During a phone conversation with my sister today, I was also cooking breakfast.  I love to share my tips with her because she always makes me feel so good about the things I share with her.  We are a lot alike….energetic and happy the majority of the time.

So my bacon kept curling up and I don’t own a bacon press so I use to cut the edges that were curling up to relax the bacon and it would lay flat.  Problem with that is you can damage your pan with the knife.  So what I do now is take a pair of SCISSORS and cut through the curled edge that is already up in the air.  Then I press it down with my spatula and the bacon is then lying flat and cooks evenly.  I hate over cooking my bacon just to get the white fatty part cooked.

This works great guys.  I also love having an electric griddle to cook my bacon and pancakes.  They only cost around 20 dollars.

Nothing better than french toast, bacon and orange juice for breakfast.  And a cup of hot coffee.  Yummy.  I have had french toast in a lot of different restaurants and I swear, mine is the very best.

For me, french toast tastes best with white bread.  When I was in Las Vegas, the bread was yellow and it was Texas Toast bread (you know the real thick bread).  We ate it at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in the 1980s but I still remember how good it tasted.

First, I plug in my electric griddle to 350 degrees.  I find if the griddle is hot, it speeds up the whole cooking process.  Also, I like mine a little crispy.

To make my egg mixture for 8 slices of bread:  six small eggs or 5 medium eggs or 4 large eggs.  I add very little milk …probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup and beat it up until smooth.   I use fresh farm eggs so my mixture looks almost orange.

Then I take a stick of margarine and peel some of the paper down so the margarine is exposed. I keep my fingers clean by holding on to the bottom.  I rub the margarine onto the griddle but only on enough room for two slices.  I dip two slices of bread into the egg mixture and lie it down on the buttered griddle.  The more butter, the better.  Then I butter two more spaces and add them and so on until all eight slices are on the buttered griddle.

Then sprinkle cinnamon on the top of the toast.  Not cinnamon sugar.  The syrup makes the toast sweet.

Once the buttered side of the toast is browned, lift it up, butter the area below it and flip the toast over.  Like I said, the more butter, the better.  The toast should be browned on both sides.  Gooey french toast taste awful to me.

Make sure you put the syrup into the microwave to heat it up…one minute is good.  I actually use my glass measuring cup to heat the syrup in because if I don’t use all the syrup, it makes it easier to pour the syrup back into the bottle.  You shouldn’t need more than half a cup of syrup for the eight slices.  I am sure we use less than that.

Cute story.  My husband overheard a lady at work talking about eating pancakes at a restaurant and how they even heated her syrup.  My husband said my wife always heats my syrup.  I think it made him feel good to know I always go the extra mile to make our meals special.

On the request of some fine ladies that have been visiting me for a number of years, the following recipe should make them happy.

First, make the butter milk ranch dressing you find in the grocery store in a packet.  You  will need one cup of mayonnaise and one cup of butter milk for the recipe on the packet .  Refrigerate so it can thicken and stay cold.

Boil 6 to 8 eggs.  Peel and mash like you were making egg salad.

Shred one pound of imitation crab meat in a large bowl.  I like mine small and it takes me a good ten minutes to do it unless I can talk my husband into helping.  Good job for the kids with cleaned washed hands.

Then cut up 1/4 to 1/2 cup celery and another 1/4 cup of green peppers.  I put a really small amount of peppers because I don’t like them a lot but you may prefer 1/2 cup.

Add the eggs onto the crab meat and throw in the peppers and celery. Pour in JUST ENOUGH  ranch dressing to get it wet but not mushy.  You will not use the whole amount you made, believe me. Try about half of it first.  Just toss the salad with two forks until you get it damp.

I also like to add some Nature’s Seasoning in it but that is not the original recipe.  I serve it with some Ritz crackers or you might like Saltines better.  It is good any time but it is a great dish to take to summer cookouts for the parents who prefer something other than hot dogs and hamburgers.

Hope you enjoy.  Thank you so much, Michelle for your continued friendship and devotion to the Lord.  Your sisters in Christ are just as wonderful as you are and that is saying a lot.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of unsalted butter.  Pour into a 13×9 inch pan.

Mix 1 cup of self rising flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk with a teaspoon of vanilla flavoring/extract.  When thoroughly mixed, dump on top of butter.  Do not stir.

Dump a 32 ounce can of pie filling of your choice on top of the flour mixture.  Do not stir.

Bake in oven for about 40 minutes or until lightly browned crust.  The flour mixture rises up through the fruit filling.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

My sister, Wanda makes this cobbler and reminded me how easy it is to make.  She learned it from Mom, I believe.  In a family, it is often hard to figure out who first started making a recipe.  See Easy Dump Cobbler for recipe with pie filling and self-rising flour.

My sister-in-law, Jeannette in Greenville, SC recently shared a cake recipe that sounds great.  I can’t wait to make it.  She said she took it to a family reunion and it was finished off quickly and people were asking if there was anymore.

Prepare a yellow cake mix per instructions on the box.  Pour into a 9×13 inch greased, floured pan.   While the cake is still hot out of the oven, poke holes evenly across the top of the cake.  Then pour one can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk over the hot cake.  Then stir and spread a 15 ounce can of Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut over the warm cake.  Let the cake sit until it cools off. 

After the cake cools completely, spread a 12 tub of cool whip over the cake.  Then sprinkle 7 ounces of angel flake coconut on top of whipped cream.

Then the surprising part…cover and refrigerate for 3 DAYS.  It will be one of the most moist cakes you have ever eaten. 

I managed a coffee shop for awhile and we had a drink there called Javachino.  I fell in love with it.  The shop closed and I can’t get the exact ingredients but I made a drink that is almost as good.  Use a blender and put:

1/2 cup of cold milk (2 %)

1/4 cup of ice cream

8 to 10 ice cubes (mine are those skinny half circle cubes).  You may need more in order to make it icy, not so much creamy like a milk shake.

2 tablespoons of Folgers Cappuccino french vanilla (or other flavor)

I blend it until the cubes are crushed thoroughly.  The drink should be icy.  It is delicious.  It is a great afternoon treat.  When my niece comes over or my girlfriend, we always enjoy one.  But keep in mind, it is fattening with the ice cream so I wouldn’t suggest drinking one every day.

I enjoy the smell of fresh baked cookies as well as the taste. I have found the packages of Betty Crocker cookies are just the right size for my husband and me. I think it makes about two dozen. We eat a few hot out of the oven with a cold glass of milk. Then I put the rest away in a Tupperware container with a slice of bread to keep the cookies soft.

Sometimes, I freeze some cookies if I am forcing myself to be good and not eat all of them up in a matter of days.  I put them in individual baggies with three cookies and they were always ready to pack in my husband’s lunch.

I appreciate companies making smaller portions of goodies. I seldom make cakes anymore (I make cupcakes instead, again freezing the cup cakes with no icing) because there is so much waste.  I either end up throwing a lot of it away or I try to give half of it away right away. I find making these cookies means less waste and less chance that we will overeat.