RECIPE SWAP: SNOWBALL CAKE PLANNED FOR UPCOMING BIRTHDAY

We will start out Recipe Swap this week with recipes given to me by two special people in the lives of my children. The first recipe was given to me by Ross' daycare teacher who we love very much, Gail Jones. When we working Moms have to leave our children everyday, it is hard, but knowing they are with people who love them as their own makes it tolerable. Gail got this recipe from her mother, Blanche Kohlfeld. I will make this dessert for Ross' birthday party coming up in a couple of weeks. Thank you Gail for all you do!

Snowball Cake

2 (3 ounce) packages lemon gelatin

1 cup boiling water

1 large can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 (8 ounce) carton whipped topping

1 baked angel food cake

Topping:

1 (8 ounce) carton whipped topping

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

coconut as top garnish

Mix 2 boxes gelatin with boiling water. Stir until dissolved. Add the 1 can undrained pineapple, mix well. Chill until partially thickened but not all the way set. Fold in 8 ounces whipped topping. Set aside. Tear the angel food cake in small bite-sized pieces. Place in pan. Cover the cake with the gelatin pineapple mixture and refrigerate several hours or overnight. For the topping, mix 8 ounces whipped topping, powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spread this mixture over the first layer. Sprinkle with coconut. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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The next recipe is from Syd Fleming. Syd is Lexie's Parents as Teachers representative through Cape Public Schools. She has been fabulous this year, and we will miss her over the summer. Syd shared her favorite bread pudding recipe with us. She got the recipe from her mother-in-law Lillie Mae Fleming. Of course Syd thinks it is the best bread pudding she has every eaten, which goes along with her best-ever mother-in-law.

Bread Pudding

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove crusts from 5 or 6 slices of bread, brush well with melted butter. Place bread and plumped raisins in baking dish.

In a separate bowl make the custard of:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup sugar

dash of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together well and pour over bread and raisins. Let sit 5 minutes or more until bread is well soaked. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Top with vanilla sauce.

Vanilla Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/4 cups water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 stick butter

Mix the sugar and cornstarch together in pan. Add water, stir well. Cook and stir until clear. Stir in vanilla and butter. Serve over bread pudding.

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I had the privilege of meeting two wonderful women last week, Betty Sprengel and Evelyn Buhs, both of Cape Girardeau. These two women represent the local chapter of Telephone Pioneers of America. This local "Bell employees" group published a wonderful cookbook years ago. The book sold very well, and now I'm glad to report they have a new reprint of that book available. It is the same book as before, only with a few new additions. So, you might say it is new and improved. The books sell for $8 a copy and are available by calling Betty at 335-6973 or Evelyn at 339-8515. All proceeds from the sale of this 185-page cookbook go to Christmas for the Elderly, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Easter Seal Society, Parkview School, The Missouri Veterans Home and other charities.

I would like to highlight just two recipes of the many recipes from the book, and the decision for only two was pretty tough. And also, thank you women for getting me a copy of your book. It is great!

Hawaiian Chicken

Submitted by Donna Cannon

4 chicken breasts

1/2 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 large green pepper

1 (1 pound 4-ounce) can sliced pineapple

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1 chicken bouillon cube

Wash chicken and pat dry. Heat oil. Coat chicken with Bisquick and brown on all sides in oil. Place in shallow baking dish, skin side up. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drain pineapple, pouring syrup into 2 cup measurer. Add enough water to make 1 1/4 cups. Combine sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, bouillon cube and juice. Bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes. Pour over chicken. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, then slice green peppers and add pineapple slices. Bake for 30 minutes longer.

The next recipe would be good to serve at a family gathering or for a covered-dish dinner.

Plenty For Twenty

submitted by Eloise Roth

2 pounds ground beef, browned and drained

1 pound lean pork sausage, browned and drained

2 medium onions, chopped

4 ribs celery, chopped, mixed with meat and cooked until tender

1 1/2 pounds Velveeta cheese, melted

Drain the next four ingredients and add to the above mixture:

1 (No. 2) can green peas or 1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas

1 large can mushrooms

1 large can tomatoes, chopped

1 (16 ounce) package vermicelli spaghetti, cooked and drained

Mix all ingredients. Put in 2 casserole dishes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

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We received a recipe from a Cape Girardeau cook who shares a recipe for Lady Finger Custard. She noted that in a recent shopping trip she saw lady fingers on the grocery shelf and remembered her Mother made dessert recipes using lady fingers. She would like other recipes using these tasty treats.

Lady Finger Custard

Split 12 lady fingers, spread generously with a tart jelly. (She used red raspberry).

Put together again. Place in bottom of 8-inch baking dish.

Beat until creamy:

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

Scald: 1 1/4 cups milk. Pour into yolk mixture.

Dissolve: 1 1/4 tablespoons cornstarch in 1/4 cup milk.

Stir this into yolk mixture. Stir and cook over low heat until thick. Cool slightly.

Season with: 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour over lady fingers.

Beat until stiff: 2 egg whites. Add slowly, beating constantly:

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

When meringue is stiff, heap it onto pudding. Dot top with bits of jelly. Bake at 325 degrees about 15 minutes.

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Lou Peukert of Cape Girardeau shared a recipe with us that he uses while camping. I'm sure with the beautiful weather we had last weekend there were many campers set up for the first time.

Campfire Fruit Crisp

2 or 3 cans fruit pie filling, your choice of flavor

1 package yellow cake mix

1 stick butter

Spread canned fruit pie filling in bottom of Dutch oven. Sprinkle the dry cake mix over the fruit filling. Dot with slices of butter or margarine over the dry cake mix.

Put the Dutch oven lid on tight. Place the Dutch oven directly on charcoal and put hot charcoal on top of Dutch oven. Allow to bake in this manner until top is browned. Very easy and good.

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Two recipe requests will finish up Recipe Swap for this week.

John and Lois Lee Ramsey of Commerce enjoy poke salad and poke greens fixed in various ways. They think poke greens beat spinach, turnip and other greens for flavor, texture, price and ease of preparation, hands down. How do other area cooks fix their poke greens? I will find this very interesting to see what type of responses we get.

Our second request comes from Shelby Jones. She is wanting recipes that use Pancetta (Italian bacon). She has fried it, and it was very good, but she would like to prepare it in other ways.

Please send in your favorite recipes to us to try, and I will see you next week.