French Toast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 loaf (16 oz) Cinnamon Swirl Bread, cut into cubes

6 eggs, beaten

3 c. milk

2 t. vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar (aka: powdered sugar)

Maple syrup

Recipe:

1. Lightly grease a 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Put the bread in the dish.

2. Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla with a whisk in a large bowl. Pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

3. Uncover the dish. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until golden brown. Sift the sugar through a sieve over the top. Serve with maple syrup, in desired.

Rating: .1 of 5

Not even kidding, it was that bad. I should have realized as I was making/reading the recipe that all those eggs poured over it was going to make a mushy type bread pudding thing. Gross. We don't do mushy in our house. I've never cooked something that smelled so delicious while baking come out tasting like slightly cinnamon-y flavored baby rice cereal. If you don't like mush, the DO NOT make this!

Source: Campbell's Cooking Companion, pg. 75

Apricot Glazed Pork Roast

Ingredients:

1 10.5-oz can Campbell's Condensed Chicken Broth*

1 18-oz jar apricot preserves

2 T. Dijon-style mustard

1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

3.5-4 lb boneless pork loin

* Didn't buy condensed chicken broth? Not a problem, just improvise. 10.5-oz transfers to 1 1/4 c. So, I did 1 1/4 c. water plus 2 1/2 T. of chicken bouillon. I have no idea if that is even a little bit right, but whatever!

Recipe:

1. Stir the broth, preserves, mustard and onion in a 3.5-quart slow cooker. Cut the pork to fit. Add the pork to cooker and turn to coat with the broth mixture.

2. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-9 hours* or until the meat is fork-tender.

3. Remove the roast from the cooker to a cutting board and let it stand for 10 minutes. Thinly slice the roast and arrange on a serving platter. Pour the juices from the cooker into a gravy boat and serve with the roast.

*Or HIGH for 4-5 hours. This is what I almost always do with slow cooker recipes.

Rating: 4 of 5

I thought this was divine! LaDon's not such a huge fan of the "citrus-y" taste (although I don't think it tastes like that). For all those non-ham lovers, I think this would be a perfect meat dish for Easter Sunday. Ally also liked it, Daniel thought it was fun to play with.

Source: Campbell's Cooking Companion, pg. 180

Jamie's Breakfast Bagel Sandwiches

Ingredients: (for 1 bagel) for more than one bagel just double everything

1 Asiago-cheese bagel, or any kind of cheese bagel

1 1/2 eggs, scrambled *

2-4 slices of bacon, cooked **

a handful of cheddar cheese

a dollop of sour cream (optional, but we love it)

* Make the scrambled eggs the way you like them. For us, it's a little bit of milk and cheese, seasoned salt, and a half pinch of pepper. Occasionally I'll throw in some garlic salt.

** Bacon can be replaced with sausage or ham. Sausage is our other favorite.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350-ish.

2.Scramble the eggs. Cook the bacon. When done, begin the layering.

3. Cut the bagel in half. Starting with the bottom half layer up: scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon, top half of bagel.

4. Wrap bagel sandwich in foil and place in oven long enough for bagel to be warm and cheese to melt. Probably about 5-10 minutes.

5. Take bagel out and open up. Place dollop of sour cream on top of bacon. Replace the bagel top and enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 of 5

We love this breakfast food for dinner. And because it's so NOT healthy, we only have it every few months. I'm not really sure what makes it so good other than we just really like everything that goes into it. Seriously, who doesn't like cheese and bacon?

Source: my head, but inspired by BYU's breakfast bagel found in the Wilk.

Chicken Grape Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:

3/4 c. mayonnaise

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. salt

3 c. cubed chicken or 2 12.5-oz cans of chicken

1 1/2 c. grapes, cut in half *

1 c. celery, chopped

1/3 c. onions, chopped

1/2 c. walnuts, optional (I've never used the walnuts before)

* I like to use 2-2 1/2 c. grapes.

Recipe:

1. Combine first three ingredients.

2. Add grapes, celery, and chicken.

3. Cover and chill. Serve on rolls or croissants.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

This is one of our favorites! And, when making it with the cubed chicken, it is seriously so easy and quick. Not only that, but it's perfect for a hot summer day! When canned chicken is involved that means I don't add to the heat by turning on the stove! Love it!

Source: I don't know, but I'm guessing my Grandma Norton or Lenhart.

Aimee's Quick Chicken

I didn't take a picture of this one, but LaDon's comment of "this looks crazy" should sum it up.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 oz. prepared Dijon-style mustard

1/4 c. teriyaki sauce *

1/4 c. bacon bits

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

* I didn't have any teriyaki sauce on hand so I made a substitute teriyaki sauce of 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/4 c. sugar, 1/4 t. ginger, and 1/4 t. garlic powder.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread mustard evenly over chicken and pour teriyaki sauce evenly over all. Sprinkle with bacon bits and cover with cheese.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Rating: 2.75 of 5

So, this wasn't gross, but it wasn't good. It was just weird. It's just a really weird combination of tastes. And I like all of the ingredients it calls for. I won't make this again, and not because it didn't taste good...just because it was different. A little too different and not worth the effort of trying to adjust to the taste. It's funny to me that in the recipe book it got 4 of 5 stars.....weird.

Source: AllRecipes: Dinner Tonight, pg. 133.

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. flour

1 c. milk. Will add up to 2 cups more as it cooks

1 chicken bouillon cube

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

Recipe:

1. Combine butter and flour in a saucepan over medium heat until they combine to a ball.

2. Add milk, bouillon, garlic, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Stir constantly with a wire whisk until flour and butter are smooth.

3. Continue adding milk until the sauce is desired consistency. Check spices as well.

4. TASTE, then add more salt, pepper, garlic and Parmesan if needed due to increase in milk.

Rating: 4 of 5

I love this recipe. I love that it's so easy, that all the ingredients are on hand, that it's a little different every time, and that it goes well with so many dishes. My favorite way to have it: dipping sauce for Amy Merrill's Bread sticks. Which reminds me, I need to cook those soon and add it to the database because those are good. Anyways, versatile and quick. Love it!

Source: Michelle Knebel

Broccoli and Four-Cheese Calzones

I'll just start off by saying that I didn't even do the broccoli and four-cheese part, but here is the recipe if you want it!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 c. warm water

2 T. olive oil

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. dried oregano

4 c. bread flour

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 10-oz. frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

1/4 t. garlic powder

2 T. olive oil

1/2 c. shredded provolone cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 c. mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. ricotta cheese

1 T. olive oil

Recipe:

1. Place the water, 2 T. olive oil, salt, oregano, bread flour, and yeast in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting and press Start.

2. Meanwhile, squeeze out excess liquid from broccoli. In a large skillet, saute the broccoli and garlic powder in 2 T. olive oil. Stir in the provolone, Parmesan, mozzarella, and ricotta cheese.

3. Once bread cycle has finished, remove dough from machine and roll in to 6 8-inch circles. Spread filling on one half of each circle, leaving a border around it for closing. Close the calzones and crimp the edges closed with your fingers or a fork. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Let rise in a draft-free area for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

4. Brush tops lightly with 1 T. olive oil. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. *

* For my oven 20 minutes was long enough to turn the dough the a dark brown. I think 15 minutes is probably long enough as long as the dough gets cooked.

So, instead of the broccoli and four-cheese filling here's what I did.

Ingredients:

Michelle's Alfredo Sauce

1 pkg. frozen broccoli florets

2 can. chicken breast chunks in water or 2 chicken breasts shredded or cubed

Recipe:

1. Mix all three ingredients together and spoon into dough.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

I liked my version of the filling. I didn't have the other ingredients on hand, so this was a pretty good substitute. The dough was pretty good, but like I said, it got a little too cooked. Daniel loved it which makes me happy that he ate broccoli no-questions-asked.

Source: AllRecipes, Dinner Tonight, pg. 181 and Michelle Knebel, and my brain