I was thinking of you all this Saturday morning, and just had to share this dessert I made last night for 7 of us.

Maureen, our dear friend from high school, was in town and I decided on a Taco Bar to welcome her to Atlanta. I cooked all day (what a luxury to putter around in my swell kitchen) and then promptly forgot to take any photos. That’s how much fun we were having.

But, I would love to share the bread pudding recipe with you. It’s from Paula Deen, so you know it is going to be yummy. The recipe says it feeds 10, but I would say at least 12. It’s huge…and rich. Instead of french bread, I used a loaf of brioche…because, you know, it needed more richness. As if. And I made my own whipped cream to top it with.

It was super yummy. And easy. Easy is important. This would be a fabulous dish to bring to a potluck. Trust me on this one.

Miss Paula's Bread Pudding

Chocolate Bread Pudding
courtesy of Miss Paula Deen
Ingredients

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and place the bread in the dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, and liqueur. Using another bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder and mix well. Add the sugar mixture to the milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla and almond extract, and cinnamon to the beaten eggs. Combine the egg mixture to the milk mixture and mix well.

Stir the grated chocolate into the mixture. Pour the mixture over the cubed bread in the pan. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally for approximately 20 minutes or until bread absorbs most of the milk mixture. Bake pudding for 1 hour or until set. Check pudding by inserting a knife through the middle and it should come out clean.

Serve the pudding warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled with whipped cream if desired.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Darlings!

xoxo, Patti

Today blogging to Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing

It was an easy dinner.<

Remember the lettuce cups?  Well, there was so much filling left over I decided to make faux pho.  It has been so cold here in Atlanta that we needed some warming up.  I’m almost embarrassed to tell you how simple it was.  But I will.

Take one large container of chicken stock
One half onion
Carton of mushrooms
Leftover lettuce cup filling
Ramen Noodles
Olive Oil

Slice onions and heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in large pot. Put onions in pot and let them brown. Then add the mushrooms and let them cook down.  Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then add the noodles – don’t let them cook for too long or they will get mushy. Pour into a bowl. Gobble down like wild badgers.

One photo today:

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Feel free to go ahead and doctor it up with your favorite spices. I chose red pepper flakes and chili powder.

Since we are talking about cold weather fare, let me share the recipe for hot chocolate that Eric made for me this past Saturday. It was so good.  He put his spin on it, but the basic recipe comes from the side of a box of Hershey’s Cocoa. Love those Hershey folks.

Eric’s Twist on Hershey’s Favorite Hot Cocoa

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 Hershey’s Cocoa
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
dash salt
cloves
cinnamon stick
nutmeg

1. Mix sugar, cocoa, spices and salt in saucepan; stir in water
2. Cook and stir over medium  heat until mixture boils; boil and stir 2 minutes
3. Stir in milk and heat. DO NOT BOIL (sorry for the hollering)
4. Remove from heat, add vanilla
5. Strain before serving to get out cloves and cinnamon stick

It is the best hot chocolate ever.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post. It is going to be a doozy. Pinky swear.

Warm your tummy and you warm your soul.

xoxo, Patti