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.

Parfait!

We had parfaits for breakfast this morning! There really isn't a recipe, but it looked so pretty in my mini trifle bowls that I thought I'd make y'all jealous of the deliciousness. Basically, I grabbed my whole strawberries out of the freezer, sliced some up in the bottom of the bowl, plopped on a layer of vanilla yogurt, repeated both steps, and then threw some granola on top. You can use any type of fruits you want though and it'll be good. Mmmm!! Titus loved it and Alex is saving his for lunch due to the frozen strawberries giving him freeze brain and him not having time to eat slowly because he was already late for work :). Poor fella was stuck with just a banana for breakfast instead :(. Oh well. Anyways, even though the pictures didn't turn out that great I thought I should show you another one that doesn't make it look quite so huge :) Yum yum!!

English Muffins

These are easy. And SO SO SOOOO much better than bought ones! If you don't like English Muffins, I would be astounded if you didn't like these. None of that weird tangy taste Mom was saying that most of the kids in our family hated so much. My kids love to eat these fresh off the griddle, but to me English muffins should be toasted. Ahhh. A small piece of heaven on earth.


1 c milk, or 1 c warm water and 1/4 c powdered milk
2 T butter
1 egg
1/2 t salt
2 t sugar
3 c flour
1 1/2 t yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in order listed. Run dough cycle.
Sprinkle counter top with flour, roll out dough 1/2 inch thick. This is where I usually "mess up". I tend to leave it a bit thicker than a 1/2 inch, and them my muffins end up 6 inches thick, and it's kind of difficult to cook them all the way through. So, go with a half inch. And no, this is not so picky that you need to get out a ruler!
Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter, or a can or whatever. Last time I used a large-mouth canning jar ring, and they were the perfect size (in my opinion). Some people use a tuna can, but NOT IN MY HOUSE! Haha! You can gently wad the scraps up and keep cutting until the dough is all used.
Lay on cookie sheets, or just on the already floured counter to rise for 20-30 minutes.
Heat a dry griddle (I go for high), or frying pan over medium low heat. Cook the muffins for 5-7 minutes on each side. They should be a beautiful golden brown on each side. You can fork one open to make sure that they aren't gooey. If they are, drop the heat.
These are great fresh, next day, or even next, next day and freeze beautifully. They even make good Christmas gifts if, for instance, your in-laws do a food exchange as gifts. Make them ahead, freeze them, bring them along. No last minute/day of, work It's an extra bonus if your sis-in-law is giving out homemade jams at the same time. (Nice timing, Jeanna!) YUM!

Tortillas!

We've been making tortillas for a year and a half or two now. I've tried multiple recipes, but the more closely I follow the recipe, the less we like the tortillas. This is an issue because I made a vow not to buy any more tortillas. Do you know how much those things cost now!?! Or how many we can go through? So finally on Tuesday (May 11, 2010, oh blessed day), Micah and I made perfect tortillas! The whole family loved them, but most importantly, James gave them his highest stamp of approval. It's a good thing we liked them because we made 32. Too many to not like! I make mine a nice mediumish 8-10 inch size. It helps to not make them bigger than your pan. : ) I get 10-12 out of this recipe.

1 1/2 c warm water
1 1/2 t salt
1 t sugar
1 t oil
3 1/2- 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t yeast (optional)

I mix these up in my bread machine, just layering the ingredients in order, but you could also mix these in a Kitchen Aid or by hand, following any normal bread recipe mixing procedure. Anyway, I throw everything in the machine, and mix until the dough is nice and smooth, but not the whole cycle. Just a few minutes will do.
Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Spread a little oil on the counter top, and dump the dough out on it. Divide into golf ball size pieces, about 8-12 ish. Grab a rolling pin and start rolling. Sort of pat the ball of dough into a round disk to get started. If the dough is sticky I dip one hand in the flour, and pat a little on both sides. You don't want too much, because if it doesn't stick some, you aren't going to roll it out very thin. Just keep those critters as round as you can, and go just about as thin as you can. You can do thicker ones to the a "gordita" effect.
After you get several (or all) of them rolled, heat a dry (no grease) frying pan or two to a mediumish heat. (You know it's too hot if you get a lot of browned spots on your tortillas.) Lay a tortilla in the pan. When it starts getting little bubbles, flip it over and bake the other side. this will only take 45-84 seconds per side. It goes fast. This is good because everyone is getting hungry by this point.
I like to have a team effort going. I roll for dear life, and a kid (usually either Micah or Amanda) cooks.
As you remove the tortillas from the pan place them on a towel, and cover with another towel. Tortillas need to be kept kind of steamy. Don't let these guys dry out. Oh yeah, the goal is to keep these moving fast enough so they DON'T brown at all. Beware of the "cook-it-until-it-is-done" impulse. The paler, the better.
The nice thing about these is that it only takes me about half an hour to 45 minutes to make these, start to finish. Faster than a trip to the store!

Ranch Taco Chicken Salad

Alright Abigail here is the recipe that I promised you earlier today. I am sure you will be disapointed in how uncomplicated it is ;) but it is one of our favorites!

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breats, cut into strips (this is where I use that cooked shredded chicken!)
1 Cup salsa
1 Package salad greens (head lettuce works just as nicely)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup Ranch dressing
(if you like it spicy add 1 TBSP of chili powder)

Cook chicken and 1/4 cup salsa together in a large nonstick skillet on medium heat for about 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Toss chicken, greens, and cheese in large serving bowl.

Top with 3/4 C salsa, and ranch dressing before serving. Serve with Tortilla chips.

A tip that a girlfriend gave me was to use thin cut Wheat pitas divided into fourths and brush them lightly with olive oil and bake them until crisp. I don't know that it matters when this is not that healthy of a dish for you but for those who want to make it healthier it is a thought. I normally do use the fat free dressing so it is just another tip :)

Ok well enjoy!
Love you all,
Sara

Callie's Taco Salad

Taco meat
Kidney beans
chopped Lettuce
Cheddar cheese
Nacho Doritos
French dressing
chopped Dill pickles

The amounts are subjective to how much you want of each, and how much you want to have. On average you do 1 of each (1 can/bag/bottle etc. Not one bean!). I think we change it just about every time -usually we add more pickles =).

I thought it was the craziest thing to put pickles into a taco salad, but it's the best taco salad I have ever had! It is absolutely delish! We quite often serve either the dressing or the chips on the side so that the leftovers don't get soggy. It's relatively simple to throw together, very tasty, and great for your 95 degree day when you really do not want anything hot. Mom, Rae, Andrew and I all give it 10 stars =).

Molten Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
4 pieces (squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
6 Tbs flour
Ice Cream
Magic Shell ice cream topping

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 4 custard cups with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet. Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. Whisk until chocolate is also melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour. Divide between cups.

Bake 13-14 minutes, until sides are firm and center is soft. Let stand 1 minute. Invert cakes onto plates, pile 1 scoop of ice cream on each and pour magic shell topping over. Serve immediately!!! HURRY!! You won't regret it :D.

Mmmmmm boy are these ever good!! The original recipe calls for it to be served with just whipped cream but I was trying to make it similar to Chili's, and theirs has ice cream and a hard chocolate topping on it, so that's what I did! And check these puppies out!!!! Wowzers. We'd give them 10 stars!!! Oh yes, and I made my own semi sweet baking chocolate from the recipe on the hersheys cocoa container (thanks Becky, for pointing that out to me!) and it was wonderful! :)

So just picture a ooey gooey chocolate cake that is all warm and gooshy with a scoop of ice cream on top. The cake is melting the ice cream, the ice cream is cooling down the cake, and you squirt the magic shell stuff to harden up and hold it together so you can admire it properly before you eat it. Yup, that's about it!!! YUM!