Good Press

Tuesdays are dance class nights and my 4-year-old isn't the only one who has to shake a leg. We get home about 7:15 p.m. and I have to make dinner fast under the looming deadline of 8 o'clock bathtime. Soupbeans and cornbread have been in my repertoire of quick meals for years. But I've just found a way to make it even faster. Some folks might cook their own beans but I haven't tasted any better than Randall's Great Northern Beans in a jar. I use the cornbread recipe on the back of the Quaker corn meal box, but I bet Jiffy mix would work OK, too. The timesaver is in how you bake it. Use the waffle iron!!! I can't take credit for that tip -- I read it in Cook's Country magazine. But it works great in a couple of ways: it saves time and eliminates wasted leftovers. In the past, we've had lots of leftover cornbread that went to waste when the beans ran out. Baking the batter into waffles lets us easily freeze the extras and because of their shape and unifor...

The first cake I remember decorating (other than just placing those hard formed sugar disks pressed into letters and shapes) was to celebrate my cousin's Special Olypics gold medal. Roberta competed in the International Games the first year they were held in South Bend, Ind., 1987 I believe. When she was due to visit to show her medal to our grandfather, I baked a cake mix and frosted it with canned icing. Then, using tubes of decorator gel, I drew a gymnast with long dark hair, arms raised in victory and a gold medal around her neck. I figure I wrote something on the cake, too, crooked no doubt, but I can't remember what. Fifteen years or so later, I would get the urge to create again. For one of my mother-in-law's birthdays I decorated a cake to look like a grill. Simple enough -- just draw evenly spaced lines of dark chocolate frosting crosswise on the cake; slide dried fruits such as apricots, pineapple chunks and prunes, a-HEM DRIED PLUMS, on bamboo skewers; and unwrap...

Food Find: Philadelphia Cracker Spreads On a late-September shopping trip at the new -- and only -- Wal-mart in my county, I found Kraft's new Philadelphia Cracker Spreads. I chose Parmesan with Garlic & Herb. You see and taste real slivers of Parmesan in the soft cream cheese spread that's dotted with bits of herbs. Cracker Spreads are also available in Asiago and Parmesan, Feta & Spinach, Pepperjack & Jalapeno, and White Cheddar & Red Pepper. Suggested retail price is $2.49. They're good for snacking right from the tub but consider packing a few in a (refrigerated) lunch and definitely look for them at the holidays to easily upscale your hors d'oeuvres offerings at get-togethers.

Apples and sausage, to my mind, are autumn foods. So I was confused when I saw them in a Father's Day breakfast recipe for pancakes this summer. Despite the seasonal incongruity, I made them. My husband says he loves them and, because I reminded him of them when I asked his opinion just now, he's after me to make them again soon. He said they are filling and good on a cold day. Add maple syrup and finish the trifecta of fall flavors! SAUSAGE AND APPLE PANCAKES 2 medium sweet Italian turkey sausages (precooked), each cut into chunks 1 apple, peeled and cored 1 1/4 cups all-purpose or white whole-wheat flour 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoons salt 1 cup milk 1 egg 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil cooking spray Place a heat-proof plate or platter in the oven. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place the sausages and apple in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Saute until the sausage...

The tub of ready-to-eat cheesecake filling was intriguing and the urge to eat it a spoonful at a time, here and there, actually not that great. I bought it not because I planned to dump it all into a graham-cracker crumb crust and serve it -- it's obvious primary intended use. No, I was thinking about other things I could use it for. Inspired by Bob Evans or IHOP or another of those breakfast-all-day chains, my first application was stuffed french toast. This recipe is easy enough to make for Sunday breakfast and still get to church; it'll only look and taste like you made a big fuss. Plus it's a simple way to make an everyday day extraordinary. Take one day-old loaf of braided challah (Jewish egg bread...see side note below) and sliced it into pieces at least 1-inch thick. I probably had 8-10 slices. Beat 4 or 5 eggs in a glass pie plate with a splash of milk. Dip the bread slices one at a time in the egg batter and fry them on a hot nonstick griddle. To assemble the stuff...