Bread Pudding

I gave up looking at the weatherforcast. One day it says bad and snowy weather and the other day bright sunshine in the morning. Sometimes I wish winter is already over, I'm more for the summertime.

My kitchen doesn't have a heating and as the door is mostly closed (cause of the cats), it's very freezing in there. You may wonder why I close the door to beware being the cats in there. The reason is I got cathair everywhere and they were going on the table and cooking space. Earlier they broke many things and always having a eye on them was too much. Now I can cook without cathairs everywhere. So much better. 

Well this breakfast recipe has to be pre made the evening befor and in the morning doing the rest will take some time. No fast breakfast recipe. But it's worth it, I liked it much.


Bread Pudding for Breakfast

Ingredients:

Bread Pudding
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup orange juice
1 pound whole grain bread, thickly sliced
4 tablespoons arrowroot
2 cups vanilla soymilk
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large apple, cored and chopped
3/4 cup pecans, toasted, cooled, and chopped

Sauce:
2 cups apple or pear juice
1/2 cup soymilk
1 to 2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons arrowroot
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract

Direction:
1. Soak the raisins in 1/4 cup of the orange juice for about 10 minutes, until they are plump. Cut the crusts off the bread and cut the bread into 1 inch cubes. Put the bread in a large bowl. Drain the raisins, reserving the orange juice, and add to the bread.

2. Combine the arrowroot and remaining 1/4 cup orange juice in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to dissolve. Add the reserved juice, soymilk, apple juice, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and vanilla and almond extracts, and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour over the bread and stir in the chopped apple. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours.

3. Before baking, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Oil a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Stir half the pecans into the bread mixture and spoon into the baking dish. Cover the pudding with parchment paper, and overwrap with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and carefully uncover. Bake 20 minutes longer.

4. To make the hard sauce, bring the juice to a boil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Continue to boil until it has reduced to 1 cup. Lower the heat and stir in the soymilk and mirin.
Simmer 2 to 3 minutes.

5. In a small bowl, combine the arrowroot and orange juice, and stir with a fork to dissolve. Add the dissolved arrowroot to the juice mixture, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat only until the liquid boils. Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the vanilla, almond, and orange extracts.

Serve the pudding warm with the hard sauce, and sprinkle each serving with some of the remaining nuts.

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Roasted red pepper and cherry tomato salad

A super-simple salad

About 4 servings

2 large red bell peppers
450 g yellow cherry tomatoes
3 sprigs fresh basil
15-30 ml olive oil
1/2 lemon
sea salt
cracked black pepper

Roast the peppers, peel and cut into thin slices. Slice the tomatoes in half. Julienne (roll up and cut into fine ribbons) the basil leaves. Toss everything in a serving bowl with the juice from the lemon half, the olive oil, and the salt and pepper.