French Toast Bread Pudding and Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Syrup

This is the way we often use up leftover bread heels or day old bread that's gotten too hard or crusty.  Just soak it in the milk/egg mix and bake for a custardy french toast breakfast!

This bread pudding recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa and we have just modified it a little.  It's more of a custardy bread pudding than french toast.   We also modified the buttermilk syrup recipe we've always used to add vanilla bean and it adds a delicious vanilla flavor to the syrup.  I like to slice up some strawberries to serve with this too. They are good on top drizzled with the syrup. 

Ingredients

• 1 challah loaf, torn into pieces (or any loaf of French bread type bread)
• 8 extra-large eggs
• 5 cups half-and-half or milk
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Confectioners' sugar and vanilla bean buttermilk syrup, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Tear bread into large bite-sized chunks in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, honey, orange zest, vanilla, and salt. Pour the mixture over the bread and press the bread down. Allow to soak for 10 minutes if bread is fresh and if bread is crustier or stale, soak an hour or up to overnight.

Pour the bread pudding mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish.  Place the 9x13 baking dish in a larger roasting pan and add enough very hot tap water to the roasting pan to come an inch up the side of the baking dish. Cover the roasting pan tightly with aluminum foil, tenting it so the foil doesn't touch the pudding. Make two slashes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake for 45 minutes, remove the aluminum foil, and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, until the pudding puffs up and the custard is set. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

With a small sieve, dust lightly with confectioners' sugar and serve hot in squares with vanilla bean buttermilk syrup on the side.

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. corn syrup

1 tsp. baking soda

1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In large saucepan, combine butter, buttermilk, sugar, and corn syrup.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Remove from heat and add vanilla beans and baking soda and stir.  It will foam up to about 3 times it's volume so make sure you are using a larger saucepan.  Serve hot over bread pudding.

• If you don't have a vanilla bean on hand, use the vanilla bean paste shown in the photo below.  Krista introduced us to this and we love it!!  It comes from Williams Sonoma and is a great way to get vanilla bean flavor without having to have the beans on hand. 
• We also use powdered buttermilk to make the buttermilk for the syrup if you don't have it on hand.  The powdered stuff works great in our syrup, waffles, and all the baking recipes we've tried it in. (see photo)

Buttermilk Syrup

So, so delicious. Just make sure you use a large enough pot so that when you add the baking soda it doesn't foam over. I'm speaking to you as a man who has made this mistake and had to deal with the sticky consequences.

1 c. Sugar

1/2 c. Buttermilk

1/2 c. Butter

1 t. Vanilla

1/2 t. Baking Soda

Mix sugar, buttermilk and butter and bring to a boil. Once it boils, remove from heat.

Then add vanilla and baking soda.

Super-secret Seeley Family Waffles

Yes, I stole this from Missy's family. Very simple waffle recipe that is very delicious. It goes very nicely with the syrup recipe to follow

2 c. Buttermilk

1 t. Baking Soda

1 1/2 t. Baking Powder

1/2 c. Shortening (melted)

2 T. Sugar

1 t. Salt

4 eggs

2 1/2 c. flour

Beat eggs to death. Then add 1/2 of the buttermilk, mix in shortening. Then add dry ingredients. Then add the remaining buttermilk.

Buttermilk Chicken with Sweet Corn Sauce

April Lowe


Today I thought I would share with you one of my  favorite chicken recipes!  This recipe comes from the Canyon Ranch Spa and is not only a healthy choice, but delicious!   Canyon Ranch has some of the most mouth-watering lower-calorie, low-fat recipes I’ve ever tried.  They know how to make a dish healthy without sacrificing taste. 

This chicken recipe has only 260 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 30 grams of protein per serving.  And if you are not a corn sauce fan, then it can have even less calories without the sauce.  Those of you who like corn chowder (Aaron) may like the corn sauce!  I personally love to make a batch or double batch of this chicken without the sauce and slice it up, refrigerate it, and use it throughout the week for salads and other meals.  The seasoning is so flavorful and it is a good substitute for crispy breaded chicken.  Here it is.  Bon Appetit!

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (if you get bone-in then de-bone them) – trim fat
• 1/4 c. low fat buttermilk
• pinch black pepper

Batter:

• 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 3/4 tsp. salt (I  like sea salt)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. celery seed
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. olive oil

Sweet Corn Sauce:

• 1/2 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1 Tbsp. fresh minced garlic
• 1/4 c. diced onion
• 1 1/4 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeno pepper
• 2 Tbsp. minced red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock (homemade if possible)
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1. With a meat mallet, pound chicken breast on a flat surface between 2 sheets waxed paper until about 1/2 inch thick.  In shallow glass baking dish combine chicken with buttermilk and black pepper.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. In a medium saute pan, saute corn, garlic and onions in olive oil over medium heat until onions begin to turn translucent.  Add jalapeno and red bell pepper and cook for 30 more seconds.  Add chicken stock and cook until you reduce liquid by half.  Season with honey, salt and pepper, thyme, and lemon juice.  Transfer to blender and puree briefly.  Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, combine all ingredients for the batter except olive oil.  Dredge each marinated chicken breast (marinated in the buttermilk and black pepper) in the seasoned flour batter mixture until all sides are coated generously.
4. Heat olive oil in large saute pan and add chicken breasts.  Over medium heat, cook chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden.  When chicken is fully cooked, juices run clear when meat is pierced with a fork.  Serve each chicken breast with 1/4 c. sweet corn sauce.  Makes 4 servings.  It’s good served with sauteed mustard greens.

Nutrition Facts:  4 Servings

Each servings contains:  260 calories, 23 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fat, 73 mg cholesterol, 30 grams protein, 496 mg sodium, 2 grams fiber