French Toast Bake

          

This is a great recipe for Easter morning or really for any morning.  I love that it is prepared the night before, and cooked in the morning.  Jess and I have both made this delicious recipe for our families a couple of times.  I like making it when we have guest staying with us.  I thought it was weird that the recipe called for sourdough bread.  The dense bread helps soak up the egg mixture.  It is too soggy if regular bread is used.  

Ingredients:

1 loaf sourdough bread (cannot use regular bread, must be sourdough)

8 eggs

2 cups milk (I used skim)

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick cold butter

Cut bread into bite size chunks and place in a greased 13x9 baking dish.

Mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (Mine was in overnight, about 15 hours).

In a bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a *pastry cutter until it all looks nice and crumbly (about pea size), store in fridge.

When ready to bake, sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over the top of the bread mixture in pan.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

I serve this with a powdered sugar/milk glaze.  Mix together powdered sugar and milk together until you get a syrup like consistency.  We have tried this with regular syrup and Buttermilk Glaze and do NOT like them as much.  Jess serves this bake with not syrup or glaze.

This recipe can easily be halved and cooked in a 8x8 baking dish.

* If you don't have a pastry cutter buy one, it always comes in handy, or use two 

knives and cut away from each other.

Enjoy!!

Posted by Jen

Lemon Crackle Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbs. lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. baking soda
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Slowly mix in salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour until combined.  Pour powdered sugar onto a plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until bottoms are barely light brown. Remove from oven, let cool a couple of minutes before transferring to a cookie rake to cool completely.

Makes 2-3 dozen

• I think the key to good baking in do NOT over cook your food

I’m glad you love these cookies Madi S.

Posted by Jen

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

 I saw this recipe on Pinterest but when I clicked on it I could't find it on the persons blog. I wanted to make it so bad that I searched for it on the internet. I made a few changes but man it's good. I think this would be a great dessert for any night but I think I'm going to make it again with my Valentines dinner. I just love the fresh strawberries in it.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 T. lemon juice, divided

Zest of 1 lemon

2 1/2 cups flour, divided

1/2 tsp. salt 

8 oz. plain, vanilla or strawberry Greek yogurt

12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Mix together 2 1/4 cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the zest of the lemon and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 T. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.

Toss together the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup flour.

Gently mix them into the batter.

Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce temperature to 325. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserts into the center of the cake and comes out clean.

Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 T. lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Posted by Jess

Stuffed Pasta Shells

What You Need

8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
15 oz Ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
1 egg white
1 lb. Italian sausage (I use Jimmy Dean) cooked, drained and cooled
1 envelope of Italian Dressing Mix (I used Good Seasons brand)
20 jumbo macaroni pasta shells, cooked, drained and cooled (I cooked about 25 shells becasue 2 or 3 usually fall apart)
1 jar (13-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix spinach, Ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Mozzarella, egg white, sausage, and dressing mix until well blended.

Spread half of the spaghetti sauce onto the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish.

Spoon mixture into shells, adding a heaping spoon full into each shell.

Arrange the shells, filled-sides up, into the baking dish.




Spread the rest of the sauce onto the shells.

Sprinkle the rest of the Mozzarella on the very top.



Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes


*I like to serve with garlic bread
* If you like meals with kick then you could substitute the Italian sausage for a pound of Hot sausage.  We have done that and it's super good!

Love, Madalyn