Persimmon Cheesecake

I have been getting some fruit from Bountiful Baskets. I had a bunch of persimmons, which I didn't know existed, but I found a recipe online for persimmon cheesecake. So, I gathered ingredients, and this is what I got. I didn't know what a spring form pan was, so I just used a Pyrex pie pan. I only used half the filling in the pie so I made up another crust. I used a square Pyrex pan for that one.

Ingredients

· 2 cups chopped walnuts

· 1/3 cup brown sugar

· 3 tablespoons melted butter

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· 2 cups pureed persimmons

· 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

· 1 1/4 cups white sugar

· 3/4 cup sour cream

· 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

· 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

· 6 eggs

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· 1 1/4 cups sour cream

· 3 tablespoons white sugar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. Chop the walnuts in a food processor until fine. Mix together in a bowl with the brown sugar and melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.

4. Combine the persimmons, cream cheese, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup sour cream, cinnamon, and ginger in a food processor. Blend in processor until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape edges of food processor bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs, one at a time, and process until fully incorporated. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until mostly set with the center being slightly jiggly, 60 to 75 minutes.

6. While the cheesecake is baking, whisk together the 1 1/4 sour cream, 3 tablespoon white sugar, and vanilla extract. Spread evenly over the cheesecake while still hot and return to oven another 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate 4 to 8 hours or overnight before serving.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille
my adaptation of this youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFZqufAajN8

Ingredients

• thinly sliced eggplant (I used 1 medium to small)
  
• thinly sliced cucumbers (I used 4 pickling cucumbers)
  
• thinly sliced zuccini (I didn't use this)
  
• thinly sliced carrots (I used 4-6 short stubby ones.. I recommend using the carrot *bums* where the slices make the largest circles if possible and they're usually too fat around to want to eat without cutting anyway)
• 2 large tomatoes sliced
  
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 2 cans tomato sauce
• 2 tsp basil (we used fresh basil so the measurement was different)
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• salt & pepper to taste
• 5 Tbsp olive oil

Prepare sliced veggies. In a sauce pan add 2 cans tomato sauce, basil, oregano, and thyme and cook over medium low heat while cooking the rest of the food. In a skillet or fry pan, saute onion, garlic, carrots in 2 Tbsp of oil over medium heat until onions are white and translucent. Add eggplant, zuccini, cucumber and remaining 3 Tbsp of oil to the onion mixture. You may cover if desired and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes. Check carrot tenderness. When carrots are almost your desired tenderness add mushrooms and tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until mushrooms and tomatoes and carrots are done. Spoon vegetables into a bowl or plate and top with sauce. You can always add more sauce if you start out conservatively. Enjoy! Most of the time to make this meal was spent prepping the vegetables. So simple and so easy with a lovely earthy dish as a result that your family will love. Sorry moms...you can't hide the fact that there are servings of vegetables in this dish. :)

Changes I made to the video's recipe:
*added carrots... you could probably also add potatoes but having tasted it I think it matches better without.
*cut in thin slices instead of chopped veggies... the texture is more pleasing but chopping might be faster. I recommend a mandolin or food slicer if you slice.
*added 2 small cans of tomato sauce and cooked spices in the sauce instead of adding to veggies directly.
*substituted cucumber slices for zuccini... zuccini would be closer to the eggplant texture so if would be fine,.. i think the cucumber added a nice different texture and freshness that wouldn't otherwise be there so I'm keeping them in the recipe.

** We did not eat this as presented in this photo. We just spooned it into a bowl and poured the sauce over it to serve.
** The changes I made were to match closer to the presentation made in Disney's Pixar's Ratatouille so I cannot take credit for the ideas I tried my best to imitate.

Homemade Ice Cream

4 quarts Half and Half

3 cups Sugar

2 Tablespoons Vanilla

Combine all ingredients, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. To avoid sugar settling to the bottom of freezer some of the half and half can be heated with the sugar over low heat until completely dissolved and then mixed with the rest of the half and half, with this method though the ingredients must be cooled in the refrigerator prior to freezing. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Makes 6 Quarts frozen ice cream, you can divide recipe to fit the size of your ice cream freezer.

Note: Most ice cream makers produce soft-serve ice cream which you can firm, if desired, by placing it in your refrigerator's freezer in an airtight container for about 2 hours.

Caramel Sauce

3 cups Brown Sugar

1 cube Butter

1/2 pint Heavy Whipping Cream

Put in a double broiler all ingredients, cooking over medium low heat stirring until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved, continue cooking for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Sauce will have thickened slightly and be a caramel color. Serve over ice cream, homemade ice cream is especially good! Store in refrigerator, sauce may become somewhat crystallized but will smooth out when heated.

Pasta with White Bean Sauce

This is a great vegitarian recipe from the Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. Since my Noah has, so far, proven himself to be a vegitarian I thought I'd try this out and see how we like it. We LIKE it! Noah ate his up in less than 5 minutes (which he NEVER does) so it was a winner before I'd even tasted mine. Once I'd tasted it though, I could see why he ate it so fast - delish!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (but you could also use Swiss or American - I used the Gruyere)
1 - 15 oz. can great Northern, navy, or white kidney beans, drained
1 - 4 oz. can diced green chili peppers, drained
1 ounces dried linguini or spaghetti

Directions:
1. Cook the onion and garlic in a large saucepan with hot margarine until tender. Stir in the flour and 1/8 tsp of pepper (you could probably leave that out but whatever). Add the milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until it's thick and bubbly (probably took me about 5 minutes to get it the consistency I wanted). Cook it and stir one minute more. Add cheese; stir until melted. Stir in drained beans and chili peppers (I used about half of the chili peppers that it called for just because I didn't want it to be too spicy for my kids. It ended up being a good amount of heat for them - if you ever cook this just for adults though I'd use all the chili's). Heat through.

2. Cook the linguini (I'm assuming you probably know how to cook pasta so I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how to do that). Serve the sauce over the pasta. Enjoy!

Chicken and Rice

My friend Vanessa gave me this recipe the other day and I made it last night and it is a WINNER! So easy and delicious - even my vegitarian Noah ate it!

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs of chicken - cut into bite size cubes (the more chicken you use the less sauce you end up with)
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread your cut up chicken around in a baking dish. Melt the butter and mix the honey, mustard, salt and curry into it. Pour it evenly over the chicken. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

2. For the rice. You could do plain old minute rice and that would be delish. But for a little extra flavor, try mixing a packet of Lipton's French Onion Soup mix (you know, the powdered stuff) into whatever rice you make. It gives it a little extra zing and compliments this meal beautifully!

Pear Salad

So here is a delicious salad that whenever I make it I get tons of compliments on it and everyone wants the recipe, so I thought I would share it with the masses:

Ingredients:
-One head of lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces or a bag of salad greens
-2pears-cored and cut into slices (or you can use canned pears and just cut them up)
-5 ounces crumbled blue cheese
-1 avocado-peeled,pitted, and diced
-1/4 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup pecans
-1/3 cup olive oil
-3tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
-1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a skillet over medium heat, stir 1/4 cup of sugar together with pecans. Continue stirring gently until sugar has melted and the pecans are caramelized. Carefully transfer nuts onto waxed paper. Allow to cool, and break into pieces.
2. For the dressing, blend oil, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, mustard, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. In a large serving bowl, layer lettuce, pears, blue cheese, avocado, and green onions. Pour dressing over salad, sprinkle with pecans and serve!!