A Use for Stale Bread

I love pudding. It's something I've always known I like, but it's more of a love. All sorts, chocolate especially, but from tapioca to banana to flan and creme brulee. Just, yum. I maybe like it more than--get this: ice cream.

I also love great (simple) recipes. & more over, great recipe books that are a delight just to flip through & not on account of their beautiful photography, but on the rustic charm that adorns each page. Simple drawings & hand written directions make ANY recipe one worth taking a second look at. Plus, with no picture there's always the thrill of seeing the final result & the curiosity of knowing whether it has turned out as it should. Obviously I have a cookbook in mind...

Having just re-seen Julie & Julia, I almost feel obligated to commit to this far-less involved & much simpler & more Lacey-style version of cooking in 1 year. Plus, there's got to be like 1/8th as many recipes as Julia Child's anthology...so. I have no more excuses. There will be list making & ingredient having until every last recipe has been tried. Should be good. This book is chock-full of wholesome goodness, down-home style, veggie needing concoctions that will broaden our favorite recipe list--no doubt. So, 1 recipe a week. That's the goal, & a dessert. We'll see--I may up the anty.

The bread-pudding was great. I used fresh blueberries instead of apples or dried fruit & would recommend cooking it until you are positive it is thoroughly cooked. Ours was a bit soggy, but much better with whipped cream (& cold, i'm a cold pudding type) & hot with ice cream would have been a treat... I'm going to share this one, but because I believe EVERYONE should have a copy anyway, just go order it if you want them all (& I think you do).

Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding:

10 minutes to prepare

35 minutes to bake

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

 4 cups coarsely crumbled bread, 3 eggs (large), 3 cups milk, 3tbsp honey, 

2tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, juice from 1/2 lemon

1.5cup freshly grated apple and/or 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (we did blueberries), 

1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Have ready a 9x13-inch baking pan.

2. Spread the bread & fruit in the pan.

3. Beat together remaining ingredients. Pour this custard over the bread.

4. Bake about 35 minutes, or until firm but not dry. Serve warm or at room temperature.

& for those interested in the farm life.