Bacon and Arugula Bread Pudding!

Hi everyone,

I have to admit that bread pudding is a dish that for years I turned up my nose to. I am not sure that I ever even tried it, just the idea of a bread pudding sent chills down my spine. I stand corrected. Bread pudding is in fact a perfectly delicious leftover vehicle and has become a dish that I crave. I will admittedly over buy bread for the week, so I have enough to toss with a few of my favorite things to have this soul satisfying dish. The weather is perfect for it. The prep time is short. You throw it in the oven and a little over a half an hour later you and whomever you choose to share this with will be giddy. It would be a great thing to assemble in the evening and cook the next morning for a hot, easy breakfast.

This iteration of it for me had all sorts of goodness to it. I used multiple varieties of bread, wheat, ciabatta and some kind of cheesy one. The arugula from Montesino by way of Farm House Delivery. Bacon from Dai Due. If you live in striking distance of Austin, TX, you should make your way to the Downtown Farmers Market on a Saturday just to try something that the Dai Due group makes. Their bacon is out of this world and the Fireman’s 4 mustard is always in our fridge.  I had cheddar and parmesan cheese left from the week. Eggs and milk are always on hand and that is all it takes for this dish. The recipe is a guide this time. There aren’t exact measures. Literally use this as a guide and I promise you can make your very own version of bread pudding to be proud of!

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Bacon and Arugula Bread Pudding

Stale bread, cubed

Cheese, grated and as much as you want

Leafy green, kale, arugula, spinach, anything like this will work

Bacon or Sausage, cooked and crumbled

Eggs

Milk, 1 cup for every 2 eggs

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350

In one bowl combine eggs and milk, whisk together. In a separate bowl, combine cheese, greens, bread, salt and pepper and sausage if that is what you are using. Pour the egg and milk mix onto the bread mix. What you are trying to do is just soak the bread with eggy mix. You don’t want to bread too dry or it just won’t be pudding-y, you know? So, here is where I have to play with the balance most often. I usually start by making the mix a little dry and having to add more milk and eggs. Don’t worry, though, you really can’t get this wrong. As long as the bread is soaked, you have good ingredients, and you cook this through, you should be very pleased with your own recipe. Depending on the size of the dish, it should take 30-45 minutes for the bread pudding to cook. Mine was in a 9×12 and took 45 minutes.

*If you are using bacon, I find it best to sprinkle it on top to prevent it from getting soggy. I don’t like soggy bacon.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as we do. Please let me know what combinations you come up with!

Challenge Update

Jo and I are officially two months into our consumption challenge and things are going swimmingly. We are getting our routines down more and more, so we don’t have those desparate moments when we are starving with nothing to eat. I am thrilled that soup weather is here. I love to make a big pot of soup on Sunday and have it around at least until the middle of the week. A big pot of green chili pork posole is in our very near future, oooh and chicken and dumpling. We have also had the pleasure of noticing that we do have extra cash on hand. It doesn’t cost nearly as much to eat at home. Even if the food eaten at home bears a premium price…

The change of seasons means that we are looking at clothes not seen since last March, so that is a much needed breath of fresh air. Personally,  I am excited to bust out the sweaters and boots!

Something we have both noticed is we are having more awareness of purchases in general. I am the kind of girl that can buy more soap, lotion, pens and notebooks than I could possibly use in 5 years. For Jo it is chapstick. The girl has more than you can possibly imagine and to be honest, I am a little jealous of the collection. Because we have taken notice of this, the above items have been added to the list of non-consumption. We will actually use what we have on hand, which will certainly get us through the next ten months and then some.

As always, thank you for reading!

Not That Martha

All photography is by Sarah Wilson. I am hungry every time I go through her pics. Somehow my iPhone pics just don’t compare…

Blueberry and Peach Tart

It is proof of the divine that blueberries and peaches conspire to ripen together. I love this flavor combination more than I can properly tell you. There is a lot of sense-memory imbedded in these flavors. I remember them on my Mom’s homemade granola growing up. And my first attempts at baking involved peach and blueberry cobbler. I love each on its own, but the tart bite of the peach with the almost creamy sweet of the blueberry does something extra special for me. So now I have graduated to crust-making. This is an art that must be felt and practiced. It requires finesse. I started mine in a food processor, but quickly moved it all to the bowl and dug my hands in. One of the things I love best about cooking is the tactile business of it. It gives me permission to make a mess and play with my food. So, back to the crust…butter is the key here. Butter insists on being treated right or the crust just won’t behave. The butter must be ice cold, cut into pieces, and incorporated quickly with just the finger tips. Then, the butter needs to rest. God, I love butter.

The peaches I used today were grown by my proud father. The blueberries delivered to my door by Farm House Delivery. The honey from the downtown farmers market, gorgeous Guajillo honey from the good folks at Thunderheart. I used Alice Waters’ recipe for the pastry dough from The Art of Simple Food, a book I would save in the event of a fire.

I am satisfied with round one of pie dough making, but I have a long way to go. So, just get in there and try it! Channel that kid that sits inside of you (or the real live ones running around your table) and get your hands in the food. Make a real mess!

Now for the recipe. (makes 2 tarts!)

For the dough:

1/2 cup ice-cold water

2 cups AP flour

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 sticks of cold cold butter, cut into 1/4″ pieces

For the filling:

4-5 peaches, sliced

1 cup blueberries

2 T guajillo honey

1/2 t cinnamon

For topping:

1/4 cup chopped almond

2 T dark brown sugar

Using finger tips,  combine the butter, flour and salt. Work quickly until a sandy texture is achieved. Pea-sized butter chunks are good because it makes the dough flakey. If using a food processor, pulse butter flour and salt together until sandy texture is achieved. At this point, add about half of the ice water. Look for the dough to just come together and form a ball when pressed together, so keep adding the water until this consistency is achieved (all water may not be used). Divide the crust into 2 even parts, wrap it in plastic and smash it into a disc, then put it in the refridgerator to chill for an hour or so.

While the dough is chilling, combine filling ingredients.

Once dough is chilled, flour a counter top, top of the dough and rolling pin. Working from the middle, roll dough out until desired thinness. I like to roll mine into a rectangle. Place filling in the middle of rectangle and fold together. Top with almonds and dark brown sugar. Bake on 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

*Alternatively, take a short cut and drive to the store and purchase some ready made dough and scratch make the filling.

Thanks for reading!

Not That Martha

PS Thanks to my Tomato Class! That sure was a fun group. And, I still have a couple of spots available for next week’s Squash Class.

Birthday Smoothie, Texas Style!

Today is the day that some years ago, my love was born. This is the first birthday that we have gotten to celebrate together, so I want to make it a special one! She is the very best one, so we had to start this day off right!

The cinnamon rolls from Russell’s Bakery are irresitable to me and I will use just about any reason as an excuse to have them, enter said birthday. When I was putting the plate together in my head, there were strawberries on it, the perfect tart for all of that cinnamony sweet. Alas, the strawberries are no longer in season. I stomped my feet (in my head) for a few seconds before remembering that I bought a bag of frozen strawberries last time I was at Boggy Creek Farm. Well, frozen strawberries alone wouldn’t work and this is where my glorious bushel from Farm House Delivery comes into play. Yesterday among the cucumbers, fresh peas, tomatoes and corn, were blueberries and peaches. I usually have White Mountain Yogurt on hand, so the smoothie ingredients were all present and accounted for. I admittedly cheated on Texas by adding a banana, please forgive me. To pull the smoothie together and allow for blending, I use hibiscus tea. It isn’t as sweet as juice, so it really lets the fruit shine. Plus, I try to find any excuse to drink the stuff. It is high in Vitamin C and void of caffeine.  The smoothie turned out tart with just enough sweet to pair nicely with the buttery, divine cinnamon roll.

On another note, I have been rotating through Owl Tree‘s products. This week we have Bird’s Blend. The homage to the Austin-style barbershop is mellow and smooth and I highly recommend it!

Here is the recipe:

Easily serves 4

1 cup hibiscus tea

1/2 cup White Mountain Yogurt

1 cup frozen (or fresh) strawberries

1 cup blueberries

1 peach

1 banana

a couple scoops of ice

honey to taste

(if I want protein, I add a big old scoop of peanut butter and it is really good)

Place all ingredients in a blender and buzz away until ice is all crushed up and drink is smooth (get it?). HA!

Enjoy!

And, Happy Birthday to my Jo!