Mimi’s Minis – Lemon Cheesecakes

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Especially if you include these tasty, crunchy, cheesy, creamy, lemony perfect bites on your holiday dessert tray. Mimi’s Mini Lemon Cheesecakes come together in 30 minutes or less using store-bought ingredients. “How easy is that?” Well, very easy!

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One of my college roommates, Cindy, turned me on these handy frozen phyllo shells earlier this year. She turned hers into appetizers filled with creamy chicken salad. Fabulous! There are hundreds of online recipes for fillings for these lovely shells: spinach-artichoke dip, brie topped with a pecan and drizzled with a little honey, pimento cheese topped with pepper jelly, shrimp salad topped with a sprig of dill, ham salad. The possibilities are endless! And, yes, I bought a couple of packages and plan to keep a supply in my freezer just in case. Find them in the freezer section of your grocery probably around regular phyllo dough and puff pastry sheets.

In Keeping With a Less Stressful Holiday Philosophy

Richard and I were invited to a neighborhood Christmas open house this week. We were asked to bring a snack. It’s not a big deal, but my schedule leading up to the party didn’t allow for much food prep. Although my tendency is to want to go full bore, I needed a delicious quick treat. Essentially, this recipe was born out of necessity – the mother of invention, right?

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Anyway, I had a supply of the phyllo cups in my freezer and thought to fill them with store-bought cheesecake filling and topping them with a little dollop of lemon curd – a perfect contribution and a nice surprise – something a little different. I mean, who doesn’t love a little bite of cheesecake? Sure, who doesn’t love a big piece of cheesecake? But these little bites fit in perfectly with all the other savory and sweet bites everyone else brought to the party. I couldn’t have been happier. As I mingled, I saw my mini lemon cheesecakes on many plates and was pleased to hear my friends and neighbors ask, “Who brought these? They’re so good!” They were even more impressed when I told them how easy my little bites were to prepare.

Give It A Try

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I’m not preparing a recipe for this. It’s just too easy with the right ingredients. Once assembled and on a plate, I did sprinkle the tops with freshly grated lemon zest and graham cracker crumbs. I hope you’ll be inspired by this idea to formulate your own special treats. Maybe a little meatball topped with marinara and Parm? No-Bake Chocolate and Peanut Butter Mousse topped with Mini Chocolate Chips? Here’s the link for that one!

If you decide to make your own little phyllo cup bites, I’d love to know what ideas you came up with.
If you’re inspired, be sure to tag your photo on Instagram #atmimistable

at mimi's table christmas gingerbread and cupcakes

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2019 Thanksgiving Revisited

2019 Thanksgiving Revisited

I hope all of you enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday! As promised, here’s is a recap of our menu, our results, and a turkey story – everyone has one, I’m sure.
Here’s the appetizer board we put together to get everyone started. No matter how I promise and plan for a 4:00 dinner, something always comes up to delay our meal. It’s nice to have a few things to snack on before the meal is on the table and ready to serve. It’s not a lot. Just a little nosh to keep hungry guests at bay while I’m making gravy and piling food in serving dishes.

The star of the show this year was the Roasted Beet Hummus – a recipe I found at Half Baked Harvest (bowl upper left). Brock, my son-in-law, and I are the only beet lovers in this family, but everyone thought this hummus was outstanding. It’s bright to look at and brightly flavored. I mean, you barely know you’re eating beets. I didn’t follow the recipe to the letter, however. The grocery had small fresh beets in a bundle of three, so instead of two, I used three. I didn’t have almond butter on hand and the recipe calls for only a couple of tablespoonsful – not enough to justify the cost of almond butter. So, I threw in 1/4 cup of roasted pine nuts instead. Also, it calls for two cups of chickpeas. Well, two 15oz. cans of garbanzos drained and rinsed is about 2 1/2 cups so all of them went into the food processor. Tahini is a must for hummus recipes and I keep a small jar in my pantry. Either make a lot of hummus and use up the tahini or try this recipe for Crunchy Asian Noodle Salad or both!

The center bowl is filled with Ham Salad Spread, a recipe I’ve made for ages and is quickly assembled in a food processor with ham chunks, hard-boiled eggs, diced red onion, sweet pickle relish, and then mixed together with mayo – YUM! And the third bowl is filled with Pimento Cheese Spread from The Pioneer Woman.

All three spreads are perfect on crackers or slathered into the hollow of a piece of celery. We had pita chips, Ritz crackers, and these little rice crackers I found at Trader Joe’s. The rice crackers are perfect because they’re small – no heavy loading – light and very crispy. There’s a lot of them in a bag, too.

at mimi's table thanksgiving 2019 jessica's turkeyIn all the years I’ve roasted turkeys, I’ve never had one that was completely frozen on Thanksgiving morning – NEVER – until Thursday last week. Yep, woke up, took the bird from the garage refrigerator, and the darn thing was a solid block. How did that happen?? Jessica and I put it in the refrigerator the Friday afternoon before. What on earth??

I started the cool water-bath thaw method until I read on the Butterball website that it would take nine hours to thaw. Oh NO! It’s Thanksgiving morning, for cryin’ out loud! I’m grateful my son, Joseph, was resting on the family room couch after working an overnight shift and overheard my panicked telephone call to my daughter. Jessica said Kroger had fresh turkeys for sale on Wednesday, so she suggested I start there. Joseph rallied and drove me to the grocery where we found fresh Butterballs for 69¢/pound. Hallelujah! There in the cooler was a 19-pounder with my name on it.

I was back in business. All I had to do was heat the oven, slather butter between the skin and flesh. salt & pepper, and off we went. I did stuff the bird’s cavity with a quartered orange, lemon, onion, and garlic cloves. The house smelled phenomenal, just like it should on Thanksgiving. And it was the moistest turkey I’ve ever roasted.

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I’ve come to the conclusion that buying a fresh bird a day or two in advance is not such a bad idea. First of all, you don’t have a 20-lb bird taking up precious refrigerator real estate for days and days. And it’s a guarantee that the turkey, while cold, will be thawed and ready to roast Thanksgiving morning. Lesson learned.

at mimi's table 2019 thanksgiving dessert burnt pumpkin cheesecake half baked harvestThis cheesecake was another lovely surprise. Burnt Basque Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake, a scrumptious recipe from Half Baked Harvest.

What makes this cheesecake so special? Well, it’s delicious for one thing. It’s so easy and quick to put together, and is a guaranteed “no-brainer” recipe with a satisfying mouthfeel sure to please guests. It’s a great substitute for traditional pumpkin pie.

You can bake it the night before, cool to room temperature, and stash the cheesecake in the refrigerator the night before to chill.

Tieghan Gerard uses dairy-free almond cooking milk. There is no crust and only 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour in the batter which can be switched out with gluten-free flour. So it’s perfect to serve to those with dairy and/or gluten food allergies or sensitivities. If you don’t have to worry about that, you can substitute heavy cream or evaporated milk in equal amounts for the almond cooking milk.

Additions I didn’t mention in my 2019 Thanksgiving menu post:

Here in the Midwest, lots of families serve homemade egg noodles drenched in more turkey gravy as a side dish. This was my first year to try that. Why not? Noodles, mashed potatoes, stuffing, hot homemade rolls – what’s one more carbohydrate? And, yes, we did have the obligatory green vegetable – Brussel sprouts.

I made a cherry pie because my grandsons love cherry pie, and an apple crisp because a local produce market had the largest and most fragrant apples in their shop the day I visited. Yes, we had three desserts.

at mimi's table a december to remember

 

Any of these recipes would be excellent choices at Christmas, too. The beet hummus would be a cheerful and tasty addition to any appetizer or charcuterie board.

If you’re invited to a holiday party or open house and need a pitch-in item, try the pumpkin cheesecake. You can decorate the top with piped whipped cream. Or try what Teighan did and make little pie crust cookies dusted with cinnamon sugar as cute ornaments on the top.

Tips for a Less Stressful Holiday

Whatever your holiday celebrations – large, small, community configured – remember to have fun. Hosts burden themselves with unrealistic expectations for the “perfect” gathering. I give you permission. Free yourself. Do what you like. Do what you enjoy! After all, I am a Mimi with so much history. Yes, I am an older Mimi so, I’ve learned the hard way. Rely on your family and friends to bring up the rear. Learn to delegate.

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Have Tips or Tricks to Share?

I’d love to learn about your Thanksgiving success stories! What tips and tricks do you use for a less hectic holiday?

Our 2019 Thanksgiving Menu

 Actually, this is last year’s roasted turkey. Isn’t it beautiful! So perfectly browned and, believe me, so delicious and moist!

Here’s what we do and have done over many years and generations to ensure a successful turkey outcome.

We always, always buy Butterball 19-21 pound turkeys. My mother swore by Butterball’s because they are self-basting. That didn’t keep her or us from basting as the bird roasted. We figured the dual effort, Butterball’s and ours, would give us the best chance for moist and tender meat.

If you buy a frozen turkey, thaw it in the refrigerator starting the Monday before Thanksgiving Day. Remove from the fridge in the morning and allow to come to room temperature for an hour or so before roasting. This step is especially important if you choose to stuff your bird – you don’t want to put stuff into into a cold turkey cavity.

Jessica and I started basting the turkey with a warmed mixture of dry white wine and butter several years ago influenced by Martha Stewart’s “Perfect Roast Turkey 101.” Martha submerges folded layers of cheesecloth into the warm mix and drapes it over the breast and drumstick heads before the bird goes into the oven. We baste the turkey every 20-30 minutes until all the wine/butter is used up and then remove the cheesecloth and finish roasting. Follow the link above for thorough instructions from Martha.

 

Other Turkey Considerations

To Stuff or Not to Stuff:  Stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked in a pan separately from the bird. For 60 years, my mother and her mother always stuffed the turkey with a recipe from a 1950’s Francois Pope cookbook. Mr. Pope and his wife Antoinette originated a television cooking show from Chicago. My grandmother thought Francois was the bomb. And the day-before tradition of toasting, soaking and squeezing bread dry, simmering onions and celery in an obscene amount of butter and putting the whole mix together with lots of sage is a legendary memory in our family.

Last year, we decided to forgo the Pope’s recipe and Grandma’s tradition in favor of a dressing recipe. It’s easier and quicker to prepare. Not everyone we served was as crazy about Francois’ recipe as the Szewczyk-Smith side of the clan. And dressing is scalable – we could make as much or as little as we wished, not mandated by the size of the turkey’s cavity. Here’s the dressing recipe I chose for this year’s dinner: Classic Traditional Thanksgiving Dressing. Yes, I’ve tried cornbread dressing made with half cornbread and half French bread, but it just crumbled apart – maybe too much liquid?

Rather than stuffing, we stuff the bird’s cavity with aromatics like onion, garlic, lemon and oranges. They lend a nice fragrance to the turkey meat without going through the trouble of brining or traditional stuffing. Without stuffing, the turkey roasts quicker, too.

To Brine or Not to Brine: Several years ago, Alton Brown got America on a turkey-brining kick. Turkey brine recipes and brining kits were all over the place. We love Alton – I mean, who doesn’t appreciate the marrying of the scientific method and cooking? But it’s a lot of work and messy. First you have to cook the brine, let it come to room temperature – that takes time – and then submerge the turkey in a large bucket with brine and ice, and let it sit overnight. Thanksgiving morning, Jessica, Brock and I would get up early and wrestled with a cold, wet bird, dried it inside and out, every nook and cranny, with an entire roll of paper toweling, and then stuffed before it went into the oven. Really, it’s messy and more work than necessary. And we didn’t think it made that much of a difference. Jessica and I would rather invest our time and energy into rolls, mashed potatoes & gravy, and yummy sides like pie. If you’re insistent or curious, here’s a link to Alton’s “Good Eats Roast Turkey.”

Lots of Gravy! No matter how nicely you roast a turkey, rarely in my experience are there enough pan drippings to make an adequate amount of turkey gravy. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing smothered with ladles of perfectly seasoned gravy is much loved in our family. My advice is to supplement the drippings with pre-made, homemade turkey &/or chicken stock. I always make chicken stock a day or two before to have on hand for just this purpose. And then I simmer the turkey neck and giblets just in case I need more. Here’s a recipe for “Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy” from the Noble Pig’s website. The secret is to get your stock deeply colored so your gravy is beautifully brown. So, I use onions with their peelings to make my stock – red or yellow onions do the trick.

This year I’m trying “Make-Ahead White Wine Gravy” from Tieghan Gerard at Half Baked Harvest.Tieghan’s recipe appeals to me because she makes a gravy base of butter, flour, shallots, sage, and broth that can be made a couple of days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make gravy. Brilliant! Because Jessica & I baste our roasting turkey with white wine and butter, using the same dry white to begin the gravy-making process makes sense. Tieghan instructs that once the turkey is roasted, drain the fat and liquid from the pan into a glass measuring cup. Place the roasting pan on the stove over two burners, add the wine, bring to a boil and deglaze the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce to low, and add the gravy base. Whisk until the gravy is thickened and the proper consistency. You can add more broth if needed. If the gravy is too thin, take a 1-pint mason jar, add 1 cup stock and 1/3 cup flour. Put the jar lid back on and shake until it’s incorporated. Slowly add the slurry to the gravy, whisking all the way, until the gravy is as thick as you like it. Don’t add the slurry all at once – little by little – and whisk so you don’t develop lumps.

2019 Thanksgiving Menu

Here’s our tentative menu for 2019. I say “tentative” because Jessica and I are meeting tomorrow to flesh out the menu. We’re using some old standbys, but integrating new ideas, too. I’ve included links to those new recipes just in case you want to check them out. I’ll also finish this post later with pics and comments to let you know how successful we were.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Jessica and I hope you enjoy a fabulous meal shared with loved ones and others close to you!

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What’s on your menu this year? Old favorites? Trying something new?

Easy Apple Pie Cheesecake

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Do you love apple pie? Do you love cheesecake?
Planning holiday dessert menus and want a little of both? Looking for an alternative to pumpkin pie?
Problem solved!
Combine your two favorites into one Apple Pie Cheesecake!

I found this brilliant recipe for Apple Pie Cheesecake at Tasty in Kathryn Aubin’s feature 4 Pies to Bake With Your BFFJust like any cheesecake, this takes some time to bake, but that’s it. The remainder of the process is easy, easy, easy. Seriously – a no-brainer easy. Apple Pie Cheesecake can be made the day before serving and kept cold in the refrigerator. In fact, it should be made the day before to allow the cheesecake to cool and set.

I strayed from Kathryn’s recipe only by omitting the nutmeg in the apple topping and using puff pastry for the top lattice rather than pie crust. I mean, who doesn’t love the puffy, buttery, lightness of puff pastry? I did sprinkle demerara sugar on top of the puff pastry after the egg wash. Demerara has big crystals and gives the crust a nice little crunch. I get lots of compliments every time I use demerara on pies, cookies or bars,  If you play your cards right and your family insists on tradition, make the cheesecake with puff pastry topping and use the other pie crust for a pumpkin pie or any other single crust pie.

Oh, did I mention the crust is made from one refrigerated pie crust you will find in any grocery store’s refrigerator section? One of my college roommates bakes professionally. She makes lots of pies and uses refrigerated store-bought pie crust because it’s made with lard, not shortening or butter. Anyone who’s baked pies for a while understands the value of lard in pie crust dough. Lard makes the pastry tender, lighter and flakier. My mother and grandmother could whip up a lard pie crust in the blink of an eye. I’ve done that, too, not as fast as my predecessors I might add, but I prefer using 1/2 lard and 1/2 vegetable shortening. I find the dough to be more manageable that way.

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Forgive me, I did not take pictures of the springform pan or of mixing the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, etc. But here’s a pic of the apples simmering in water, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Can it get any better than that? Wait – read the recipe.

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Shall we bake an Apple Pie Cheesecake? YES!

 

 

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Yield: 8 servings

Easy Apple Pie Cheesecake

Easy Apple Pie Cheesecake

I found this brilliant recipe for Apple Pie Cheesecake at Tasty in Kathryn Aubin's feature 4 Pies to Bake With Your BFF. Just like any cheesecake, this takes some time to bake, but that's it. The remainder of the process is easy, easy, easy. Seriously - a no-brainer easy. Apple Pie Cheesecake can be made the day before serving and kept cold in the refrigerator. In fact, it should be made the day before to allow the cheesecake to cool and set.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pie crust, premade refrigerated or homemade for a 9" pan
  • 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
  • 3-8oz bars cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated (It's so much better! Get whole nutmegs and a Microplane)
  • Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon, if desired
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs, large to jumbo, room temperature
  • 3-4 medium sized apples, peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
  • 2 Tablespoons corn starch
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 egg for eggs wash plus 1 Tablespoon water
  • 1 teaspoon demerara sugar, optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 300F degrees.
  2. Line a 10" springform pan with one pie crust. Press along the bottom and sides. Halfway up the sides of the pan is fine.
  3. In the large bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, mix all the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
  4. Add sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest if using, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until well blended.
  5. Add eggs one at a time until well blended.
  6. Pour cheese mixture into springform pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Afterward, turn oven off but let cheesecake sit in oven in the oven for another hour.
  7. Apple Topping
  8. While the cheesecake is baking, prepare the apple topping.
  9. Peel and dice 3-4 medium size apples.into a medium only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="125" data-gr-id="125">bowl I used gala apples. Dribble lemon juice from half a lemon over apples. Set aside.
  10. In a large skillet over medium heat, add sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and water over medium-low heat. Stir to incorporate.
  11. Once simmering, add apples. Stir until apples are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add 1 Tablespoon butter and let cool.
  12. Once the cheesecake has baked, remove to a cooling rack. Increase oven temperature to 425F degrees.
  13. Pour apple mixture over the cheesecake.
  14. Cut thawed puff pastry into strips and weave over the top of the apple mixture.
  15. Brush with egg wash (1 egg + 1 Tablespoon water)
  16. Sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons demerara sugar, if using.
  17. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crust is golden brown
  18. Chill and serve

Notes

This is a great holiday cheesecake! Bake the day before serving and chill well in your refrigerator. Top with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or how about cinnamon ice cream.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup minced pecans to the cheesecake batter before baking. Or top with salted caramel sauce. YUM!


 

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Peanuts & Kale

at mimi's table spicy sweet potato peanut and kale soup pinch of yum

If you’re like me, we scour the internet looking for delicious recipes that take us out of our comfort zone. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut of making the same dishes over and over again. It’s not like the meals aren’t delicious. But sometimes we just need to rock the boat a bit. I just love Pinterest and visit every day looking for inspiration. Pinterest is a great resource for me where I find great food bloggers and recipes of all sorts like this one:

I was looking around one afternoon and my eyes lit up when I landed on A Pinch of Yum and this wonderful recipe for Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato & Kale. Why don’t I ever think about combinations like this? I’m in the Midwest. I don’t think this way. Sweet potato simmered with sweet curry and turmeric in coconut milk and broth finished with kale – seriously flavorful. There are even chopped peanuts in the recipe that gives this soup a little crunch – awesome!

And healthy! Look at all the good stuff it’s made from. Lindsay’s soup is thickened with creamy peanut butter instead of the usual roux of butter, flour, and milk. I didn’t miss it a bit. Many of us serve soup as a first course to a holiday meal and Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Peanuts and Kale would be a stellar beginning.

And quick! Forty minutes from cutting board to table. I always have sweet potatoes on hand during fall and winter, so that was a cinch. I bought a package of frozen, chopped kale at the grocery to make prep even easier.

I didn’t have jalapeno, so I substituted crushed red pepper flakes. Lindsay calls for two cups of water. I used chicken stock instead. She likes to leave her sweet potatoes in bite-sized chunks, and I mashed mine up a bit to make the soup thicker. Try it. You’ll love it!

at mimi's table spicy sweet potato peanut and kale soup pinch of yum

 

It’s cold today in Indiana. Soup’s on!

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Peanuts & Kale
 
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Cook time
Total time
 
This dish is a warm and comforting, healthy, gluten-free, bowl of happiness. Lindsay at a Pinch of Yum says she was inspired to make this soup based on a West African recipe for groundnut soup. It would be fabulous as a first course for a holiday meal.
Author:
Recipe type: Soups & Stews
Cuisine: American
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small to medium onion, diced
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1-14 oz can fire roasted or petite diced tomatoes
  • 1-14oz can light coconut milk
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sweet curry powder (I use Penzey's)
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • ½ cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
  • ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1-10oz bag frozen chopped kale
Instructions
  1. Put olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until lightly browned.
  2. Add sweet potato cubes and stir until they become lightly browned - 3-5 minutes.
  3. Add garlic, stir and cook until the garlic becomes fragrant - 1 minute.
  4. Add the curry powder and turmeric to the sweet potatoes. Stir and cook until the spices are fragrant, a minute or so.
  5. Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, chicken stock, salt, and chopped peanuts. Stir everything together.
  6. Bring the soup to a simmer and continue to cook uncovered for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
  7. Add peanut butter and kale. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thick and creamy.
Notes
Garnish with extra chopped peanuts and/or chopped fresh cilantro, if you wish. I warmed a loaf of bread to serve alongside. Please see Lindsay's recipe at A Taste of Yum for crockpot or Instapot instructions.