I think there are two kinds of people in this world, those that love bread pudding and those that don't. I'm a bread pudding lover through and through, but most of my kids and grandkids don't care for it at all, which makes me sad that they don't love this homey and comforting dessert that is a favorite of mine.
But I guess that means that there's just more for me, ha-ha. This recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding is just beyond yummy. It's moist and rich, and tastes great warm or chilled.
Can you see that I made it extra fabulous and added a small scoop of chocolate ice cream? Of course it didn't need the ice cream, but I don't think you can ever have too much chocolate anything. It's a theory I'm sticking by!
You can also make this bread pudding in a 9x5 inch loaf pan if you want. I happen to like using my ramekins for individual desserts that I think are sort of special. And don't forget that good old whipped cream makes a super yummy topping for any kind of bread pudding you make.
Recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups cubed stale white bread
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray six 3-inch ramekins with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in bread and chocolate chips, let stand for 10 minutes for bread to absorb liquid.
Fill ramekins 2/3 full, and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until custard is set.
Serve warm from the oven or chilled. Top with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.
What could be more fun for a Dad that loves his kids and Wizard World Comic Con in Sacramento than winning a 4 pack of tickets?!?! Sunday June 19th is Father's Day and Kid's Day with a kid's costume contest at Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con at the Sacramento Convention Center. You can win tickets right here at Frugal Family Tree!!
WWE the Big Show will be attending the event on Saturday and Hall of Fame Baseball player Reggie Jackson will also be there. Super Man Dean Cain, William Shatner, Agent Carter Haley Atwell, Winter Solider Sebastian Stan and Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings are a few of the stars on the schedule for Sacramento. There will also be gaming tournaments for Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V. You can register for tournaments taking place at #WizardWorldSactoJune 17-19. Free to enter with a chance to win CASH PRIZES. For more information and to register visit wizardworldgaming.com
SACRAMENTO CA
June 17–18–19, 2016
Fri–Sat–Sun
LOCATIONSacramento Convention Center 1400 J St.Sacramento , CA 95814
SHOW HOURSFriday, June 17, 2016 – 3pm - 8pm
Saturday, June 18, 2016 – 10am - 7pm
Sunday, June 19, 2016 – 10am - 4pm
You can buy tickets here for any of the 3 days and there is even a 3 day pass option. Photo Ops can be purchased online as well.
My readers can use discount code WIZBLOG16 for 25% off all general admission!! GIVEAWAY WIN a 4-pack of Tickets to the Sunday June 19, 2016 Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con Rafflecopter giveaway
*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June 10, 2016 and ends on June 14, 2016 at 12 pm PST. Winner will be emailed. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.
**Winner has until June 15th at 2pm PST to email back to claim tickets.
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Great4Grilling #CollectiveBias
One of the things I love about warmer weather is grilling outside on our charcoal grill. This week the weather has been unusually hot for Seattle, so we decided to have dinner out on the deck one evening.
With all of the end of the year parties and events for the kids, and our busy schedules, we need to get dinner put together pretty quickly. But we still wanted to enjoy a great barbeque, so luckily I knew just what we should put on the grill.
When I was grocery shopping at Walmart I had picked up a couple of Smithfield® Pork Tenderloin. They are already marinated, and the Peppercorn & Garlic flavor sounded delicious. We marinade a lot of our grilled meats, but it can take hours, so this was really a big time saver for us.
Smithfield® Marinated Fresh Pork is 100% pork. It's available in different flavors in Tenderloins, Loin Filets, Roast, and Ribs.
Pork is one of my favorite meats, especially for grilling. It's much more tender than beef I think, and chicken can dry out while it's cooking.
How delicious does this look? My son-in-law grilled the tenderloins pretty perfectly, and they were so amazingly good!
I had bought two, thinking one would make great sandwiches for dinner the next day. But everyone had seconds, thirds even, that's how tender and good they were. And I really love it when I find something the whole family enjoys eating.
You don't have to sacrifice having a great meal just because you need to have a quick dinner. With the great pork choices from Smithfield®, it's an easy solution for any night of the week.
When you're barbequing, it's not just about what's on the grill. The side dishes are definitely important too.
So I want to share this very easy and very tasty recipe for Honey Orange Broccoli Salad. The combination of orange juice, honey, and olive oil makes it tangy and sweet.
I just picked up a bag of chopped salad and a small head of broccoli. Chop up the broccoli and add it to the salad.
Raisins, sliced almonds, and noodle crackers go on top. But you can add or substitute ingredients. It's also great with almonds.
I really like honey, so I buy different flavors. But just regular honey is delicious in this recipe. Grate in some orange peel with a zester.
After you've made the dressing and poured it on, give everything a big stir to make sure it's all combined.
Recipe for Honey Orange Broccoli Salad
Ingredients:
1 12 ounce package of chopped salad
1 cup chopped broccoli
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
1/3 cups raisins
1/3 cup sliced almonds
handful of noodle crackers, if available
Directions:
In large bowl, combine salad and broccoli. In a small bowl, combine honey, olive oil, orange juice, grated orange peel, and salt and pepper. Whisk together.
Pour over salad. Add toppings and mix together well.
Makes 6 servings.
My family and I enjoyed this Smithfield® Pork Tenderloin so much that I can't wait to try the other flavors. I'm sure it will be requested many times during the summer, and my grandson has already said he wants it for his birthday dinner when we celebrate it in July.
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WhatInconvenience #CollectiveBias
Baking bread has become one of my very favorite things to do in the kitchen the last couple of years. When all my kids were growing up, I never had the time to bake bread and sometimes it got so busy in our house that it seemed like a circus just to get dinner on the table.
But now I have the time, and it's become something that is calming and centering to me. And of course I love the taste of freshly baked bread. There's really nothing like it.
Though I'm a busy lady with work and family, on weekend mornings I love having a cup of tea and slice of toast with my favorite jam. My kids and grandkids love this bread too, and so I'll often make two loaves and give one away. It makes me very happy to share my bread with others, and that they really appreciate it.
As much as I enjoy making bread, the kneading it requires can really make my hands hurt. I have to deal with the pain of arthritis, but I try not to let it interfere with doing the things I love.
I consider myself very lucky to be fairly healthy at the age of almost 59, and I try to take care of myself so that I can live an active life with my family, which includes my four grandchildren.
Did you know that arthritis effects nearly 53 million Americans? It can really have an impact on the quality of life for many people. Though my arthritis and joint pain isn't nearly as severe as some other people's, it can make some things I do much more challenging.
If you've ever struggled to open a bottle of pain medication like I have, then you can understand how glad I was to find Advil with the new EZ Open cap. I can open it quickly and easily, and not get frustrated the way I feel with some other bottles.
Before I start making bread, I take Advil for the relief of my joint pain. It really makes a big difference for me in the way my hands feel, and lets me enjoy the bread making process so much more. The kneading of the dough is key to how your bread turns out, and Advil helps me be pain-free.
I wanted to share my favorite recipe for white bread. It's delicious, and I've found that the bread you make at home is so much better than anything you can buy at the store. And like anything, the more you bake bread, the better you become at it.
Recipe for Crusty White Bread Ingredients:
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2/3 - 1 cup warm water
3 1/2 cups white bread flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons butter, diced
vegetable oil, for greasing pan
Directions:
Place the egg and egg yolk in a 2-cup measuring cup and beat lightly. Add enough water to make 1 1/4 cups. Stir well.
Put the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the center, add the egg mixture, and stir with a heavy spoon to a smooth dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes until smooth.
Brush another large bowl with oil. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in the bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or is doubled in volume.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Oil a loaf pan. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for one minute, until smooth. Shape the dough into a loaf size and place it in the greased pan.
Cover and let stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, until the dough has risen above the pan.
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
Makes 1 loaf.
It's so delicious right out of the oven, or great for toast or sandwiches. It also makes fabulous French toast when you make it with flavored coffee creamer.
The EZ Open Cap is great for people who struggle with arthritis. Based on a survey of monthly doctor recommendations, nothing's proven stronger than Advil for arthritis and other joint pain.* *For minor arthritis pain. Among OTC pain relievers.
I've been using Advil for years for relief of headaches, backache, and other kinds of joint pain. It lets me keep up with what I want to do in life, and helps me to be pain-free to enjoy it all.
You can find Advil EZ Open bottles at your local Walmart in the pharmacy section.
If you suffer from arthritis or joint pain, go ahead and check out the Better Living Tool Kits from the Arthritis Foundation.
I don't intend to let arthritis keep me from enjoying life and being an active and vital woman. And neither should you.
Coffee cake will always remind me of my mother, and being a kid who grew up in the 60's. It seemed to me that all of the other moms I knew had a favorite coffee cake recipe too, and it always seemed to be available as a snack.
My mom would make one every Friday afternoon so that we could enjoy it over the weekend. I remember waking up and going into the kitchen on Saturday mornings and there would be my father at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper, a cup of coffee and a slice of my mother's coffee cake in front of him.
There are hundreds of recipes for different kinds of coffee cakes, using many different ingredients. I wish I had some of my mother's recipes, but I don't.
This recipe for Banana Coffee Cake is really delicious, moist and tender cake with walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon inside the cake and on top.
I baked this in a tube pan but you can easily use a Bundt cake pan and that works great too. Make sure your bananas are very ripe to bring out the banana flavor in the cake.
Enjoy it in the morning with a cup of coffee or tea, or for dessert with whipped cream on top, like my grandchildren ate it.
Recipe for Banana Coffee Cake Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
powdered sugar, for dusting cake
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup tube or Bundt pan with baking spray.
In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat thoroughly to combine. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and bananas, and beat until just smooth.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well until fluffy and thick.
Combine the walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the nut mixture. Spoon the remaining batter over the nut mixture and then sprinkle the top with the remaining nut mixture.
Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Let the cake rest 10 minutes before removing it from the pan, let cool on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
