NEWS Bollettino Highlights In Touch Calendar Winners

LET'S TALK, LET'S COOK by Mary Alesi This past summer I had an abundance of fruits and vegetables from my garden. My banana trees produced three stalks of delicious bananas. The only problem was these bananas ripened all at the same time. I had to hurry to make use of this fruit, so I baked Banana Nut Bread for the Holiday Season. My figs trees produced wonderful figs, which I dried for my Christmas fig (Cucidati) cookies. I also made this fig jam recipe sent to me from my friend Helen Tatone, CC Member Emeritus, Branch 289. She told me when her children ate the fig jam they thought it was made with strawberries. Fig Jam (This is so easy to prepare) Ingredients: 3 cups sugar (I prefer 2 cups) 3 cups peeled mashed figs 1 (6 0z.) package strawberry Jello (use dry ingredients only) Juice of one lemon Mix all ingredients together in saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat: beat and stir. Boil for 3 minutes. Pour into jars when cool: freeze or seal. Chocolate Bundt Cake Ingredients: 1 package chocolate cake mix 4 eggs 1 cup sour cream ¾ cup vegetable oil ½ cup water 1 (4 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding 1 (12-ounce) package chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the cake mix, eggs, sour cream, oil, water and dry pudding mix in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on high for about 5 minutes. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into a generously greased bundt or angel food pan. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes before turning onto a plate. Makes 12 servings. Egg Breakfast Frittata Ingredients: 6 eggs 1 cup low-fat milk 1 tablespoon butter, melted ½ teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 5 slices of precooked Canadian bacon. ½ cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese Cooking spray 9 or 10-inch round pie dish Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat round pie dish with Cooking spray. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, milk, butter, salt and pepper with a wire whisk until well blended. Cut precooked Canadian bacon into bite-size pieces. Stir gently into egg mixture. Pour mixture into pie dish and sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Serves 6 to 8. I want to congratulate the Tallarida family who this year received "Family of the Year" award at the last convention. The Tallarida family disserves this recognition because they are the true essence of what the Italian Catholic Federation stands for. Rose and Victor have been friends of mine for the past 37 years. I know they never stop working for the ICF charities and our catholic ideals. Jim and I wish to thank all who sent get-well cards, Mass cards, calls and prayers during Jim's illness. God bless you all. I will be back next month. Next month will be 5 years since I began this column. I do hope that you have enjoyed it! Ciao with love, Mary Alesi, CC Member Emeritus Italian Catholic Federation, 675 Hegenberger Road, Suite 230, Oakland CA 94621 tel: 888/ICF-1924; 510/633-9058; fax: 510/633-9758; Email: info@icf.org Website designed by HYPERSPHERE