__birdie Casement Recipes

BIRRIA RECIPE

Steps:

• Place Anaheim and guajillo peppers in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
• Pour chiles and water into a blender; add onion, mixed spices, and salt. Blend until sauce is smooth.
• Mix stew meat, sauce, and bay leaves in a large pot; cook over medium-low heat until meat is very tender, 3 to 5 hours.

PIEROGI CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place the potatoes in a large pot with water to cover over high heat. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat, drain, then combine with the milk and 6 tablespoons of butter, mash and set aside.
• Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the bacon, onion and garlic in the butter for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the bacon is fully cooked.
• Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions and cool under running water.
• Place 1/2 of the mashed potatoes into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top this with 1/3 of the cheese, followed by a layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat this with the remaining potatoes, another 1/3 of the cheese and a layer of noodles. Then arrange the bacon, onion and garlic over the noodles, then another layer of noodles, and finally top all with the remaining cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with sour cream and chopped fresh chives.

__BIRDIE CASEMENT

Steps:

• If anyone ever asks you what it was like to live richly through the twentieth century, direct them to the story of Birdie Casement. "I married Russ," Birdie says, "then World War II changed our lives. We found ourselves wrestling with gas rationing, sugar stamps, tire shortages, among other shortages, and two wee tots....The following years were a merry-go-round of PTA, fund-raising, cake bakes, Brownies, Cub Scouts, car pooling, measles, trips to the zoo, picnics and all the fun, tears, brawls and challenges that go hand in hand with parenthood. Time flies, and soon no one was hurrying home for that noontime sandwich." Birdie became a kindergarten teacher and was nominated for Colorado teacher of the year. At the Bake-Off® Contest, she wowed everybody with her ebullience, her wisdom and, of course, her salad.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__DALE GRANT

Steps:

• Once I made a German chocolate cake using a yeast dough," Dale Grant reported when asked about any cooking mishaps he had had. "I split two layers horizontally to make four layers, to put filling between them. As I prepared the frosting, the cake fell apart--much like a huge mound of dirt collapsing. All that remained of the top three layers were crumbs." Who doesn't know what that feels like? Luckily, Dale didn't get discouraged and quit, he went on to create this easy, wonderful cake.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__NANCY HINDENACH

Steps:

• How can you stack the deck to end up with a child who's a master chef? Several Bake-Off® contestants reported stories similar to the one Nancy Hindenach shared. "On Christmas, when I was nine years old, Santa brought me a baking kit full oflittle boxes of cake mixes, frostings and little pans to bake them in. I had so much fun making cakes for my family that I asked for the kit for my next two Christmases." Years later, Nancy's family is still reaping the benefit of those tasty gifts.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__BOBBIE SONEFELD

Steps:

• Most people hear about Roberta (Bobbie) Sonefeld's Bake-Off® 2000 Contest win and immediately zero in on the $1 million Grand Prize she was awarded for her decadently rich Cream Cheese Brownie Pie. But Bobbie says the richest part of the experience was the Bake-Off® weekend itself, a dazzling trip she and her husband, Steve, have christened their "second honeymoon."The 2000 Bake-Off® Contest took place in the San Francisco Marriott, an opulent hotel in downtown San Francisco. "Neither of us had ever been to the West Coast," recalled Bobbie. "The way Pillsbury treated us was just great: Three gourmet meals a day plus all kinds of tours and sightseeing." An added benefit, said Bobbie, was that "all the activity had a calming effect." When the day of the cooking contest rolled around, "I was used to the idea." Didn't she get nervous? "Well, yes," she admits, "But I didn't get the butterflies bad until the night before. The next morning--once I was done baking and there wasn't anything I could do about it--I was fine. Then I thought, 'Wow, I already feel like a winner, it doesn't matter what happens next.'"What happened next is part of history: Bobbie's Cream Cheese Brownie Pie, entered in the Fast & Fabulous Desserts & Treats category, won the Grand Prize. The Sonefelds' second honeymoon became even more extravagant, as they jetted to New York City for a whirlwind round of television and radio appearances. They also went to Philadelphia to appear on QVC. Bobbie remembers New York as another great restaurant town where she had meals she never even dreamed of two weeks before.After an amazing week traveling the country together, Bobbie and Steve returned home to Hopkins, South Carolina, their full-time jobs and their family. And that's when the trip stopped being a honeymoon, and turned into a homecoming, as Bobbie and Steve returned to the loving arms of their very excited sons.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__BEATRICE HARLIB

Steps:

• Beatrice Harlib's twin sons, Sam and Joel, helped her come up with her Snappy Turtle Cookies--the famous combination of chocolate, caramel and pecans. "I have always had a very loving family, always," Beatrice says. After winning the Grand Prize in the fourth Bake-Off® Contest, and after being welcomed back to Chicago by the mayor and a police escort, and being congratulated in public ceremonies with thousands of spectators, Beatrice found "I had been called upon to make so many appearances... that I have become quite at ease before groups and enjoy speaking, whereas previously I was very shy and timid and dreaded talking before crowd. "Beatrice went on to become president of the Children's Asthma Research Institute and later became a key executive in an early feminist group, Women's Share in Public Service, which helped to promote women in public office and worked to advance women's political and economic status. Beatrice reports that her Bake-Off® experience gave her just enough celebrity to be noticed and the confidence to move into these highly visible offices.It's incredible how much happiness can be achieved through the simple addition of caramel to chocolate, of cookies to a lunchbox or of public confidence to an already special woman.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__GILDA LESTER

Steps:

• Earlier this century the traditional woman's work really was never done. Each week required a full day of baking, of washing and of ironing. Few would return to those days, but it did leave space for quiet family interaction that many feel is unfortunately missing from modern life. "My grandmother had a hearth oven, which she used to bake bread for the week," Gilda Lester recalls. "I helped her, and she always saved a small piece of dough for a pizza for me. I wouldn't give up those days with my grandmother for anything. I helped start the fire, then when the embers had smoldered for just the right amount of time, we cleared the oven for the loaves of bread. Most of my recipes are in my head. They are things that my grandmother, and then my mother, passed on to me."From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

_ CELEBRITIES

Steps:

• Glamour is a key word at the Bake-Off® festivities, and celebrities have played a starring role. The United States' first ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower and Pat Nixon mingled with the first ladies of home kitchens. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor shared time with finalists who were working on their own crowning achievements. Abigail "Dear Abby" Van Buren had no advice for the accomplished cooks of 1961-but she could have recommended that they hold on to their pictures with actor Ronald Reagan, because they'd really be something for the neighbors to marvel over twenty years down the road.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.