Dog Parties or Upper Crusts

Dog Parties: 101 Ways to Celebrate with Your Canine Companion

Author: Arden Moor

Our entertainment guide is packed with the best doggone ideas available for themes, decorations, games, invitations, favors, menus, and more. From Bark-mitzvah's to Howl-a-ween Happenings.

Interesting book: Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking or 101 Low Cholesterol Recipes

Upper Crusts: Fabulous Ways to Use Bread: Delectable Recipes for Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Main Courses, Desserts, and More

Author: Sheilah Kaufman

BREAD IS BACK! (Did it ever really go away?) Popular cookbook author, food editor, and cooking instructor Sheilah Kaufman presents a new collection of scrumptious, easy-to-prepare recipes that use bread as an ingredient in everything from appetizers to dessertsâЂ"âЂ"for festive celebrations and intimate family meals.

Into UPPER CRUSTS: Fabulous Ways to Use Bread, Sheilah has put her recipes for timeless classics and comfort foods like bread pudding and French toast (with daring new spins on these perennial crowd pleasers)
âЂ"âЂ"as well as innovative entrées, soups, appetizers, salads, vegetables, and desserts, all with an international flair.

Also featured are favorite recipes (all made with bread, of course) from renowned chefs like Patrick OâЂ™Connell of the Inn at Little Washington, Michel Richard of Washington, DCâЂ™s Citronelle, Henry Haller of White House fame, and Aulie Bunyarataphan of Bangkok JoeâЂ™s, to name a few.

Dust off your hands and put the flour awayâЂ"âЂ"this is NOT a bread-baking book. Most of these delectable recipes:
·
use store-bought bread to create quick and delicious dishes for everyday dining or special occasions
· can be assembled in less than 30 minutes
· can be made ahead and frozen, a necessity for todayâЂ™s busy cooks
· feature creative ways to use leftover and fresh bread
· provide dozens of cooking tips, plus fun tidbits on the history of the worldâЂ™s "staff of life."

Sample this recipe from Upper Crusts

Apple Brown Betty
No one remembers who Betty was, but a Brown Betty is both layered and topped with sweet buttered crumbs. In this recipe (and others), it is important for the crumbs to be dry since they will absorb the juices from
the middle and bottom layers and remain crunchy on top.

1&1/2 cups dry unseasoned bread crumbs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1& 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed (sift if lumpy)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pound apples (about 3 medium apples), peeled, cored, and sliced
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided in half

Place your oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a medium size bowl, mix the bread crumbs and butter.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Spread one third of the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of an 8x8-inch baking pan or a 9-inch pie pan.
Place half of the apples over the crumb mixture and sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture.
Drizzle on 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice and cover with another third of the crumb mixture, the rest of the apples, and the rest of the sugar mixture.
Drizzle on the remaining lemon juice and cover with the remaining crumb mixture.
Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake until the apples are nearly tender, about 40 minutes.
Uncover the dish, increase the oven temperature to 400°F and continue baking until the Betty is browned, about 15 minutes. Great served with vanilla ice cream.
Serves 6.

To keep brown sugar from hardening, store it in a container with a tight-fitting lid, along with a piece of bread.