Chocolate Peanut Butter (cheesecake) Pie

It's PI DAY! I came across this recipe that I thought might be a hit, and gave it a shot. 
You can find the original HERE and below: 

I do not have a mile-high pie pan, just regular pans, ha. So I ended up with two pies! And I made some slight variations, based on what I have and what we prefer.

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

    put in food processor til it was combined and very fine

5 tablespoons melted butter

Combine dry ingredients with melted butter in a small bowl, press into pie pan. 

Freeze while preparing the filling.

Filling: 

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

12 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/8 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp molasses

In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the filling. 

In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese til smooth. Add the sugar and mix til combined. (scraping down sides as needed.) Add peanut butter, blend until incorporated. Add vanilla and molasses, mixing til smooth. 

Gently fold in the whipped cream until fully incorporated. 

Pour filling into the crust, and smooth the top. 

Chill in the freezer 30 minutes, or in the fridge 4 hours, before adding the ganache.

Ganache Topping:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Microwave the chocolate chips and cream for 1.5 minutes, then stir til smooth. 

Cool to 70* before pouring over the chilled pie, and spread evenly.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or freeze for 30 minutes before serving. Serve chilled.

*ice cream-like texture from the freezer, creamier texture from the fridge. 

Chicken and Sausage Soup

Ingredients

• 
  6 cups Ham or Chick Stock - Homemade would be best
• Homemade Ham Stock
• 2 ham bones, preferably with some meat still on them
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp whole black peppercorn
• 2 large bay leaves
• 2 whole onions peeled and cut in half or quarters
• 3 to 4 quarts of water - filled is best 
• 2 lbs boneless chicken breast or thighs cut into approx 1/2 inch chunks
• 12 oz beef smoked sausage (or polish kielbasa, spicy smoked sausage, andouille) cut into slices
• 4 cups of Kale, roughly chopped, rinsed and dried
• Approx 3/4 cup diced celery
• Approx 3/4 cup diced carrot
• 1 whole diced onion approx 3/4 cup
• 1 or 2 15 oz cans of cannelloni beans drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp seasoning salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 large bay leaf or 2 to 3 smaller ones
• Olive Oil for sauteing 
• Optional - 1/4 cup of pureed fire roasted Anaheim peppers or hatch chilies, pureed sundried tomatoes, or something like this.

Directions - Ham Stock

Put ham bones, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and onion into pressure cooker. Fill with water up to just below the max fill line. Put on the heat and bring to pressure. Cook for 90 minutes, turn off heat and let cool for 30 minutes. Quick release pressure at this point if needed. Strain the stock through a wire mesh strainer and toss all of the solids. Nothing will be still usable as food after cooking. Let stock cool to room temperature, then put in fridge until completely chilled. Skim off any solidified fat and toss. Put stock into freezer safe containers and freeze in 2 cup portions.

Directions - Soup

In a soup pot or Dutch oven large enough to hold at least 9 quarts, pour about 2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil into it and put over medium high heat. When the oil shimmering and even slightly smoking, dump in the sliced smoked sausage until both sides have taken on some color and may even have browned crispy edges. Take the sausage out and set aside. 

Put in another tbsp of oil if needed and dump in the chunked up chicken. Sprinkle with the seasoning salt and sauté until the chicken is cooked through. If it has taken on some color or crispy edges too, that is just fine. Take the chicken out and side aside with the sausage. If there is some liquid and chicken bits (frozen chicken breast will leech out significant liquid) in the pot, dump that out and lightly wipe out the pot. Don't wash it out or anything so extreme, just enough to get out any extra liquid and unnecessary chicken bits. 

Pour in another 2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil and let it heat to shimmering again. Dump in the diced carrots, onions, and celery along with a good sprinkling of seasoning salt. Sauté until the vegetables have softened, add the pureed pepper or tomatoes and stir to combine. Add back in the sausage and chicken, stir to combine. Add in the 6 cups of stock, stir and let it all come up to a simmer. Once simmering, add the the kale and cannelloni beans, stir until all of the kale has been incorporated. Cover and let simmer until the vegetables are cooked through and the kale is softened too, about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Taste for seasoning. Add seasoning salt if needed.

The Pioneer Woman - Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Original Link: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a37598987/twice-baked-potato-casserole-recipe/

Ingredients

• 4 lb. medium sized russet potatoes - should yield between 2 1/2 to 3 lbs of mashed baked potatoes. 
• 12 oz. bacon, divided or 16 oz pork sausage (breakfast or regular)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream 
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tbsp of crushed minced garlic or garlic paste
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 8 oz. cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan 
• 3 Tbsp of dried chives

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Prick each potato with a fork 3 to 4 times all over, then place on a sheet pan. Roast for 55 to 70 minutes until the potatoes are tender when pressed. Remove the potatoes from the oven and lower the temperature to 375ºF.

Meanwhile, working in two batches, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until golden and crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Let the cooked bacon drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Once cool, crumble or chop into small pieces. If using the pork sausage, cook it up until browned with crispy bits throughout the meat.

In a large bowl, place the melted butter, cream cheese, warm milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic and chives. Carefully whisk or blend with beaters the mixture together. It will incorporate into the mashed potatoes better if you do this first. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half lengthwise, and scrape the flesh out of the skins and into the bowl. Tear or chop up three of the potato skins and add them to the bowl. You can also skip this and use the potato skins for a different purpose later. Use a potato masher or spoon to mash everything together. Fold in the half of the bacon or sausage, half of the cheddar cheese, and parmesan.

Grease a 3-quart (9x13) casserole dish with butter. Transfer the potato mixture to the baking dish. Cover and bake for 35 minutes until the edges are bubbly. Combine the remaining bacon, cheese and panko bread crumbs in to a mixture. Top the casserole with the mixture and bake uncovered until warmed through and lightly golden on top, 20 minutes more. Let rest 10 minutes and serve. 

Corn Salsa

At our house, we don't sport. So we don't watch the Superbowl.
But sometimes it matches up with Groundhog Day and we do observe that, haha!
A few years ago we started making "game food" to eat while we watch the movie Groundhog Day. 

This year, we decided to try some new recipes, that ended up worth keeping. And making notes of. 

First up- Corn Salsa! The recipe came from HERE. 

That link will tell you that you need: 
- 2 cups cooked corn, or 3 cobs worth (which can be grilled, or fresh, or frozen)

- 2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced

- 1/2 cup red onion, diced

- 1 scallion, diced

- 1 jalapeno, diced (and seeded for milder flavor)

- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

- juice from one fresh lime

- salt and pepper to taste 

My husband knows how to cook and cannot just follow a recipe without doing his own thing, haha. He started by broiling the frozen corn. He broiled and tossed til the corn started getting a bit of char on it.

He used two limes worth of juice. He also added some olive oil and this Mexican seasoning to it.  

His only complaint was that it was very dry. Maybe next time he won't seed the tomatoes, and just include the whole thing? However, it was well received, so we'll keep the recipe. 

Very easy, just a lot of chopping. 
And we just ate it with tortilla chips.