French Toast Casserole

This requires overnight in the refrigerator and 30 min in the morning on the counter before baking.

10 c (1 in. cubed) premium quality white bread, ~16 slices

Cooking spray

8 oz block 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temp

8 lrg eggs, room temp

1 1/2 c low fat milk

2/3 c half and half

1/2 c maple syrup

1/2 t vanilla extract

2 T powdered sugar

3/4 c maple syrup

oven at 375F

Place bread cubes in 13x9 in baking pan coated with cooking spray.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk, half and half, 1/2 c maple syrup, vanilla and mix until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over the bread in the baking pan. Cover and refrigerate over night.

In the morning, remove souffle from frig and let sit on counter 30 min.

Bake at 375F 50 min or until set. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and serve warm with maple syrup and/or fruit and whipped cream (for added decadence!)

diana

Best Baked Salmon Ever!

Don't really know if this is true but if you come up with a better name let me know.

Big chunk of salmon (with skin is ok. I think one piece is better than lots of pieces.)

Mr. Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce (I get it at Costco in CA but Krista and Miriam used teriyaki sauce instead and thought it was ok)

furikake (Japanese sprinkle stuff you put on top of rice- any kind you like)

wasabe mayonnaise (this is essential! unless you loathe wasabe... :>( )

Oven at 350F

Pick the baking pan to fit your piece of fish. For a really long piece of fish I use my rimmed sheet pan. Watch out for sauce spillage when removing from the oven.

Pour Mr. Yo's sauce into the pan. Cover the bottom with the sauce.

Place washed and dried fish into pan on top of the sauce.

Dot with wasabe mayonnaise

Sprinkle furikake all over the top of the fish.

Using a chopstick, poke holes all over the fish.

Bake about 30 min, until flaky and a good "salmon pink" color.

People really seem to like this dish, and it's easy so it's great to wow the guests, providing the salmon isn't too expensive, of course!

diana

African Bean Soup

This is a vegan recipe that Alexis and I (Diana) made. I got it from www.NutritionMD.org in case anyone is interested in vegetarian recipes. We changed it so it wasn't strictly vegan. We also added some red pepper flakes to give it some zip.

Serves 8

1/2 c water

3T low sodium soy sauce
1 onion sliced thinly

2 sm sweet potatoes/yams- peeled (I didn't), diced, ~2cups

1 lrg carrot thinly sliced

1 celery stalk thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper seeded and diced

15 oz can crushed tomatoes

4 c vegie broth or water (I used chicken broth)

15 oz can garbanzo beans, undrained

1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro

3 T peanut butter

1-2 t curry powder

4c cooked brown rice

1- Heat water and soy sauce in large pot. Add onion and potatoes. Cook over high heat, stirring often until onion is soft, ~5 min.

2- Add carrot, celery, bell pepper. Cover and cook 3 min stirring occasionally.

3- Add tomatoes, broth/water, garbanzos and liquid, cilantro, p-nut butter, curry powder. Stir to mix. Cover and simmer until vegies are tender when pierced with a fork, ~10 min.

TO SERVE: place 1/2 c cooked rice in bowl and top with a generous ladle of soup.

Chocolate Oat Squares

1c + 2T butter or margarine, softened, divideed

2c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

4t vanilla extract, divided

3c quick cooking oats

2 1/2 c flour

1 1/2 t salt, divided

1t baking soda

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

2c semisweet chocolate chips

1 c chopped nuts

In a mixing bowl, cream 1 c butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and 2t vanilla. Combine oats, flour, bakaing soda, 1 t salt. Stir into creamed mixture.

Press 2/3 of oat mixture into a greased 15X10X1 in baking pan.

In a saucepan, combine milk, choco chips and remaining butter and salt. Cook and stir over low heat until chips are melted.

Spread chocolate over crust. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture. Bake @ 350F for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into squares.

diana

Santa Rosa Rice Salad

1 box Long Grain & Wild Rice mix, cooked with seasonings
Juice of 1 lemon
3 chicken breast halves, cooked & diced, OR 1 lb. or more cooked shrimp
4 green onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 oz. snow peas or sugar snap peas
2 medium avocados, diced
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix salad ingredients in large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients and add to salad.
Salad may be made a day ahead--add dressing, avocados, and pecans no sooner than 2-4 hours before serving.

Aunt Gene, here's the recipe you wanted! Love, Emily

Valentine's Cookies

Valentine's cookies are so YUMMY! Granny Gruetzmacher would decorated them this way My mom did them this way. I love them!

Joanna

Turtles

Mix: 1 ½ c. flour, 1 ½ c. oatmeal, 3/8 tsp. salt, ¾ tsp. soda, 1 1/8 c. brown sugar, 1 1/8 c. melted butter.

Pat: ½ of this mixture in a 9x13 pan and bake 10 minutes at 350º. Remove from oven. Sprinkle 1 ½ cup chocolate chips and nuts as desired over it.

Pour: A mixture of 1 package of carmels and 7 ½ tbsp of cream (melted together in top of double boiler) over the boiled part.

Spread: remaining half of crumb mixture over the top. (let it appear a little rough) and bake 15 minutes at 350º.

Submitted by Mary Jorgensen

Glazed Lemon Cake

1/2 Pound (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 tightly packed tablespoons grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Lemon Icing (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 10 inch tube pan (angel cake pan works)

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

3. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add lemon zest and juice.

4. Pour batter into prepared tube pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour. or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool cake in the pan, set on a rack, for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and spread on icing at once, while cake is still hot.

Lemon Icing

1 pound confectioners sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) sweet butter, softened

3 tightly packed tablespoons grated lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice
Cream sugar and butter. Mix in lemon juice and zest. Spread on warm cake.

Notes:

I don't put all of the glaze on at once because the cake is warm and it will just run off and pool all around. I cool it a bit longer than it says...then I put some glaze on...wait 5 or 10 minutes and put some more on and then wait another 5 or 10 minutes before putting the rest on. Also...it calls for quite a bit of zest, you need 5 to 7 lemons. If you use less zest, it is still good.

submitted by Mary Jorgensen

Pastitsio

From family friend Fay Kolster. Yummy! It's Greek pasta. Make it without the spinach and mushrooms to be more authentic.

I modified it by adding frozen spinach and mushrooms (cuz I like them and I can!) I cooked the mushrooms in the pan after the hamburger. Squeeze the water out of the spinach first then add it to the mushrooms. Add the hamburger mix back into the pan with the spinach and the mushrooms and mix well. Make the cream sauce, then mix the whole thing together in the 9x13 pan, mix well and bake. Maybe add more parmesan and a little more milk to make it a bit creamier, hmmmm....

1 pkg tube macaroni (ziti, etc)

1 beaten egg

1/4 c milk

1/3 c parmesan

1 1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 c chopped onion

8 oz tomato sauce

1/2 t cinnamon

1/8 t nutmeg

3/4 t salt

1/8 pepper

CREAM SAUCE

3T flour

3T butter

1/4 t salt

1 1/2 c milk

1 beaten egg

1/4 c parmesan cheese

1. Cook macaroni. Stir in 1 beaten egg, 1/4 c milk, 1/3 c parmesan cheesse. Set aside.

2. Cook beef and onion until browned and onion is tender. Drain excess fat. Stir in tomato sauce and spices. Set aside.

3. Make cream sauce: melt butter in small sauce pan. Blend in flour and 1/4 t salt. Stir in milk when well blended and smooth. Cook until bubbly and thickened. Cook and stir 1 min more. Blend a moderate amount of hot mixture into egg. Return to pan and mix. Stir in cheese.

4. Pour noodles, meat mix and cream sauce into 9x13 in pan. Mix well. Bake @ 350F 45-5- min. Will set up and thicken as it cooks.

from Diana