Sopapilla Cheesecake

This one comes from Beth Moore's blog.  I've had the awesome opportunity to attend one of Beth's Bible studies at Houston First Baptist when she did Here and Now, There and Then, a lecture series on Revelation.  My friend Abby and I went the entire 10 week series in the fall semester of 2009.  If you get the chance to do this study now that it's officially published -- do it!  It was so incredibly interesting and what fun it was to be there live while it was recorded for Lifeway!  Anyway, I'm totally offtrack now... Back to the recipe -- I stumbled on this recipe on her blog after having it at a church potluck and searching for the recipe.  This is so easy to throw together and sinfully yummy.  :)  I've also successfully halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 pan.

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
2 (8 oz) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (combine about 1/2 cup sugar with 1 TBS cinnamon)

Directions:
In a 9×13 baking pan, unroll one package of refrigerated crescent rolls and line the bottom of the pan; flattening and pressing the seams as you go.  Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and extract and spread over the crescent rolls.  Unroll the other can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture.  Pour one stick of melted butter over the top and sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Baked Squash Casserole

One of my many waitressing jobs included a year long stint at the Black-eyed Pea.  One my favorite things they serve is their Baked Squash Casserole.  This recipe comes to a pretty darn close resemblance of it!

Ingredients:
5 pounds yellow squash
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs*
4 ounces butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
dash of pepper

Directions:
Cut the tops off the squash and cut into about 2 inch chunks.  Place the squash in boiling water and boil just until tender.  Drain and coarsely mash; a potato masher works really well.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour in a 3 quart casserole dish and sprinkle a light layer of breadcrumbs over the top.  Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

*for the breadcrumbs, I like to use King's Hawaiian Honey Wheat rolls.  These closely resemble the yummy honey wheat rolls that the Black-eyed Pea is famous for and what they use in their own squash casserole.  I let the rolls dry out for a day or night before I make this dish and just crumble them with my hands.

Nachos

So, I was aimlessly wandering through HEB Sunday afternoon trying to buy enough food for lunches and easy dinners this week, but feeling very uninspired.  Somewhere in the bread aisle, I had a thought.  I grew up making very simple nachos in the microwave for snacks.  A few chips, a couple spoonfuls of salsa, some shredded cheese, zap them for a few seconds and we're good to go.  Well, I decided, how about that comfort food stepped up a couple notches?  Still a very simple dinner to throw together after work, but very filling.  I can see adding refried beans or a variety of other additions, but the idea was to keep it simple and filling, so I tried not to get too carried away.  Tip: I used a rotisserie chicken to make it even quicker to throw together... plus I have extra chicken for salads and such.  Or more nachos.  ;)

t

Ingredients:
tortilla chips
salsa
shredded chicken
southwest seasoning*
4 cheese Mexican blend
chopped avocado (1 small or 1/2 of a large)
sour cream

Directions:
Layer tortilla chips on a foil lined baking pan.  Spoon salsa, distributing evenly on chips.  Add shredded chicken, again being generous and even.  Sprinkle with southwest seasoning.  Layer handfuls of cheese until covered to your liking.  Bake in a 350 oven for about 5 minutes, until warmed through and cheese is melted.  Layer chopped avocado pieces and spoon sour cream evenly over nachos.  Serve immediately.

*The blend I used was a southwest rub made by Adam's Reserve and contained: cumin, sweet pepper flakes, onion, chipotle, garlic, New Mexico chile peppers, black pepper, coriander, cilantro, and lime.