Book Club

We're starting a book club! The third Wednesday of every month, we will be meeting at Josie Fish's house at 7pm.

The first get together will be February 17th, and there we can talk about how we would like the group to go.

We can choose books, genres, or just snack on treats. Whatever you're up for.

Hope to see you there!

Yes We Can!

A group of sisters ventured down to the Santa Clara Home Food Storage Center recently and had a great time working together while adding to their personal food supplies. Another excursion is scheduled for April, so stay tuned for sign-up information...

Hot Citrus Slurp

This is a different take on wassail... and lots of Vitamin C to boot!

Dissolve 1 & 1/2 cups sugar in boiling water.
Add the following, heat and enjoy:
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
2 quarts water
3/4 cup lemon juice (about 3 fresh lemons)
2 tsp imitation almond extract
1 tsp vanilla

Stocking Stuffers for the Missionaries

In the bustle of your Christmas preparations, don't forget to pick up a few things for the missionaries serving in our ward. This Sunday (12/20) is the last day to bring in stocking stuffers for our 4 missionaries (according to Santa's elves, they've all been very good this year :)

Time to dust off those Christmas Sweaters...

because it's that time of year again!

The ward Christmas party will be this Saturday, December 12th at 6:00pm.

The ward will be providing the meat and desserts, so please bring a side dish to share.

November Building Clean-Up

Mark your calendars for November's building clean-up... the Relief Society's turn is the weekend of November 27th/28th. Put on your cleaning gloves and come up to the church the evening of Friday 11/27 or the morning of Saturday 11/28. Every contribution helps!

French Toast Casserole

By popular request, here's the recipe for the tasty dish served at our recent visiting teaching conference:

French Toast Casserole - from Cooks Illustrated (serves 6-8)

Casserole Ingredients:
1 loaf (16oz) supermarket French or Italian bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
8 large eggs
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping Ingredients:
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (9 1/2 oz) packed light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cups pecans, chopped coarse

(Do not substitute low-fat skim milk for the whole milk in this recipe. Walnuts can be substituted for the pecans. Be sure to use supermarket-style load bread with a thin crust and fluffy crumb - artisan loaves with a thick crust and chewy crumb don't work well.)

1) For the casserole: Adjust 2 oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Spread bread out over 2 baking sheets and bake until dry and light golden brown, about 25 minutes, switching and rotating baking sheets halfway through baking time. Let bread cool completely.

2) Coat a 9"x13" baking dish with butter and pack dried bread into dish. Whisk eggs in large bowl until combined and then whisk in milk, cream, granulated sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread and press on bread lightly to submerge.

3) For the topping: Stir butter, brown sugar and corn syrup togethr until smooth and then stir in pecans.

4) To store: transfer topping to airtight container and wrap dish tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate topping and casserole separately for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

5) To serve: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap casserole and sprinkle topping evenly over top, breaking apart any large pieces. Place casserole on rimmed baking sheet and bake until puffed and golden, about 1 hour. Serve immediately.