Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2 1/2-3 cups of graham cracker crumbs
  
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (melter)
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 2 (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
  
• 1 + 1/3 cup sugar
  
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice**
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 1 large can pumpkin (NOT Pumpkin pie filling)

Line outside of spring form pan with two layers of aluminum foil. Take the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter and mix together. Press into a lightly greased spring form pan. (I trace parchment paper and cut it into the shape of the bottom of the pan and sit it inside the pan and then spray the lining of the pan - parchment paper too). Press mixture firmly on the inside of the pan and halfway up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.


Mix softened cream cheese until whipped - scraping down the sides AND BOTTOM of the bowl as necessary. Add in sugar (1/3 cup at a time) until well incorporated - scrape sides and bottom of bowl again. Add in the pumpkin pie spice. Fold in the pumpkin. Add in eggs (1 at a time - mixing well in between each). Pour into pie crust we prepared earlier. Cook for 15 minutes at 350 and cut the heat back to 300 and bake an additional 45-50 minutes. Cut the oven off and open the door of the oven and let it cool another 30 minutes (with the door open and the oven off). After 30 minutes, bring it to a cool place on top of the counter to cool for an additional hour. After the hour and half cool down, you can safely move the cheesecake to the fridge without shocking it.



*** NOTE*** DO NOT over mix the cheesecake once the eggs are in! Your cheesecake will puff up like a souffle and then fall and crack -- and it will be UGLY! -- On a turtle cheesecake, you can hide it because you could fill the cracks with the toppings, but the pumpkin isn't as forgiving!



Serve the cheesecake cold - topped with a dollop of cool whip! Its amazing! This particular recipe is not that impressive warm, but its fabulous cold!

Strawberry biscuits

Strawberry biscuits:

3 cups of biscuit mix

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup of sugar

extra biscuit mix for kneading and rolling

--

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 tbsp of milk

strawberry jam

Mix the biscuit mix with the sugar and pour in the milk and add slowly until the mixture is sticky and sort of dry. Dust a clean flat surface with extra biscuit mix and spoon out the ball of dough onto it. Sprinkle more biscuit mix on it and knead it. Keep adding more if you need it based on if its too sticky. Roll it out to 1/2 thick and cut it with something - either a cup, a lid of some sort, or a cookie or biscuit cutter. Spread them out leaving 1.5-2 inches between them and press down with your thumb in the center, leaving a dip to later fill with jam. Bake 12-15 minutes at 400 or until golden brown. (you may have to pull them out half-way and re-press the centers down). Take them out and fill the holes with strawberry jam.. Make a glaze using the powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over the strawberry filled biscuits. Enjoy!

My Momma's Cooked Apples

6 cups of firm apples (peeled and sliced)
3 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of butter (1/2 stick)
1 tsp of cinnamon


Cook slowly over medium-low heat for 1-2 hours. Enjoy!

I am really blessed that all of the women in my family are excellent cooks. My mom can cook anything -- well... Anything except for biscuits and chili! But in my family when I was growing up, we would always have a big family dinner every Sunday and everyone would meet at my grandmother's house (all of her kids and their families) after church and we would all help her cook this huge meal and we'd all sit around this huge table and my grandfather would say grace and we'd eat until we were stuffed and then take a nap and go back to church that night. But anyway -- this is what my mom use to cook for our family dinners. This, my friends, is what I remember from being a child - my mothers cooked apples.

Mac & Cheese Casserole

MAC & CHEESE CASSEROLE

 

YUMMY!!!!!

 

3 boxes of 2% Milk made Velveeta Shells & Cheese

2 pounds of ground beef (browned & drained, seasoned with garlic powder/S&P)

2 bags of Steam in a bag Frozen Broccoli Cuts (steamed)

1 cup Muenster cheese (finely grated)

1 cup Mild Cheddar Cheese (finely grated)

2 tbsp Sour Cream

1/2 stick of Butter

 

 

Cook meat and drain. Cook noodles and drain. Mix the noodles, meat, broccoli, packages of cheese in mac & cheese boxes, sour cream, butter, and grated cheese all together and enjoy! :)

Southern-Style Tuna Salad

7 oz pouch of Light Tuna in Water (drained)

1/4 cup of Miracle Whip

3 tbsp of Sweet Relish (+ 1 tbsp sweet relish juice)

1/2 of a small sweet onion - about 3 tbsp(chopped fine or minced)

2 hard boiled eggs (peeled, rinsed, and diced)

S & P to taste

2 small dashes of Garlic Powder

 

Mix thoroughly and enjoy! Refrigerate left overs.  Usually better if it sits over night or for a few hours for the flavors to "marry" before consumption!