I just toast a couple of slices of sourdough bread, cut them into chunks (think a little bigger than croutons, but not as hard), put the chunks of toast on top of the soup, lay the slice of cheese over the bread chunks and pop them under the broiler until brown and bubbly.

Lilliepad--actually, on Monday, I just pulled a pint of creamed dried beef (the standard white sauce/dried beef mixture that you usually serve over toast) out of the freezer and mixed it with about a 1/2 pound of cooked macaroni, then topped it with panko and grated cheddar cheese. DH likes to eat his with broccoli and asked that next time I put the broccoli IN the casserole. If you're asking about how to make creamed dried beef? I generally buy a pound of dried beef at the Amish market and make up about a half gallon of white sauce and freeze in pint containers. For a more manageable batch--just melt 4 T butter, whisk in 4T flour (and salt, pepper, garlic salt to taste). Let cook 1 minute. Whisk in 2 cups milk. Cook and stir until thickened. Add 4-5 ounces dried beef, heat through. While it's common to serve CDB over toast, we often do something different with it--make scalloped potatoes with it, or serve over baked potatoes, or as a casserole with pasta.

Thought I would update this post, as I am still working on the list, lol! Last weekend I made the mustard short ribs with my NEW OVEN, (finally!) The marinade was delicious but I wasn't crazy about the meat on the ribs, which was probably due to my not buying a very good cut, and also not really liking beef. Will probably do again using brown mustard which we always have on hand, and chicken or turkey, which is what we eat most often when we do meat. It was very fun to cook and eat though! Thanks Angelaid for the recipe! Served with mushroom rice pilaf and roasted brussel sprouts, was a great combo! And last but not least, I finally used the caramel sauce on some brownies. Got invited at the last minute to a dinner party and said I would provide dessert. It was the perfect time to make those brownies. I used Duncan Hines brownie mix, and made them as per the "cake like" version on the back. When the brownies were more or less done, I frosted them with a mixture of 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut and 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts with enough caramel sauce in the mix to make it spreadable. Also poked some holes in the brownies and smeared caramel sauce on top of them for it to soak in a bit. Then I baked for a few minutes more to brown the coconut and firm up the frosting. They were a huge hit! Gooey and tasted like german chocolate cake. Everyone had two pieces, (except virtuous me, I saved my second piece for breakfast the next day, which is the photo). All that's left is the limoncello, which I am saving for my next dinner party!

Ann - that looks elegant and delicious. I need to get going on some baking before my oven is buried behind snowbanks. None of my bread is quite as pretty as yours. I did get the Forkish book but haven't set up myself up to follow his schedule. My mom grew up in a small planned town where everyone was of eastern european - my grandmother being the sole exception. In Maine she is a long way from delis full of lox whitefish etc... She has taken to making gravlox fairly often. I got a gift of several meals worth for Christmas. She cures with either dill or juniper berries. It is expensive to make but doesn't seem very difficult. It tastes amazing - similar to but not the same as lox! What a treat.