Eric Linne's Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

Crust
1 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
5 tbsp cold butter

Filling
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla

Procedure
Oven at 350 F
Cut in butter to dry ingredients.

Press into a 8x8" pan.
Bake 15 min
For filling, mix all together, scrape/pour into the baked crust.

bake for 25 min or more til firm.

Eric normally makes a triple batch and used a 13x9 pan.  The bake time for the filling increases to ~60 min.

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

1/2 large onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 c. pureed pie pumpkin
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning, or to taste
pasta


Fry onion and garlic in butter until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Stir pumpkin puree, chicken broth, half-and-half, sour cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper, stirring often, until sauce is creamy and thick, about 5 minutes.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.

Chicken & Sausage Meatballs

These are great meatballs.  Good recipe when you've got raw chicken on hand instead of beef/pork. 

1 pound ground chicken
1 lb Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, whisked
6 tablespoons unseasoned whole-wheat bread crumbs
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Hungarian or hot paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves, about 1 small sprig
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, about 5 sprigs
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 lemon, zested
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Put the chicken, sausage, garlic, egg, and spices, sugar into a food processor.  Pulse until well-shredded.  Mix in bowl with bread crumbs, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, lemon zest. 

In a frying pan, melt a tbsp of butter and add the olive oil.  Turn heat to medium and make meatballs roughly the size of golfballs and fill the frying pan.  They take about 3 minutes per side to fry.  fry on both sides and set aside when done. 

Southwestern Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe may make more than anticipated.  We made it once and it was great, but I recall we had excess filling and it made a pretty large, deep-dish pie.  We have an old pie/casserole dish that's about 4 inches deep and 9 inches wide.  Makes fantastic pot pies that are very thick.

Ingredients

1 recipe pie crust of your choice
1 lb of chicken, cooked and diced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 c uncooked white rice
1 15 oz black beans, drained, rinsed
1 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 green or poblano pepper, diced
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, minced fine (optional)
1 c. sliced ripe black olives
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 c. sour cream
1 c. salsa
2 c. shredded cheese (colby, Monterey Jack; cheddar or a blend)
1 egg, beaten

Preparations

If using a prepared crust, lay it out in the pie pan.  Use a deep-dish pie plate.  If using another crust recipe, make the crust first and put dough in the refrigerator while prepping the other ingredients.

First, put the rice on to cook.  This will take about 20 minutes.  While the rice is simmering, cook the chicken if its not cooked already.  Do so in a tbsp of bacon grease or butter, add the peppers and spices.  In a large mixing bowl, add the corn, beans, olives and the cooked rice, once it's done.  Add the beaten egg and the chicken & peppers mix to this when the chicken's done and Mix together.  

Try to make two layers of filling.  Layer roughly 1.5 inches of the veggie-chicken filling on the bottom of the pie crust.  Then spread half of the sour cream on top, then half of the salsa and half of the shredded cheese.  Repeat with another layer of filling, sour cream, salsa, cheese.  Top the pie with a layer of crust and seal the edges. 

Bake at 325°F for 1 hour.  Should be golden-brown crust with bubbling hot interior and all veggies cooked.