Advertisement More accurately, by the time you read this: I had a daffodil! One lovely, delicate, buttery yellow daffodil — one of many planted by my mother 40 or
50 years ago and now a testament to my gardening prowess. Well, not really my prowess — my friends Lilly Lecheler, who dug the bulbs for me at my old house, and Joey La Sarge, who planted them at my new one, are the “green-thumb gals.”
Last year, a few of Mom’s tulips came up and that was exciting. This year, the rabbits got them. But the daffodils hadn’t bloomed for a couple of years even at the old house and when I saw only greens last year in their new “digs,” I didn’t hold out much hope for them. Lilly and Joey said, “You never know.”
And sure enough, I looked out one day and there it was, a proud sentinel standing in the midst of the rabbit-ravaged tulips and the other daffodil wannabes — an extra little piece of my mother in my heart for Mother’s Day.
I told my daughter, Traci, that maybe next year there would be two of them. She said, “Then you’d have a pair,” but I said, “No, they’d still be daffodils.” Ba-dump-bump.
Recently, we have been working on requests for bread pudding and rhubarb recipes. Hilda Wacker of Norwalk, Wis., made our job a little easier by sending us a two-for-one: rhubarb bread pudding. An apparently shy reader shared another rhubarb recipe, saying “a co-worker shared this recipe and it is now the only one I use. DEElicious! Sign me Anonymous, please and thanks.”
Helen Harold from West Salem, Wis., can thank Amy-from-my-past-life of Holmen, Wis., for a quick and easy Alfredo sauce. Amy included simple suggestions for a number of variations on the basic recipe. There are lots of little twists to give Alfredo a whole new complexion, Cajun seasoning and maybe some crawfish, for instance. Hopefully, we’ll have a few more Alfredo recipes to share soon.
Be on the lookout for a black walnut loaf cake with sugar glaze for Alice Long. She found the recipe in a magazine in the ’50s but now can’t locate it.
I use avocados for guacamole but haven’t really tried them any other way, and I’m beginning to wonder whether anybody else has either. Mary in California can’t eat tomatoes anymore and hopes we can find some avocado recipe ideas for her to try.
There are a few vegetable lasagna recipes hanging around in the wings, so we’ll probably see some in upcoming Exchanges.
And there are enough rhubarb recipes to fill a pretty good-sized cookbook, so look for more of them in the weeks to come as well.
Send requests, recipes and/or cooking tips and techniques to Alice P. Clark at: Reader Exchange, c/o La Crosse Tribune, 401 N. Third St., La Crosse, WI 54601; e-mail: exchange@lacrossetribune.com or send a fax to (608) 782-9723.
Rhubarb Bread Pudding
3 cups bread crumbs
1 quart (4 cups) diced rhubarb
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Toss ingredients together lightly; place in a greased or sprayed casserole. Bake, covered, 40 minutes.
(Shared by Hilda Wacker, Norwalk, Wis.)
EZ Cheezy Rhubarb Bars
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Pat in 9-by-13 pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Filling:
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups rhubarb
Topping:
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine crust ingredients; pat into a 9-by-13-inch pan. Bake 10 minutes. Combine filling ingredients; spread over crust. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over filling. Bake 45 minutes.
(Shared by Anonymous)
Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Melt butter in a medium, nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly; thin with milk if cooked too long or thinner sauce is desired. Toss with hot pasta to serve. Variations: fresh garlic instead of powdered; add diced carrots, parsley or diced fresh tomatoes (just before serving); add chicken, or for a seafood twist, add imitation crab.
(Shared by Amy Gelhaus, Holmen, Wis.)
