No-Bake Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 8 ounce tub of cool whip

1/3 cup of lemon or lime juice

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese.

Instructions:

Most important part of this recipe, is to leave the cream cheese out for a couple hours at room temperature. The cream cheese will become soft and smooth. The importance of this is to create a smooth texture. Not doing so, will create horrible lumps of cream cheese that will ruin the flavor of this pie.

After your cream cheese is softened enough, I like to see if it will spread easily with a plastic spatula. In a mixing bowl, mix all before mentioned ingredients. Please note: the lemon/lime juice must come last. The reaction of the citrus juice will start to harden your mixture almost immediately.

On the low speed of you hand mixer, blend well. Around 2 minutes of so is plenty, just make sure all ingredients are incorporated. Immediately pour mixture into a waiting graham crust ( (I like to use a vanilla wafer crust instead of graham and I used an 8” cake pan. Recipe below.) ) or for those of us that can't have the gluten, I opt for muffin cups. Refrigerate for an hour to and hour and a half and viola.

Vanilla Wafer Crust

24-30 vanilla wafers depending on pan size

3 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix both ingredients until it sticks together. Punch onto sides of cake pan to resemble a crust.

Add-ons-Make it your own!

To make this recipe your own, there are several things you can add.

Oreo cookie crust. Incorporate a few of the cookies in to the batter, smashed of course. Top with a few whole or halved cookies as well.

Fresh strawberries, with or without glaze. I like to cut the strawberries up in to quarters and place in a zip-lock bag. Gently whacking the bag of berries on the counter a few times to start releasing the juices. A half an hour later, you have a no fuss, no extra sugar strawberry topping and glaze. Although a little vanilla in bag wouldn't hurt anything.

Key lime juice instead of regular. This will give you a tart cheesecake, more like a key lime bar if you lessen the cool whip content. About half is needed for recipe, although the more that is used, the lighter and fluffier the taste and texture will be.

chocolate twinkie cake

 1 box cake mix

1 can frosting

filling:

5 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 tsp salt

bake cake according to package directions. when cake is completely cooled, turn cake out of pan onto a large plate or platter. (i usually use a cutting board). if the cake is really moist, put the cake in the freezer for a couple minutes and it should pop right out!

cut the thickness of the cake in half with a large knife or cake leveler. using a second plate, remove the top of the cake and set aside. flip the bottom half of the cake back into the cake pan. for this part, you can make the cake all fancy and do multiple layers if you want to. it's all about what you want :)

In a medium saucepan cook 5 T flour, 1 c milk, 1/4 tsp salt until thick. when i say thick, i mean kind of like a thin gravy. When it is too thick it doesn't beat up as nicely in the end. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla. Let cool completely. I usually put it in the refrigerator to cool while I do the next step.

In a medium bowl, cream together 1 c granulated sugar, 1/2 c crisco, 1/2 c margarine and 1/2 tsp salt.

When the "gravy" is cooled completely, add it to the bowl of creamed ingredients and beat for 10 minutes. It should be fluffy and the consistency of twinkie filling.

this recipe makes around 2 cups of fluff. It would be enough to have a 1/2 inch of filling in a 9x13 cake.

spread the cream filling on the bottom cake layer, leave 1/4 inch of space around the outside of the cake. the cream will spread out when the top layer is put back on.

carefully flip the top layer back onto the cake. frost as you normally would. if you are going to do a cake with multiple layers, i would recommend putting the cake in the freezer so the twinkie filling sets up and does not mix with the frosting if it squeezes out of the sides.

Princess Pie (Coconut Cream Pie)

crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans - optional

Mix and pat in an 8x8 inch pan, bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden. Do not over bake.

Layer two:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup whipped topping

Beat together sugar and cream cheese. Fold in whipped topping. Spread on cooled crust.

Layer three:
1 small package coconut cream instant pudding
1 1/2 cups whole milk (any milk will do, but whole milk makes pudding so much tastier)

Mix until thickened. Spread over cream cheese mixture.

Top with remaining tub of whipped topping.

Toast 1 cup coconut. Sprinkle evenly on dessert. Refrigerate.

Roasted Ranch Potatoes

2 pounds potatoes (unpeeled, washed and cut into chunks)

1/2 cup ranch dressing (bottled, not packet)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus 1/4 cup more for topping

1/4 cup crumbled, cooked bacon or real bacon pieces from jar

1 tablespoon dried dill weed

3 scallions, washed and chopped

Salt

Pepper

Sour Cream (optional)

Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add (in a large bowl) the ranch dressing, dill, cheese and bacon. Add in the potatoes. Sprinkle in a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to coat potatoes.

Spoon into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover with foil.

Bake for 60 minutes. Stir gently halfway through to get the bottom potatoes rotated so they don't become burnt and to ensure that the middle and top potatoes get a chance to brown.

Remove foil. Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees. Gently stir again, as necessary.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes, then sprinkle with additional cheese. Bake a few more minutes or until everything is gooey, browned and bubbly on top.

Serve with scallions sprinkled on top for garnish.

Great with a dollop of sour cream.

MEXICAN BEEF CASSEROLE

1 lb extra lean ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

1 can kernel corn drained

1 can black beans rinsed and drained

1 pkg taco seasonings mix

8 to 12 corn tortillas

3/4 cup nonfat sour cream

1/3 cup Mexican blend or taco cheese shredded

Sliced jalapeno peppers

Directions:

Brown ground beef and onions together for about 10 to 12 minutes, drain.

Add corn,beans,tomatoes and taco seasonings mix well and simmer for 5 minutes.

Spray baking dish 2 quart 8x12 inches.

Place half of tortillas in bottom.

Spoon half of beef mixture on top, place sour cream over beef. Then layer last tortillas and then beef mixture.

Place in heated 350 degree F. oven and bake for 25 minutes remove from oven and and sprinkle with cheese and add sliced jalapeno peppers on top.

Cook for another 5 minutes or till cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes and serve..

Best Southern pie ever

ingredients

1/2 C. buttermilk

1 3/4 C. sugar

2 large eggs

3 T. flour

pinch of salt

1 stick butter or margarine melted

1 t. vanilla

nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix everything together and pour into an unbaked 9" pie shell. Sprinkle the top lightly with fresh nutmeg. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce to 350 degrees and bake about 45 minutes longer.

Cool to allow the filling to set.

This pie is rich, you could use a little less sugar and add 1 T. more flour.

NOTE: This is the way the recipe is written. I have sometimes reduced the sugar by 2 T. and increased the flour.