Bread Pudding and Other Delights

I've been such a slacker when it comes to posting on this blog. However, I have been faithful with the P365 blog each week -- and am even remembering to take a photo a day!

Tomorrow we're heading to Uruguay for our annual missionary conference. It's always a great time of connecting with the other missionaries, singing hymns in English, brainstorming and learning together... and just having a change of scenery. This year we'll be staying at a campground in a small town right on the ocean. The camp isn't on the ocean but a 10 minute walk gets you to the beach. Usually we have little time to enjoy the beach, though; they keep us pretty busy!

I've been trying to use up leftovers and clear out the fridge these last few days. Last weekend I had made some cinnamon bread and we still had a few slices left. I happened to think that it might be just enough for bread pudding, so I looked up a recipe, and sure enough, we were good to go. I made that for breakfast yesterday morning and it was very yummy! But the recipe was waaaay off on baking time. At 45 minutes it was still quite liquidy, and actually took a full hour before it was completely done. But boy, was it worth it! So here's the recipe, with the adjusted baking time:

Cinnamon Bread Pudding

• 6 slices day-old cinnamon (or plain) bread
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3. 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 the egg mixture.
4.  Bake in the preheated oven for an hour, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

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Oh, and if you don't have cinnamon bread, don't sweat it. I'm sure it will be fine if you use plain bread; I just think it's extra good if you use cinnamon bread.

We've enjoyed some different salsas to go with the tortilla chips we found in Cordoba. Have you ever tried mango salsa? I like that sweet and savory mix. I don't have a recipe, per se; I just use what I have on hand. We like it best when we have some red (or yellow) pepper to add to the mix of mango, onion, dash of lemon juice and salt to taste. Cilantro makes any salsa better, in our opinion, and I had just enough the other day to add to it.

In the process of cleaning out the fridge today I made up a batch of tomato salsa using the last of our garden tomatoes, plus onion, roasted garlic, avocado and cucumber. Now my crisper is clean and we can look forward to the salsa with either chips, or on top the leftover beans and rice we'll be having later. Sadly there was no cilantro left. Our cilantro plant is growing, be it ever so sloooooowly. It took two weeks just to grow enough for the mango salsa the other day. If anyone has any tips on growing cilantro, please share!

I had hoped to have the top of the baby quilt done by now, so I could layer it with the batting and fabric backing and take it on the trip to quilt. Sadly I have not managed that. At the rate I'm going with this quilt, the baby will be a year old before she gets it.

I did get some other things made, though, and you can see them on my P365 blog post this week. All will be (or have been) given as gifts. Once I get the baby quilt done I'll have to do another "What I'm Creating" post.

You can also check out the P365 blog for progress on the lot. We're moving right along! It was pretty exciting this week to see work begin on the foundation. It will be fun to see how much is done by the time we get back from conference. They expect it to take a month to get the foundation finished, depending on any problems they encounter, as well as weather conditions.

It's hard to believe it's already March! Although I'm very thankful because March brings both cooler weather AND we get our city back from the tourists :)  Getting around has been so much easier this week! Temperatures finally climbed down from the high 90s/low 100s we've been having almost non-stop since mid-December, and we've enjoyed consistent temps in the mid-to-high 80s this week. One night it even went down into the 40s! We typically leave the windows open at night to let the cool air in, and we woke up COLD that next morning. 

I know you probably don't think that's very cold, but when you're used to the heat we've had, it IS cold! 

I'm not complaining though. I love it when the nights are cool and the days are warm!