Fuel Diner Bread Pudding

A couple of friends and I started Fuel Diner. Our goal is to feed the hungry in our neighborhood. We've got some repeat customers (they don't pay) and are looking with great anticipation to feeding more.

One of our goals is to not be a stereotypical soup kitchen. I don't even like those two words together. We have a lot of fun coming up with recipes and some of our best could not be repeated if we wanted to. Karen is absolutely amazing at taking leftovers and turning them into masterpieces.

A few weeks ago I made bread pudding not realizing that Karen had made bread pudding while I was in South Africa. Now there is a running joke about bread pudding in the Diner.

I was really thrilled with how this bread pudding turned out, so I made sure I had everything written down. The fun thing about it is just about anything will work in it.

Fuel Diner Bread Pudding (according to Nancy)

The equal to 4 or more loaves of bread. You need to have at least 2 inches worth of bread on the bottom of your 24 x 16 pan. I used Country French, Sourdough, Italian Wheat, and Sweet Italian.
1 gallon milk
5 sticks of butter, softened to room temperature
16 eggs
5 cups granulated sugar
8 Tablespoons vanilla
4 cups brown sugar

Crumble the bread into a bowl. Pour milk over it and let stand for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 24-by-16-by-3 inch pan with 4 tablespoons of butter.

In another bowl, beat together 12 eggs, the granulated sugar and the vanilla. Stir this mixture into the bread mixture.

Pour into prepared baking pan and bake until browned and set. This could take about an hour and 30 minutes, depending on your oven.

To make the sauce, melt the remaining butter on the stove top. Add the brown sugar and stir together until the sugar has dissolved and is extremely hot. Don't let it burn. Stir it constantly.
Remove from heat. Beat the remaining 4 eggs and stir them quickly into the sugar mixture.

Pour the sauce over the pudding and serve.

Depending on how it is cut it can make at least 45 servings.

I didn't say it was healthy, but it is really good.

6 Can Soup with a sweet potato thrown in

Man, it's been a long time since I've been here. Hope I can remember how to do this.

The following recipe was inspired by my cousin, Beverly. Or, at least I think the 7 Can Soup recipe got passed into my family by Beverly. Anyway, I'm giving Beverly the credit. I'm sure cousins will be more than happy to it out if I am wrong.

This is what I did:

1 medium sweet potato, chopped into bite size pieces
1 can pinto beans
1 can white kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes with jalapeno peppers
1 can diced fire roasted salsa style tomatoes
1 can white hominy
1 can yellow hominy

I threw it all in my crockpot and cooked it on high for about 5 hours or so.

I also made brown rice with a healthy dose of fresh cilantro, garlic powder, black pepper, and about a teaspoon of salt.

Not being a fan of sweet potatoes, I was unsure if I would really like it, but I did.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pecan Muffin Squares

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pecan Muffin Squares

They're in squares because I don't like dealing with muffin tins or papers.

9 X 13 pan

Mix together the following:

2 cups organic white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup fair trade organic sucanat
1 T Ener-G egg replacer
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Add:

1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups almond milk

Mix well.

Add:

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix well.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease 9 X 13 pan. Pour mixture into pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until center bounces back when pushed gently or a knife stuck into center comes out clean.

Variations:
Substitute your favorite oil, milk, fruit, or nuts.