Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

This recipe is so, so, so yummy.  It's light and fruity, and really good.  And I almost always have all the ingredients in my kitchen, so it's easy to make without planning ahead, which I'm notorious for!  The recipe comes from here.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

Crumb Crust:
9 large rectangular graham crackers (about 1 1/2 cups) crushed (My food processor makes crushing crackers so easy!)
2 TBSP sugar
6 TBSP melter butter

For the cheese custard:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
Freshly grated zest from 1 lemon

For the berries:
2 cups blueberries, rinsed (you could also use frozen ones, a staple in my freezer)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 TBSP corn starch, mixed with 2 TBSP cold water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar and butter.  Pat the crumb mixture into a 9 inch pie pan and bake for 8 minutes, until very lightly browned and set.  Let the crust cool completely before filling.  Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, make the cheese custard:  in a medium bow,, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed and smooth.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Stir in the lemon zest.  Pour into the cooled shell and bake until just set, 25-30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

While the custard is cooking, combine the berries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and add the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.  Remove from the heat and cool until tepid.

Spoon the berries over the cooled custard.  Chill for at least one hour before serving.

Naan

This is the best recipe for Naan I've tried.  And it's really easy.  You just need to plan enough time for the two risings.  I found the recipe here.  I do halve the recipe, because it makes a lot of naan, and it's best fresh.

You can either grill this Naan, as the recipe says, or you can cook it in a cast iron frying pan, with just a light coating of oil.  This is called dry frying, and it's how I cook my Naan.  I love my cast iron frying pan, nothing ever sticks to it!

Naan

1 package dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar (I do less, just a sprinkle of sugar to help the yeast grow.  1/4 cup makes it too sweet)
3 TBSP milk
1 egg
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp minced garlic (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melter

In a large bowl, dissolve years in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy.  Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt and enough flour to make a soft dough  (I've found it takes less than the 4 cups).  Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth.  Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise.  Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

Punch dough down, and knead in garlic (if making garlic naan.  If making plain naan, skip this step.)  Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball (you should get about 14).  Roll into balls and place on a tray.  Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat (or frying pan).

At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle.  Lightly oil grill.  Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and slightly browned.  Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over.  Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes.  Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Grilled Island Chicken

This recipe comes from here.  This is the very best chicken I've made!  It was so good.  Yesterday's chicken was good, but this one was way better.  It was good by itself, or it would have been good with flat bread and tzatziki sauce, or with French fries.  It was juicy and flavorful.  I wasn't expecting it to be so good, because the marinade is so simple, but it's really, really good.

Grilled Island Chicken

1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 2)
1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-4 chicken breasts (If I was using more than 2, I would double the recipe)

Combine all the ingredients except chicken in a bowl or Ziploc bag.  Mix well.  Add the chicken breasts, and marinate all day.  Cook on the grill until done.  I cubed my chicken and did it on skewers, that's our favorite way to eat grilled chicken, and it cooks the fastest, but you can cook the breasts whole too.

Pineapple Apricot Chicken Skewers

Once again, this recipe comes from here.  She has a lot of great grilling recipes.  I've been using the grill more this year, and I've really liked it.  The downside is, we're going through chicken faster than ever!  My stash in the freezer is almost gone.  I need a chicken sale!  I did halve this recipe, it makes a TON of marinade.  You could easily do 2 chicken breasts, or 3 smaller ones with half the recipe, and that's plenty of chicken for us.

Pineapple Apricot Chicken Skewers

32 ounce jar of pineapple apricot preserves
1 TBSP yellow mustard
3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP honey
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
4-6 chicken breasts, cubed
8-10 bamboo skewers

Combine the ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag except chicken.  Mix well.  Add chicken, mix in and marinate from 2 hours to all day.  The longer the better.  (I only did a couple hours, next time I would plan better and do all day.)  Put chicken on skewers and grill until cooked through.

I halved the amount of preserves, but I did the full amount of the other seasonings.  I hope that makes sense.  So if I made the whole recipe, I would do 32 ounces of the preserves, but double the rest of the spices.

Banana Sour Cream Bread

I never liked banana bread as a kid, because I didn't like the texture.  It was rubbery, and it seemed like the edges had to burn to get the middle to cook.  I discovered this recipe one day, years ago, and my banana bread has been perfect ever since!

Banana Sour Cream Bread

3/4 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
6 very rip bananas, mashed
16 ounces sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 4 7x3 inch loaf pans (I used muffin tins, it made 2 dozen, and 1 mini loaf).  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon.  Mix together salt, baking soda and flour, then add to sugar and banana mixture.  Mix well.  Stir in nuts.  Divide into prepared pans.  Bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Glazed Poppyseed Cake

I got this recipe here, but I changed it a far amount, so I'm just going to post the way I made it.  It's a really, really good cake, but quite rich.

Glazed Poppyseed Cake

1 lemon cake mix
1 box of instant lemon pudding
1/8-1/4 cup poppy seeds (I add more if I think it needs it)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Mix cake mix, pudding mix, and poppy seeds.  Add juice, oil and sour cream and mix well.
Add eggs one at a time, mix well.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  When the cake is done, start the glaze.  Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes.

Glaze

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup butter

Bring ingredients to a boil and keep bubbling until ready to brush on cake.  Once cake has cooled for 10 minutes, brush the bottom of the cake with some glaze.  Then invert cake to a plate.  Brush the remaining glaze all over the cake.  Allow cake to cool about 50 minutes, then serve.

Sweet Lentil Stew

This was another really, really good dish.  It's from the Saving Dinner Cookbook.  Every recipe I've had from this cookbook has been excellent, and relatively easy.  I really need to go buy it for myself!

Sweet Lentil Stew

1 3/4 cups dried lentils, washed
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 small red pepper, diced
1 large potato, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
3 cups water
1 TBSP olive oil

Mix all ingredients in crock pot, except for olive oil.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours, or until the vegetables and lentils are tender.  Stir in the olive oil just before serving.  Serves 6.

Since my crock pot met an untimely death, and I can't bear to replace her yet, I cooked mine on the stove top.  It took about an hour to cook, but I had to add at least 3 more cups of water.  Even in the crockpot, I would check it about halfway through the cooking to make sure it wasn't getting too dry.  Lentils take a fair amount of water to cook, as do the potatoes.

I eliminated the regular potato, and used 2 sweet potatoes instead.  Instead of the jar of spaghetti sauce, I used a can of diced tomatoes (I avoid using canned spaghetti sauce at all costs).  It came out delightful and oh so healthy.  There are 26 grams of fiber per serving!