Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cheesecake, is there a yummier word? I love cheescake more then chocolate or many sweet options. I decided that this would be a great way to start using up my fresh pumpkin mash. This is one of the easiest cheescakes I have mad as it doesn't require you to whip the egg whites to soft peaks. This is a simple and easy cheesecake. I do not use a graham cracker crust as I don't see the need for it and never have liked it. I read (somewhere?) that "real" cheesecake doesn't have a crust so I like to pretend I do it the proper way. If you do like a graham cracker or gingersnap crust by all means use one but it lifted cleanly out without a crust of any kind. I adapted this from recipzarr.com.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla or half a pod
3 eggs
1 cup fresh pumpkin but canned is fine
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon I freshly grated this
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg I freshly grated this as well

cream 1/2 c sugar with16 oz cream cheese and vanilla.

add eggs one at a time.

after it is smooth remove one cup of batter and set aside

add the pumpkin, remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the spices and whip to thoroughly mix.

put the pumpkin batter in your pan of choice and then pour in a spiral the still white cheesecake you withheld earlier. Swirl the colors using a knife or a chopstick to make a pretty swirl.

Bake 350 degrees for 55 minutes. remove let cool for a few minutes and then pop into the fridge for at least 3 hours but it is even better the next day. WHAT, it has eggs and cream cheese it's like an omelet on a bagel- that counts as healthy. Right? RIGHT????

I have pumpkin mash - now what?

I normally roast my pumpkin and it takes several hours but yesterday I wanted to hurry and use the pumpkin while I was doing a few other things so I tried something new, boiling! The color was very bright and pretty but sadly the pics I took really don't show off the vibrant of the orange. Now I have a big bowl of pumpkin mash and all my friends have different opinions on what to do with it.

pumpkin pie

pumpkin brownies

pumpkin ice cream (?really?)

pumpkin cheesecake - I do have a TON of cream cheese

Do you have any ideas?

Cream cheese is about $3 for a pkg but the other day the market was having a sale and they were $.50 each! I got 5 of them. Why do I need 5 packages of creme cheese? I don't and I never even buy bagels but it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up! I think I will use it up today and make a pumpkin cheesecake to start. I don't have a removable ring pan but I can make it in a deep pan. I lost that pan when we moved to Oklahoma last year. I need to get another one but due to the fact I have at least 100 pans I can find a suitable substitute.

Come back tomorrow and see if my cheesecake was a success!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Today (Tuesday) was Pumpkin Patch Day for my son's kindergarten field trip. This was a BIG DEAL and he has been excited for weeks. I went along as well and got 3 smallish sugar pumpkins so I can make some pies in a few weeks. I will crack one of them open tonight and scrape the seeds to roast tomorrow I am planning to make them pretty as a treat for my new dad* as he is diabetic and I always make him something way to naughty and I am "trying" to be a good daughter. My mother is also always trying to find healthy snacks so I hope they like this!



Roasted Pumpkin Seeds





Remove seeds from your pumpkin with a sturdy spoon. Rinse off any pulp from the inside of the pumpkin. It may be easier to use a colander to rinse the pulp from the seeds so that the water can drain into the sink.



Soak the seeds in lightly salted water for 2 hours



Pat the seeds dry with a paper towel. Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.




Saute the 2 cups of pumpkin seeds in a skillet or a large pan. Stir them with 2 tbs. of butter, or 1 1/2 tbs. of olive or peanut oil. Add 1 tsp. of salt into the mixture. Continue to stir the seeds, butter or oil and salt for 3 minutes.


Place your pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet. Spread the seeds out in one layer so that they can roast evenly.


Roast the pumpkin seeds in the oven for 30 minutes. Bake them for another 15 minutes if necessary, or until they are golden brown. Cool the pumpkin seeds on a paper towel or on a rack before eating them.



While still warm you can season with paprika or added salt or whatever sounds good to you. You can wait until the seeds are cool if you prefer.



Put them in a pretty jar and you have a pretty, cheap and delioucious gift!





*New Dad has been married to my mom for 12 yrs I like him more then the word stepfather as it sounds kinda cinderellie but I can't call him Dad as I had a dad and I liked him a lot but sometimes when we talk I call him just dad cause I like the new dad too.<3

Last of summer tomatoes

I went to my local dairy the other day and the little old man that grows tomatoes was selling the less then pretty ones for 50 cents a lb. Score baby! Tomatoes are about 3.00 a lb so this was a great deal I told him I would take all he had. It wasn’t till I got home I saw He threw in some perfect ones too. I thought that was very nice and a great example of the niceness of knowing your local farmer(s). So then I had over 10 lbs of tomatoes to use up and fast. I took the perfect ones and made blt’s for dinner and the kids love tomatoes cut up with ranch so I made them that and they ate it so fast and hubby said that is just how he was as a kid. But even after all that I still had about 10 lbs of tomatoes so decided to roast them for this winter for stews and chili. I chopped them up and put them on a huge industrial size cookie sheet. I kept it simple so that I could use them for any number of recipes, just salt and a smidge of oil. I baked them in a 350 oven for about an hour and half. They were so pretty I almost forgot I hate tomatoes! I was going to can them but I was feeling lazy and decided to freeze them instead. I was reading http://www.kitchn.com/ and saw they had an article on how easy it was so the decision was easy. They look so bright I kind of wanted to make stew now but decided to wait until winter when tomatoes have gotten that plastic mealy look to them.

Roasting Tomatoes
Whatever tomatoes you have cleaned and chopped
Spices – you can use fresh basil or Italian spices or just salt
A little oil to drizzle over non flavor like a corn or a nice olive oil
Oven at 350 degrees for about 1 to 2 hrs depending on how many tomatoes you have
Let cool and pack in freezer safe containers. That is it!

An easy peasy highly versatile method you can adapt however you want.

Come on fall I am ready!