Taco Seasoning

We are doing a taco salad potluck tomorrow, but i have not bought taco seasoning in over a year. Instead I make my own, and it looks a little like this:

1Tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red peper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper

Normally I brown my 'ground meat of choice' up with an onion. Afterwards, I add this to it with about a cup of water per pound. You may only need half of the mix per pound, depending on how spicy you like your food ;)

Brownie Pudding

For some reason, when I was little I thought this was the most amazing recipe to make, and remember making it a lot.. I think it was one of the first 'recipes' I remember trying to make...  lately it feels like I have gone to people's homes for dinner a lot, and last night I brought the dessert... here it is... because I did not know how many people would be there, I made one and a half batches...and baked it in one of those in between size pans...

Ingredients

1

cup all-purpose flour

3/4

cup granulated sugar

2

tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2

teaspoons baking powder

1/4

teaspoon salt

1/2

cup milk

2

tablespoons cooking oil

1

teaspoon vanilla

1/2

cup chopped walnuts

3/4

cup packed brown sugar

1/4

cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2

cups boiling water

 

Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, granulated sugar, the 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, the baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir in the walnuts.
2. Pour batter into prepared baking pan. In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar and the 1/4 cup cocoa powder. Stir in the boiling water. Slowly pour brown sugar mixture over batter.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 45 to 60 minutes. Serve warm. Spoon cake into dessert bowls; spoon pudding from the bottom of the pan over cake. If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/brownie-pudding-cake/

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup with Chickpea Croutons

Emily and I got the squash pack from Bountiful Baskets a couple of months ago. Besides the spaghetti squash and acorn squash, we ended up with 7 butternut squash. This past week, we finally finished them off using this recipe. The original recipe came from My New Roots, but we adapted it to our tastes. I think the chickpeas really provide a good balance for the soup, so don't leave them out.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash
1 large yellow onion
4 large cloves garlic
2 tsp. coconut oil or olive oil, plus olive oil for garnish
salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp. ground turmeric powder
1-2 tsp dried rosemary and thyme (optional)
Chickpea croutons (Recipe below)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut the butternut squash into even chunks and place on a baking sheet. Peel and cut onions into quarters, add to baking sheet. Peel whole cloves of garlic and add to baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and toss well to coat. Place in oven and roast until the squash is tender.

In a large blender pour 4 cups hot vegetable broth, turmeric, rosemary and thyme. Remove butternut squash from skin and add the roasted vegetables to the blender. Blend on high until completely smooth (let blender run for a minute or so). If the soup is too thick, add more broth to thin to desired consistency. Season to taste. Serve with croutons.

Croutons
3 cups or 2 cans cooked chickpeas – drained and well-rinsed
3 Tbsp. coconut oil or olive oil
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. smoked paprika or ground chipotle pepper
1 tsp. chili powder

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the chickpeas in a medium bowl and toss with oil and spices until coated. Spread the chickpeas on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put in oven until they turn golden and crisp up, stirring occasionally. It takes about 25-35 minutes. They will crisp a little more outside of the oven, so you may want to take them out before they are completely crisped.

New York Style Cheesecake

Every year for Heather's birthday we make this. I think it is probably my favorite cheesecake recipe I've ever made, but I would recommend having other people around to eat it. It's pretty rich. Most people use graham crackers for the crusts of their cheesecakes, but I think this crust is way better. It almost tastes like a sugar cookie. Combined with the smooth texture and flavor of the rest of the cheesecake this really is one of the best recipes out there. I originally got the recipe from Kyle.

½ C. Butter

¼ C Packed Brown Sugar

4 Eggs

1 ¼ C. Flour

4 8­oz pkg. Cream Cheese

1¼ C. Sugar

¼ C. Flour

1 TBS Vanilla

2 8 oz Sour Cream

¼ Sugar

1 t Vanilla

Preheat to 350. Beat butter 30 sec. Add brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add one egg; beat well. Slowly beat in 1 ¼ C flour. Divide in half. Cover and chill one portion.

Spread remaining portion of dough onto bottom of 10­inch spring­form pan with side removed. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Cool. Attach sides. Press chilled dough about 1¾ up the side of the pan.

Increase oven temp to 450. Combine cream cheese and sugar; beat until fluffy. Beat in ¼ C. flour until smooth. Add remaining eggs and 1 TBS vanilla; Beat on low speed until just combined. Stir in ½ C sour cream. Pour into pan. Place in shallow baking pan and bake 10 min.

Reduce temp to 300. Bake 30 minutes, or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken.

Remove from oven. Combine remaining sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Spread over cheesecake.

Bake 15 minutes more.

Cool on wire wrack for 15 minutes. Loosen crust; cool 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan. Cool completely. Cover and chill 4 to 24 hours. Let stand 15 min at room temp.