Wednesday, May 26, 2010

It always starts with a craving...


Yes, indeed, it always starts with a craving.
The other day, I had to have a fried egg sandwich.
Just had to have one. And I wanted it on toasted
French bread, so I bought a loaf. We all ate our
fried egg sandwiches (me with much joy) and then
I had a half loaf left. Hmmm.

French bread doesn't have much staying power.
By day two it was a little hard by day three it
was mimicking cement. Then our air conditioner
needed to be repaired (in AZ this is really not
negotiable) and the bill had me seriously
considering assuming the fetal position for the
day. But I decided comfort food was infinitely
more rewarding for me and less alarming for the
fellas who live with me. So, I decided to whack the
crusty loaf into pieces and make myself a lovely
mood elevating bread pudding. Thankfully,
it worked!

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tspns cinnamon
1/4 tspn nutmeg
1 tspn vanilla
3 cups bread in small pieces
1/2 cup raisins


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until it thickens. Add the butter, stirring until it is melted. Cool. Combine sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla, beat with mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add milk and butter to the mixture. Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Pour batter on top of bread. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Serve warm.

I serve mine with vanilla ice cream but there are wonderful bread pudding sauces (brandy anyone?) that go just as well if not better.


YUM!

www.jennmckinlay.com

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
Available now!

aka Lucy Lawrence
CUT TO THE CORPSE
Available now!


And I am not the only one who has been led astray by a craving! Our own Elizabeth/Riley suffered the same for a shrimp po'boy. Check it out!





Julie’s first book in the Manor of Murder Mystery series,
Grace Under Pressure (starred review in Publishers Weekly!), debuts June 1st!
To help launch the book and to celebrate its release, she's running a very special contest: Pre-order
Grace Under Pressure any time before May 31, 2010, and you're eligible to win a $25 gift certificate from Mystery Lovers Bookshop! (and if you've already pre-ordered,
you just need to let Julie know!)
No receipts required. Just email Julie at
JulieHyzy@gmail.com with the date that you
pre-ordered and the
name of the bookstore you
ordered it from, and your name goes in! (Please
put "CONTEST" in the subject header. Thanks!)





Here are a few helpful links to get you started:
Independent Bookstore List: here

- Mystery Lovers Bookshop (free shipping on book orders over $10!)
-
Centuries & Sleuths (Julie's local mystery bookstore)

9 comments:

  1. Bread pudding! Ohhhh...I love that stuff. Now I'm feeling a craving, too! And maybe for shrimp po'boys, as well. So I could have shrimp for lunch followed by bread pudding!

    Riley/Elizabeth

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  2. Like minds think alike... just yesterday, i posted a savory onion and Brie French bread savory bread pudding... Likewise, to have a wonderful use for stale bread...

    So easy and so good... Great recipe!

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  3. I can't tell you how many dinners in the evening started with a craving in the morning at our house. (LOL - I remember Riley's Po' Boy craving post, too! :)

    I love your ancestry story here - from a fried egg to a fried air conditioner to a French Bread Pudding. Comfort food for an outsized repair bill sounds like a good plan to me! And the recipe looks delicious. Wait a second, Cupcake Lady, is there such a thing as a "bread pudding" cupcake?!

    ~ Cleo
    Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  4. E, when I was suffering cravings, I remembered your post immediately! Still, one of my faves.

    Dave, your bread pudding sounds divine. I'll be over to check it out!

    Cleo, thanks for the idea -- I'll have to see if there's a bread pudding cupcake. Yum.

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  5. Cravings. Those darned pesky cravings. I love bread pudding. Can't have it in your rendition, but I love it and now you've got me craving it with Brandy. Thanks for sharing! ~Avery

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  6. We should do a challenge in which each of us looks in the cupboard or fridge and has to use something that's about to go bad! Sometimes the best recipes come from things like stale bread. Who'd have thought it?

    Your bread pudding sounds wonderful, Jenn. What a nice off-shoot of a craving for something else!

    ~ Krista

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  7. It always does start with a craving, doesn't it. E, your po' boy really hit its mark because this weekend when I saw one on a menu at a barbecue restaurant that just opened I *had* to have it. I remembered your post and thought about that as I ate. Ooh. Very, very good.

    Jenn - love the idea of using something that's about to go bad. I have a couple things in my freezer that are approaching the upper limits of storage time and I need to get creative. Thanks for the reminder. Your bread pudding looks fabulous and Dave - yours sounds great. I'll check it out.

    Julie

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  8. LOVE bread pudding. There was a chocolate-bourban one served at a Greensboro hotel that was absolutely orgasmic.

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  9. Another good thing to make with a slightly stale loaf of French bread is panzanella.

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