Bread Pudding w/ Vanilla Butter Sauce

Yum! I made this today for Cesar. His favorite dessert, I think. IT turned out good.

Here is the recipe.

Bread Pudding:

6 slices of day old bread
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional, I didn't put it this time because I disgust raisins, but next time I'll put it in one side for Ya-Ya and Cesar)
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350

Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up egg mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.


The picture of the sauce does not look so appetizing but here it is along w/ the recipe.



Vanilla Butter Sauce

1 beaten egg
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 heavy cream
dash of nutmeg

Combine in the top of a double boiler. Cook, stirring until thickened.

Vegetarian Dinner

I made potato tacos, macaroni soup and some homemade salsa!

Didn't realize this was all vegan food...w/ LOTS of grease.

Potato Tacos:

Fresh potatoes, mashed
salt
pepper
cumin
Monterrey Jack cheese (shredded)
Vegetable Oil
white corn tortillas (my MIL told me white corn is better than others)

(Warm up vegetable oil in pot - keep it in low to medium heat only)
Mash potatoes, you can boil them, but I nuke 'em in the mic for about 6 mins (for 5 potatoes). Add salt, pepper, cumin and shredded cheese. Mix all together. Warm the tortillas in the mic for about a minute to soften them up.
Spread about a teaspoon and a half of the potato mix into one side of the tortilla. Make sure it's mashed down a bit to flatten it. Gently fold the other side of the tortilla over. Place in pan. Repeat until you've reached the amount of tacos you want are done.

Macaroni Soup:

macaroni noodles
1 can tomato sauce
chicken bouillong
1/2 white onion, sliced about half an inch wide
cilantro
onion powder
garlic powder
cumin (about a tsp and a half, not too much)
black pepper
salt

Bring water to boil in pot. Add chicken bouillon and sliced onion, (I'm sorry, I really don't measure). Add macaroni noodles. Let boil for about 10 mins. Add tomato sauce and other spices. Add anything else you'd like to your taste. Turn off and let sit on unheated side of the stove. Stir in the cilantro leaves and your set.

Chicken Pho

I'm going to add pics first and then write it down later. I'm getting bad at this.

Truffle Pie

I saw this on Food Network with Paula Deen! I had to go out and buy the stuff for it. It looked so good! It's graham cracker, truffle filling layer, whipped chocolate filling layer and then the whipped cream, , mine is in the fridge waiting to be eaten..

Yummmm

Truffle Filling:

2/3 cup heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
1 (9-inch) prepared graham cracker crust

Whipped Chocolate Filling:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped Cream Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Garnish:

1 1/2 ounces milk chocolate
1 1/2 ounces white chocolate
1 1/2 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate

Directions

For the truffle filling, in a saucepan, bring 2/3 cup cream to a simmer. Place the 6 ounces chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then gently whisk until smooth. Spread truffle filling over the bottom of the prepared piecrust. Freeze for 20 minutes.


Meanwhile, for the whipped chocolate filling, in a double boiler or a microwave set on low power, heat the 6 ounces chocolate chips with 1/2 cup of the cream until the chocolate is just melted, stirring often. Let cool to room temperature. In a chilled bowl, beat the chocolate mixture, remainint 1 cup of cream and the vanilla until soft peaks form (tips curl). Spread the whipped chocolate mixture over the truffle filling in the crust. Refrigerate overnight.


For the topping, just before serving, beat 1 cup cream on medium speed of an electric mixer until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners' sugar and whip until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie. Using a grater or vegetable peeler, make pieces or shavings of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and semisweet or dark chocolate. Garnish pie with chocolate pieces. Serve immediately.

I'm Here

It's been a while since I've posted any recipes. I've been so busy with puppies and lil boys and teenagers AND a very "I'm my own person" daughter.

Anyway, I'll try to post some more.

Christmas Tradition

I started making chocolate covered pretzels for Christmas gifts two years ago. This is my third year and I guess it's become a tradition for me. We, as a family, really don't have any traditions. I wish we did....
The Missionaries loved them last year....



Anyway, pretty easy peasy recipe:

milk chocolate morels
shortening
mini pretzels

Melt chocolate morsels in a double boiler kind of bowl. I just use my pot and a glass bowl. Add shortening to thin out the chocolate a bit. Don't add too much. It gets runny. Dip pretzels, place on baking sheet and continue until sheet gets filled up. Let cool a bit and place in fridge. I usually leave them over night. Package up and place back in fridge until ready to give out. That's all.

(I tried to do some drizzles, too. You can also dip them in chocolate and drizzel white chocolate over them. I did that last year and may do some for this year. The picture is just the first batch I started on)

New York Style Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crushed graham crackers - I just used as much as I wanted
1 c sugar
3 tbsp sugar
melted butter margarine
5 pkg (Philadelphia) cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp vanilla
1 c sour cream
4 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling

crust: Crushed graham crackers, 3 tbsp sugar and melted butter.
Mix all together and press into pan; bake for 10 mins.

filling: Mix softened cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla until blended. Add sour cream and blend well. Add eggs, 1 at a time mixing on slow speed until well blended. Pour into pans. Bake for 40 mins or until the cetner is almost set. Cool completely. Chill up to 4 hours.

Serve w/ cherry pie, (or whichever fruit), topping you like.

Chicken Empanadas

Ok, I made some chicken empanadas the other day and the familia really liked them. I didn't get to eat one. You know when you make dinner and then you don't even feel like eating? Well, that was me that night. I get like that a lot. Well, I made everything from scratch, including the dough. Whew!

Here is the finished product. I'll get to the recipe soon. I need to get to Nic's basketball game.

Food Bloggin

I've had a few requests for me to start posting recipes and I decided to create yet ANOTHER blog. As if I don't have enough already. I'll try to post some good recipes and steps and stuff, but I'm not promising anything. I don't really measure my cooking so that's that.

Enjoy!