I never like wasting food. I have a really bad habit of making too much because I still haven’t mastered, at the age of 71, how to cook for two people. At one point, I even bought a cookbook on how to cook smaller portions. I think I looked at it once.
Then there is the issue of shopping: how much is enough? Do you need six bananas, four apples, one pint of fruit? What about Buy One Get One Free offers? The strawberry, blueberry, or any berry pint becomes part of my daily breakfast routine as I think about how free was it.
I purchase too many bananas, which can always find a home in a smoothie or banana chocolate chip bread.
And bread – I always have too much bread. That’s why bread pudding always comes to mind. If you have bananas and bread, you will absolutely have no waste.
Bread pudding directions:
Use a 13×9 Pyrex dish and preheat over to 350.
1 loaf old bread (you can use Italian)
4 eggs
4 tbsp butter or margarine
2 pinches of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup of sugar (white or brown)
4 cups milk
cinnamon/cinnamon and sugar
Lightly grease your Pyrex dish. Cut up the loaf of bread into cubes and put into greased pan. Then sprinkle with cinnamon.
Mix milk sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in saucepan and cook until butter is melted. Pour into a bowl until completely cool. Then add four beaten eggs and pour over the bread cubes inside the Pyrex dish. Soak for about 30 minutes and then bake for about 35 minutes. Note: If you have a couple of ripe bananas, you can mash them and mix into cooled liquid before you pour over bread.
When done, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar while cooling (or with maple syrup). It’s best served warm, but cold from the fridge works too.
