Copycat Marie Callender's Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

Ingredients:

Crust 
1 cup graham cracker crumbs 
1/4 cup butter, melted 
2 tablespoons granulated sugar 

Note: easy- buy a crust from the store

Cream Cheese Filling 
8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
1 egg 

Lemon Filling 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
2 tablespoons cornstarch 
dash salt 
1 cup water 
2 egg yolks 
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
1 tablespoon butter 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. 

Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and sugar in a small bowl. Press the crust mixture into an 8-inch pie pan. 

Prepare the cream cheese filling by mixing cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla and an egg using an electric mixer. Mix well until smooth. Pour cream cheese filling into graham cracker crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until center is cooked. A knife stuck in the middle of the filling should come out mostly clean. 

As the pie cools, make the lemon filling by combining 1/2 cup sugar with cornstarch, salt and water in a small saucepan. Set mixture over low heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often. 

Whisk in egg yolks, then add lemon juice and butter. When mixture simmers again remove it immediately from the heat. 

Pour the lemon filling over the cream cheese filling, and let the pie cool. When cool, chill pie in the refrigerator for several hours before serving. 


Slice into 6 pieces to serve restaurant-size portions. 

VERY good pie! Made this for thanksgiving- one of the many pies in my pie parade.

Seasoned Roasted Sweet Potatoes

 

Wanted to put out this idea for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

2 pounds  sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon  pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F

2.  Peel and cube the sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. 

3. Add  the olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, cumin, and garlic powder to a large plastic bag with a zip closer. Shake a few times to combine ingredients. Add the sweet potatoes and shake again to make sure all the sweet potatoes are covered with the seasoning.

4. Line a large sheet pan with aluminum foil then spread out the sweet potatoes evenly on the pan.

5. Toss the potatoes 10 to 15 minutes. Total time to bake is about 30 minutes.

History Facts that are SO Stupid but are Real!

 These are amazing. I never heard of any of these and wanted to share.

1. Benjamin Hornigold was a pirate in the late 16 and early 1700s who once robbed a merchant vessel purely for the crews hats because he and his crew got so drunk the night before that they all threw their own hats overboard for no good reason.

2. In 1184, a number of nobles from across the Holy Roman Empire were meeting in a room at the Church of St. Peter, when their combined weight caused the floor to collapse into the latrine beneath the cellar and led to dozens of nobles drowning in liquid excrement.

It is referred to as the Erfurt latrine disaster   

3. How the Berlin Wall fell. In order to calm mounting protests GDR officials decided on loosening travel restrictions between East and West, not open the border completely.

Notes of the new rules had been handed to a spokesman who hadn't had time to read them before the press conference. "Private travel outside the country can now be applied for without prerequisites," he said. Surprised journalists clamored for more details. Shuffling through his notes, he said that as far as he was aware, it was effective immediately. In fact it had been planned to start the next day, with details on applying for a visa. But the news was all over television - and East Germans flocked to the border in huge numbers. As the border became inundated with East Berliners wishing to reunite with family and/or escape the GDR, border guards became overwhelmed and with no orders to either shoot upon the crowd or open the gate, only a handful of guards facing hundreds and thousands of citizens, rather than fire and create a stampede and potentially kill hundreds the head of the guards decided to give the order "Open the barrier!" What came next was a spontaneous chain reaction with Berliners on both sides arriving at Checkpoint Charlie to celebrate this momentous event and to demolish the wall.

So basically an ill prepared functionary made a flippant remark and a border guard captain unable to get orders on how to proceed led to one of the most defining moments of the late 20th Century in Europe.

4.The Great Pig War (aka the San Juan Boundary Dispute) between the US and UK/Canada lasted seven whole years and at its max involved 2,600 combatants and nearly a hundred cannons.

But the opposing forces never actually got around to doing much combatting. In fact, the only recorded injury was a Royal Marine who got hit in the eye by a rock blindly thrown from the American trenches. He was shipped to hospital, recuperated, and rejoined his unit.

Most of the troops' time was spent sneaking into each other's camps to play cards, and to trade tobacco and fresh food for navy rum swiped from the quartermaster's stores. Generally known as The Best War Ever.

The inciting factor was a pig from the British camp getting into the American camp's garden, upon which it was shot. Hence, 'the Pig War.'

5. In WW2 the Russians trained dogs to run under tanks with time bombs on their backs. "Anti-tank dogs". But, the Russians trained the dogs on Russian tanks so when they set them free on the battlefield they truned around and started blowing up the Russian tanks instead of the opposition's tanks. So insane that no one thought about using German tanks for the training.

This must have taken MONTHS and at least dozens of people and no one realized. Specifically they were tracking the smell. Soviets used diesel for their armor while the Nazis used gasoline

LEMON BLUEBERRY TEXAS SIZED MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (I like salted, softened)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt ( didn't add)
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries

Optional: Powdered sugar glaze or drizzle of vanilla frosting

Directions:

Wash off the outside of the lemons, and then roll them around under your hand to soften and “loosen” up the juice inside.

Then cut in half and squeeze out the juice, being careful to remove any seeds.

In your mixer bowl,  beat together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and lemon juice. 

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. To give the muffins an extra citrus taste,  use orange juice instead of milk for the liquid. Measure out orange juice. Now alternately add flour mixture and orange juice to  creamed sugar, eggs and lemon juice,  a bit at a time till it’s all incorporated. 

 If you’re using frozen blueberries (not for fresh) stir them with a Tablespoon of flour. This will soak up some of the moisture when they bake.

Turn off your mixer and gently stir the blueberries into the batter.

 Pour in your batter into muffin cups and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for around 
a knife or toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.

My Cottage Pie Recipe

When Gabe and I live in Sag Harbor we would buy half a steer every January. 

It's very rare that I buy red meat now. Gabe will pick up hamburger meat once in awhile. He still has to have his burgers!

Our neighbor Mey is SO good to us. She loves to cook and drops by from time to time with dinners for us to enjoy.

She made a roast beef recently, the three of us loved it. 

 What to make with the leftover? Cottage pie!!! It's so easy so I wanted to share the recipe.

Ingredients:

Leftover roast ( it doesn't matter how large it is. Grind or chop up whatever you have)

Beef gravy ( you can use package brown gravy or make your own. The amount of gravy you use depends on the amount of meat you have once ground)

1 can ( 14.5 ounces) cream corn

Mashed potatoes- enough to cover the top of the dish

Directions:

The size dish depends on the amount of roast which was ground and combined with gravy.

Prepare the dish with non stick spray

Add the roast mixed with gravy

Spread the cream corn to the top of the roast mixture.

Add mashed potatoes to the top of the cream corn

That's it- super easy.

Bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes depending on the pan.

The name "cottage pie" was first used at the end of the 18th century. It was around that time that the poorer people of Britain, people who lived in cottages in the country, started using potatoes as an everyday food. Originally, a pie made with any kind of meat and mashed potato was called a "cottage pie". Another reason- Shepard's Pie is usually made with Lamb- a huge NO NO in this house. Cottage pie is made with beef

Montgomery Pie

 A Bert Greene, cookbook author and longtime food columnist for The New York Daily News, was traveling home while in the service and happened to stay in a hotel in Montgomery, Ala. and dined in their restaurant. He ordered a piece of pie and upon his return home, he tried to contact the cook to ask for the recipe, but never got a response. He called the hotel manager only to learn that the cook couldn't read or write, and there was no recipe. Mr. Greene returned to Montgomery and stood with the wonderful lady in her kitchen as she made the pie and recorded the recipe so that others could enjoy Montgomery Pie.

Ingredients:

2 eggs - room temp

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup water

4 tablespoons soft butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 deep dish pie crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat one egg with the lemon juice and rind, ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1 cup water. Beat until smooth and pour into unbaked pie shell.

Beat butter and one egg in a large bowl; add 2/3 cup sugar and baking powder; then alternatively add milk and 1-1/2 cups flour (about 1/3 each time). Beat until smooth then spoon the mixture over the first layer of the pie.

Note: never made this pie before and it was very strange to add the flour mixture over a liquid base.  Make sure you place the pie plate on a cookie sheet with an edge. When moving the pie to the oven it's better to have spills on the pan then the floor.

Bake 35-40 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness. Cool on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy. Be sure to spoon the lemon filling left in the pan over the top of the slice before serving.

Terry Ford, Curve TN

This recipe was in my TOH Community Board folder, I think Cubbybear ( Margie) posted it.

Gabe liked it, said it was more like a muffin then a pie. Richard, Sharon, Laura and Laurie got a huge slice.

Chickpea and Pumpkin Fritters

 Ingredients:

 2-13.5 ounce cans of chickpeas- rinsed

 2 cups canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup diced onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 and 3/4 teaspoons garlic powder

1.5 teaspoons cumin

1/4 teaspoon + 3 pinches of cayenne pepper

1.5 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 fresh lime squeezed

1 egg

3/4 cup  flour

1/2 cup almond milk 

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1- Rinse chickpeas and add pumpkin puree to a food processor. Pulse until smooth, add  diced onions and parsley.

2-Add all of your dried seasonings: garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt. Add lime and pulse in the food processor.

3- Add  almond milk to the ingredients in the food processor. The mixture will be sort of mushy.

4- Remove the mixture from the food processor to a large bowl, add the flour. Add Panko till the mixture is the right consistency to form the fritters.

5- Heat a pan with 2 tbsp olive oil to a medium flame or setting.  Add the fritters in one by one ensuring not to overcrowd the pan.

6- Cook until brown on each side. Takes a few minutes depending on the size of the fritters.