Vivi's Back! Pumpkin Cheesecake

So finally I make a post after, what, a year? It feels like forever, anyway. But here I go. My computer is finally fixed, my camera finally works, and I finally have a reason to share these recipes. Truth: I have no life, I might as well spend my time cooking and baking ^^;

So here it is. For anyone who wants a cheesecake and pumpkin pie for Christmas, plus the goodness of marshmallows.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups of sugar

1/4 cup of brown sugar (I had none at the time so I used pilloncillo/rapadura. If you're Hispanic, you know what I'm talking about. If not... don't worry about it. It's just unrefined brown sugar.)

1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese softened

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 tbs sour cream

1 tbs flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp cloves

2 eggs at room temperature

Marshmallows (whatever size you want. I used normal size since minis are too troublesome to arrange and jumbos would overpower the cheesecake)

Directions: Very simple, easy instructions. ^^ If you don't want to go through the "trouble" of baking it, just follow instruction 2 and 3, and just put the marshmallows on, pop it in the oven on "toast" until they have a nice brownness and then chill for 8 hours or over night.

1.Preheat the oven at 325○

2.Combine sugar and cream cheese until smooth

3.Add pumpkin and the rest of the ingredients except the marshmallows(add only half the amount of canned pumpkin and omit sour cream, flour and eggs if not baking)

4.Pour in pan (I used pre-made graham crusts) and bake at 325○ for 35 minutes or until cake is set. turn oven off and cool for one hour with the door slightly open. (Slightly, not halfway open)

5. Arrange as many marshmallows as you want on top of the cake, and set it on toast for about five minutes, turning the cake around frequently so that the marshmallows don't burn. (that means you don't have to close the oven door!) Cool with door open.

6. When you can pick up cake with your bare hands, cover it and stick it in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.

So there you have it. Easier than pie pumpkin cheesecake that takes at the most, two hours to make (not including the hour cool off when you can be doing something else.) Mind you, this is the first cheesecake I've actually Baked, (for Thanksgiving. It was the first one to be finished!) so it really is easy!

Spinach and Cheese Enchiladas (Vivi)

Wow, it's been so long since I have posted anything that i feel kind of bad. In apology, I will try to cook and blog about the food as much as possible~

I learned this recipe at work. I work in a convalescent home kitchen, and there's so much to learn during lunch time! My imagination for cooking has reached new heights because of lunches here ^_^

Ingredients:

Salsa-

• 8 tomatillos, (the green mini-tomatoes) husked
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• half a large onion
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or just one handful
  
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper (Roll it around a little bit against the counter with the heel of your palm if you want the salsa hot, My coworkers call this "pissing the jalapeno off")
  
• salt to taste
• two large green Chile peppers

Filling-

• 1 average sized pack of Queso Fresco (literally "fresh cheese" in Spanish but good luck trying to find it with the English name. It should be in most dairy sections) sliced into thin strips
  
• 1 box fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
  
• 1 large bag of fresh spinach
• Monterrey Jack cheese
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
   
   
2. Begin by placing the tomatillos, chili peppers, and jalapeno in a skillet on medium heat. This is to bring out the flavor of the veggies more and make it easier to blend later. Leave for a few minutes, turning them every now and then so the skins don't burn completely black. (A little is OK, just not too much or your salsa will carry a "burnt" taste)
3. Meanwhile, heat a very small amount of oil or margarine in a large skillet, then leaving the mushrooms and spinach to cook until spinach is very soft. add a little salt and pepper to taste as it cooks.
   
   
4. By now your salsa ingredients should be ready for blending. There might be a bit of juices from the tomatoes in the pan, so just pour all that into your blender, adding in the cilantro, onion, and garlic. Blend to your hearts content, and add salt to taste. Set aside.
   
   
5. Using the same pan you used for the salsa, heat more oil, this time for your corn tortillas. I'm not sure about the exact number of tortillas, but brown enough of them up in the oil to fill with half of the sliced queso fresco and spinach filling. About fifteen seconds for each tortilla.
   
   
6. Oil up a baking dish
   
   
7. fill each tortilla with one slice of cheese, and a bit of the spinach, mushroom mixture, roll them up and place them seam side down on the baking dish until you've used up all your spinach filling, but making sure you still have enough cheese to sprinkle over the top of the enchiladas
   
   
8. Slather some more of the salsa over the enchiladas ad sprinkle over the fresh cheese and as much Monterrey Jack as you want.
   
   
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sauce is bubbling and cheese is lightly browned at the edges.
   
   
10. Serve with some rice of your choice, and enjoy~