This fall favorite at Olive Garden can be made at home for a fraction at the cost.  This great adapted copycat recipe tastes similar to the real thing!

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup gingersnap cookies
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 8 tablespoons melted butter

Cheesecake Filling

• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin puree
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Sour Cream Layer

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Page 2 of 3Olive Garden Pumpkin Cheesecake (cont.)

Ingredients

Whipped Cream

• 2 pints heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Additional toppings

• caramel sauce
• gingersnap crumbs

Directions

1. Crust preparation:.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, ginger snap crumbs, sugar, and butter; mix well. Press crust into a spring form pan. Press the crust about halfway up the side of the spring form pan. Refrigerate crust while you continue to prepare the cheesecake.
3. Filling preparation:.
4. Allow extra time for mixing up this filling. Remove the pure pumpkin puree from the can and place in a couple of large paper towels. Wrap the pumpkin puree with the paper towels; this will soak up the excess water in the pumpkin puree. Continue to remove excess water from the pumpkin puree for about 60 minutes before making cheesecake mixture. Bring the remaining ingredients for the filling to room temperature while the pumpkin puree is being drained. With a mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth; add eggs one at a time and then combine all ingredients for the filling in a mixer. Blend until very smooth. For best results, allow all ingredients to reach room temperature before mixing the filling. Remove crust from refrigerator, and pour in filling.
5. Bake cheesecake at 350 for 30 minutes and then reduce temperature to 325 degrees for an additional 30 minutes. When you remove the cheesecake, it should be slightly jiggly in the center.The cheesecake will set up nicely as it cools.
6. Sour Cream Layer:.
7. When you remove the cheesecake from the oven, set aside and prepare the seasoned cream cheese layer. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, sugar, and spices. Blend well. Spread seasoned sour cream mixture over the baked cheesecake evenly. Place the cheesecake back into the 325 degree oven for about 8 minutes, until the sour cream layer is set.
8. Whipped Cream:.
9. Allow the cheesecake to cool. When the cheesecake is completely cool, you can add the whipped cream. In a medium sized bowl, combine heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar; mix well with a blender or a stand mixer. Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Remove ring from the spring-form pan and either pipe the whipped cream over the pumpkin cheesecake or spread with a knife.
10. When you are ready to serve the Olive Garden Pumpkin Cheesecake, cut each slice, drizzle the top of the cheesecake with caramel sauce, and then sprinkle over ginger snap crumbs before serving.

Page 3 of 3Olive Garden Pumpkin Cheesecake (cont.)

Directions

1. Additional notes about cheesecake making:.
2. I personally do not use a waterbath. I do have a clay baking stone in my oven, and my cheesecakes come out very well. You may wish to use a waterbath when you prepare your cheesecake.
3. Also, I would really urge you to let your ingredients reach room temperature before blending together the filling. This really makes a difference in getting a nice, smooth filling.

Source:  Food.com

 

The best collection you will find anywhere of tried ‘n true Thanksgiving favorites from my girlfriends and family.  Recipes you will use again and again to create your own family traditions.

The recipes will be available all month on Jan CAN Cook, you can access them in the sidebar, or link to them here…

These are seriously the best Sloppy Joes ever!

I’ve made this recipe since the boys were little.  My friend, Susan, a neighbor when we lived in Denver in the 80’s, gave it to me and it has remained a family favorite ever since. 

It’s always been a Halloween tradition at our house, Sloppy Joes and Potato Chips.  We were, as all of you back in the day, in a rush to get the kids out the door to trick-or-treat, so the tradition began because it was easy and quick.

My daughter-in-law, Deanna just posted this on her The Harris Sisters blog, and it reminded me that I needed to post it as well.  And the picture, Deanna scanned this from a cookbook I made for the boys of my recipes several years ago.

This is so good, if you are a Sloppy Joe lover like we are at our house, give this a try and see if you don’t love it as well.  The best part, simple ingredients that you have in your cupboard and fridge…

Enjoy ~ jan

I saw this online last year and have wanted to try it ever since. It was fast, easy and the results were perfect.

 

 

 

I have a husband that adores chicken fingers, it's one of his favorite ways to eat chicken. I'm always searching for a "healthy alternative" and I I've found just the thing with this recipe adapted from Country Living.

 Ingredients 

 2 cup(s) Buttermilk
2 clove(s) Garlic, crushed
 1 tablespoon(s) Hot-Pepper Sauce
 1 teaspoon(s) Kosher Salt
 1 teaspoon(s) Fresh-Ground Pepper
 2 pound(s) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into 3- by 1/2-inch strips
 1 package(s) (7-ounce) Sesame Crispbread, such as WASA 6 tablespoon(s) Unsalted Butter, melted

 Directions

 Combine the buttermilk, garlic, hot-pepper sauce, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 12 hours. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat 2 baking pans with oil and set aside.

 Note: If you don't have buttermilk, regular milk works well for this. Sometimes I use a liberal amount of garlic powder instead of the fresh garlic, garlic salt works well, too.

 Crush the crispbread into coarse crumbs and place the crumbs in a large, shallow baking dish, toss in the melted butter, and set aside. Remove the chicken from the marinade and coat with the crumbs. Place on the prepared pans and bake, turning once, until golden and crisp — about 25 minutes. Tips & Techniques Keep your work area neat: Place crispbread in a resealable plastic bag, and crush with a rolling pin or heavy pot.

 Picture & Recipe Source: Country Living Magazine

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Crescent Rolls, 2 tubes

1/2 block of cream cheese

1 cup of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

3 - 4 tablespoons sugar (granulated or powdered)

Mini Pumpkin Pie Croissants Preparation

These start with the crescent rolls. Roll each crescent roll out and cut lengthwise in 2. This recipe will make 32 mini croissants. Each croissant will get a generous tablespoon of this luscious pumpkin pie filling:

Beat cream cheese and canned pumpkin together until fluffy and creamy.

You do want to stuff them a little full and they are messy to roll up. Now here is the fun part! Mix together 4 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice and roll each pumpkin pie croissant in it!

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes. These are sweet but not so-much-so - sublime little bites of pumpkin pie heaven that are easy and portable and the perfect addition to any fall celebration.

Jan's Tweak: After reading several reviews suggesting that these are a little bland, I added extra cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to the pumpkin pie spice. 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of cloves.

Picture and Recipe Source: The Big Oven

Hoda and Kathie Lee were talking this morning on TODAY about how wonderful Alice’s Tea Cup Pumpkin Scones are.  So I Googled it, found them right away.  Don’t you just love the internet?

Cookie Madness posted the recipe, check it out here….

Photo reprinted from cookiemadness.net

What a great idea, preheat your oven to 325 degrees, put your eggs in a muffin tin so they don't roll around and bake them for 30 minutes. Submerge in ice water when you take them out, easy breezy.

Source ~14news

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper, for seasoning chicken
• Crisco shortening, for frying
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (2 1/2 pound) chicken, cut into pieces

Directions

Heat shortening in a cast iron skillet to 350 degrees F.

Beat eggs with water in a small bowl. In a shallow bowl, season flour with pepper. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then coat well in flour mixture. Carefully add to hot shortening, in batches if necessary, place lid on top of skillet, and fry until brown and crisp. Remember that dark meat requires a longer cooking time (about 13 to 14 minutes, compared to 8 to 10 minutes for white meat.)

Note:  This is Jan’s tweak to this recipe, I always soak my chicken overnight in buttermilk, it makes it moist and tender and gives it a bit of a zippy flavor.  You can use sweet milk, too – either way it just adds to the taste.

Recipe and Photo courtesy of Food Network

Ingredients

4 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
4 chicken breast halves, or 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
Seasoned salt and pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart heavy cream
1/4 cup chicken base (you buy this in a jar at the grocery store)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1 cup frozen green peas, cooked
1 cup chopped cooked carrots
Pinch fresh grated nutmeg, optional
Special equipment: 4 (2-cup) individual baking dishes

Directions

Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut each sheet of frozen puff pastry into 1-inch strips, 8 inches long. On a large cookie sheet, weave strips into a lattice large enough to cover each pot pie. Brush beaten egg onto each lattice square. Bake for 5 minutes, or until dough has risen and turned light golden brown. Set aside until ready to assemble pies. Leave oven on at 350 degrees F.

Filling:
Rotisserie chicken works well for this, if you’re in a hurry. or you can season your chicken with salt and pepper, and saute in the oil in a large skillet until thoroughly cooked.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and then slowly add flour, stirring until consistency of peanut butter, but not brown like a roux. This works best for me if I use a whisk, then add cream whisking continously so it doesn’t lump. Add chicken base, garlic, and onion and stir until thickened. Add peas, carrots, nutmeg, if using, and cut up chicken. Remove from heat. Fill 4 individual oven-proof bowls with chicken mixture and then top each with a pre-cooked lattice square. Bake for 5 minutes or until bubbly. Any remaining pie filling may be frozen.

Note:  Use salt sparingly, as the chicken base is quite salty.

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Photo:  Food Network