Wild things!

I saw these sort of "wild" fruits in the kitchen this morning . . . I called them wild because we didn't really grow them.  This cute watermelon just sprouted in our backyard.  I guess it's from all the fruit scrapings we composted together with  other degradable matter.

 

Same with this giant Mango!  We didn't grow it, it just fell in our backyard. . .from our neighbor's tree!  Hahaha!  (There was another thing that also "fell" in our garden a couple of years ago, please click here if you want to know what it is, heehee)

It is one huuuge mango!  I don't know if it is a Capampangan thing but my parents call this type of mango, "tsinelas" (slippers).  I guess this is so because of its size and shape.

These two fruits should have swapped sizes!  

And if you're wondering how they taste, let's just say, they are better to look at. . . unopened!  Haha!

Oh well, let's wait and see what else turns up in our garden =)

A Breakfast Treat - Bread Pudding

I woke up at 6am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep.

While the Little One and her Dad were still in Dreamland, I thought of baking a nice treat for this cold morning . . .a warm bread pudding with vanilla sauce looked appealing!  I haven't had bread pudding for quite some time now.  While it is not really up there in my list of favorite eats, it is something I enjoy eating once in a while.

I googled for the simplest recipes for bread pudding and found it here and for the vanilla sauce here.  (Thanks to Allrecipes.com!)  Luckily, the pantry has all the ingredients I need. . . a better way to use our 2-day old bread!

I haven't tried baking bread pudding so I was crossing my fingers the whole time!  But after getting a whiff of the newly baked bread pudding and tasting the vanilla sauce, I just had to say, it was surprisingly good!  Haha!  (Yeah, I wasn't really confident while baking this, haha!)  I wish though that my vanilla sauce was smoother.  But I was happy and extremely satisfied with my first bread pudding!  *I'm doing the dance of joy here*

And how did Zola's Dad find my bread pudding?  In the words of my loving husband. . . "It's good. . . but I hate raisins" . . . BUT I like raisins!  Haha!  He is actually thinking of buying condensed milk and pour it in his pudding the next time he is having it.  Not a bad idea, huh?  (But I would still go with my vanilla bean sauce sweetie!)

If you have old bread at home, you might want to try using them for a bread pudding =)

Happy Baking!

 

Ingredients (for the Bread Pudding)
8 slices of white bread
4 table spoons butter (Melted)
Raisins (optional)
4 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
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.  (Didn't have a pan so I used a circular baking dish)

3) In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. 

4) Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.

5)Bake in the preheated oven (350F) for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.  (Mine went for almost an hour)

For the vanilla sauce
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
a pinch of cinnamon
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups whole milk
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For vanilla sauce, whisk 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, the flour, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 1/4 cups of whole milk,and salt together in a heavy saucepan until smooth. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour sauce over warm bread pudding, or serve on the side in a bowl.