New Orleans- Style Bread Pudding with Hard Sauce

 
  
The Easter holiday is coming up fast and this New Orleans-style bread pudding would be perfect to serve for an after-church brunch. It is also economical; if you have been saving up stale bread in your freezer you can just pull that out and transform it  into this delightful and easy dish.

New Orleans-Style Bread Pudding with Hard Sauce

Ingredients
6-8 cups stale french bread, cubed
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs
2 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg
4 cups milk

Hard sauce:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp bourbon flavoring or 1 oz.. bourbon (rum may be substituted)

  Directions For the Bread Pudding:

1. Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients. Mixture should be very moist but not soupy. Pour into the buttered dish and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes until top is golden brown. Serve warm with hard sauce.

Directions for Hard Sauce:

Using a hand held mixer, cream butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, beating until all butter is absorbed. Remove from heat and blend in yolks. Pour in cream gradually, stirring constantly. Whisk in vanilla, and bourbon.   The sauce will thicken as it cools. Serve warm on warm bread pudding.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful dessert as much as we did!  And thanks for stopping by!
 -The Mountain Housewife

Luscious Spinach Lasagne

This economical meatless lasagne is light enough to be healthy, yet still rich and cheesy enough to please the family.  Use the highest quality ingredients you can find, and you will not be disappointed.  Another tip is to bake the lasagne at a low temperature so that it cooks slowly and does not dry out in the oven.  If you wish you may turn up the temperature to 400 for a few minutes at the end of the cooking time to brown the cheese. 

Luscious Spinach Lasagne

Ingredients:

12-16 dried or fresh lasagne noodles

3-4 cups good tomato sauce 

1 small onion, chopped medium dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz.  ricotta cheese

2 eggs

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups parmesan cheese, shredded

1 tbsp. parsley

1/2 cup half and half

1. Instructions:
2. If you're using dried pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If you're using fresh pasta sheets, cut them into long wide noodles approximately 3 inches by 13 inches, or a size that will fit into your lasagna dish. Cook the noodles (6 at a time for dried noodles) until they are tender but still underdone (they will finish cooking as the lasagna bakes);  Drain and then lay the noodles flat on a towel so they won't stick.  Fresh pasta need not be cooked.

1. Make the ricotta-spinach filling:
2. Saute the onion and garlic together in a small skillet. Combine onion, garlic, ricotta cheese,eggs, spinach, parsley  and mix thoroughly.  Add in 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and 1 cup parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly.  Stir in half and half.
3. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a large rectangular baking dish with the olive oil, add a large dollop of tomato sauce and spread it around. Put a layer of noodles (use four) in the dish, trimming any overhanging edges; top with a layer of tomato sauce and then dollop with 1/3 of  spinach ricotta mixture. 
4. Repeat the layers twice, and top with the remaining noodles, tomato sauce, and the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan; the top should be covered with cheese. (The lasagna may be made ahead to this point, wrapped tightly and refrigerated for up to a day or frozen. Bring to room temperature before proceeding.)
5. 1. Bake until the lasagna is bubbling and the cheese is melted and lightly browned on top, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest a few minutes before serving, or cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze.
   

Enjoy..... and thanks for stopping by!

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Turkey Meatloaf

This meatloaf is a simple, but delicious and healthy dish to make for the family. Using ground turkey and pork gives a lighter texture than the typical ground beef meatloaf, and allows the added herbs and spices to shine.  I am doubling the recipe so that one of the meatloaves can be frozen to pull out easily on a busy day.  

Consider baking some potatoes alongside this meatloaf for an easy yet perfect side dish. A roasted green vegetable such as broccoli or asparagus would be a good accompaniment, too.   Finally, pop in some biscuits or cornbread while the oven is going good to round out the meal.

So let's get started!

Step 1:  Gather and prepare ingredients.

2 pound ground turkey (may substitute half with ground pork)

1  1/3 cup dried bread crumbs

1 chopped onion ( or 4 tbsp dried minced onion)
1 chopped green or red bell pepper (optional)

1  1/2 cup whole milk

2 eggs

2 tsp soy sauce (optional)

1 tsp seasoned pepper

fresh black pepper

Sauce:

2/3 cup ketchup

4 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. brown mustard

To make bread crumbs, preheat oven to 400 and then turn off.   Place torn pieces of bread in the oven , close the door and let dry out for a couple of hours.  Grind in a food processor.

Step 2: Make the meatloaves.
Combine everything in a large bowl, except the mustard and ketchup (which will be used for the sauce).

Mix together gently and don't mix anymore than you have to...just until everything is incorporated.

Place the mixture on a foil-lined pan for easy clean-up.  Shape into two loaves (one will be frozen for later use).  Make a light indentation or ditch on the top for the sauce.

Step 3:  Make the sauce. 
2/3 cup ketchup
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp yellow mustard
Mix together and spread on the top of the meatloaf in the ditch. Coat the entire top of the meatloaf.  Each bite will have a bit of the sauce on it using this method.

At this point, one of the loaves may be wrapped up, labeled and frozen for a later time.

Step 4:  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes.  Cook to an internal temp of 160 degrees.  Let rest for 10 minutes or so tented with aluminum foil. 

Place the meatloaf on a platter with a garnish or go ahead and plate with the side dishes.

 There you are!  I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground turkey (may substitute ground pork for half of the turkey)

1 1/3 cup dried bread crumbs

1 chopped onion ( or 4 tbsp dried minced onion)

1 chopped green or red bell pepper (optional)
1 1/2 cup whole milk

2 eggs

2 tsp soy sauce (optional)

1 tsp seasoned pepper

fresh black pepper

Sauce:

2/3 cup ketchup

4 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. brown mustard
Instructions
Combine everything in a large bowl, except the mustard and ketchup (which will be used for the sauce).

Mix together gently and don't mix anymore than you have to. Just until everything is incorporated.
Place the mixture on foil lined pan for easy clean-up.  Shape into two loaves (one will be frozen for later use).  Make a light indentation or ditch on the top for the sauce.
Mix together sauce and spread on the top of the meatloaf in the ditch. Coat the entire top of the meatloaf.  Each bite will have a bit of the sauce on it using this method.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes.  Cook to an internal temp of 160 degrees. Let rest for 10 minutes or so tented with aluminum foil.