Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

I love fall and winter because of all the yummy pumpkin recipes there are to make!! This is one I found last year on Yahoo! Food (they have since taken the link down), and I've made it several times since and everyone how's tried it has loved it!! It's delicious and is relatively easy, aside from the crushing of the gingersnaps.

Ingredients:
25 ginger snap cookies (Nabisco), finely crushed
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Recipe makes 16 servings/slices
Weight Watchers points: 9 points per serving

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325F.
Step 2: Mix ginger snap crumbs, pecans, and butter until crumbs and pecans are completely moistened.
Step 3: Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
Step 4: Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and the vanilla with electric mixer until well blended [I hand mixed and it works fine, but does take longer and more energy]
Step 5: Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each additional just until blended.
Step 6: Remove 1 1/2 cups of the batter and place in small bowl; set aside.
Step 7: Stir remaining 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, and spices into remaining batter.
Step 8: Spoon half the pumpkin batter on top of crust. Top with spoonfuls of half of the reserved plain batter.
Step 9: Repeat layers.
Step 10: Cut through batter with a knife several times for marble effect.
Step 11: Bake 55 min to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until center is almost set. Cool completely.
Step 12: Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Recipe's times:
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
My times:
Prep: 1 hour
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes

My prep time includes crushing of the gingersnaps. Because they're such hard cookies, it does take a while, and destroys the bag I use while crushing. But it make a delicious crust!!

Ingredients

Crushing ginger snaps

Step 2

Step 3

Step 5

Step 7

Step 8 A

Step 8 B

Step 9 A

Step 9 B

Step 10

Right out of the oven

Roasted Tofu

Now that I've started Weight Watchers online, I've been seriously cutting back on the miscellaneous snacks and trying hard to stick to vegetables only (0 point foods). But I'm getting tired of carrots and cucumbers, so I wanted to see if there was a simple recipe for tofu that could be used as a snack, since it's a lean protein and delicious! I found several meal recipes using tofu, but none that was a Tofu only recipe, so I used a combination of several different methods I found online and came up with this Roasted Tofu recipe! Easy and low points for how much you get to eat (and protein!).

Ingredients:
1 lb (16 oz) Lite Firm Tofu
1/2-1 tbsp soy sauce
cooking spray

Weight Watchers points: 5 (for whole recipe)

Step 1: Place tofu on several layers of paper towel, top with more paper towels, and place one or more heavy objects on top. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes. This presses out all excess water from the tofu.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 450F. Cut tofu into 6 1/2-inch slices, then cut each slice into 8 cubes.
Step 3: Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Arrange tofu cubes on sheet so that the pieces don't touch.
Step 4: Brush each cube with soy sauce (you can do just the top or each exposed side).
Step 5: Spray light layer of cooking spray over tofu cubes.
Step 6: Place cookie sheet into over, bake for about 25 minutes.

Chinese Sausage and Tofu over Rice

This is a recipe I came up with on my own. Since I enjoy chinese sausage so much, I tried to think of other ways I could use it other than in Sticky Rice. And I thought that I could throw it in with the rice in a rice cooker. And to make it a little healthier, I figured I'd add tofu!! So here it is!! Quick, easy, and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 cup rice, white or jasmine
1 1/3 cup water
1 Chinese sausage link (lop chong)
1 scallion/green onion
8 oz extra firm tofu

Serves 2-3
Weight Watchers: 7 points per serving (serving = 1/3 of dish)

Step 1: Put rice and water into rice cooker bowl (you can rinse the rice beforehand or not, your preference).
Step 2: Slice Chinese sausage thinly, about 1/4 inch in width; add to rice cooker.
Step 3: Slice scallion; add to rice cooker.
Step 4: Cut tofu into 16-24 pieces (depending on how large you want your tofu pieces); add to rice cooker.
Step 5: Stir ingredients in rice cooker to mix slightly.
Step 6: Let the cooker run a normal cycle for rice; once it's on "Keep Warm" let it sit (additional steaming) for about 15 minutes.
Step 7: Season with soy sauce to taste; serve.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: about 30 minutes (depends on rice cooker)
Total time: 35 minutes

Definitely a quick and easy dish, especially good for those days when you are rushed and tired after work, and yet don't want to eat fast food.

Triple Chocolate Tofu Brownies

I recently joined Weight Watchers Online, and have been looking for "healthier" or lower fat dessert to make....since I love desserts, but the girls at work don't seem to be eating as much of the stuff I bring in anymore, and I've heard some grumbling about fat and diet. Weigh Watchers had a note that said tofu can be substituted for heavy creams and such, so I decided to look into it, and I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com: Triple Chocolate Tofu Brownies. Now I admit, I was skeptical. Tofu in brownies? But I tried it, and it turned out pretty good!! I modified it slightly, so if you want to see the original recipe, visit the link!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

10 oz pkg silken tofu, drained

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup white sugar

4 tsp vanilla extract

4 1-oz squares Baker's unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips

Weigh Watchers points: 3 per bar

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.

Step 2: Combine flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl.

Step 3: Place tofu in a blender; puree until smooth [the blender didn't work so well for me; next time I will try a food processor].

Step 4: Add olive oil and sugar to blender; blend for 1 minute.

Step 5: Pour tofu mix into mixing bowl; stir in vanilla extract.

Step 6: Melt unsweetened chocolate (using double broiler or microwave).

Step 7: Mix melted chocolate into tofu mixture until well-blended.

Step 8: Stir in flour mixture until thoroughly combined.

Step 9: Fold in chocolate chips.

Step 10: Pour into baking pan; bake about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Step 11: Cool before slicing into bars (24 bars).

Recipe times:

Prep: 20 minutes

Cooking: 40 minutes

My times:

Prep: 30 minutes

Cooking: 30 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

This turns out very dark-chocolate-ty. Not bad, but a litter bitter for my taste (I don't go out of my way to eat dark chocolate). But if you are into dark chocolate, you will love this!!! You can't even tell there's tofu in it!!! Two thumbs up!

Ingredients

Step 2

Step 3

Step 5

Step 7

Step 8: Not mixed

Step 8: Mixed

Step 10

Chinese Sticky Rice (Nuomi Fan)

I love chinese sticky rice. Everytime I eat Dim Sum, I must order it (it's the stuff that's usually wrapped in a lotus leaf). And one of my favorite parts of sticky rice is the chinese sausage in it!! It's oh so yummy fatty goodness!!! So I decided to try my hand at making my own sticky rice, so I don't have to wait until the next time I find it at a restaurant (Davis/Sacramento area does not really have a wide selection of such things). I found this recipe online for the Sticky Rice. I halved the recipe from the link, since that supposedly made enough to feed a LOT of people. And.....ta da!!!! Delicious Chinese sticky rice!!! Pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Yes, it does take a long time (mostly prep/cooking waiting time), but totally worth it. And definitely easy to make for large groups.

Ingredients:
2 cups sweet (glutinous/sticky) rice
1 cup jasmine rice
12 Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms
4 Chinese sausages (lop chong)
1/2 lb Chinese BBQ pork
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 tbsp soy sauce, divided
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Makes about 2 quarts (serves about 8 people).
Weight Watchers points: 6 per serving (1/8 of recipe)

Step 1: In a 6-quart stockpot, wash all the rice in several changes of cold water until water is clear. Soak rice for 1 hour (in enough col water to cover).
Step 2: In a bowl, soak mushrooms in warm water for 30 minutes, until softened.
Step 3: When softened, drain and squeeze mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Cut off and discard stems and chop the cups.
Step 4: Chop sausage and bbq pork; set aside separately.

**Wait until rice is almost done soaking to proceed.
Step 5: Heat large wok/skillet over high heat until hot.
Step 6: Add oil and sausage; stir-fry 1 minute.
Step 7: Add mushrooms and por; stir-fry 3-4 minutes, until heated through.
Step 8: Add 1/2 tsbp soy sauce; stir to combine then remove from heat and set aside.

Step 9: Drain rice.
Step 10: Add chicken stock and 1 cup of reserved mushroom liquid; bring to a boil over high heat.
Step 11: Reduce heat to LOW, cover and cook 10 minutes.
Step 12: Uncover and quickly scoop sausage mixture on top of rice (don't mix).
Step 13: Immediately cover and continue cooking rice 25-30 minutes, or until liquid is completely absorbed and rice is tender.
Step 14: Let stand 5 minutes.
Step 15: Add 3/4 tbsp soy sauce, oyster sauce, scallions, and cilantro; stir to combine.

My cooking times:
Prep (including soak times): 1 hour 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

Step 1

Step 3

Step 4 (sausage)

Step 6

Step 12