Spicy Cheddar Cheesecake with Apricot Glaze

Being couped up for two months is starting to get on my nerves! I started looking through my bookcase (mainly cookbooks) and found Mama's set of books "The Spirit of Christmas". I remember getting tons of ideas from these books! They are full of decorating ideas, craft projects, gift ideas and recipes! They are very tastfully done also! This recipe is one that I found in this book years ago that I had to play around with a bit... Anyway, here is the recipe and a picture from the book.

Spicy Cheddar Cheesecake
with Apricot Glaze

Crust:

¾ cup finely crushed tortilla chips
½ cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 T melted butter

Process tortilla chips. Mix with cheese and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9in springform pan. Bake 10 minutes or until firm.


Filling:

2 pkgs (8 oz each) softened cream cheese
2 eggs
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped green onion
1 tsp Worchester sauce
1 tsp hot sauce
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat cream cheese and eggs in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in cheese, onion, Worchester, hot sauce and salt. Spread mixture over crust and bake 25 -30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan. Remove sides of the pan and cool for 2 hours to let flavors set.


Glaze:

1 T olive oil
2 T minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
2 jars (12 oz each) apricot preserves
¼ cup orange juice
2 T apple cider vinegar

Combine oil, onion and garlic in a medium saucepan. Sauté


To Serve:

Spoon about 1 cup of glaze over cheesecake. (All at room temperature)
Cut into about 20 small wedges and serve with remaining glaze.

Cyndi's Artichoke Dip

A big thanks goes out to my friends, Cyndi McIntosh and her boys! They were sweet enough to take up the challenge I gave them to create a tasty dip recipe. I asked them to send me a picture and the recipe so I could share it with everyone here. I wish I could dig in right now! Yummy! Thanks again "Miss Cyndi", Cortland, Dawson and Walker!!!

Click on the picture to zoom in and prepare to drool! :-)

1 can artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
3 oz. Cream cheese
1 cup Breakstone's zesty blends roasted garlic & herb sour cream

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.


As a lot of you know, I've been absent for a while due to surgery and a long recovery. I'm trying to get back to my recipes. So, if you'll bare with me for a little while longer, I should be up and back to normal soon! Thanks to Cyndi and all my friends for sticking with me through this, and thanks for participating by passing along recipes to share!!!

Beat the Heat Recipes

With the heat index this past few weeks reaching triple digits, I've been looking for things to make that won't heat up the kitchen. It's already too hot as it is... Here are a few refreshing recipes that WON'T make you break a sweat!

Southwest Wrap

3/4 cup corn

1/4 cup chopped red onions

3 Tbsp. Chipotle Flavored Mayonnaise
4 tortillas (8 inch)
4 lettuce leaves
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
16 slices Ham
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

Combine first 3 ingredients. Top tortillas with lettuce, cheese, ham, corn mixture and tomatoes. Fold up bottom edge of each tortilla, then roll up starting at 1 side.


Fresh Tomato Salsa

3 tomatoes (1 lb.), chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup Italian Dressing

Combine ingredients. Serve salsa with tortilla chips, crackers or assorted fresh vegetables.
 

 

Watermelon Cooler

4 cups chopped watermelon
1/3 cup Strawberry Sugar-Sweetened Drink Mix

Blend ingredients in blender until smooth. Serve over ice.
Add a splash of 7up or Sprite, if it needs more liquid.
It will depend on how juicy the watermelon is...

Shrimp Dip

I love this dip! I eat it on crackers, toast points, chips... It's good on anything as far as I'm concerned!
It is quick and easy too! (My favorite kind :-)

2 cans sm Shrimp, drained
    or 12 oz fresh shrimp, chopped
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1 sm Onion, minced
½ t Salt
Cayenne Pepper, dash
Lemon Juice

Mix and Chill.

Fruit Cocktail Cake

Here's another one of Mama's recipes that was written out more like a grocery list. I had to figure out the actual recipe... It's a good one!

Sift Together:

1 ½ cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 t soda
½ t Salt

Add:

1 stick butter, melted
1 Egg, beaten
1 can Fruit Cocktail, all of 1 pound can

Mix with spoon.

Pour into greased and floured pan (large sheet cake size)

Mix Together:

¾ cup Brown Sugar
¾ cup Coconut
¾ cup Nuts, chopped

Sprinkle in pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes at 350.

Hot Crab Melt

Every time I post a recipe with Crab in it, I think about my Uncle Perry and our summer trips to Mitchum Creek!

Taken from my post on July 8th, 2010... "Soft Shelled Crabs from Mitchum Creek"

Uncle Perry... The Old Man of the Sea

"I always loved going to Uncle Perry's in the summertime. He lived in Topping, Virginia on Mitchum Creek. We would get up early in the morning, pack a lunch, and go fishing. I loved fishing with Uncle Perry. ( Helping gather bait... watching the crabs in the bucket blowing bubbles... watching Daddy on the front of the boat trying to scoop up the peelers on top of the water with the dip net... watching Uncle Perry cut up bait... Mama getting so tired from catching fish, but she wouldn’t quit. She’d just hook them then call Daddy to reel them in...) When we got in we would clean the fish and then get cleaned up ourselves. Usually, we kids could get in a good scavenger hunt before supper. Going through the crab boxes... pulling Periwinkles off the weeds by the water... playing on Uncle Perry’s boat... watching the hummingbirds from the porch... Grandmama having to walk so slow with the feeder because the hummingbirds would come to feed as soon as she opened the front door... Later that night we all came out on the porch to eat supper. In the usual family tradition, there was always mounds of food. Grandmama’s fried oyster fritters, fresh fried fish, fried chicken, Aunt Vashti’s pan fried squash, plates of tomatoes and cucumbers, biscuits and much, much more. And, of course, if Daddy had gotten a couple of peelers, we had soft shell crabs too! Uncle Perry was sitting at the head of the table, to my left. As usual we all over-ate. We sat for a rather long time talking about the day and the ones that got away. I noticed Uncle Perry push back his chair to stand. He leaned forward several times pushing his hands against the seat of the chair. But, he did not stand. After a moment, he smiled and looked over at me. He leaned over to me and said, “It’s awfully embarrassing after eating that much, trying and trying to get up, and you can't. And then you find out that your thumb’s in your hip pocket!”

Hot Crab Melt

6 oz Crab Meat
¼ cup Tartar Sauce
2 T Celery, finely chopped
2 T Bell Pepper, finely chopped
1 t Lemon Juice
2 English Muffins, Split and Toasted
4 slices American Cheese

Combine all ingredients except muffins and cheese. Mix well. Place spread on muffin halves. Bake at 350 for five minutes. Top with cheese and bake 5 minutes longer.

Notes: “Great with shrimp too!” (Mama's favorite :-)

Old Fashioned Banana Pudding

Mama always said that you could make shortcuts all you want (as mentioned in her note below), but you have to know the right way to prepare a dish! So here's the real deal... Southern Old Fashion Banana Pudding recipe.

¾ cup Sugar

2 T Flour

¼ t Salt

2 cups Milk

3 Eggs, separated

1 t Vanilla

6 medium bananas, sliced

Vanilla Wafers


Combine 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler. Stir in milk. Cook over boiling water until thick. Stir constantly. Cook, uncovered 15 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Beat egg yolks. **Gradually stir into hot mixture. Return to boiler and cook 5 minutes. Stir constantly. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Line bottom of baking dish with wafers. Top with a layer of bananas, and then pour custard to top of bananas. Continue to layer cookies, bananas and then custard. Beat egg whites stiff, gradually add remaining sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Pile on top of custard. Bake in preheated oven 5 minutes at 425 or until lightly browned.

Note: “You can use instant pudding as a short-cut, but that’s not as good as the old fashion kind…”

**I will add that if you are a beginner, I'd temper the eggs before adding to the milk mixture. If not, you might risk scrambling them and having to start over.