Friday, January 20, 2006

2 pkg (8 oz each) Philadelphia Fat Free Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Dash ground nutmeg
1/3 cup Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/3 cup thawed Cool Whip Free Whipped Topping

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix until blended. Do not overbeat after adding eggs. Remove 1 cup batter; stir in pumpkin and spices. Spray 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray; sprinkle bottom with crumbs.

Pour remaining plain batter into crust. Top with pumpkin batter.

Bake at 325�F for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Top each serving with 1 tbsp of the whipped topping.

Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 150
Total fat: 2.5g
Saturated fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 65mg
Sodium: 340mg
Carbohydrate: 23g
Dietary fiber: 1g

Friday, January 13, 2006

From Amy:

1 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat (I cut into 1 inch cubes)
1 small bell pepper, chopped (1/2 c.)
3/4 c. 1-inch pieces green beans (I used frozen)
3/4 c. chopped onion
2/3 c. uncooked barley
2/3 c. fresh whole kernel corn (again, I used frozen)
1 1/2 c. water
1 t. salt
1 t. chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 t. dried thyme leaves
1/4 t. pepper
2 cans (14 oz. each) beef broth
2 cans (14.5 oz. each) diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients in 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours (or high heat setting 4 to 5 hours) or until vegetables and barley are tender.

:9 So easy and delicious!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Take a whole raw chicken and plop it in a 4.5qt or 5qt crockpot (or 2 smaller chickens in a 7qt crockpot), add 1/4 cup water just to get some steam going, cook on high for an hour, then turn it down to low and leave like that until the chicken(s) is(are) thoroughly cooked (could be anywhere from 3-6 hours, depending on the size of the chicken, whether you did one or two, and how big it is/they are).

Remove chickens, allow to cool until they can be handled without scorching yourself.

Remove all meat, store for a later use of your choice.  Put everything else back in the pot, fill with water, add veggies for extra flavor if you like (I usually don’t), cook on low for 24 hours, giving it a little stir when you feel like it (can go overnight without stirring).  Strain stock, refrigerate until cold (will be gelatinous, as most good stocks are when cold, due to collagen from the joints), remove the fat that rose to the top and store in the freezer in a Ziploc baggie or a small container (can be used to make a roux later for the best gravy ever).

Freeze until ready to use - some people I know freeze stock in ice cube trays for when they only need a little, but I generally don’t go smaller than a pint because I usually don’t need less than that.