I love trying new recipes, especially during the holidays when there are so many occasions to EAT! Here are a couple of "keepers" from this past holiday season...
Cheesecake Crescent Rolls
Ingredients:
2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls (get the ones without the perforations if possible)
2 packages 8oz cream cheese
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/4 cup butter
cinnamon
sugar
Preparation:
Unroll and spread 1 of the cans of crescent rolls on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish (or 8 x 8 if you want to cut the recipe in half). Combine softened cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla. Spread over crescent roll layer. Unroll and layer remaining crescent rolls over cream cheese layer. Melt your butter and spread over top of crescent rolls. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake for 20-30 minutes in 350 degree oven until bubbly and slightly browned. Drizzle with a little honey if you like. Let cool a bit, slice and eat.
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Everyone from the South knows that you should eat black-eyed-peas on New Year's for good luck. Here is a different way to serve them...
Black-Eyed-Pea Hummus
2½ cups dried black-eyed peas
(Note: I used frozen peas and cooked them according to package directions. Much easier! One bag of frozen peas makes about 3 cups of hummus.)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for roasted garlic
4 heads garlic, ¼ inch cut off top to expose cloves
Olive oil, for roasted garlic
(Note: I used the jar roasted, chopped garlic. Again... much easier.)
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for roasted garlic
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried.)
1 sprig rosemary (I used dried.)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
2 teaspoons chopped chives (They didn't have chives at the grocery store, so I used chopped green onions.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
(Note: Skip first two steps if you are using frozen peas.)
1. Place peas in a large bowl, cover with water and soak overnight. Drain off liquid.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place drained peas in a large, heavy saucepan, cover with water by 1 inch and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer gently (lower heat if necessary) until peas are very soft, about 1 hour. About 15 minutes from end of cooking, stir in 1 tablespoon salt. When peas are done cooking, drain. Let cool to room temperature.
3. Meanwhile, roast garlic: Place garlic on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle cloves with oil, then season with salt and pepper. Place thyme and rosemary atop garlic, then fold sides of foil to create a packet so garlic is enclosed. Place packet on baking sheet and roast until garlic cloves are golden and spreadably soft, 45 minutes.
4. Place peas in a food processor or blender. Squeeze garlic cloves out of roasted heads and add to peas. Blend peas and garlic just until you get a dry, coarse dough-like paste with lumps of whole peas in it. With motor running, pour olive oil into mixture, stopping as soon as it's incorporated and mixture looks like hummus. The texture should be somewhat lumpy.
5. Stir in cayenne, remaining salt, pepper, parsley, chives and lemon juice.
Serve with pita, cut in wedges, brushed with olive oil, and toasted. I also sprinkled a little sea salt on top of the pita wedges.
—Adapted from Joseph Lenn of Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tenn.
