strata

strata
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Strata

A tasty use of stale bread.

One loaf of stale artisan type bread, torn into bite size chunks.

8 eggs beaten

1 ½ cups milk

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

1 cup diced cooked ham

Use 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish. Coat baking dish with spray oil. Toss bread pieces, cheese and ham together in baking dish.

Blend eggs, milk, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and white pepper together. Pour over bread mixture. Combine bread mixture with egg and milk mixture coating bread well with egg mixture.

Cover and place in refrigerator over night.

In the morning heat oven to 325 F. While oven is heating take strata out of refrigerator. Cover with aluminum foil. When oven is to temperature of 325 F bake strata for 45 minutes to one hour.

When finished baking Strata’s internal temperature should be 160 F. And the strata will be browned with the eggs set.

This recipe can be scaled up or down. To do this, keep the proportions of milk to egg to one to one. Any cheese or meat that you have can be used. Suggested other meats are cooked sausage, leftover beef, chicken or turkey. You can leave the meat out for vegetarians who eat eggs and cheese. Cooked or roasted vegetables can be added to the strata. Play with the seasonings. Try chili powder or curry. Any stale bread works. This is a good recipe for using up free loafs of bread.

How to freeze a pumkin pie

pumkin pie
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

How to Freeze a Pumpkin Pie

Make your favorite pie crust.

Mix up pumpkin pie filling according to the directions on the can. Add two tablespoons corn starch to the pumpkin pie filling. Mix thoroughly.

Corn starch stabilizes the custard (pumpkin pie filling) for freezing. Adding corn starch makes the pie not runny when you unthaw it.

Pour filling into pie shell. Bake pie following the directions on the can. After baking cool the pie. When the pie is cool, wrap it up for freezing. Freeze pie. Unthaw pie in the refrigerator.

tuna cobbler

tuna cobler
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Filling
One can of Tuna
¼ cup butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon flour
¾ chicken or vegetable broth
¾ cup milk
2 tablespoons Dijon style mustard
pepper to taste
1 cup Frozen peas and Carrots
1 cup frozen corn

Grease a 9 x 9 inch baking pan or casserole.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Melt butter in pan, add garlic. Cook until brown. Add Flour, Stirring. Combine milk, broth and mustard. Warm in microwave. Slowly add broth mixture stirring into flour mixture. Whisk until thicken. Microwave peas and carrots according package directions. Drain peas and carrots. Add drained tuna and peas and carrots. Stir until combined. Pour into baking dish, Set aside.

Cobbler Crust
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ cup melted butter
½ cup milk

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients. Add melted butter then milk. Stir until stiff dough forms. Spoon crust over filling. Bake in 425 oven for about 20 –25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Barley and Bulgur in White Sauce

Barley and Bulgur in White Sauce
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Barley and Bulgur in White Sauce

Optional 1 cup chopped leftover meats: beef, chicken turkey and ham

Sauce
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup broth: vegetable, chicken or beef
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon white pepper

2 or 3 diced mushrooms
¼ onion diced

¼ cup Barley
¼ cup Bulgur


First make the sauce by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Then add the diced onion and mushrooms. Stirring until golden brown. Add flour and seasonings stirring well. Add broth and milk, stirring until thick. Add barley and bulgur, stirring well. Last if you want to add cooked meat, stir it into the pot.

Next simmer on the stove about 1 ½ hours. Add water if it gets too thick.

The dish is finished when the barley and bulgur are soft enough to eat.

Or finish cooking the dish by placing it in a small crock pot and cooking for three to fours hours. This is how I make my lunch putting the dish in a crock pot at breakfast time.

I serve the thick sauce over mashed potatoes. Whole wheat bread works well too.

The recipe originally Called Skillet Dinner came from the Whole Foods For the Whole Family cook book published by La Leche League International 1981.

acorn squash

acorn squash
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Squash and Apple Bake

1 Acorn squash cut in half with seeds scooped out
1 large apple, peeled and sliced
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup melted butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 350 F. Spray a baking dish, that is big enough to hold the squash, with spray oil. Toast pecans. Prepare Squash and apple. Mix melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small mixing bowl. Add toasted chopped pecans into the mixture. Place cut up squash in baking dish skin side down. Place apple slices in the hollowed out bowl left in the squash when the seeds were scooped out. Top with pecan mixture. Place in oven and bake for one hour at 350 F. Remove from oven and enjoy.

To toast nuts: For one cup of nuts use a 10 inch dry skillet on medium high heat. For more than one cup of nuts spread them out on an ungreased baking dish and toast in a 350F oven. Toast of 3 to 5 minutes. Remember to stir the nuts often so that they do not burn.

snickerdoodle cookies

snickerdoodles cookies
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Snickerdoodles are yummy cookies. I like the recipe in The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion book. The recipe is on pages 60 and 61. Try using all butter. Butter tastes better than part shortening. When I make cookies I bake a few at a time. The rest of the cookies are place on a cookies sheet and frozen. The cookies can be placed close together. After they are frozen then take them off the sheet and place them in a freezer container. When I want to have fresh baked cookies I take a few cookies out of the freezer and place them on a parchment paper lined cookies sheet. The cookies unthaw enough to bake while the oven is heating. I like to bake a variety of cookies, snickerdoodles, oatmeal scotchies, chocolate chip. This is easy to do because I have many varieties of cookies frozen.

turkey apple pot pie

turkey apple pot pie
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Turkey and Apple pot pie

1 onion
2 golden delicious apples
2 medium size yams
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 lb ground turkey
1 ½ teaspoons caraway seeds optional
2 teaspoons chicken base or bullion
2/3 cups dry sherry
1 cup apple juice
1/3 cup water
Or any combination of liquid ingredients up to two cups
3 tablespoon corn starch
Salt and pepper to taste
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed

Peel, core and thinly slice apples. Peel and thinly slice yams. Peel and chop onion.
Heat oil in large skillet. Add crumbled ground turkey. Cook ground turkey until brown and not pink. Add onion, apple, yams, and caraway seed. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minute stirring occasionally. Uncover pan. Turn heat up to high. This is to cook off some of the moisture to brown the onion. In a measuring cup combine the liquid ingredients, sherry, apple juice and water. Stir in the corn starch until smooth. Add liquid mixture to pan. Stir quickly to make smooth sauce. Take off heat and let cool a little. Prepare baking dishes. Either two 8 x 8 inch or one 13 x 9 inch. Spray baking dishes with cooking oil. Pour filling into baking dishes. Cut puff pastry into strips weave a lattice over the top of filling. Bake at 400 F until pastry browns and puffs about 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Let set for about 5 minutes. Serves 8. I bake it in two casseroles and freeze one.

This is a nice casserole for fall. Like all casseroles it works well for potlucks, picnics and tail gate parties.