Apple-Pecan Cheesecake

Above:  No, I did NOT use apples made of wood!

Apples!-- besides enjoying apple-laden goodies, 

 when I see ripe apples, I think of:

• The Shawano County Fair, because that's when the early apples in our orchard were ready for picking.   
• My mother cooking large kettles of applesauce and apple butter on the wood stove (later, on her modern and very welcomed electric range).  I still remember (and can smell?) how s-w-e-e-t the house smelled at times like that.   Today, it is EXACTLY 105 years since my mother was born in Montague County, TX-- she  left us with great memories on March 13th of 1982.
• The 'too many' wasps/hornets sitting on windfall apples, especially on the apples  with soft or rotten spots-- they were either trying to zap some sweetness from them, or get DRUNK!?  (SMART hornets/wasps don't fly drunk!--but, I don't suppose it's possible to have a 'designated flyer'!)  As a child, I was SO afraid of those yellow/black winged things! 

Above:  These are named Snow Apples and are at their best AFTER a few frosts.  The tree, itself, is older than I am-- and, I'm 68!  Its trunk is almost totally hollow by now.  A few years ago, already, the opening at the base of the trunk was large enough for THREE young raccoons to hide in.  

Because it's 'apple season', I wanted to make an apple-pecan cheesecake-- I chose this particular recipe from the Kraft Foods website.  (I LIKE it because it's very apple'y' and, yes, cheesecake'y', too!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (for me, this was one full sleeve).
• 1/4 cup butter, melted.
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed.
• 4 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened.
• 1 and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, divided into 1 cup and then 1/2 cup usages.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla.
• 1 cup sour cream.
• 4 eggs.
• 3 Granny Smith apples (or another firm type of apple), peeled, chopped.
• 3/4 cup pecans, chopped.
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat oven to 325° F.
• Line 9x13-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over each of the sides.  
• Mix together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar; press onto bottom of prepared pan.
• Beat cream cheese, only 1 cup brown sugar and the vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended.  (I did all of this with my food processor.)
• Add sour cream; mix well.
• Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended.
• Pour beat/blended cream cheese mixture over crust.
• Combine remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, chopped apples, nuts and cinnamon-- mix well.
• Sprinkle this apple/nuts mixture evenly over the cream cheese batter.

• Bake for 60 minutes or until center is 'almost' set.  (Some who've tried this recipe said they needed to add up to 10 minutes of baking time, or so.  Watch for how yours is baking, and decide accordingly.)  When I took mine from the oven today, it looked like this:

• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
• Use foil handles (tabs) to lift cheesecake from pan and move to cutting board before cutting to serve.  

•  For future servings, this dessert freezes well in airtight containers. 

ENJOY!

Beef Roast w/Vegetables

We are nine days into Autumn!  

I knew I wanted to go walking in our beautiful 

woods today, hoping I would NOT 

see any wolves or bears!   Anyhow, ...

before leaving the house, I 

combined some goodies for our 

supper ("dinner" to city folks!) and 

let the oven do the rest.  The meal I 

put together happened to be color coordinated 

with the beauty I saw on my walk (see below).

My Lazy Easy Day Meal!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (3-5 lb.) beef roast-- you can use a pork roast if you prefer.  If you can't afford a 'large' roast, use a little one-- that will work, too.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt.
• Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste.
• 1 can (15 oz.?) vegetable OR beef stock.
• 6 large carrots, cut into chunks (3 carrots, if making smaller quantity in slow cooker).
• 1 large onion, cut into whatever size pieces you like.
• 6 large stalks of celery, cut into 1" pieces (3 stalks, if making smaller quantity in slow cooker).
• 3 lb. bag of small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into halves (OR as few as 8  potatoes if using a slow cooker for smaller quantity.)
• 2 cans of 10.75 oz. cream of mushroom soup (I like the 99% fat free variety).
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage.

DIRECTIONS:

• Spray 6 quart enameled cast iron dutch oven OR slow cooker container with non-stick spray.
• Prepare carrots, onion, celery, potatoes and put them in the bottom.
• Pour the vegetable OR beef stock over the layer of vegetables.

• Drizzle olive oil on both sides of the roast and season it well with the garlic salt and ground pepper (rub it in). 
• Lay the roast on top of the mixed vegetable layer.  (The side of the roast with the most fat on it should be on top-- upwards. I  k-n-o-w,... it's said that FAT gives flavor, but I just cannot resist trimming excess fat off-- now, I didn't say "ALL", I only said "...excess"!) 

• Smear the cream of mushroom on top of the roast and then sprinkle that with the thyme and sage. 

• Cover and cook for about 5-6 hours in oven at 295-degrees, OR for about 8 - 10 hours in slow cooker on LOW.  (As I checked on its 'progress' after a few hours, I ladled some of the sauce over the top of the roast.)

I think you will like how this makes your home smell.

I think you will like how easy it was to make.

I think you will like how moist the meat is.

I think you will like it, period!

Here,... try it!

Below:  A week or so ago, Bruce came over 
with AMBITION, lawn equipment and more!  
Before long, the yard around the cabin 
was freed of brush, and the VERY overgrown 

grass was cut (for the first time in a 
couple of years, I might add!).   Today, when I went 
'back there', ...everything looked 
SO-O-O-O pretty!

Nadine's MONSTER Cookies

This is already an 'out there' recipe, but my first experience with it came in 1985 when my sister Nadine made these and shared them with our family.  There's good stuff in these cookies and they are more 'filling and satisfying' than a cookie usually is.  This particular recipe makes a LOT of cookies-- sometimes, I bake them all up on the same day and freeze a lot of them; other times, I'll bake some and freeze the rest of the dough for another time.

It is not a mistake-- there is no flour nor salt used in this recipe. 

You will need a HUGE mixing bowl, and plenty of muscle to mix these up.

Start at the top of the following ingredient list and mix together, stopping to mix after each addition.  (Because I have a large-bowled and more powerful model of Kitchen Aid stand mixer, I can get away with dumping in everything from this first list and mix it together with that.  Then, I dump all of the mixed dough into a really large mixing bowl, add the final three ingredients and mix by hand.)

1 pound butter, room temperature
3 lbs. natural peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
4 cups white granulated sugar
2 lb. bag of brown sugar
12 eggs, slightly beaten ahead of time
1/4 cup vanilla
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (I like Karo)
8 teaspoons baking soda

Now, add:
18 cups ROLLED OATS (quick-cooking, or old fashioned)
1 of 12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb. bag of plain M&M's (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees

Take scoops of dough and form into 2" balls, place on cookie sheet that's been lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  Air-bake pans work well because these cookies like  to darken on the bottom before their tops and centers are done.  Since oven temperatures vary, baking time could be between 12 and 14 minutes (or ??).   Let cookies cool on pans for a while.

Here!, sit a while and have a cookie.........................