Wednesday, March 30, 2011

When life gives you stale bread....

MAKE BREAD PUDDING!!! you need bread that is stale or dried out. It can dry at room temp. just by hanging around a bit past its prime, or, you can dry it in a low oven. This is a very tasty way to use old bread. you need 6 to 8 slices. Can use white, whole wheat, or a mixture of different breads. I used homemade Oatmeal bread. Mmmmm..... Bread pudding is a very frugal, homey thing. Its not fussy. Just use what you have. Anyway, the bread needs to be "dried out". Then cut it up into cubes. Throw them in a 8" or 9" square pan that you have buttered. Throw in a handful of raisins. Or other dried fruit. Oven at 350*. In another bowl, pour 2 cups heavy cream. Or milk. Whatever. 4 eggs, beaten 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 1 heaping tsp. cinnamon Whip this mixture up good with a wire whip. Pour it over the bread and raisins in the pan. Pour a little melted butter over the top. Put it into the oven for around 45 minutes. Its good warm, cold, alone, or with this WONDERFUL caramel sauce I found the recipe for the other day. That caramel sauce.... you really need to click on that and make some. Don't let the buttermilk scare you. I feel the same way about buttermilk. Anyway, I had some of the sauce left over from waffles Sunday morning, and it is delectable on the bread pudding. GOOD STUFF! Good eating!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Meat Loaf

My dear daughter Tabetha called today asking for my meatloaf recipe. This presents a bit of a problem. Which one? I use a variety of recipes, and I also use no recipe. Meatloaf is: meat, some sort of bread, eggs, seasoning, tomatoes (or not).

With these basic ingredients you can make meatloaf. Add to it, take from it as you wish.
But there are several recipes that I also use. I will start with this one, your basic Mom-style meatloaf. This one comes from one of my favorite cookbooks. Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. I got it used, and the covers have since fallen off. But it has some great recipes!

Meat loaf:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, diced (recipe says sliced, I always dice)
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard (you will find it in the spice aisle)
1 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 c. stewed tomatoes (I just use the smaller can of diced tomatoes, no worries)
2 slices bread, broken into pieces
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 strips bacon

*combine all ingredients except bacon. Pack into a 9X5X3 loaf pan. Place bacon strips across the top.
*bake in preheated 350* oven 1 1/2 hours
Makes 8-10 servings
(leftovers will freeze)

Enjoy, sweetie!