Tauna's Teriyaki Flank Steak

This recipe has got to be one of the Lowe family's all time favorites!  It's so delicious!  Andrew especially loves this for his birthday and Sunday dinner with baked potatoes and Texas sheet cake.

1/2 C soy sauce
1 lrg. clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
2 T. each, lemon juice and salad oil
1 Tbsp. instant minced onion
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 flank steak

Marinate steak in mixture 6-10 hr. in refrigerator, turning several times.  To BBQ, place steak on grill at about 4” above bed of hot, glowing coals.  Cook about 6 mins. on each side or until done to liking.  To serve, cut thin, slanting slices across grain.

Mom's Butter Rolls

INSTRUCTIONS:
2 yeast cakes dissolved in 1/4 C warm water.

Put in mixing bowl: 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C shortening
1 C warm water

Add 3 well beaten eggs and yeast.

Sift and add: 4 1/2 C flour
2 tsp. salt

Stir well.  Cover tight.  Put in fridge over night.  Roll out on a well-floured board 1/2 at a time, about as thick as pie crust.  Spread 1/2 cube of butter of dough.  Roll like a jelly roll.  Cut 1 1/2” thick.  Dip in melted butter.  Let raise in muffin tins for 2 hrs.  Bake 400 for 10 mins.

Myrna's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Myrna Skousen was a dear friend of Nana (Cleo) and this is her recipe.  Myrna Skousen, our good friend and neighbor, is the most fun---always makes us laugh!

5 cubes butter or margarine 2 tsp. soda
3 C brown sugar 2 tsp. salt
2 C white sugar 1-2 pkgs. chocolate chips
5 eggs           2 C nuts (or more)
5-6 C flour

Cream butter and sugars and add eggs then dry ingreds. and lastly, add choc. chips and nuts.

 Bake 350 about 10 mins.

This makes tons of cookies and it’s easiest to make these in a Bosch if possible.

Mom's Pie Crust

"Mom" here refers to Cleo Turley.  This is her pie crust recipe.  Tauna says that she can never get this recipe to turn out, but it's Nana's nonetheless so we will pass it on because we love Nana.

2/3 C lard
1/3 C boiling water

Pour boiling water over lard and whip with a fork until melted.

Add: 2 C flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix lightly and refrigerate in Saran Wrap  before rolling out.  Bake 350 ‘til golden.

"For Thanksgiving, Mom (Cleo) used to make small, individual pie crusts and let us fill our own with different cream fillings---vanilla and chocolate ,and top them with bananas or coconut, and whipped cream." - Tauna Lowe  

Cleo's Cheesecake

Mix and press into a large pie tin:

20 graham crackers (squares),crumbed

1/2 cube soft better

2 Tbsp. sugar

Filling: 2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C sugar

1 lrg. and 1 small cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix and pour into crust.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake 350 for 15 mins.

 Cool and top with the following mixture:

1 pint sour cream

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Bake another 5 mins. at 350.

Berried Delight

This is Krista's recipe for Berried Delight.

2  C  graham cracker crumbs
1/3  C  sugar
1/2  C margarine, melted
1  8-oz. cream cheese,softened
1/4  C  sugar
2  Tbsp. milk
8-oz. Cool Whip
2  pints strawberries  (or any berries)
2  4-oz. pkgs. instant vanilla pudding

Make graham cracker crust using first 3 ingredients.  Pat into a 9x13 pan.  Chill.
Beat cream cheese w/ 1/4 C  sugar and milk until smooth.  Fold in half of Cool Whip.
Spread over crust.  Arrange berries in an even layer over cream cheese mix.  Make pudding as directed.  Pour over berries.  Chill.  After set, spread remaining Cool Whip over pudding.               

French Toast Bread Pudding and Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Syrup

This is the way we often use up leftover bread heels or day old bread that's gotten too hard or crusty.  Just soak it in the milk/egg mix and bake for a custardy french toast breakfast!

This bread pudding recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa and we have just modified it a little.  It's more of a custardy bread pudding than french toast.   We also modified the buttermilk syrup recipe we've always used to add vanilla bean and it adds a delicious vanilla flavor to the syrup.  I like to slice up some strawberries to serve with this too. They are good on top drizzled with the syrup. 

Ingredients

• 1 challah loaf, torn into pieces (or any loaf of French bread type bread)
• 8 extra-large eggs
• 5 cups half-and-half or milk
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Confectioners' sugar and vanilla bean buttermilk syrup, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Tear bread into large bite-sized chunks in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, honey, orange zest, vanilla, and salt. Pour the mixture over the bread and press the bread down. Allow to soak for 10 minutes if bread is fresh and if bread is crustier or stale, soak an hour or up to overnight.

Pour the bread pudding mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish.  Place the 9x13 baking dish in a larger roasting pan and add enough very hot tap water to the roasting pan to come an inch up the side of the baking dish. Cover the roasting pan tightly with aluminum foil, tenting it so the foil doesn't touch the pudding. Make two slashes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake for 45 minutes, remove the aluminum foil, and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, until the pudding puffs up and the custard is set. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

With a small sieve, dust lightly with confectioners' sugar and serve hot in squares with vanilla bean buttermilk syrup on the side.

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. corn syrup

1 tsp. baking soda

1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In large saucepan, combine butter, buttermilk, sugar, and corn syrup.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Remove from heat and add vanilla beans and baking soda and stir.  It will foam up to about 3 times it's volume so make sure you are using a larger saucepan.  Serve hot over bread pudding.

• If you don't have a vanilla bean on hand, use the vanilla bean paste shown in the photo below.  Krista introduced us to this and we love it!!  It comes from Williams Sonoma and is a great way to get vanilla bean flavor without having to have the beans on hand. 
• We also use powdered buttermilk to make the buttermilk for the syrup if you don't have it on hand.  The powdered stuff works great in our syrup, waffles, and all the baking recipes we've tried it in. (see photo)