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Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Bread Pudding

Since I’m focusing on bread this month I decided to make bread pudding last night. It’s really more of a dessert. But I served it as a side dish with our quiche. I usually serve quiche with some kind of sweet bread, so it’s really not that different. I love bread pudding. But I’ve actually never made it before. And haven’t had it in years. This is my mom’s recipe. So simple and so good!! We all loved it. It’s hard to stop eating it 😛  It’s soft and sweet and has kind of a custardy feel to it from the eggs. And the great thing about it is that everyone pretty much always has the ingredients on hand. And it’s a great way to use up the end pieces of bread (that normally get thrown away in our house). They actually work better than regular slices. A very budget friendly dessert! And a great way to use up those last few slices of bread in a loaf. This is great on it’s own, warm or cold. And it’s also good with some vanilla ice cream on top. I bet it would be good with some apple slices baked in too. Maybe I’ll have to try that some time. Can’t wait to have more tonight! And I just thought of it…I bet this would even be a good breakfast…bread, eggs, milk, raisins…sounds good to me! That may be on our menu soon 😉

This post is linked to Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager.

**Edited 4/24/10 – I made this today with a peeled and chopped apple. Yum!!!! Makes it even better.

Bread Pudding

4 cups bread, cubed (whole wheat, sourdough, cinnamon raisin…whatever you like) (just tear it into rough chunks)
2 cups scalded millk (heated to almost boiling)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup organic cane sugar or sucanat (honey or maple syrup would probably work too)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional, but they really do make it so much better 🙂
1 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg (I used cinnamon)
1 apple, peeled and chopped (optional – to make apple raisin bread pudding)

Place bread crumbs in a large bowl. Pour milk over top. Let cool slightly. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 1 1/2 qt. casserole. Bake at 325 for about 1 hour, until knife inserted in center comes out clean (I baked mine for a little over an hour).

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

I baked my first loaf of bread for the month yesterday. I did a quick search for easy whole wheat bread, and this is first recipe I found. It’s from All Recipes. It had great reviews and didn’t sound too complicated. It’s not 100% whole wheat, but I bet you could replace some of the bread flour with whole wheat or white whole wheat flour to make it closer to 100%. I just stuck with the original recipe for my first try. This turned out really well! It was quite simple to make. And I used my mixer! No kneading by hand 🙂  Definitely a good turnout considering some of the bad breads I’ve baked in the past. I think part of my problem has been patience. Yesterday when I was making the bread I was also playing with Rebecca, making dinner, getting her to bed, etc. So each of the rise times I let go a lot longer than usual since I was busy. And it really made a difference! I still have a ways to go to become a decent bread baker, but this was a good attempt. I didn’t get it out of the oven until about 9:30 last night, but I still couldn’t resist cutting into it and tasting a sliver while it was warm. YUM!! Very soft, moist and mildly sweet. Not too heavy either. I can’t wait to try it tonight for our sandwiches. See how it holds up for sandwich bread. I only made a half recipe, so I did one full loaf and one small loaf.

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 (.25 oz.) packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
1/3 cup honey
5 cups bread flour

3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp. salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

In a large bowl (I did this right in my stand mixer bowl), mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly (I let it set for about 45 min.).

Mix in 3 Tbsp. melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky – just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour (I kneaded it in my mixer for a few minutes). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough (I used my mixer bowl for this too…only got one bowl dirty:). Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled (I let it rise for about 70 min.).

Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch (I let it rise for about 90 minutes).

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard (I used a little butter spray). Cool completely.

**Edited 3/4/10
This makes awesome sandwich bread!! I used my electric knife to cut normal size slices. So good! I hope I can keep up with the bread baking. This is far better than boughten bread. It’s homemade for us!

Meal Plans Week of 2-21-10

A new week. And hopefully a better one than last week. A lot of last week’s plans got changed since both Justin and Rebecca had the flu. Justin is back to normal now. Rebecca still has a ways to go. At least she finally slept through the night last night. She has hardly eaten anything for 3 days now. Poor girl. We’re still sticking to the BRAT diet right now. It’s tough. She wants her milk so badly. It’s hard to say no. My meals early in the week will be somewhat versatile so I can feed mild stuff to Rebecca. Today she can have rice. And we’ll see if by this evening she can try a little plain chicken. She can have the leftovers during the week too. Monday she can at least eat noodles. We’ll just have to see how she’s doing to determine what else she can have. None of us are going to church today. Rebecca definitely can’t. I’ll just be going to teach sunday school. Our errands, etc. this week we’ll be playing by ear. If Rebecca is ready we’ll go grocery shopping on Mon. Else I’ll push that back to Tues. We’ll be visiting a friend at Calvin (former co-worker) either on Tues. or Thurs. Wed. is Kindermusik. Thurs. and Fri. are open right now in case we need to move things back. Wed. Justin and I are going out for our (late) Valentine’s Day dinner. We haven’t decided where yet. I guess we should do that soon 🙂

No major plans for extras this week. Again it will depend on how Rebecca is doing. I will be cooking some more dry beans for chili. And I have a few possible baking projects – bread, bagels, crackers, granola, cupcakes. None of them are urgent (although I would like to make the granola…I’m running low), just things I’d like to try.

Overall a pretty low key week. Just what we need right now 🙂  Here are the meal plans for this week:

S – (BLAST) – chicken and veggies in the cp over rice (w/ soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sweet and sour sauce on the side for Justin and me) (lunch); leftover mac ‘n’ cheese (Justin), misc. (me) (dinner)
M – (Meijer, staying in to recover from the flu) – spaghetti, garlic bread (for Justin)
T – (visit friend, staying in to recover from the flu, Justin will make a run to Meijer, meatless) – banana bread, fresh pineapple, yogurt (breakfast), vegetarian chili, cornbread (dinner)
W – (KM) – out to eat – Florentine’s
Th – (clean, make granola for Rebecca, make bagels, class) – whole wheat bagels and fresh pineapple (breakfast); leftovers (dinner)
F – (MOPS playdate, meatless) – leftover chili, cornbread, sausage (the sausage is for Justin)
S – (Dr. Seuss reading event?, clean, laundry) – homemade pizza

Mexican Lasagna

Here is another recipe from my MIL. Also very good.

Mexican Lasagna

1/2 lb. ground beef
2 slices onion, choped
1/2 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups salsa
2 large whole wheat tortillas (use corn or other GF tortillas to make this GF)
3/4 cup shredded monterey jack or mozzarella cheese

Cook beef, onion and garlic in pan. Drain. Combine the cottage cheese, sour cream, cumin, and salt. Spread 1/2 cup of salsa across the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish. Place 1 tortilla over salsa. Spread half of cottage cheese mixture on top. Top with half of the beef. Top with 1/2 cup of salsa and 1/4 cup of cheese. Repeat layering – tortilla, cottage cheese, beef. Top with remaining salsa and cheese. Bake for 30 min. at 350.

*I think it would be good with some beans added to the cottage cheese mixture.
*It would probably work well to prep this ahead and either freeze it for later use or to bake later in the day.

Burritos

I got this recipe from my MIL. I think she said she got it from my SIL Shannon. Very good!!

Burritos

1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
8 whole wheat tortillas (you could use corn or some kind of GF tortillas to make this GF)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa
grated colby jack cheese

Saute pepper and onion in oil for 2-4 minutes (do not brown). Add beans, tomatoes, cumin, salsa, chili powder and sour cream. Heat through. Fill tortilla shells with mixutre, sprinkling inside filling with grated cheese. Roll up, place in a 9×13 pan seam side down. Sprinkle top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 min.

Cinnamon Applesauce Bread

I am bringing a meal to one of my sister’s friends today (that my sister made). I decided to do some baking yesterday to add to it. I searched through my recipe box and found an old recipe for cinnamon applesauce bread. I don’t even remember if I’ve ever made it. I’m pretty sure I’ve had the recipe since before I got married. It was very easy to make. And it tastes very good!! I was able to use my mixer…with no problems! The recipe is for a loaf of bread. I made muffins instead (then I can give most of them away but keep a few for us to try :). We had some for breakfast today. Yum!

**Edited 4-9-10 – I made this in loaf form yesterday. Very good! A fairly dense bread, but moist and sweet. I used raisin bran (natural version) and added raisins. A very easy bread. Great to make wtih kids.

Cinnamon Applesauce Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup chunky applesauce (I happened to have about 1 cup left in a jar of homemade chunky applesauce in the fridge)
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup skim milk (I used 1%)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 1/2 cups bran flakes (I used Wheaties)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (my optional addition…I just added them to the few we were keeping)

Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg. Stir in the applesauce, sugar, milk and oil. Add to flour mixture. Stir until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in cereal (and walnuts/raisins).

Pour inot a greased 9×5 loaf pan. (I poured it into 12 paper lined muffin cups.)

Bake at 350 for 55 min., or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (I did about 30 min. for the muffins). Cool 10 min. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Carson’s Birthday Cakes

Yesterday was my nephew’s 2nd birthday (so hard to believe!!). He is having 2 parties (1 for each side of the family). I made a cake for each party. The theme was airplanes. The first cake was marble (yellow and chocolate) with vanilla frosting. The second cake was chocolate with chocolate filling and vanilla frosting. They both turned out pretty well. Happy Birthday, Carson!!

Crispy Cheese Crackers

Since Kindermusik was cancelled yesterday and Rebecca was up at 5:30 we needed some activities to fill our day. As usual I decided to do some baking. We made crispy cheese crackers. It’s another Heavenly Homemaker recipe. Super simple. And so good! And one more thing I can make from scratch instead of buying at the store…healthier and cheaper! As with my past efforst at crackers I’ll need a few tries to perfect these. It was a pretty tough dough to roll…and I ended up not getting it all thin enough. So the crackers on the edges were really good. But the ones in the middle are a bit thick and not as crisp. But still taste good. I had to use more water than the recipe calls for to form a ball of dough. Probably more like a 1/4 cup. We’ll see how it goes the next time I try them. There will definitely be a next time! Rebecca loves these. A great kid-friendly snack, and something a child can help make.

Crispy Cheese Crackers

¼ cup butter, softened
¼ tsp. sea salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, room temperature (I used a combo of cheddar and mozzarella…what I had on hand)
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cold water (I used about a 1/4 cup)

Use beaters or food processor to mix butter and salt until creamy (I used a hand mixer). Add cheese. Mix well. Gradually add flour, baking powder and water, mixing until dough begins to form a ball. Form dough into a ball with hands.

Roll the dough into 1/8 inch thickness onto a cookie sheet. (I put a silpat on the baking sheet and then put parchment paper over the dough for the rolling to prevent sticking) Cut the rolled out dough into 1 ½ inch squares. Bake 15 minutes at 350° or until lightly browned. Turn off the oven and leave the crackers inside to crisp up (I left them in for about 10 min.). Store tightly covered.

Crockpot Rice and Beans

For lunch yesterday I wanted light, simple, healthy (since I knew Super Bowl evening food wouldn’t be)…rice and beans fit all 3. I got this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. It’s so so simple to prep. Literally about 5 min. I’ve never actually made or even had rice and beans. This was really good. All 3 of us liked it. Especially Rebecca. I think she’d eat rice and beans (of any kind) every day 🙂  I replaced the black beans with chick peas for Rebecca’s sake. And I scaled back the rice a bit (I like a different ratio of rice to beans, and I didn’t want to make too much). Since this was cooking while we were at church I couldn’t monitor it. So the rice was pretty mushy, but still very good. Next time I won’t cook it quite as long. I had it on high for a little bit and then on low, total of about 6 hours. This is good on its own, but we added some toppings. I served it with diced green pepper, avocado, salsa, sour cream and cheddar cheese. I’m not a huge sour cream fan, but that really went well with this. A great, cheap, meatless, healthy meal. I’ll be making this again for sure! I bet it would be good with some veggies added in too.

Crockpot Rice and Beans

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed (I substituted chick peas…any bean will do.)
1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup of rice (I used organic brown rice. I used 3/4 cups of rice and 1 1/2 cups of liquid.)
1 can (14.5 oz) of diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes (I don’t have onion flakes. I added garlic powder.)

Put the olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot, and add the rice. Swirl the rice around in the olive oil, until it is coated nicely. Add the beans and tomatoes. Add water to the reserved tomato juice to equal 2 cups of liquid. Add to crockpot. Add seasonings. Stir well. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, or on high for 3-4.

Dad’s Birthday Cake

Let’s Go Knights! That was the theme for yesterday’s events. It was my Dad’s birthday. My whole family went to the Calvin basketball game (they won!). And then they all came to our house for dinner, gifts and dessert. Sticking with the Calvin theme I made a cake with the new Knight logo. Turned out pretty well. It was a yellow cake with white frosting (some just plain vanilla frosting and some homemade vanilla buttercream). Yum!!! Here are a few pics.

 
Not the best picture of the inside, but I forgot to take a picture of a slice.