Annie and Lou...okay I've got it now...panini is a grilled sandwich and the process sounds like what is called here either a croque-monsieur...grilled ham and cheese on sliced bread or a 'pepito', usually a thin slice of cooked pork loin inside a small baquette toasted on an oiled grill with a heavy lid that presses it down flat. That was a favourite snack food in my daughter's office when she worked here, as there was a sandwich bar across the road, with delivery. Grace your creamed eggs on homemade bread with bacon is making me really hungry! And Lou you are an expert at preparing chicken. I love your deer Lou. I always feel sorry that everyone wants to chase them away, but I guess if they came into my garden and starting eating my roses I would feel the same. At the moment the magical month of May is so beautiful...and the purple larkspur is out and I didn't even plant it! There must have been some seeds in the compost we spread around. Peaches are nearly ripe and roses are everywhere. Yesterday we went to a favourite Italian restaurant up on a hill as I'm doing a review of it this weekend and although I have enough photos I needed some more info on prices and opening times. Wolf loves this place and would like to try everything on the menu but as it was, he settled for a half portion of egg scrambled with smoked salmon and spinach. I took my favourite oriquiette with gorgonzola sauce. Pic of the restaurant below. We sat inside though as it was a bit breezy.

bbstx, glad the lasagna came out well. I have a frozen one in a square foil pan in my freezer right now. I told DH about that discussion and he didn't remember ever having a leak issue with foil pans either. He thought it might be the brand or quality of the pans. I've bought pans at the grocery store and at the dollar store, but I can't be sure which ones were used where. With my picky eater off at college, I will have to try a savory bread pudding or two. Meanwhile, this is a great breakfast casserole that's very easy to put together if you want to try something different. 1 cup bottled salsa (I use Pace chunky and measure generously) 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained (I use the whole can) 10 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch strips (give or take one or two) Cooking spray 1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat Mexican blend or Monterey Jack cheese, divided (seriously don't measure but probably use closer to two cups) 1 cup low-fat sour cream (have also subbed nonfat plain yogurt) 1 cup fat-free milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 large eggs 2 large egg whites 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions Combine salsa and beans in a bowl. Place one-third of tortilla strips in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with 1/3 cup cheese and about 1 cup salsa mixture. Repeat procedure with one-third of tortilla strips, 1/3 cup cheese, and remaining salsa mixture; top with remaining tortilla strips. Combine sour cream and next 4 ingredients (sour cream through egg whites); stir with a whisk. Stir in onions. Pour over tortilla strips; sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350°. Remove dish from refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until lightly browned. (My experience has been that the total cooking time is closer to an hour, maybe even 60-70 minutes. You can serve with additional salsa and sour cream. Leftover reheat well. DH and I have eaten them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This is flavorful but I've never had it too spicy for anyone. If stx is south Texas, you may even want that salsa on the side to be a bit spicier. Back to bread pudding - I'm thinking about a pasta dish I've had with sausage and pumpkin. I wonder if that flavor could translate to a bread pudding. I have some sourdough in the freezer I need to use, so I will see if I can get an idea to gel.

Annie, I buy beets every week at the farmers' market. I roast/steam them in my small Nesco. Right now, my favorite way to eat them is with a dollop of horseradish & sour cream blended together. My Greek family used to love scordalia ( garlic/potato puree) with beets. The garlic sauce was usually served with a meal of fried fish, fried eggplant, and beets -- a family favoite. Everything tasted really good with the sauce, but the meal always resulted in a tooth-brushing marathon to get rid of the strong garlic flavor. A few days ago I made stuffed peppers with chorizo from a local supplier. They pride themselves on using high quality ingredients (only pork shoulder--no snouts, etc.) and, as a result, using less salt than grocery store sausage. I offset the sodium in the sausage by adding brown rice and corn that have been cooked without salt. And a new ingredient to me, salt free Rotel tomatoes. I also made a whole wheat version of the Japanese milk rolls. The recipe calls for 2-1/2 cups of flour, and I substituted 1 cup of white whole wheat. Next time I make them, I will try 50%. Neither one of us noticed an appreciable difference.

Jasdip, that roast beef sounds delicious, I've definitely got to try that! I've never greased a crockpot either... AnnT, that's one good looking breakfast sandwich. Or anytime else, yum. Sol, I agree with others, that raspberry sorbet just calls out, and I just happen to have raspberries in the freezer. Neely, I have an orange pot that looks JUST LIKE THAT, it's out in the garage, I'll have to dig it out, I'd forgotten about it. Ellen, I don't know how much the kids are learning at "cooking school", but they sure have fun eating their work. :-) WalnutCreek, I like fried rice a lot, whether it's pork or chicken or tofu or just veggies. I just had some pineapple fried rice on Wednesday, I was spending the night with Bud at his doctor's office while he had an overnight EEG. There was a Thai takeout and they have a lot of gluten free items. Amanda got sweet and sour chicken with white rice and a rice wrapper fresh roll. I had the pineapple fried rice and the second rice wrapper roll. Bud ate his French fries with the chopsticks. (grin) The roll was mostly iceburg lettuce but the chili sauce for dipping was quite good. I had a mat on the floor for sleeping, so just mostly waited for 6 am when we could leave. We went to a nice little restaurant in Grand Rapids called Anna's House, lots of gluten free items. Amanda got a pancake/French toast combo with eggs and bacon. Bud had two big chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. I had something called Twilight French Toast, which was really a large square of bread pudding sitting in a puddle of crème brulee sauce and served with raspberry sauce and fresh berries. IT was very, very good, almost worth the night on the floor! OK, so what's for dinner. Elery made some bean soup which we ate in bread bowls. It was very good but too much bread for me. The dogs happily finished up the bread, although I ate all the soup. I made chicken Paprikash and served it over homemade noodles with some brussels sprouts on the side. Tonight we had kind of a mélange, something like Grandma's old Boiled Dinner. Elery put some of my homemade sauerkraut, carrots and potatoes and some sausage into the Nesco, topped that with some shredded cabbage and homecanned chicken broth and let it cook. I baked some wheat bread to go with it, from dough that's been in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It was a nice meal for a snowy day. The bread was an interesting experiment. Lacking a baking stone I remembered a thread here about a baking "steel", so I stuck my WagnerWare griddle into the oven to heat, shaped the loaf on a peel and slid it onto the hot griddle. I got a nice crispy crust, although the center was a bit dense. So, that's what's for dinner, and I'm caught up. Annie