Lots of fun things in your package. Teresa sent me some cheese straw that were out of this world. I know you'll enjoy yours. Have you used the mini pans yet? I have some little pans similar to yours but I haven't used them. The first one of us to try a recipe in them needs to share, please. Can you tell that I think the first one might be you? I hope there might be a picture of Chef Sebastian and the cookies too. It's a lovely, thoughtful package Teresa. Lee

I was hoping Annie would post the wild rice bread recipe Rusty was looking for. Then I remembered that Annie emailed me the recipe. After digging through old emails I found it! At the time Annie posted a beautiful photo and the bread looked great. Here is the recipe along with Annie's comments on the substitutions she made. Later in another post on the forum I believe she said the recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens. Oh - and Rusty - I know it seemed like it was just last year that Annie posted this recipe. Her email is from November 2010. Annie - please correct me if the source is wrong. Teresa, it's very good, savory and substantial, I think it would make an awesome grilled cheese sandwich. Here's the recipe I used. I never have wine, so I just used more chicken broth for that, and I never use bouillion or soup base because of the salt and I sure wasn't going to go buy some for a loaf of bread, so I used 1 1/4 cups of homecanned chicken broth. I made it in the bread machine on the dough cycle, added the wild rice when I got the "beep" for the add in, shaped the loaves on my half sheet pan and baked them on the pan. Wild Rice Bread 4-1/2 to 4-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 packages active dry yeast 1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley, crushed 1 teaspoon snipped fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed 1 cup cooked wild rice 1 cup water 1/4 cup dry white wine or water 3 tablespoons butter or margarine 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon granules 1/4 teaspoon salt Stir together 2 cups of the flour, the yeast, parsley, thyme, and wild rice in a large mixing bowl; set aside. Heat and stir water, wine or water, butter or margarine, sugar, bouillon, and salt in a medium saucepan just until warm (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F), butter almost melts, and bouillon dissolves. Add water mixture to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double (45 minutes to 1 hour). Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rise for 10 minutes. Shape each half of the dough into a 6-inch round loaf, tucking edges underneath. Place loaves 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (30 to 40 minutes). Using a sharp knife, cut an X in the top of each loaf. Bake in a 375 degrees F oven about 40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when you tap the top with your fingers (if necessary, cover loosely with foil during the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning). Remove bread from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Calories 76, Total Fat 1 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Cholesterol 3 mg, Sodium 55 mg, Carbohydrate 14 g, Fiber 1 g, Protein 2 g. Definitely a keeper recipe, this would be really good with soup in the winter too. Annie

GREAT NEWS EVERYONE!!!! I'm once again in the process of moving and while going through my filing cabinet, I've located the two lost recipes. I have NO idea how they ended up in my taxes...lol. I'd love to thank everyone of you that have tried helping me or even given suggestion on different recipes. A special thank you to lizbeth-gardener for going in her attic to find the Minestrone recipe. I feel as though I've won a lottery!

Thank you all for the warm birthday wishes! I've had a good day although it is very hectic at work. My mom and older son came to dinner Sunday night for take-out Chinese. Younger son was at a fishing tournament. Tomorrow I'm leaving for the NC mountains for a long weekend of quilting. It's supposed to rain most of the time, which won't bother us as we mostly sew the whole time. Teresa - who is trying to hold at 59 (which she passed a few years ago!)