Saturday, November 30, 2013

Weekend Cooking; The holiday recipes

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Ohhh, we had a lovely Thanksgiving Day, filled with good food and a visit from dear friends.  I made a simple roast chicken, baked potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and fresh cranberries.  Everything was easy to put together and I didn't spend much time in the kitchen.  The highlight was putting together 2 desserts; a sweet potato pie (which we much prefer over pumpkin) and bread pudding with bourbon sauce.

Bread Pudding recipe (adapted from an old Vegetarian Times recipe):
Oven at 350*

3 large eggs + 2 egg whites
1 cup skim milk
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
5 cups, cubed day old whole wheat bread (1/2 cubes/I say bite-sized)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Whiskey Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup bourbon

To assemble:

Whisk together first 7 ingredients.  Fold in cubed bread, raisins, & cranberries.  Let stand for 5 minutes or so to allow the custard to absorb into the bread.
Coat 9-in square pan with spray and spread mixture in pan.  Bake 35-40 minutes until no egg mixture is bubbling up.  
While it is baking make the sauce:  In a small saucepan heat the water and brown sugar together. Boil on medium heat for two minutes.  Remove from heat and add in bourbon.  Boil two more minutes.  Remove from heat and transfer to a small pitcher and allow to cool just a bit.  Serve warm over bread pudding.  Serve in bowls with homemade whipped cream on top.  Yum!


We also started our day with a quick brunch that included homemade Bloody Mary's.  It was a trial run for another Christmas event that we always host that includes family friends and a hunt for an evergreen tree.  Instead of buying Bloody Mary mix I wanted to try  my own and found a keeper in this recipe. If you love Mary's as we do, this recipe will make you smile and it was very easy.

One year I made fresh cranberries and I had a perfect recipe that used less sugar adding orange juice for flavor~I didn't save the recipe (pre-Pinterest) and can't find it but I did find this recipe and I just squeezed in a whole orange from my counter.  I love, love the bright taste of this fruit and wonder why we don't eat this all year long!  I saved this recipe and will make it again at Christmas time for teenage boy who loves this crisp red berry as well.

Happy Weekend cooking!  It's just one short sleigh ride into Christmas...

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme where she gathers together many other food-related posts.

5 comments:

Beth F said...

Smart to roast a chicken - so much easier to handle than a turkey! I love cranberries and always make my own sauce, sometimes with orange and sometimes not. "Bread pudding" are magic words for me. I rarely pass it up.

Joy said...

That does sound like a wonderful holiday! I love bread pudding, too. I made squash bread on Friday and turned most of it into squash bread pudding yesterday. It made a terrific breakfast this morning!

Joy's Book Blog

Unknown said...

We had Chinese food since it was just the two of us this year. My son and mother are coming for Christmas so will do a holiday feast then (duck, by popular command). I love sweet potato pie - especially if I roast the potatoes first and add cardamom. Bread pudding also very nummy. Sounds like a lovely holiday.

Louise said...

A good bread and butter pudding is a thing of beauty. Yours looks lovely.

Heather said...

Bread pudding made with raisin bread or orange cranberry bread is the best. I have also made it with orange juice instead of milk and was surprised at how delicious it was.