sprinklefingers

like all of you, i’ve been working a lot lately. i think i’ve mentioned in 5 of the last 5 posts that i’ve been working a lot lately. sorry. it probably seems like i’m whining. [poor me.]
anyways, with all this work going on, i basically completely forgot about easter. sure, i got some chocolate for the kid’s easter basket. and, yeah, i’ve eaten about 390384 pounds of these in the last two weeks, but actual easter ACTUAL day kind of slipped my mind.
until this morning. when, before leaving for work, i thought, “geez. it sure would be nice to have some special friends over for brunch tomorrow…” and that’s when a flurry of activity began…
i went to the freezer and found a bag of sliced, frozen baguette. perfect for a savory bread pudding (also known by hoity-toity types as a strata.) i got out some eggs, cheese, bacon, salt and pepper and in about 8 minutes had a bread pudding in the fridge - perfect for tomorrow!
after scrounging around a bit more, i found 3 overripe bananas (hello, banana coffee cake!) one stick of european butter (what’s up, cinnamon rolls?) AND a jug of tangerine juice hidden behind a bottle of prosecco! easter brunch indeed.

with the bread pudding out of the way, tomorrow morning i can whip together the coffee cake and cinnamon rolls, slice some fruit, brew the coffee and pour the bubbly. hocus pocus!

last minute easter cheddar & bacon bread pudding

• 7 cups cubed bread
• 12 eggs
• 1 quart milk
• 1 t salt
• 1 t pepper
• 8 oz shredded aged cheddar
• 8 strips crispy bacon, chopped

1. butter a 10x14 baking dish. dump in bread cubes. mix together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, cheese, bacon. pour on top of bread. cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.
2. preheat oven to 350. bake bread pudding (uncovered) for at least 60 minutes or until puffy and somewhat golden with darker bits around the edges. let cool a few minutes, serve.

i hope my easter basket is filled to the brim with cadbury mini eggs. (no, those are NOT the ones with the goo on the inside. ewww.)