon cocoa into a paste and brush inside the pan.
CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE
This recipe was published in The Best Light Recipe. Submitted by Elizabeth Nielsen

Ingredients

Nonstick baking spray with flour
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (2 1/4 ounces)
1 cup boiling water
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups packed light brown sugar (14 ounces)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar , for dusting

Instructions
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the inside of a standard 12-cup bundt pan with the nonstick baking spray



2. Combine the chocolate and cocoa in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate mixture, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk the chocolate mixture until smooth, then set aside to cool slightly, about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.



3. Whip the melted chocolate mixture, sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together until smooth, about 1 minute.
Sift half of the flour mixture over the batter and gently whisk in. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and continue to whisk the batter gently until most of the lumps are gone (do not overmix).



4. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top. Wipe any drops of batter off the sides of the pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 50 to 55 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking (do not overbake).



5. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely, 1 to 2 hours. When cool, dust with confectioners' sugar (if using).



PER SERVING:
Cal 320; Fat 11 g; Sat fat 2 g; Chol 25 mg; Carb 51 g; Protein 6 g; Fiber 5 g; Sodium 170 mg


CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH BROWNIES
Submitted by Stacy Eagar - courtesy of Betty Crocker

1 box Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® chocolate chip cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting


1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using oil, water and 2 eggs. Spread in pan.
2. Make cookie mix as directed on pouch, using butter and 1 egg. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter; press down lightly.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Frost with frosting. For brownies, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.

I made a chocolate ganache frosting, but any chocolate frosting recipe will work. I do have to admit that I think next time I'll skip the frosting. It's such a rich recipe...good but rich and I think I'd like it better sans frosting.

Chinese Dumplings - aka Potstickers

Happy Chinese New Year tomorrow!

Ingredients:
Dumpling Dough*
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup boiling water
Filling:
8 ounces celery cabbage (Napa cabbage)
3 tsp salt, divided
1 pound lean ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, with tops
1 TB white wine
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
Dash white pepper
Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Other:
2 - 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation:
Cut the cabbage across into thin strips. Mix with 2 teaspoons salt and set aside for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the excess moisture.

In a large bowl, mix the celery cabbage, pork, green onions, wine, cornstarch, the remaining 1 teaaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and the white pepper.

In a bowl, mix the flour and 1 cup boiling water until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough on a lightly flour surface about 5 minutes, or until smooth.

Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a roll 12 inches long and cut each roll into 1/2-inch slices.

Roll 1 slice of dough into a 3-inch circle and place 1 tablespoon pork mixture in the center of the circle. Lift up the edges of the circle and pinch 5 pleats up to create a pouch to encase the mixture. Pinch the top together. Repeat with the remaining slices of dough and filling.

Heat a wok or nonstick skillet until very hot. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting the wok to coat the sides. If using a nonstick skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil. Place 12 dumplings in a single layer in the wok and fry 2 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook 6 to 7 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.

We served a dipping sauce of Yoshida's sauce (from Costco) warmed in a pan on the stove, cut 2 green onions finely, and sprinkled in 1/2 tsp. ground ginger in and voila - a delicious dipping sauce.

Hot Chocolate Mug Cakes

Bake your favorite chocolate cake batter in individual mugs for a warming winter dessert. RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

Cooking spray
Chocolate cake batter
Marshmallow creme

1. Simply coat the insides of oven safe mugs with cooking spray, then fill the mugs halfway with chocolate cake batter. We used a mix for German chocolate cake, which is a lighter color than regular chocolate cake and looks more like hot cocoa.

2. Follow the cupcake baking instructions on the cake mix package. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Allow the cakes to cool for about 15 minutes.

3. Top each mug with a generous dollop of marshmallow creme and serve with a spoon. One cake mix makes enough batter for 12 of our mugs; if you want fewer than a dozen, bake the remaining batter in a small pan.

Navajo "Fry Bread"

3 cups Flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add 1 1/3 cups warm water. Mix well. Knead for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour if the dough is too sticky. Let dough rest for 30 minutes. Break off balls of dough and stretch into 1/4 inch circles (or you can use a rolling pin to flatten them out.) Fry in oil (about 1/4 inch in the bottom of a 10 inch frying pan), turning when you can see the bottom side turning golden brown. Drain on a pan lined with paper towels to remove excess oil. Top with honey or make a Navajo taco. Makes about 8 (six inch round) fry breads.

These are the real deal. My aunt got the recipe from a Navajo woman in New Mexico. There's no yeast in the dough and they're not sweet. They're exactly what you'd expect to get at the Flea Market.

Lindsey's Apple Dumplings

Over Christmas we updated our Eagar family cookbook. Needless to say I've been making new recipes all work. This one is very quick and fun too!

2 Granny Smith Apples

2 sticks butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can Mountain Dew (I'm sure you could substitute Sprite/7-up if you'd prefer)

2 cans Crescent Rolls (just a sidenote - if you know me I hate Jack-in-the-Box toys because I think they're terrifying - well these stinkin pop cans are in the same category for me. Honestly, I jump and scream every time I open one. I know - I'm weird - at least I can admit it).

1 1/2 cups sugar

Cinnamon

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice into a crescent roll. Place in two rows of eight in a 9X13 buttered baking dish. Melt butter in saucepan, then add sugar. BARELY stir! The goal is to leave clumps of sugar. Add vanilla, barely stir. Pour mixture over dumplings in pan. Pour Mountain Dew around edges of pan and down the middles of the two rows. Sprinkle entire dish with cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (my stove is gas and I had to bake it 50 minutes) - they were deliciously perfect and had just the amount of crunch on top. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

This recipe is one of those uniquely fun dishes that I think would be really fun to teach of one of my YW cooking camps.

Yummy Meatballs

Okay so I'm breaking my own rules and don't have a picture to post, but I still had to share this super easy and very tasty dish that I had at taster's night in December.

Take 24 oz. frozen meatballs (I used turkey...just as tasty...way less calories).

Put them in a crockpot and then add the following:

1 can of jellied cranberry sauce
1 jar of Heinz Chili sauce

Cook for 4 hours on low and enjoy them over rice. This meal is a great timesaver and guaranteed to please even your pickiest eater!