Pumpkin Pie

I have to post this recipe so I don't lose it. I am not a big pumpkin pie fan, but I really, really... really liked this one. My favorite part about this recipe was that it only made one pie. (Of course I ended up making two anyway after I dropped the first one...)

1 egg
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2.Add the sugar gradually to the pumpkin puree. Beat well an stir in the flour, salt and spices. Stir in the corn syrup and beat well. Stir in the slightly beaten egg, then slowly add the evaporated milk, mixing until well blended. Pour the batter into the unbaked pie shell.
3.Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees F) and continue baking pie for an additional hour or until a knife inserted into the mixture comes out clean.

*Tip- If you loosely place a piece of aluminum foil, in a tent shape, over the pie while it bakes at 325, the pie crust will be perfectly browned and not burned.

Chewy Caramel Brownies

A friend of mine was asking about a simple, tasty dessert and I remembered I had this recipe. My mother in law introduced me to these. They are chewy and wonderful.

1 (14 ounce) package of light caramels
1/2 cup melted margarine
1 (6 ounce) pkg of chocolate chips
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 pkg German Chocolate cake mix
1 cup of chopped nuts (optional)

Melt the caramels and 1/3 cup of evaporated milk in a microwave, stirring occasionally.
In a separate bowl, combine melted margarine, the other 1/3 cup of evaporated, and cake mix.
Separate the cake mix in to half.
Press one half in to a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Spread the chocolate chips, then caramel, then optional nuts on top of the baked cake mix. Crumble the left over cake mix in to small bits and put that over the top of the caramel and nuts. The cake does bake like it falls.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350. Allow to cool.

Black Bean Soup With a Mexican Flare

I realize that there is another black bean soup on this blog, but this recipe has a completely different flavor. My sister in law gave me this recipe and I tweaked it a bit.

One large can of black refried beans
32 ounces of chicken broth
The juice of one lime
Chopped Cilantro to taste (cool people use a lot!)
One 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
One cup of sour cream

Put all of the above ingredients in the crock pot. I used my hand blender to blend everything together in to a smooth soup base. If you do not have a hand blender you could add some of the broth to the remaining ingredients and blend it up in a blender.

I let this cook in my crock pot on high for a couple of hours.

Add 1 cup of salsa
2 cups of prepared rice (I had leftover Mexican rice)
1 can of black beans, rinsed

Cut about 15 corn tortillas in to strips and bake at 375 for about 15-20 minutes. Turning occasionally.

Serve soup hot, topped with cheese and baked tortilla strips. MMMmmmm.