My new creative outlet: Bread Puddings!

First, VDog did it, adapting this NYT recipe, and I got to sample her Savory Bread Pudding with sausage.
It was NOM, and I decided it was the lovechild of quiche and french bread pizza.

Then, I read CityMama's entry on bread puddings, and I decided I'd have to make a Panettone one, too. (Her entry is really great: bullet points & basics. Mine's more conversational.)

I made a Caprese-style one, mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes. Topped with feta! It was delish.



Next, I had friends over, and we made a triple batch: one 9x9 pan of Panettone, and two 12-muffin tins: one Caprese-style, and one sweet one with egg nog substituted for the cream. They were all FAHbulous.



The other night, I finally got to make what had been brewing since that first taste: Deluxe Pizza - style Bread Pudding!

And, holy gadzooks, you guys, this is over the top delicious.

I used the end of a small-diameter "San Luis Sourdough" loaf, and the last of the Pugliese, which I'd been saving in the fridge since Caprese #1. We'll disregard that being over two weeks ago. ;p

I'll say 10 slices of the small sourdough, four per layer plus one torn up to fill in the cracks.

You'll also need: about 1/2 each, onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper. Feel free to use more if you wish.

1 small (tiny!) can tomato paste
4 eggs
2 cups half and half [my grocery store was all out, so I mixed milk and heavy cream]
~1.5 cups cheese, I used mozzarella and a bit of cheddar, pre-grated (2 lb. bags are pretty cheap, especially on sale)
1/2 package Gallo pepperoni (about 4 servings or 35 slices)
(I'm planning to make a vegetarian version for a friend, with sliced black olives instead of pepperoni)

Spray your pan with non-stick stuff, or grease it with butter.
Dice all your vegetables.

Arrange the bread in the bottom of the pan
Distribute half the vegetables evenly in the pan
Place 25 slices of pepperoni in a slightly overlapping, 5x5 configuration
Sprinkle half the cheese over.

For the second layer of bread, spread each piece with a thick smear of tomato paste.
Manage to use the whole can with the aid of the skinny spatula.
Layer the next 10 pieces of pepperoni so they don't touch. Feel free to use more if you'd rather, or substitute sausage--I wanted to put sausage in this, but couldn't find any pre-cooked nubs and didn't feel like cooking it from scratch.
Add the cheese, then the vegetables: having all those onions and peppers get caramelly from the direct heat exposure is Awesome.

Once all the ingredients are arranged, turn on your oven to 350, scramble your eggs, add cream, and mix it up.

Very, very carefully, pour your mixture into the pan. I might even do this after the first layer in the future, because I had some spill over the edges and onto the counter, despite my best slow-pouring intent. The wall of pepperoni is almost certainly to blame. This hasn't happened with any of my other puddings.
(That is, pour half the mixture in after the first layer, and the rest after the second layer.)
I use a pourable measuring cup to help with the gentleness. It works especially well when making things in the muffin tins.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.

I imagine you could use 1.5x the ingredients, and make this in a 9x13 pan. The 9x9 pan yields 4-8 servings, we got 6 this time. Serve with a hearty side salad to feed more people.

The yum:

Pumpkin cakey bread!

Adapted from this recipe:

I made pumpkin cakey bread the other day and added a cup of 60% cocoa Ghirardelli chocolate chips, a handful of candied ginger, chopped, and golden raisins. It was awesome. I had to use a cake pan, which was good, but will definitely make muffins next time!

I doubled the recipe, using a 15 oz can of pumpkin, and used pumpkin pie spice and some fresh ground cinnamon in place of the suggested cinnamon and ginger. Didn't have the pepitas, but what I had was great. May add pecan next time.

The double batch made one super 9" round pan. It was a bit gooey in the middle and fully cooked on the outside. Cooked about 45 minutes, knife came out clean but the center was almost too raw, whereas edge was cakey-bready-perfect, like a nice zucchini bread.

Didn't get a picture. It was too yummy! :D

These pumpkin swirl brownies look great, must make soon!

No on 8, SF rally!

OMG, y'all, I finally managed to upload my No on 8 rally photos!
I blame camera battery. And laziness. But still, they were on my computer mere moments before I uploaded to flickr, which I'll take as a win. :D

There are many great posters, but the Liz Taylor one I chose for the cover may be my favorite. :P

I would have embedded it here, but blogger is thwarting me, and my attempts at html are apparently not good enough. ;p

Heh. The photo uploader was in another window. Silly me!

Written & Print-Screen'd last night

Perfect fireworks weather, eh? Bf and I had that last year in western New York state, too.
But folks in my neighborhood have been setting them off for about two weeks, so... a few more tonight, for sure.
So yeah, definitely bring some warm stuff to BlogHer. If you're planning to check out the beach or Wharf, a leather jacket would not go amiss. Even on a nice day, it is windy by the water!!!
A few years ago the Burning Man newsletter, the JRS, said, "here in San Francisco, where it is 55 degrees year-round...", and I assure you, they were only partly joking. :P
Certainly this is a good amount warmer than our winter weather, with lows that occasionally dip into the thirties.

6 Random Things Meme from VDog

The rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Random Things About Al_Pal:

1. I love making delicious, stupidly salty food from pantry items. I’m considering a blog to list the recipes.
2. Every one of my fingers, except my right thumb, are double-jointed.
3. When I’m not checking out this group of family-journals, I’m with my "freak family" of Burning Man people, or my "geek family" of Harry Potter fans.
4. In fact, I’m going to a convention for HP fans in Chicago this August...and taking my boyfriend with me.
5. In the past, I went to a few cons with my youngest sister – so this promises to be a different experience!
6. I love living in San Francisco, but am also very glad that I’m in the ‘beach town’ part of the city. It’s quiet and mellow, but I can hop on a light-rail [trolley] and be downtown in 20-40 minutes.

Um...I don't really have six people here, at least not yet. Maybe if I decide to integrate some of my Burner friends into my Auntie life, I can tag... But I'm usually a tag-killer anyhow. I guess that is a seventh random thing!

The chickpea salad was Yum!

Oh yes! So good. I didn't end up using artichoke hearts, but I did manage to use mozzarella, by taking four string cheese sticks, quartering them lengthwise, then slicing them all. There is a nice view of the "rounded cube" of cheese in this photo. :D
This pasta salad was very well received! Like I said in my previous post, I used fresh basil, but I didn't use any of the other suggested herbs, just salt and pepper. Yum!

Chickpea & pasta salad

Friend shared this recipe. I'm out of tomatoes and not willing to go to the store, but I'm going to try pasta with chickpeas, black olives, red onion, red bell pepper, fresh basil, and vinegar and olive oil. Maybe artichoke hearts!