2 pies in only 20 minutes of prep time!

This is a little holiday tradition of mine.  I love pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and pumpkin cheesecake during the holidays!  Making two pies at once does take a little more concentration since they don't have exactly the same ingredients, so it's easy to get confused, but with some practice, you can double your fun making a pumpkin pie and cheesecake simultaneously.

You will need:

Pumpkin Pie:
1 (14)oz. can of pumpkin
1 (12)oz. can of non-sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 dash of salt
1 pinch each of: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice
1 (9) in graham cracker pie crust

Cheesecake:
2 (8)oz. pkgs. cream cheese
1/2 cup of milk
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 dash of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (9) in graham cracker pie crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Soften your cream cheese by microwaving on High for 20 seconds, and place into a medium size mixing bowl.  Put pumpkin into a comparable sized mixing bowl.

Add your condensed milk to your pumpkin bowl, and your 2% milk to your cheesecake bowl.

Add 2 large eggs beaten, a cup of sugar, and a dash of salt to each bowl.  Add vanilla into your cheesecake bowl.  Add cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and clove to your pumpkin bowl.  Now that all the ingredients are in their proper bowl, mix both of them with a mixer or in a blender.

Now, this part is a little tricky.  After pouring both mixtures into a pie crust, place ONLY the pumpkin pie into the oven on the middle rack.  Cook at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350, put the cheesecake into the oven.  Bake both pies for 45 minutes on the middle rack.  Remove from the oven and let cool, then you can eat them, or put them into the refrigerator to chill.

For a pumpkin cheesecake, opt to get 3 smaller pie crusts, after filling the pie crusts, combine the leftovers from each bowl into your third pie crust to make your pumpkin cheesecake.

Chicken and Dumplings

You will need:
4 lb. Chicken (whole chicken or chicken breast)
(1) 14 oz can of chicken broth
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons corn meal
2 teaspoons sugar
a pinch of salt and pepper
5 tablespoons butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup of milk

The first thing I did was fillet 3 large chicken breasts equaling 4 lbs and placed them in a large pot and brought them to a boil.  I kept them on a slow boil for the entire time it took me to prepare the rest.

I put 1 can of chicken broth and 4 same size cans of water into a large pot and placed on low-medium heat as I prepared the dumplings to go into it.

I combined the flour, corn meal, sugar, salt and pepper, egg, and butter into a medium-sized mixing bowl and worked into a ball.  I added about 1/2 cup more of flour as I kneaded the dough to make it tougher and kneaded into a tight ball.

I used the rolling pin to roll the dough flat to about 1/8 inch thick.

I used a pizza cutter (you may also use a knife or cookie cutters) to cut the dough into even squares.

I finished by adding a layer of butter to the square dumplings to prevent sticking.

I placed the dumplings one at a time into the chicken broth and water and allowed to boil while I tended again to the chicken.

I removed the chicken from heat, drained it, and cut the breast fillets into smaller pieces, then added them slowly into the broth/water/dumpling mixture.

Finally, I reduced heat to low and let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.