Holiday Recipes

Easy Salmon Dip
Lighter Hummus Dip
Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Tropical Sweet Potatoes
Tamale Pie

Easy Salmon Dip
1 3 oz package Chicken of the Sea Smoked Pacific Salmon
1 12 oz package (tub)  cream cheese
1/4 white onion, coarsely chopped
lemon juice to taste (I used about a tablespoon)
dill weed (dried) to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons)

Put the entire package of salmon (including juice) in a food processor.  Pulse until uniform consistency. Put the entire package of cream cheese in the food processor.  Pulse until blended.  Add the lemon juice, onion, and dill weed.  Pulse till blended. Transfer to one, two or three serving bowls.  Dust top with paprika.  Cover and refrigerate at least an hour (I made it the day before).

Assumed serving size: 1 tablespoon
Assumed # of servings: 22
Per serving: Total Calories: 50
Calories from Fat: 41
Total Fat: 4.5 grams
Total Carb: 1 gram Total
Protein: 2 grams

Obviously this is not a "good for you" dip, but it is tasty.

Lighter Hummus Dip (we really like hummus, but most packaged hummus is too oily for our taste)
1 10 oz package (tub) of hummus (I used Meza brand roasted eggplant)
2 15 oz cans of garbanzo beans (I used Natural Value Organic)
lemon juice to taste (I used about 3 tablespoons)
onion juice or powder (I used about a teaspoonful)

Drain the garbanzo beans.  Place in food processor, pulse until a smooth puree.  Add the prepared hummus.  Pulse until blended. Add about half the onion flavoring. Add about a tablespoonful of the lemon juice. Pulse the mixture.  Taste.  Repeat until happy.

Total amount of resulting hummus lite: about 4 cups (64 servings)
Assumed serving size: 1 tablespoon
Per serving:
Total Calories: 20
Calories from Fat: 7
Total Fat:  1 gram
Total Carb:  2.5 grams
Total Protein: 1 gram

Bill's Famous Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and position the rack in the bottom third of the oven.

Prepare a pie shell, using your favorite pie crust (I'm a lousy pastry chef so I use a premade crust, but you may be a good pastry chef.  Bill's a premier pastry chef so of course he makes his dough from scratch.  Here's a good tutorial.) 

Refrigerate while you do the next step.
Ingredients for Pumpkin Filling:
4 oz good-quality dark chocolate
3 large eggs
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree or 1 - 15 ounce can (425 grams) pure pumpkin
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Make the Pumpkin Filling:
Refrigerate the chocolate for at least an hour, to make it firm and easy to grate.
Grate the chocolate onto a waxed paper square. A microplane is a great tool. Add to the cream, and heat the mixture in the  microwave to about 100 degrees. Stir until the chocolate is all melted. In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the pumpkin and stir, then the warm chocolate-cream mixture. Add the remaining  ingredients and stir to combine.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell and place on a large baking pan to catch any spills.  Bake the pie for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust has browned (the center will still look wet).  (A knife inserted about 1 inch (2.54 cm) from side of pan will come out almost clean.)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.  Serve with whipped cream or icecream (your choice).

Tropical Sweet Potatoes (inspired by the German "Himmel und Erde" and the Sweet Potatos and Apple Casserole from the Joy of Cooking).

This is one of those casseroles that is infinitely expandable.

Ingredients list
Yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes
Tart apples (Granny Smiths)
Condensed frozen orange juice
lime juice
Guava nectar
brown sugar
butter

to serve 12 (assuming many other side dishes)

2 yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs)
2 lbs tart apples (Granny Smiths)
Condensed frozen orange juice (about a tablespoon), thawed
lime juice (fresh or bottled) (about 2 tablespoons)
Guava nectar (about a pint)
brown sugar (I used about 1/2 a cup)
butter (I used about 1/4 cup)

Products I used:
Minute Maid Frozen Lime Juice
Kern's Guava Nectar

Peel and halve the sweet potatoes along the long axis. Slice into half-rounds  about 1/2 a fingerwidth in thickness. Steam for about 4-6 minutes, until just barely tender. Peel, core, and halve the apples. Slice into half-rounds  about 1/2 a fingerwidth in thickness. Steam for about 3 minutes, till just barely tender. Let the sweet potatoes and apples cool until they are easy to handle. Make a sauce by combining the condensed OJ, the lime juice, and the guava nectar.  Feel free to use  more or less lime juice, to your taste, but remember the sauce needs to be a bit tart as you will be adding brown sugar.

Butter or grease a casserole dish big enough to hold all the sweet potatoes and apples. Lay out sweet potatoes and apples in rows, alternating the sweet potatoes and apples.   The sweet potatoes and apples are more or less resting on the flat ends, and are overlapping.  I usually make this dish only one layer thick. Pour some of the sauce over the sweet potato/apple layer.  You want it to come about 1/2 way up the sweet potato/apple row.   

If you have sauce left over, you can drink it.  I find guava nectar over-sweet, so I dilute it half-and-half with sparkling water or seltzer.

You can refrigerate at this point for up to a day.  If you do, the apples might darken a bit, so cover tightly with plastic wrap. Preheat oven to 350. Remove the plastic wrap.  Dot with butter and brown sugar.  Cover with foil Bake until bubbly (It took about 20 minutes in my oven)--I took it out and let it cool a bit before serving.

Ditz Family Tradition: Tamale Pie

This is one of those casseroles that is infinitely expandable.

Ingredients for every 4 people, more or less:

2 Frozen Turkey Tamales, (Maita Bros' Golden West Brand)
1 can Creamed Corn (14 oz mol)
One can  Black Olives
1/4 lb. Cheddar Cheese, shredded (if you like, traditional,  but I omit it)

Thaw tamales sufficiently to unwrap.  Working over the large casserole you will use for the tamale pie, open the tamales, allowing the masa (the yellow cornmeal pastryish substance) to fall into the pot.  There are several layers:  the outer plastic wrapping, the inner paper wrapping, and the corn husks.  Also allow the stuffing (a mix of tamale sauce and diced turkey) to fall into the pot.  Add the can of creamed corn.  Begin to heat over very low heat.  The mixture should become rather thick. Drain the can of olives, and stir in. Continue to heat the tamale pie over low heat.  When thoroughly heated, you can sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.

Enjoy.

Comments

[Marilou]

Would love to try your recipe for Tamale Pie...... would like to know where to get the "Maita Bros." tamales. Thanks in advance, Marilou