Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

First and foremost, allow me to apologize for not having step-by-step instructions for this recipe.  You see, I have for the last two years made this recipe for Christmas dessert; and I am always so overwhelmed that I rarely have time to capture step-by-step photos for anything that I am making.  This past year I managed to get a couple of recipes completely photographed, but this was not one of them.  I did, however, manage to get a photo of the final product.  My intention was to wait until this year and try again, but upon further reflection I really wanted to share this recipe well before November and December for those early planners out there. 

This recipe originally appeared in the December 2010 Cooking Light Magazine.  The original recipe called for a raspberry liqueur to be mixed into the topping.  As I am always looking to reduced the calories in all my recipes, I replaced this with a high quality cranberry juice.  I love out-lighting Cooking Light! I also chose to go with a standard graham cracker crust instead of the called for chocolate graham cracker crust because I really prefer a classic crust on a cheese cake.  

The Ingredients

Crust

4 ounces low-fat plain graham crackers

3 tablespoons unsalted butter. melted

cooking spray

Topping

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cranberry juice

3 tablespoons sugar

Cheesecake

1 cup sugar

2 8-ounce packages block-style 1/3 less-fat cream-cheese, softened

4-ounces block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened

1 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 large egg whites

1. Preheat the oven to 375° 
2. Wrap the outsides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with a double layer of heavy-duty foil.  Spray the inside the springform pan with cooking spray until well coated.
3. Place the graham crackers in a food processor; process until finely ground.  Drizzle the melted butter into the opening of the food processor while it continues to run, until the mixture is combined.  Press the mixture into bottom and 1/2-inch up the sides of the prepared springform pan.  
4. Bake the crust at 375° for 8 minutes; cool completely on a wire rake.  
5. Reduce the temperature on the oven to 325°
6. Place the cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar, cranberry juice, and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Cook for 8 minutes or until the the cranberries pop and the mixture is syrupy.  Cool 20 minutes. 
7. Combine 1 cup of sugar and the cream cheeses in a large bowl; and beat with a mixer (or use a stand mixer) at medium speed until smooth.  Beat in one at a time the yogurt, the vanilla and the salt.  Add the whole eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  
8. Place the 2 egg whites into a bowl and beat them with a mixer until (if you used a stand mixer for the step above and don't have a stand mixer you will need to remove the cheese mixer and thoroughly clean the bowl of the stand mixer before doing this step---just buy a hand held mixer--it's easier) soft peaks are formed.  Gently, very gently fold the egg white into the cheese mixture.  Do not over mix, or you will lose that lift that the egg whites bring to this recipe.  
9. Pour the mixture into the crust.  Spoon the cranberry mixture (like dots) over the top of the cream cheese mixture and then use a knife to swirl the cranberries around the top of the cheesecake.  
10. Place the springform pan a large rectangular baking dish (large enough to hold your foil covered springform pan--test this out in advance).  Add hot water to the pan to a depth of 2 inches.  
11. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes to an hour or until the center of the cheesecake barely moves when the pan is touched.  
12. Turn oven off.  Cool the cheesecake in the closed oven for 30 minutes.  
13. Remove the cheesecake from the oven, and run a knife around the outside edge.  Cool on a wire rack.  Cover and chill for 8 hours.  

Recipe Source: December 2010 issue of Cooking Light Magazine

Serves 12.  Cut the cake into 12 even servings

Calories 270
Protein 7 grams
Fat 11 grams
Sodium 253
Fiber 1
Potassium 54

Pumpkin Pie Kisses~A Rerun

 This is a re-posting of a recipe I did some time ago, you can tell by the one photo format that this recipe was first posted at least a year ago.  I wanted to share it again because the Hershey's Kisses featured in this recipe are typically only available in September or October and I don't want any of you to miss them. 

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I found these Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses at the store while looking for ideas for cookies for Kyle's soccer team. I immediately decided to make some sort of blossom kiss type cookie, but I knew that the traditional peanut butter cookie base would not cut it. While searching for something to use as the base to these cookies I found an amazing Brown Sugar Cookie recipe in the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking cookbook. The result was a cookie to rival any pumpkin pie!

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses, unwrapped

1. Adjust the oven rack the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together the 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar together in a shallow bowl.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside for later.
3. Melt 10 tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat, swirling the pan constantly until the melted butter is a dark golden brown that gives of a nutty aroma, this should take about 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully transfer the butter to a heatproof bowl and add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter stirring until they are also melted. Set aside for 15 minutes until cooled completely.
4. Stir the remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and the salt into the cooled butter until evenly combined. Stir in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until completely incorporated. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
5. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls with your hands wet and then roll them in the sugar mixture. Place them on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
6. Baking one sheet at a time bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove them from the oven and immediately press an unwrapped Pumpkin Spice Hershey kiss into the middle of each still soft cookie. Allow the cookies to cool for about 3 minutes on the cookie sheet until moving them to a wire rack. Be careful will begin to melt just a bit.

The Veggie Mom Place Pumpkin Pie

If you have been reading the blog and you had better have been reading the blog, you know that all the Veggie Boys wanted to do when their dad was out of town was to go to the Pie Place.  Not wanting to spend a fortune on pie and pancakes(the pie place is a pie/other food place) their smart momma, made both pie and pancakes while the Veggie Dad was out of town.  Luckily I had all the ingredients on hand for a pumpkin pie and thus I made a pumpkin pie. 

Normally, I would do a basic pumpkin pie recipe with pumpkin puree, evaporated milk., spices and sugar.  But this time I decided to skip the evaporated milk and go with a cream/milk mixture.  Of course it had been made clear to me that whipped cream MUST be served with pumpkin pie, so since I'm gonna buy cream anyway I might was well use it in the pie, right?  A game time decision was using dark brown sugar and in all honesty, while I liked the flavor I did not like that the dark brown sugar made the pie more brown then pumpkin-y orange. 

Pumpkin Pie

1 single pie crust pre-baked, warm and fitted into a 9-inch pie plate

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup whole milk

4 large eggs

Pre-bake the crust according to the instruction in the Single Pie Crust recipe through the baking (of course), but be sure that pie crust is warm when you put the pie filling into the crust. 

For baking the filled pie, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Process the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cloves together in the food processor until well combined, about 1 minute. 

Transfer the pumpkin mixture into a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. 

Slowly, whisk the cream and milk into the pumpkin mixture and return to a simmer briefly and then remove from the heat.

Process the eggs in a food processor until it's all yellow and uniform in color, about 5 seconds

With the machine still running, slowly and carefully add (like maybe don't try and take a photo of what you are doing it while you are doing it) the pumpkin mixture to the eggs through the feed tube.  Process until well combined, about 30 seconds. 

Immediately pour the warm filling into the warm pie crust (sorry I failed to get a photos of this step).  Bake the pie until the filling is puffed up, lightly cracked around the edges and the center giggles slightly when shaken, about 25 minutes.  If you feel the edges of the crust needs it place a crust guard or some aluminum foil around the edges towards the end of the baking time. 

Let the pie cool for 2 hours. Be sure to take a photo of the pie before you leave it alone with your pie-crazed children, because one of them will try and eat the cooling pie with a large spatula when you back is turned.! Serve warm and covered with whipped topping to hide any and all of it's battle scars. 



Slutty Shirley

I thought you might enjoy at little something fun that you can serve at your New Year's Eve Party. Enjoy!

What can I say, we made this up. It was so good I had to share. Now, I do not mean to suggest that my husband and I were the first people to add vodka and some extra grenadine to a Shirley Temple, but I think we were the first to call her a slut because of it.


1 ounce of vodka
1.5 ounces of grenadine
4 ounces lemon-lime soda
ice

1. Pour the first three ingredients over ice and stir until well incorporated.
2. Top with maraschino cherries, a slice of lemon, or nothing at all.
   

Cornbread

This is the perfect accompaniment to your Collard Greens and Black Eye Peas. Use the cornbread to soak up all that good stuff.

2 cups self rising cornmeal
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 2/3 cups buttermilk or 1 1/2 cups regular milk
1 egg
1/4 cup melted shortening or vegetable oil
1-2 tablespoons white sugar (optional)

Mix corn meal with sugar (if using) buttermilk and egg. Add the melted shortening or oil. Pour into greased skillet or 8X8 baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes at 425°

Black Eye Peas

This is the second part of your New Years Day meal. Eating black eye peas on New Years Day will bring you luck.

This recipe was created according to the specifications of my pressure cooker. All pressure cookers are different, so please familiarize yourself with yours.


2 cups dry beans, soaked overnight (instructions to follow)

1 3/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoons my versions of The Grit's Vegetarian Gravy
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. To soak the beans: place beans in cooker. Add to beans, enough water to cover, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of salt. Allow beans to soak overnight. They should be their normal size after the soak. Drain and rinse the beans thoroughly before the next step.
2. Place the soaked beans, back into the clean cooker. Add the broth, water, gravy and seasoning to the beans. Place the lid on your cooker, lock it, place the rocker on top.
3. Over medium high heat bring your cooker to a nice steady rock. Adjust your heat to maintain the steady rocking for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the cooker from the heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Please check the instructions on your cooker for the best way to achieve this.
5. Serve warm with cornbread or rice.

Serves 8, 1-cup servings: Calories 115, 1 gram of fat, 4 grams of fiber

Collard Greens

Greens are part of the traditional New Years Day meal in the South. Eating greens on New Years Day is supposed to bring you money in the new year. Finding a delicious vegetarian greens recipe is definitely a challenge. I found this recipe in the Grit Restaurant cook book. You will need to make their gravy recipe for this recipe. It can be found on my blog here.

This recipe is lock, stock and barrel from The Grit Restaurant Cookbook. The only changes I made were to the Grit Yeast Gravy which I posted yesterday, simply as Vegetarian Gravy. Again, I highly recommend this cookbook. It is amazing and for the record I am not getting anything for saying this. My mom collects cookbooks from GA restaurants, churches, civic organizations, etc.

1 large bunch (about 3 pounds) fresh collard greens, well rinsed
Water
3/4 cup Vegetarian Gravy
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1. Strip the stems from the leaves of the greens. Roll handfuls of leaves as if rolling a cigar and cut into narrow strips, then chop the strips as needed into smaller pieces.
2. Place greens into a large stockpot. Add enough water to cover the greens when the greens are forced down by hand to the bottom of your pot. Then add 3 cups of water.
3. Place pot on the stove over medium high heat, stir in the remaining ingredients, and cover. Bring to a vigorous boil, stirring occasionally.
4. Cook the greens for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the desired tenderness.
5. Serve warm with some fresh cornbeard to soak up all that pot liquior!

Serves 12, 1-cup servings: 39 calories, 1 gram of fat and 3 gram of fiber

Homemade Hot Cocoa

This recipe originally appeared on the blog last December and I even entered it into a couple of recipe contests (to no avail). This cocoa is sure to become a family favorite at your home as well.

This is our traditional after Christmas Tree shopping beverage. Honestly it does not get that cold here in December, but we like to pretend. With the addition of the movie Polar Express to our lives this past Christmas, this beverage was consumed almost daily by my oldest son. To quote the book and movie my son says this cocoa is, 'as rich and thick as melted chocolate bars.' I vary the amount of cocoa powder based on whether the beverage will be consumed by child or adult.

6 ounces hot milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
pinch of ground cinnamon
whipped cream (optional)
chocolate shavings (optional)

1. Warm milk on stove top or in microwave until desired temperature is achieved.
2. While milk is warming mix together the sugar, cocoa powder and ground cinnamon in your serving mug. Whisk warm milk into sugar and cocoa mixture until well incorporated.
3. Top with whipped cream and shavings if desired.
   

The calories for for the recipe using 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder and do not include the whipped topping shown in the photo above.

Serves one: Calories: 254, 4 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber

Scalloped Potatoes

This is by far my favorite scalloped potato recipe. This recipe is calls for cream and leave it in because the end product is worth it. I just watch my portion size carefully.

This recipe is originally from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I have replaced their chicken broth with vegetable broth.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 garlic cloves
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 lbs russet potatoes peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 425°. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, thyme, slat, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the potatoes, broth, and cream. Bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes.


2. Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch baking dish. Gently press the potatoes into an even layer and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until the cream is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
   

Serves 6: Calories 337, 20 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber

Lemon Ricotta Crepes with Strawberries

This was one of the first recipes I ever posted here on the blog. This is our favorite holiday breakfast. The crepe mixture can be made in advance as can the filling, so this makes for an easy Christmass morning breakfast. I have also added the calories to this dish.

For the crepes:
1 cup whole milk
1 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for the pan
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling and topping;
1 qt strawberries, hulled and sliced thin
1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 large egg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Blend all of the ingredients for the crepes together in a food processor or blender until smooth, about 4 seconds. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate the batter for 2 hours or up to 2 days.
2. Mash half of the strawberries to a rough pulp with 2 tablespoons of sugar and the Grand Marnier, then gently stir in the remaining strawberries. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
3. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees.
4. Gently stir the crepe batter to combine if it appears separated. Heat an 8 inch nonstick skillet (or crepe pan) over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Brush the pan bottom and sides very lightly with butter(it should sizzle when it hits the pan). When the butter spots sizzling, remove the pan from the heat, tilt the pan slightly, and pour 2 1/2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan. AS the batter is poured, rotate the pan to swirl the batter evenly over the face of the pan before returning it to the heat. Cook until the first side is spotty golden brown, 30 to 60 seconds. Use a thin spatula to flip the crepe and continue to cook until the second side is spotty golden brown, about 30 seconds longer. Transfer the crepe to a paper towel lined plate and let cool (you can stack the crepes on top of each other). Repeat with the remaining crepe batter, brushing the pan with butter as needed after cooking several crepes.
5. Stir the ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, the egg, lemon juice, and salt together until smooth. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Working with one crepe at at time, spoon 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture onto the crepe and fold as desired (roll it up like a cigar or fold into quarters) and place onto baking sheet. Once all the crepes are rolled or folded, cover lightly with foil and bake until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Spoon the strawberry topping over the crepes as served.

Serves 10: 244 calories, 8 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber

Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Favorite

Holiday Cut-Out Cookies

The holidays are in full swing at My Veggie Table. With my husband and both boys off of work/school we have lots of stuff planned. Unfortunately, this does not leave the Veggie Mom much time for blogging. I will be re-running some recipes which will help you prepared for your veggie Christmas. Never fear I am cooking and working on some new stuff in the kitchen. Those new recipes will appear in the new year. Merry Christmas and love to all. xoxo~The Veggie Mom.

I always make these cookies for Halloween and for Christmas. As I have not done my holiday baking just yet, I only have the photo from Halloween. This recipe is from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, using and electric mixer on medium-low speed, then continue to beat until the mixture is crumbly and slightly wet. Beat in the cream cheese and the vanilla until the dough just comes begins to form large clumps.
2. Knead the dough in the large bowl by hand a few times until it forms a large, cohesive mass. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter, divide it in half, and pat into two 4-inch disks. Wrap disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until they begin to firm up, 20 to 30 minutes. (FYI: you can make you dough ahead and keep it in the frig for 3 days or you can freeze it for up to 2 weeks--if you freeze it allow the dough to defrost in the frig)
3. Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat the oven to 375°. Line the bottom of two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Working with one disk at a time, roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness on a clean surface. I have granite counter tops, but if you do not have a good smooth cool surface you might want to invest in a roll mat. Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. Press the cookie cutters into the dough and remove the excess dough from around the cutters before removing the cutters. Then, using a spatula move the cut out cookies from the counter to your parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Place each cookie 1-inch apart.
4. Bake the cookies until a light golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet half way through the baking time.
5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes and then transfer them using a spatula to a wire rack. Cool cookies completely before icing them.
   
   

Glaze
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoons cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the milk and the cream cheese together until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth, adding the remaining milk as needed until the glaze is thin enough to spread easily. You can divide the glaze amoung separate bowls and add food coloring as desired. I use Wilton gel food color for dying cookie icing.
2. Decorate the cookies with the glaze and with sprinkles. Allow the glazed cookies to dry completely before touching them or they will be covered with finger prints