Cookin' with Jan

Hi, everyone.

While my daughter, Diana, was visiting with us and her grandparents, we had a little dinner party for her and included Mom's gal pal and fellow Red Hatter, Margie Markgraf, a sweet, tiny lady who's 92 years young and lives in the Foothills.

I served one of Diana's favorite desserts, Bread Pudding, and Margie just raved over it. She made me promise to put the recipe in this column and to invite her over the next time I make it. Here's the first half of the promise, Margie, and the second half will come soon.

BREAD PUDDING:

12 slices bread buttered and cut into 1-inchpieces (I have used 12 cups stale croissant rolls, broken into pieces with melted butter poured over and that makes the dish extra tasty)

6 eggs

4 cups milk, heated

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (Let your sweet tooth determine the amount)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon (to your liking)

Raisins (again, to your liking)

Place half the buttered bread pieces in a large baking bowl or 9x13 baking dish (I prefer the 9x13 dish). Sprinkle cinnamon over the bread. Add the rest of the bread and sprinkle with cinnamon again.

In another large bowl, beat the eggs with the warmed milk. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until sugar is dissolved.

Pour over the bread, pushing bread down into the egg mixture to be sure the bread is well moistened. Bake, uncovered for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

I got a phone call from Barbara Daum, who lives in town and wanted a copy of the Hot Chocolate Mix that was in the column earlier. She wanted the recipe to make it for her three grandsons and so she could have a cup at bedtime.

I found it and sent it to her but told her it would cost her a recipe or two in exchange. She sent me three recipes and I really thank her for sharing them with us.I will print two this week and the other one later.

NO-CRUST CHEESECAKE:

(Barbara got this recipe from the Chicago Tribune newspaper years ago.)

CHEESECAKE:

2(8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons almond extract

TOPPING:

1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake or pie pan. (Barbara uses nonstick vegetable coating.) Set aside.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, eggs and almond extract in a medium bowl, mix well.Spread batter in prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

While cake is baking, combine topping ingredients. When cake is done, remove from oven and spread topping mixture over. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Cool. May be served cold or at room temperature.

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE:

4 cans French style green beans, drained

1 (16 ounce) French onion sour cream dip

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

4 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt

1-pound bag shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups cornflakes, crushed

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Combine French dip with flour, butter and salt in a saucepan and cook until thickened. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To assemble casserole: Using a deep casserole bowl, layer as follows: One can of green beans, a layer of French dip mixture, a layer of Cheddar cheese. Repeat three more times. Place in a 350-degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown crushed cornflakes in butter in a skillet. Arrange over the beans the last 10 minutes in the oven.

Barbara usually doubles the amount of cornflakes and butter. She gets requests to make this dish for all family gatherings.

Thank you Barbara, for sharing these great-sounding recipes with us. I can't wait to try them.

That's it for this week. Enjoy our beautiful weather, have fun and Happy Cookin'

Jan Splaha can be contacted at janniann99@hotmail.com or 345-9007.