Pumpkin Cheesecake

Made this from a Home Chef meal kit, it was so good I’d make it again! And next time try a chocolate ganache topping like we had on the pumpkin cheesecake at Thanksgiving.

8oz bar of cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick (2oz) butter, melted
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
8” pie dish
4oz Greek yogurt
3fl oz liquid egg (2 large eggs minus 1Tb or 6Tb)
3oz light brown sugar (6Tb)
2oz canned pumpkin
1 Tb pumpkin pie spice (4 parts cinnamon, 2 ginger, 1 cloves, 1/2 nutmeg)

Combine graham crumbs and butter, spread into baking dish using a cup (a measuring glass used to melt the butter) to press down and push up the sides a bit. Place dish in fridge to chill while making the filling.
Preheat oven to 350.
Using a blender or food processor, combine the remaining ingredients, adding a pinch of salt. Blend on high until smooth and light, 2-4 minutes.
Pour batter into crust and bake 25-35 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes then refrigerate 2 hours. We didn’t wait and it was yummy warm! Taster approved.

Cranberry Brie Bites

YIELD: 24

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tube crescent dough
• Cooking spray, for pan
• Flour, for rolling out dough
• 8 oz. wheel Brie
• 1 c. whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 6 sprigs of rosemary, cut into 1" pieces.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375° and grease a mini muffin tin with cooking spray. On a lightly floured surface, roll out crescent dough, and pinch seams together. Cut into 24 squares. Place squares into muffin tin slots.
2. Cut brie into small pieces and place inside the crescent dough. Top with a spoonful of cranberry sauce, some chopped pecans, and one little sprig of rosemary.
3. Bake until the crescent is golden, about 15 minutes.
4. Serve warm.
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Kale, Avocado, Apple, Wild Rice and Pomegranate Salad

Made this a couple days ago and as you can see, it keeps pretty well for a leftovers lunch!
Inspired by a salad I got from B. Good, I simply replicated it. Their salad includes thick-cut pieces of bacon which is yummy! I left that out but of course you can add that -or- as I tried today at work, falafel! The falafel works great. This could also be a satisfying side at Thanksgiving or for turkey leftovers.

1 bunch of kale, washed and torn into bite-size pieces, into a large bowl.
dressing for kale: a light drizzle of olive oil and cider vinegar, salt & pepper
After dressing, use your hands to blend it into the kale, squeezing it a bit so it absorbs and tenderizes. The kale will turn a bright green.

Squeeze half a lemon into a cereal-bowl size of water. As you chop the apple, then avocado, this prevents it from browning.

1 chopped apple of your choice. I went with an Empire. Crispy and tart, not too sweet.
1 pomegranate, seeded (you only need half the seeds). Watch a YouTube tutorial if you've never seeded a pomegranate. The trick is cutting it open properly thus not destroying the seeds in the process.
1 avocado, chopped into same size pieces as apple. 
dried cranberries (1/2 cup)
sunflower seeds (1/2 cup)
wild rice (the variety I bought took 55 minutes to prepare) (1 cup)
2 stalks of snipped scallion greens

Toss it up and enjoy!

Red Curry Ginger Squash Soup

This is great to freeze and reheat! I’ve been enjoying it for light lunches lately- microwave for 5 minutes. I found freezing them in coffee cups super handy rather than the plastic container. 

You can use any squash, I made this a couple times using a kabocha squash and a butternut. You could even save time and buy the squash precut. 

2 Tb unsalted butter (or olive oil for vegan version)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 Tb peeled and finely chopped ginger

1 Tb Thai red curry paste  

1 1/2 pounds squash, peeled and cut into 2” pieces

1 stalk lemongrass

One 13.5 ounce can coconut milk

2 makrut lime leaves or zest of 2 limes

2 Tb fresh squeezed lime juice, more to taste

1 Tb sugar, more to taste

2 tsp kosher salt, more to taste 

In a large stock pot (too large for regular but good if doubling the recipe) melt butter over medium heat and cook the onions and ginger 4-5 minutes to soften. Add the curry paste and cook a minute, until fragrant.

Add the squash and 2 cups of water and cook until mushy, about 15 minutes. 

Peel off the outer leaves of lemongrass, chop off the very bottom and top third and discard. Split the bottom third lengthwise and add to soup along with the coconut milk and lime leaves. Simmer for 30 minutes. Fish out the lime leaves and lemongrass and discard. Season with lime juice, sugar and salt. 

Purée the soup using a stick blender, blender or food processor. Pass soup through a strainer (not necessary but will find some bits of ginger).

Can be made up to 4 days in advance or frozen up to 2 weeks. 

Surf and Turf Black Pepper Udon Noodles

Adapted from the lovely new cookbook I’ve been enjoying, Myers + Chang At Home: Recipes from the beloved Boston eatery. The only thing I changed was using udon instead of Shanghai style noodles (Twin Marquis brand)/or linguine. Leftovers were good for lunch. I did make a smaller, almost halved recipe. 

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

Made with frozen blueberries. Work quickly to fill the pan (s), the better stiffens up quickly after adding them! I used 9x5 and 2x5 pans, lined with parchment and cooking spray. The small pan took 45min, larger was more like an hour. It's a tender, fluffy cake, so good! Don't forget the lemon zest with the butter and eggs.

• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), room temp
• 1 cup sugar (200 g)
• 1 cup flour (125 g)
• 1/2 cup cornmeal (60 g)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/3 cup sour cream (80 g)
• 2 cups blueberries (190 g)
• Streusel topping
• 1/2 cup sugar (100 g)
• 6 tablespoons flour (45 g)
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal (15 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces (55 g)

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add eggs and vanilla to butter mixture. Mix in 1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 sour cream, 1/3 flour mixture, remaining sour cream. To the remaining 1/3 flour mixture, fold in blueberries.Hand fold into the batter. Pour into a buttered and floured 8" square pan. Make streusel: Mix dry ingredients together. incorporate butter bits until mixture becomes sandy in texture. Sprinkle over batter and bake about 40 to 45 minutes.

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Pork Shumai Meatballs

This is a Home Chef meal kit recipe that I’ll definitely make again. Taster approved!

14oz ground pork
3/4 cup jasmine rice (or less- maybe a 1/2 cup, we had plenty)
2 green onions, thin sliced on an angle (half added to meatball mixture)
2 garlic cloves
1 fl oz soy sauce
5 oz snap peas
2 tsp chopped ginger
.35 oz rice flour
1/3 fl oz toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 fl oz ponzu sauce

Cook the Rice
Boil 1 1/2 cups water with rice, bring to simmer and cover 18 min. Fluff with fork and set aside.
While rice cooks, prepare meatballs. Preheat oven to 400.

In a medium bowl, combine pork, soy sauce, half of the green onions, ginger, rice flour, half of the sesame oil, pinch of pepper. Form into golf sized meatballs. Brown in tsp olive oil over medium high heat on two sides, 2-3 min on each side. Put on a foil lined baking sheet sprayed with oil. Bake 8-10 min.
While they roast, sauté snap peas.
Wipe meatball pan clean and heat on medium. Add 1tsp olive oil and remaining sesame oil. Cook garlic 1 minute. Add snap peas and green onions (save a pinch for garnish) and cook until tender and lightly charred, 4-5 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and red pepper flakes.

Plate and drizzle ponzu sauce over (or serve on side for dipping).

Shrimp Pad Thai For two

This recipe was adapted from my Home Chef meal kit. It's supposed to be made with 10oz sirloin strips but they sent a pork tenderloin instead! I usually like my pad thai with chicken and shrimp. You could also use fried/scrambled egg. Their recipe was bland without the addition of thai peanut sauce. Andrew and I sampled http://www.watcharee.com/watcharees-thai-peanut-sauce at Whole Foods once and loved it. It totally perked up the flavor here. They also make a pad thai sauce.
Will make this again! Taster approved but go easy on the sambal.

3 garlic cloves
3 green onions
1/4 c. honey roasted peanuts
1/4 c. Cilantro
5 oz. rice noodles
1/3 lb shelled raw shrimp
2 tsp. Sugar
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1/4 c. Oyster sauce
1/4 c. Thai peanut sauce
1 tsp Sambal
Lime wedges

Boil water for noodles.
Mince garlic.
Thinly slice green onions, separating white parts. Chop cilantro.
Coarsely chop peanuts.
Prep carrot.
Add noodles to boiling water and cook 3-4 minutes. Reserve 3/4 cup cooking water and drain noodles in colander. Toss with 1 tsp olive oil to keep them from sticking together. Set aside in a bowl.
Put 2 tsp olive oil in pot used for noodles and cook shrimp. Before they are done, add garlic and sugar, cook 1 minute.
Add carrots and white portion of onions and cook 1-2 minutes until carrots soften.
Finish pad thai:
Add oyster sauce, noodles, 1/2 cup reserved water and peanut sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally until noodles are just tender, 2-3 minutes. Add sambal (to taste, it's spicy). Add remaining water to achieve desired consistency.
Plate in a shallow bowl. Garnish with peanuts, cilantro and green onions. Lime wedge on the side.