Aunt Summer's French Toast Casserole

My wonderful sister, Summer, sent me this recipe. I ask her if I could pass it on and she graciously said yes. I thought that with New Year's coming up, this would be a great one to make Wednesday and have in the refrigerator for Thursday morning......

Ingredients:

*Italian bread (I used chaballah bread or Hawaiian) large loaf
*6 eggs
*1 & 1/2 c half & half
*1 & 1/2 c milk
*1 tsp vanilla
*1 tsp cinnamon
*dash of nutmeg

Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Slice bread 3/4" - 1" pieces. Arrange bread slices in pan. Mix eggs, vanilla, milk, 1/2 & 1/2, cinnamon & nutmeg in large bowl. Pour over bread. Cover w/plastic wrap or foil & refrigerate overnight.

Topping:

*1 stick butter, softened
*1 c brown sugar
*1 & 1/2 c blueberries or strawberries-i used strawberries & they were amazing! Rinsed, sliced, & thawed.

Next morning, liberally sprinkle fruit on top of bread. Mix butter & brown sugar w/pastry blender or fork. Sprinkle topping over fruit & bread mixture.

Bake for 40 min @350 degrees.

*I only put the fruit on 1/2 of it & it was delicious!!

Mother Fannie's Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1 C. butter (2 sticks) NOT margarine

3 C. Sugar

3 C. All purpose flour

1 C. sour cream (you can use low fat if you would like, but DO NOT use no fat)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

6 eggs

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla



Glaze:

2 C. powered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 T. orange juice or milk



Mix all three ingredients together. It will be thick. Slowly add more juice or milk 1/2 tsp at a time until you reach your desired consistency. This needs to be thin enough to drizzle over cake.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together; add sour cream. Mix flour and baking soda together. Add to butter mixture, alternately with eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla. Pour into a greased* and floured tube pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.
Watch as you get close to the end. The cake should be nicely browned.

Let cake cool for 5 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack. Once cool you can either top with glaze or eat plain.

*Grease bundt pan with shortening (not cooking spray) then coat evenly with flour.

You can make these in individual loaf pans or cup cake tins, however, watch closely as it only take a few minutes (10-14 minutes, depending on you oven) for these to cook :)

T'was the day after Christmas.....

T'was the day after Christmas and all through the house, all the creatures were hiding.....yes, even the mouse. The stockings were strewn, contents spilling out. No one wanted to help Mom sort it all out..."Please pick up your items and put them away or out with the trash they will go on Monday."

So everyone hurried, to gather their stuff, because they were convinced that Mom had had enough...Dad went to the bedroom to avoid the drama, while the rest of us scurried to get on with the day. Before too long, everything was done, or at least enough to get on with the fun.

They played and they played as I snuck out of sight, Merry Christmas to all and to all a night night!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and will have a blessed New Year......