Hi everyone. My friend,Ken, sent me this joke and I was wondering what you all thought of it:
“A wealthy man came home from a gambling trip and told his wife that he had lost their entire fortune and that they’d have to drastically alter their life-style. “If you’ll just learn to cook,” he said, “we can fire the chef.” “Okay,” she said. “And if you learn how to make love, we can fire the gardener.”
In a perfect world, those of us who wanted to cook , who enjoyed it most, would do the cooking but that is not always possible. As I’ve mentioned before, we are cooking or preparing or taking the time to order in food so why not take a little more time to learn how to cook a bit more from scratch so we can feel good about providing healthier and more cost efficient meals? If we take the time to learn the skills, short cuts and practice, we may find that it’s not so dauntingly difficult and could be enjoyable.
I hosted a baby shower this weekend and got rave reviews for my French Toast Coffee Cake/casserole recipe that my friend Mona gave me. It is like a bread pudding and is great for brunches because the bulk of the not-so-much-work is done the night before. This allows us to relax a little the morning of. Don’t let the term “casserole” turn you off. I know it has some unappealing connotations. I am SURE you will love it. Enjoy!:
French Toast Coffee Cake Casserole:
9 beaten eggs
2 cups whole milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup maple syrup (REAL maple syrup)
1 -1/2 loaves cubed french bread
Topping:
2 sticks melted butter
2 cups brown sugar
3 TBS maple syrup
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, maple syrup and mix well. Grease a 9″X13″ baking dish, fill the dish with the cubed bread so the bottom is covered and fill to the top. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Cover and refrigerate over night.
In the AM, mix the topping ingredients (you can even prepare this the night before in a separate bowl) and spread evenly over the cubed bread. heat oven to 350 degrees , and bake until puffy and golden, about one hour. If the nuts start to look like they are turning too brown too soon, cover with tin foil before the hour is up.