Upside Down Pizzarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We made this for the church potluck, and since we had leftovers, I served it for lunch the next day. Well, it turned out that NONE of my (dear, sweet) children had tried any! No wonder there were leftovers! What!?! It's PIZZA, guys! So I shoved all their noses into a plate and made them eat under the threat of no ice cream with strawberries (we had just picked the second 70 lb. round, and ice cream is my traditional reward for berry picking.). This was a terrible threat. One child (whose name we shall not mention, but whose initials are Kenton J. Ruseter), cried. See, he's mister picky pants, and he NEVER eats "mixed" foods. SO we began our ...happy meal. Haha.
And everyone LOVED it!!! And went back for seconds. And thirds. YEA! Most shocking, Kento... I mean the unnamed child, told me it was good. I wasn't flattered by the "well-who-would-have-guessed" look on his face, but still. I guess we also tested the "is it good as leftovers"ness of it. It is!

Filling:
1/2 lb burger
1/2 lb bulk sausage
handful of pepperoni ( I added this in to the original recipe)
26 (ish) oz pizza/spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 -2 c shredded mozzarella (I didn't feel like shredding, so I sliced.)
You could certainly do terrible things at this point and add peppers, onions, mushrooms or other pizza toppings.

Dough:
This was pretty much my basic bread recipe, so that's what I used. It called for the whole 2lb. loaf to go on a 9x13, but that seemed WAY overkill to me so I halved it like so:

3/4 c warm water
1 1/2 t salt
1-2 T sugar
2 c flour
1/2 T yeast

Topping:
1/4 c butter
garlic to taste
parmesan, optional

Mix dough using standard bread machine "dough cycle" procedure, or standard hand mix/ mixer procedure. Allow to rise at least long enough to be able to roll the dough out without fighting it.
Cook meats (and onions or whatever, if desired) until done. Stir in sauce. Pour into a greased 9 x 13. Sprinkle/layer with cheese.
Roll out dough on a oiled or floured surface to slightly bigger than your pan. Lift and place over cheese in pan
Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 min, or until bread is done. Remove from oven, brush/rub with butter, sprinkle with garlic and parm.

Midway through typing this recipe in Tina dumped am entire 16 oz glass of water into my computer. After the feathers settled it was determined that Computerkins had survived...but with brain damage. At first it couldn't type "r". Then ALL it would do was to type THOUSANDS (I am not exaggerating) of "r"s. The keyboard had to be replaced, and I wasn't doin' no unnecessary typing, folks! So after a MASSIVE delay (we did not pick any October strawberries), here it is. In honor of all that I left a few of the rrrrs in my title.
Oh yes, Mom has found this to be a great recipe for bringing a meal to someone at church.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake

The Cake

What to put on "The Cake".
All 5 of the men living inmy house are horrified that I didn't photograph the cake with the above pictured strawberries and not pictured whipped cream on it. Too bad! This is a cake recipe, NOT a how-to-dump-strawberries-on-a-cake recipe! I think most of you can figure that part out.

This is the cake we have used for Strawberry Shortcake (you see that we interpret "shortcake" very loosely) for YEARS. Inspite of this, James always tells me that this one is IT- the perfect cake to go with strawberries. He has a short memory. But he is right. This cake is light and fluffy (see? NOT "shortcake".) and really soaks up the juice. I will admit that it was the weird name that caused me to first make this cake 12+ years ago. But it was a very beneficial curiosity. We have eaten it ever since. I make this cake just as stated, or I double it and bake it in a 9x13.

2 eggs
1 c sugar
1 c flour
1 t baking powder
2 T butter
1/2 c milk

Beat eggs on high for 4 minutes, or until thick. I hope you all have stand mixers! Gradually add sugar, beat for 4-5 minutes on medium speed, or until light and fluffy. Add dry ingredients, stir until just combined. Heat milk and butter together until butter is melted, stir into batter. Mix well. Bake in a greased 9x9 pan at 350 degrees for 20-15 minutes. Serve warm or cool.

Baked French Toast

Computers are weird, you know? Anyway, this is another breakfast casserole that our family loves. Whoever thought up the "crisp" topping was a genius! It is pretty basic, you don't really need a recipe, but it's nice to have a jumping off point. I pull out this kind of recipe when I need to use up bread. You know, it's going to mold in a day or two, or it's stale and there is NO WAY you are making a sandwich out of it, or you find that you appear to suddenly be starting a collection of odd pieces of bread. This is step one for getting rid of the stuff, before the feed-it-to-the-chickens step. (Chicken sure are handy!)
This "recipe" is easily cut in half, or otherwise doctored. But DON'T leave the topping off! It's SO good- buttery, crispy yum!

10-15 slices bread, or the equivalent in buns, etc
6-8 eggs
2 1/2 c milk
1/2 c sugar
2 T. vanilla

Have a nearby kid or two tear your bread and throw it into a buttered 9x13 pan. Mix together the eggs, milk, and sugar, and pour over the bread. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Topping:
1/2 c flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c cold butter

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter. Sprinkle over bread stuff just before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for45-60 minutes. You can serve this with butter, syrup, fruit, or any combination of the afore mentioned items. I sorta threw together a caramely syrup with butter, brown sugar and milk, but it was pure whim and guess work so your on your own with that one! We had this with eggs and sausages to balance out the sugar, and it made a very happy crowd of Ruseters.
The End.

There. Does that satisfy you Anna? Getting all picky about there actually being a recipe of some sort...
I can explain that whole thing in 2 words: Computer glitch.