Trifle for Book Club

My book club has started a fun thing - we try to eat food related somehow to the book we read.  Last month, we read The Book Thief, which takes place during the Holocaust. There was mention of the soup being thinned  over and over, so we had soup. Sharon made split pea, and someone else brought minestrone.

This month, our book was Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.  Two cultures, the British and the Indian/Pakistani, are significant in this book, so we enjoyed takeout curry from a new restaurant in Redlands, Curry in a Hurry.  I volunteered to bring dessert, so I brought a trifle. This was simple to make, especially since I used Sara Lee pound cake.  I layered cubes of pound cake, sugar-free vanilla pudding, and strawberries, and topped it all with whipped cream. It was a hit - there were no leftovers!

Kim's Roasted Potato Salad

I haven't made this yet. But the recipe sounds divine, so I'm going to write it down and make it this weekend. My Facebook friend Kim made this for Mother's Day and shared the recipe.

Kim's Roasted Potato Salad

2 lbs. red potatoes
1/2 c minced onion
6 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled
8 hard-boiled eggs
3/4 - 1 cup mayonnaise
cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste

Cut the potatoes into 1" chunks and toss with a little oil. Roast on a baking sheet for about 35 minutes at 400˚. Let cool completely.  Mix with remaining ingredients. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Using up the Eggos - Overnight French Toast

As we get closer to our big trip to Canada and Alaska, I'm trying to use up the things in the big freezer so we can turn it off for the summer. We had a big box of Eggos from Costco. Don has been eating them, but got tired of them and was going to throw them away. I decided to make a breakfast treat from them and looked through my recipes for overnight French toast.  Here's what I came up with:

Overnight French Toast from Eggos


12-14 Eggo waffles, thawed
8 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup half & half
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 - 3/4 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Layer the eggos in a greased 13' x 9' baking dish. Whisk together the eggs, milk, half & half, maple syrup and cinnamon and pour over eggos.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, turn oven on the 350˚.  Melt together the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Sprinkle the Eggos with the nuts, then pour the brown sugar mixture evenly over all. Bake 40 minutes.  Enjoy while it's hot.