Sheila's Bread Pudding

This is some stuff to make you sigh in contentment. I grew up eating bread pudding as a dessert. Mom made it in order to efficiently use aging bread as a dessert. This is not low calorie, low fat or gluten free.  It is, however, chocked with wonderful memories for me.  This is my Sweet Baboo's version drawing from several of our female ancestors' versions.

It makes a very nice transportable dessert since it lies flat in a casserole dish covered by plastic. Easy to heat. Delightful to eat.  I even make it sometimes with whole wheat bread to give you some fiber.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups cubed white bread 
• 3 eggs 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup melted butter 
• 1/4 to 1 cup milk 
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 to 1 cup raisins (optional) 

Directions: 

1. Cream butter, sugar and eggs 
2. Add 1 tsp. each -vanilla and almond flavoring 
3. Mix in bread 
4. Add enough milk (up to a cup or so) to make the bread mixture mushy 
5. Press it into a greased casserole dish 
6. Bake at 350 degrees just until set. 
7. Serve warm, room temperature or even cold with lemon sauce. 

Lemon Sauce: 

1. In 1 quart sauce combine:  1 1/4 cups water, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp grated lemon peel, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 1/2 TBSP corn starch. 
2. Mix well. Cook and stir until thickened. 
3. Then stir in two tablespoons butter or margarine Makes 1 3/4 cups sauce 

Serving Directions:

That's it. To serve, just plop a big old spoonful of this stuff in a bowl, pour some lemon sauce over it, and enjoy. The ingredients are sort of a medium version. You may want to adjust spices or ingredients to your tastes. There's a bit of "the hand of the chef" in this stuff. I even use whole wheat bread in mine. I tear up whatever bread is laying around including burger buns and hot dog buns. Bread is bread. And I double the lemon sauce because I like lots of sauce, but then that's me. Feel free to ignore any of my alterations. Mom's Bread Pudding never fails.