Bread Pudding

I don't eat things that don't taste good.  I mean, I'm southern so I eat it if it tastes good or if it will hurt someone's feelings if I don't eat it.  Or if my Dad says I have to.  Or if I told my son he has to eat it and I don't want to look like a hypocrite.  OK.  I prefer to eat things that taste good.  If it passes the "tastes good" test then it has to pass two more tests:  1.  Is it too difficult to make and 2.  Is it cheap.  Once those test have been passed then it becomes a dish we eat all the time.  Bread Pudding is one of those recipes.

Does it taste good?  Hell yes!

Is it difficult?  One bowl, one pan and in a pinch you can just do it all in the pan.

Is it cheap?  Because I usually have all the ingredients in the house and I'm rescuing bread that has gone stale it is usually free for me!

You will need:  One loaf stale bread (french bread or bakery bread is best... don't use sliced sandwich bread.), 3 cups whole milk, 1 stick butter (melted), 4 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 2 tbs. vanilla, 3/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 box raisins (this can be substituted for apples or nuts or chocolate chips... whatever you want really)

Step One:  If you are buying some bread specifically to make this, cut it into cubes while it is still fresh and allow it to go stale.  Fresh (real) bread won't get moldy if you leave it out, it just gets stale.  I always make this when I've bought too much bread and it goes stale.  Once the whole loaf goes stale don't try to cut it.  Put it in a bag and hit it with a hammer.

Step Two:  Mix all of the ingredients, EXCEPT the bread, in a bowl.  (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step.)

Step Three:  Put the bread in the bowl with the liquid and mix around until it is all submerged.

Let this soak for an hour.  Mix occasionally to make sure all the bread is getting soaked.

While this is happening heat the oven to 350.

By the time it is ready to go into the pan it will be fairly "smushy".  That's when you know it is ready.

Step Four:  Pour into a pan.  A 13x9 is best.  Glass or metal or ceramic all work fine.  No need to grease the pan.

Bake on 350 for an hour.

When it comes out of the oven it should be brown and bubbly and smell WONDERFUL!!!

Enjoy!

Inauguration Waffles

I promise I did not set off on a grocery expedition with the purpose of making red, white and blue waffles... it just sort of happened that way.

Benny was "feeling" the waffles

I asked Benny what he would eat for breakfast and he turned down everything I had so I told him he'd just have to starve.  He said he would eat waffles.  I said OK.  He said he would like plain waffles, strawberry waffles and blueberry waffles.  Shockingly I had all of these things in my house so I agreed but only if he would help me cook.

I'm going to get to my step by step instructions in a second but I want to admit something.  I could pretend like we woke up, got dressed and then had a perfect morning in the kitchen cooking and cleaning as we went.  It's even possible that I could have arranged the pictures in such a way that it looked like that really happened.  Instead I'd like to just leave you with a few of the things that were said/yelled so that you have an idea of what really went on this morning.

"Benny!  Stop petting the waffles!"
"Stop licking me!"
"Mom!!  I think the waffles are dying!!"
"For the love of God Benny don't do that with the knife!"
"Why are there strawberries in the carpet?"
"Benny!  Please don't touch my face with.... that."
"Mom!  I would never hurt a waffle on purpose."
"When you cook a blueberry it kind of looks like a squished roach.  That makes you not want to eat it? Well then just pretend like you are Indiana Jones and you have to."
"This is the funnest day ever.  Except not really.  That will probably be when I get a job or get married."
(I seriously got out a pad and wrote down the things we were saying to each other.

You will need:  (In addition to the ordinary things you have in your kitchen) a waffle iron, spray oil, eggs, baking powder, milk, oil, sugar, salt, flour, vanilla extract and whatever you want to mix in (we used blueberries and strawberries)

I used this recipe.  I doubled it because I wanted to have some frozen waffles for breakfast later this week.

Benny cracking an egg.  My sanity was well tested.

Step One:  Mix wet ingredients.
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
(This is the smaller batch.  I doubled this to get extra to freeze.)









Step Two:  Mix dry ingredients.
1 tbs white sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
(This is the smaller batch.  I doubled this to get extra to freeze.)














Step Three:  Mix wet and dry together

Step Four:  Mix in whatever extras you want to include.
Because we were making some plain, some with strawberries and some with blueberries we ended up splitting the batter into three separate batches so that we could add the different "mix-ins".

(Side note.  We like to cut up the strawberries small and smash the blueberries a little so that the "flavor" ends up all over the waffle.  That is Benny's explanation but I think he just likes to smash things.

Step Five:  Heat up your waffle iron.

Step Six:  Spray the waffle maker with spray oil.  (Make sure you spray the iron before each waffle.)

Step Seven:  Scoop, ladle, spoon or pour in batter.  Benny's method seemed to be of the "don't try this at home variety".

Step Eight:  Take it out.











Step Nine:  Eat

If you are freezing your waffles you should lay them out where they are not touching each other and freeze before sealing in bags or containers.  This way they won't be stuck together.  I actually had several layers separated by the parchment paper leftover from my failed craft the other night.  Win!

Fried Dough and Various Kinds of Sugar

Quick and easy (and cheap) doughnuts.  My family was ridiculously impressed and quiet for at least 30 minutes while they ate.

What you will need: oil, sugar, cinnamon, powdered sugar, raw biscuits, a deep skillet, tongs, candy thermometer (this is optional but it gives you a slightly better idea of the temperature to have your oil)










Step One:  Heat the oil to about 240.  You want to have it hot enough to brown the biscuits but not so hot that they get too brown before the dough it cooked.

(Please don't make fun of my candy thermometer. I know all of the numbers have worn away but I can still see them if I look very closely.)

Step Two:  Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.  This is what worked well for me.  If you'd like to have them look like doughnuts you can punch a circle out of the middle of each biscuit or you could use cookie cutters to cut shapes you like.  Remember they are going to puff up a bit and might lose some of their shape.

Step Three:  Plop the dough in the oil.  Leave on one side about 1-2 minutes.  They will start to get brown.  Once one side is brown flip them over and let the other side fry for another 1-2 minutes.










This is what they look like when you flip them over.

Step Four:  While they are cooking put powdered sugar in a bowl and mix refined sugar with cinnamon in another bowl.

Step Five:  As you pull them out of the oil immediately roll them around in the sugar.

This is the cinnamon and sugar.  Obviously I did the same thing with the powdered sugar but I couldn't get the picture to turn the other way and I was being mildly OCD about it.  So I deleted it.

Step Six:  Put them on a paper towel or a cooling rack.  I use the Alton Brown method of putting paper towels down and then putting a cooling rack on top upside down so some of the oil drains but they don't sit in the oil.



DONE!!!  OK this is a horrible picture but I was having to dodge hands in the picture.  OK... they were my hands but it was hot fried dough covered in sugar so you can't blame me.



Recap:  Writing this post took longer than the entire process of making these.  Everyone loved them.  They were absolutely unhealthy.  The only thing I had to purchase was a can of Grands (which was on sale for $1.00 at Publix this week) and everything else I already had in my cabinet.

This one will go in the "Pinterest Win" category.