Bread pudding

To be honest, the first time I'd heard of bread pudding wasn't until after I was diagnosed with Celiac, so I've never tried it. I've also never been a huge fan of bread, so the idea of bread pudding never really struck me as something delicious. But, everyone I know raves about it.

Well, today I had stale bread. I bought some Udi's hamburger buns on clearance and haven't been able to use them for actual hamburgers yet. They were getting pretty old, so I wanted to use them up quickly. I get the idea- kind of like a custard but with bread in it.

So I tried it out.

Bread Pudding

1 1/2 c. milk
1 T. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. vanilla
3 1/2 c. stale gluten free bread, torn up into pieces
1/2 c. pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Place the bread and pecans into a 1 qt casserole dish, mixing them up. (I placed them in the dish, put the lid on, and shake it around.) Beat the eggs in a bowl.

Heat the other ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat,stirring frequently until the butter has melted. Turn off the heat. Mix a spoonful of the warm mixture into the eggs- mixing quickly and using a spoonful at a time so that the eggs don't scramble.

When half of the warm mixture has been added to the eggs, stir the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan. Pour the entire mixture over the bread, soaking each piece, and bake covered for 40-45 minutes. I removed the lid for the last 10 minutes of baking to get kind of a crusty top.

Rather than fiddling with a sauce, I poured a smidgen of straight brandy over the warm bread pudding.

It tasted kinda like a glorified alcoholic french toast. Definitely not bad.

Now, I can't compare it to normal bread puddings, but I wont have a problem finishing the rest of the batch. Second breakfasts are going to be good this week!

**I suppose that heating up the milk and tempering the eggs wasn't necessary; you could probably just mix it all up cold and pour it over the bread with the same results.

*** Update: Maybe not. Check out the comment regarding cooking time/ texture changes.

Baked Rice Pudding

I know, the picture looks a little funky, but give it a chance.

This is "rice pudding" that my mom has made since we were kids. You bake it up into something that can be cut into bars. She usually added raisins, but I hate raisins. I used to pick them out when I was a kid, haha.

Baked Rice Pudding

1 c. milk
3 cups cooked brown rice
dash of salt
1/2 c. brown sugar, not packed
1 T. vanilla
3 eggs, beaten
cinnamon

Mix it all up, place it into an 8x8 pan, and bake it at 350 for about 45 minutes. It is ready when a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean and the pudding is set.

Eat cold or hot.

Study Break Tapioca Pudding

I haven't been posting much lately. To quote my friend and classmate, the CLS program is "mental boot camp." I've been getting used to a new schedule, and I've been studying constantly. It's utterly exhausting, but I'm loving it. It seems like a lot of the regular blogs I read have been posting less often, too. I guess it's a busy time!

I have been feeding myself, but it's been super-quick standbys and I haven't created anything new.

Tonight, I don't really have a breather, but I decided to make one. With that, came tapioca pudding. This is the recipe on the box, but modified a bit. I like that you don't have to temper the egg, and it gives me a reason to stand still without doing anything. Did I pull up a stool to the stove and zone out for a few minutes while stirring? Yes. :o) Then I enjoyed some pudding.

Tapioca Pudding

3 1/2 T. Minute Tapioca (I used Kraft)
1/4 c. sugar (The recipe called for 1/3, but I'm slowly trying to cut sugar and get used to eating less-sweet treats.)
dash of salt
2 1/2 c. milk (I used regular milk, because I'm out of dairy-free stuff. If you try it dairy free, let me know how it works out.)
1 egg, beaten well.
1 t. vanilla

Combine the milk, tapioca, sugar, salt, and egg in a pan. Let it sit for 5 minutes on low heat. Then, heat it up on medium heat, STIRRING CONSTANTLY, until it boils steadily. Take it off of the heat, stir in the vanilla, and let it cool. Stir in a dash of cinnamon. It will thicken as it cools, and you can eat it warm or cold.

Back to the books. Enjoy!

rice rice baby

Ever since I was a little kid I've had a strange love for rice. I could (and still can) eat it steamed, plain, right out of the pot. I think it was my body's subliminal way of telling me, "Wheat is BAD for you!" Come to think of it, I never particularly liked bread or anything like that. I always thought it was strange that people ate dinner rolls with nothing on them. Yuck.

But anyway, I made rice pudding. I'm not a fan of the rice pudding that's baked and you can cut it into bars. That's not pudding. It's something pretending to be rice pudding.

I don't make it very often because my multi-tasking nature is disrupted by having to stand there and stir constantly but when I do, it's worth it. This. Is pudding. And it's delicious. I eat it for breakfast. :o)

Rice Pudding
1/3 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
2 c. milk (soymilk works well too)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 T. butter
2 t. vanilla
cooked rice (to taste)

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a pan. Slowly stir in the milk. Heat on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils. After it boils, stir for a minute. Then stir a little more than half of the mixture into the eggs. This is the crucial step because if you do it wrong then your pudding will be lumpy. [It will still taste fine, though, so if it comes out lumpy all is not lost!]

Stir it quickly, gradually adding the hot mixture to the eggs to slowly raise the temperature. Once you've done this, stir the eggy mixture back into the pan. Heat this to boiling once more, stir for a minute, and take it off the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla.

At this point add in the rice. I add a TON because I like my rice to pudding ratio to be large. It's whatever floats your boat. Pour it into serving dishes or a big bowl and stick it in the fridge. (Although it's good warm too, I just can't wait for it to cool.)

Whether you eat it warm or cool, sprinkle some cinnamon and nutmeg on top right before serving. YUM!