Tag Archives: Food

Heartwings Love Notes 2013 Leftovers Can Be Useful

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Heartwings says, “‘Waste not, want not,’ is a good rule to live by.”

I had to throw way some leftovers recently, something I dislike doing. However, my current refrigerator is somewhat low to the ground, and they had vanished into its depths. I once had the freezer part on the bottom. This made it so much easier to deal with leftovers. They seem to land on my current refrigerator’s bottom shelf by default.

This may be because the other shelves in the fridge are already filled with our many jars of condiments, sauces, dressings, and of course food intended for meals. This makes it imperative to keep an eye on what’s down there. I try hard, though apparently not hard enough as I recently discovered.

In search of the remains of a turkey dinner I hoped to serve in another form I discovered two ancient (more than several weeks old) boxes of restaurant leftovers that I didn’t feel were safe to consume. Often, I am happy to use up older leftovers if I am going to cook them for a while before we eat them. I’m very careful that way. If I can help it however, I don’t like to waste food. Unfortunately, these contents of these two containers were really ancient.

Usually, I don’t leave my leftovers in the restaurant boxes, either. The exception would be if they were tightly sealed in strong plastic. Even so, I can keep track by remembering when we went to the restaurant they were from. Prices have gone up, so we don’t eat out as often as we used to. All that aside, the holidays often produce left over food; sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do with it. I know many use microwaves to reheat. I don’t like to. I’d rather be creative.

Here are a few suggestions to use instead of a microwave, that add nutrition and extra flavor: Omelets are tastier when you include bits of meat and vegetables. Add grated cheese for extra zest, or not as you choose. Herbs like thyme and ground garlic are also good to perk up flavor. Home fried potatoes are happy to mix with these ingredients.

Try making patties with leftover mashed potato; add herbs and/or cheese. Let top and bottom brown for great taste. Before heating leftover pasta or rice dishes, add water instead of olive oil, coconut oil or butter to frying pan and let it come to a boil. Then add ingredients and reduce heat. There will be less calories too.  Add with it any additional cooked vegetables on hand. This is a great way to use your small quantities of anything and thrifty too.

You may wish to work with compatible dishes from individual meals so they combine better. That makes for simpler, easier leftover dishes. I am always happy to have items I can combine in my fridge for fast, tasty meals. Adding chopped onions sauteed in butter, perks up flavor every time. Here’s a secret: Chop sweet onions and you might find you don’t suffer from onion tears.

May you find creative ways to use your leftovers.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have creative recipes for leftovers to share, please do. I am always happy to learn and to discover new recipes. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome. Write me at tashahal@gmail.com, and for more Love Notes, visit my blog and/or sign up at http://tashasperspective.com.

Heartwings Love Notes 2007: Fall is my Favorite Season

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Heartwings says, “The colors of fall are equaled only by the tastes.”

On the road for a short trip recently, with my daughter at the wheel of the car, I was at liberty to feast my eyes on the fall color lining the highway. It was glorious, and I relished the rare opportunity. As I am usually the driver, I do not ordinarily have the opportunity to luxuriate in the passing scene. Keeping my eyes on the road while driving, rather than on the scenery must of course be my priority.

I love the colors of fall. For years they have inspired me to create poetry and photography. Fall is also when the apples ripen and are available in farm stands. The local apples are to me far tastier than any others, and the variety the farm stands offer is superior to those available in the market. I can almost never find my very favorite, Courtlands, anywhere except in local places that sell the older kind of apples that are not often mass produced.

There was once a wonderful orchard in Grafton. Sadly, it fell victim to the desire by the owners of the land for more houses. I will always remember the forest of white and pink blossoms adorning the trees that eventually became the fine local apples I bought every year. One spring day as I did every year, I drove over to see them; they were all gone. To my dismay, the beginnings of homes sprouted where they had once been. Perhaps to be fair, the land owners didn’t want to maintain the orchard. It requires a lot of work. 

Apples are versatile fruit and can be used in a great many ways. Of course, it is delightful to bite into a raw one. Though to my way of thinking there is no comparison between a Courtland and a Macintosh or worse, a so-called Delicious. If you are not familiar with the less commercial varieties, I urge you to check out a local apple barn if you can find one, or a farm stand. There are places you can pick your own, as well. My favorite ways to use them are, applesauce, baked apples, and apple crisp.

I make my own applesauce using a food mill-see the internet to buy one, a wise investment. You can make something that bears no resemblance to the bland applesauce you can buy, and you don’t have to peel or core the fruit. For three or four pounds of apples, I use two sticks of cinnamon, some cider, and no other sweetener or ingredients. After I halve them and remove the blossom ends to prevent black specks in my applesauce, I pour half water, half cider to not quite cover them and add the cinnamon sticks. Once they boil, I cook them on low for 4 or 5 hours stirring occasionally, or on low overnight in a slow cooker. 

Next, I remove the cinnamon sticks and grind the apples through the food mill. I put the applesauce in a container with the cinnamon sticks and store it in the fridge. Once you try this, you’ll never want to eat any other applesauce!

May you enjoy all that fall has to offer.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS Do you have recipes or perhaps stories to share about fall or anything else? I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading and especially for commenting if you do.

Heartwings Love Notes Kitchen Helps and Hints

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Heartwings says, “Good tools are an important part of success in the kitchen.”

When at around the age of ten or eleven I first began to cook, I was permitted only to make brownies. In a year or more, I graduated to salads. That was it. My mother feared I would “ruin the food,” her words, and although cooking was low on her list of things she liked to do, she did all the rest. Once I got married and had my own kitchen, I taught myself to cook whatever we were going to eat. I had the impression I ought to serve meat twice a day, and because I was on a rather meager budget, we ate a lot of hot dogs.

These many years later I still do enjoy cooking, although I do not feel I must serve meat twice a day. Perish the thought! Protein twice a day, when you have diabetes, as I do, however is important and a rule I do try to follow. Besides meat and fish, this can include nut butters, cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, and other forms of protein. I don’t make many elaborate meals, because at eighty-seven my stamina is not what it once was. However, I do try for us to have mostly healthy, Mediterranean style dishes and lots of fish.

I have learned that certain tools are essential to efficient, enjoyable cooking. I have several different sized cutting boards, and my smallest is probably the one I use most. Two serrated knives, one large, one smaller and several small, pointed utility knives are helpful and better still, several pairs of scissors. Although I have a good chef’s knife for chopping, they are easier for me to use to deal with celery, scallions, and fresh herbs. I also use the scissors to reduce peppers and onion to smaller pieces once I’ve cut into them.

One of my most favorite tools is a canning funnel. It’s not that I do any canning, although my mother did. Our basement closet was once filled with glass jars of fruit and vegetables picked from her garden. Today the food I can purchase in the market is a lot more available and does not require standing over a hot stove. My canning funnel as well as its traditional sister, with the smaller spout, is absolutely invaluable for pouring soups, stews, cooked fruit, and anything liquid into jars without spilling.

I once had plastic funnels and somewhere along the way I acquired stainless steel ones. I highly recommend these as one of the most valuable tools in a kitchen. A good, versatile garlic press is also vital if you use much of this nutritious vegetable or herb, depending on what you call it. My lemon squeezer is another big help for our daily before breakfast half a lemon in water liver cleanse. Slotted spoons and several sizes of ladles are helpful. Lastly, I have two smaller and one larger spatula.  These small ones are extremely handy for all sorts of cooking, and the larger one is useful too, for serving.

May you have success with your efforts in cooking, and enjoy it.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS Do you have some kitchen tools you are especially fond of? Please email me or comment and share your story. I so enjoy hearing from readers. Thanks! 

Heartwings Love Notes 1090: A Vegetable We Treat as a Fruit

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Heartwings says, ‘Spring rhubarb cooked with honey added is an amazing treat.”

By definition, a fruit is a plant’s seeds born within a fleshy enclosure. It must have seeds to be called a fruit. Conversely, a vegetable, by definition, does not bear seeds like that. Tomatoes and peas are technically fruits, though peas belong to another botanical branch. Rhubarb, which we treat like a fruit, is in fact a vegetable. However, it is not usually eaten with other vegetables, nor for most people, is it used to accompany meat, poultry, or fish.

Most people may not know how versatile rhubarb is. In addition to the many recipes to be found for desserts made with it, it can be made into a relish or a jam and eaten with anything from chicken or meat loaf to hot dogs. For that use it is prepared to be somewhat tart rather than sweet. My daughter in Vermont gives me wonderful jars of her rhubarb concoctions of this nature that we lovingly cherish every year.

My precious, ancient Fanny Farmer’s cook book has an interesting recipe for rhubarb fig marmalade, using rhubarb and dried figs, sugar and lemon, and another for rhubarb conserve. Here’s that recipe, which contains rhubarb, raisins, oranges, a lemon, and sugar. Cut up 4 pounds rhubarb, put in a large kettle with 4 or 5, your choice, pounds of sugar ((8 or 10 cups). Add a pound of raisins, the grated rind and juice of 2 oranges, and the grated rind and juice of a lemon. Mix well, cover, and let stand for half an hour. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Cool and fill glass jars. Seal and store or freeze in small batches or as you please.

When we lived on Warren St. I had a neighbor who used to let me cut as much rhubarb as I wanted from his plants every spring and summer. I usually cooked it very simply in a double boiler without any added water, for about 40 minutes.

It needs no water—you might notice there is none in the compote. It has plenty of fluid contained in its stalks.  I would add honey to taste and keep it in the refrigerator to eat either for breakfast or as a dessert. It has the virtue of being an excellent mover of bowels.

I have also made it into a crisp or even an upside down cake. It combines wonderfully with strawberries as well, making a sauce or a pie, or a crisp. For the later combine 4 cups of all rhubarb or some strawberries and rhubarb, maybe half and half if you like, in an 8 inch square baking dish. Sprinkle the top with ½ cup butter, sugar, flour, and rolled oats each, combined into an even mixture.  (I use a food processor) Blend butter, sugar and flour first, add oats and blend briefly. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, serve warm, cold or room temperature to 6 or 8 people.

May you enjoy rhubarb any way you like, and find it helpful to your health.

Blessings and Best Regards, Tasha Halpert

PS How do you like rhubarb? Have you prepared it yourself? Write and tell me, I so enjoy your emails. Tashahal@gmail.com is a good way to reach me. Check my blog on WordPress at http://tashasperspective.com.

Heartwings Love Notes 1080 : A Spring treat that’s also Medicine

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Heartwings says, “It’s true that food can be medicine, and asparagus is.”

My father ate asparagus with his fingers, picking up each stalk up by the end, dipping it in butter and slowly savoring its length. The end was always discarded. At fancy spring dinners my grandmother and my great aunt served asparagus on toast points–crustless toasted bread cut into triangles. There would also be hollandaise sauce or butter poured over the asparagus or served separately by a maid in a shiny black uniform and a starched white apron. This was eaten with a knife and fork.

In those days, coming only in the Spring, fresh asparagus was considered a great treat. My mother disliked canned vegetables and did not serve them, considering canned vegetables to be lacking in vitamins. Today frozen asparagus is easy to find and the fresh stalks can often be bought all the year round. However, it’s the local asparagus that is the real treat. Regardless of its availability, I only really crave it in the spring.

There is a reason it grows and is harvested early in the spring in New England: Asparagus has a wonderful effect on the body, gently cleansing the kidneys as well as the bowels. It serves the helpful purpose of helping us eliminate the leftover winter toxins from our systems. It is an important food that is also a medicine. It is delicious, can be eaten freely and will not cause any untoward symptoms. What a wonderful treat that something that tastes so good is so very good for you.

Euell Gibbon’s book Stalking the Wild Asparagus is a classic on foraging and eating wild vegetables. His description of how at the age of twelve he discovered the wild asparagus is quite enchanting. He admits that wild or tame, they taste the same, except for the thrill of finding your own wild harvest. Actually, this perennial plant, with the help of the birds who ate its seeds, originally escaped from the gardens where it was cultivated and proceeded to grow enthusiastically wherever it could. The wild stalks can be located by searching out the dried seed stalks. These look like feathery miniature trees that have dried up and turned to straw.

According to Mysterious Herbs and Roots, Mitzie Stuart Keller, Peace Press 1978, asparagus was once a royal food reserved for rulers and kings. A member of the lily family, it is related to chives, leeks, garlic, and onions. Wild asparagus, one of the oldest known plants, was believed to have grown in the salt marshes of Asia Minor thousands of years before the earliest recorded history and was unknown in Europe prior to 4 BC. Alexander the Great discovered it when he went searching in the land of Medea, where legend had it that she gave Jason of Argonaut fame the secret of eternal youth. High in vitamin E, it has been for centuries reputed to be an aphrodisiac and was treasured by rulers of many nations. The Romans maintained armed guards to protect their beds from thieves, while royal gardeners made money on the side from selling the seeds.

May you enjoy your medicine as food, and relish this spring treat.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS Tales to tell or hints to share? Please write to me at tashahal@gmail.com It’s a great treat for me to hear from readers.

Heartwings Love Notes 1061: 3 Soups for Soup Weather

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Heartwings says, “Homemade soup warms the heart and the tummy too.”

Growing up, I was accustomed for the most part to think of soup as something that came in cans. Certainly, I didn’t know anything about making it from scratch—not at least for some years as I taught myself to cook. I remember once making a cream of mushroom soup and thinking, what a waste of time, it tastes just like it came from a can.

Chicken soup made from the bones to begin with was one of my first efforts. I must have seen my mother doing it because she was never one to waste anything that could be made into food. She was a very thrifty cook. As time went by, and I was feeding more people, both family and later, friends, I began out of necessity to learn the art of soup making.

 At one time, and especially when I had a garden I fed the scraps to, I even saved my vegetable peelings and tops and boiled them into a tasty broth I used to enhance my homemade soups. This was especially good with vegetable and bean or lentil soup. For some reason I don’t think my mother did much with lentils or beans. Perhaps my father didn’t like them. It was Stephen that got me into lentil soup, something he had enjoyed long before we met. Another of his favorites is onion soup.

After researching a variety of recipes, I crafted my own very simple onion soup. I use 1 ½  to 2 cups thinly sliced onion sauteed slowly in 2 tablespoons butter and 2 of olive oil. When onions are soft and ready, I add 1 quart box low sodium beef broth, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer 30 or so minutes. Serve either plain or with some toasted bread with melted cheese on top. This serves 3 or 4 nicely.

My potato soup is equally simple: I use ½ a large onion, chopped sauteed in 2 tablespoons butter and 2 of olive oil. Peel or don’t 4 medium Maine potatoes, chop and add to onion along with 3 cups water or broth and thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste and cook an hour or so. Serve or store for next day when it is even better. Chopped fresh parsley, though not necessary, will also enhance the taste.

And finally, here is a favorite of mine, using mung beans. Sprouted they are the ubiquitous bean sprouts of oriental foods. In their dried state they are tasty and nutritious. I use ½ cup chopped onion, 1 cup mung beans, 2 cups chopped potato, 1 cup or more sliced carrots, 1 cup or more chopped celery, 1 teaspoon thyme, ¾ teaspoon rosemary, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1 teaspoon ground garlic, 2 cups beef broth and 4 cups water salt and pepper to taste. Sauté onion and add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer until tender and tasty—45 minutes to an hour.

May your meals be tasty and nutritious regardless what you prepare.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS I love it when you share your recipes and make comments or suggestions. Please feel free to write me at tashahal@gmail.com. Your emails make my day. Thanks!

Heartwings Love Notes: Lentil Soup and Kitchen Hints

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Heartwings says, “Experimenting in the kitchen leads to useful results.”

I have always enjoyed cooking. I even did when I never knew how many would be sitting down for dinner. And I even enjoyed it many years ago when certain children, imitating their father, would turn up their noses at whatever was on their plates. Be that as it may, it’s true I didn’t inherit this love of cooking from anyone in the family. My mother was of the “food is just for nourishment” school of thought. One grandmother cooked for her dog, but for herself, rarely. The other hired cooks for the household and guests.

Once I married, I had more freedom to cook and eat as I wished. Of course, when my children entered the picture and joined the family dinner table, I was no longer as free. Enlisting their help as they grew more competent was a treat and even of real help. I taught every one of them to cook, even the boys. I used to listen to NPR’s Reading Aloud, I think it was called, with my son as we prepared food. Later, I focused on staying within a limited budget, attempting nutritious family meals on little money. Like now, eh?

As I got older, I began to care about calories. Now I like to do what I can to cut out unnecessary ones. My first hint is something I’m quite proud of. When reheating something, prep the frying pan you will be heating your leftover in, with a thin skim of water. Let it start to bubble and add your ingredients. Your tasty odds and ends will not burn and may benefit from added moisture. I often combine smaller portions of left overs from different meals to form new ones. Anything with rice does especially well when you use water. Voila, no additional fat calories.

Lentil soup is an easy and nutritious as well as an economical soup to have on hand. My next hint is this: Save the cooking water from any vegetables you cook except broccoli. It’s too strong a taste to use. When you measure out 6 cups of water for the soup, start with the veggie water. It adds richness and good taste. Add 1 cup of lentils and bring to a boil, reducing to a simmer once it has boiled. Now add around one cup celery, one of onion, using hint #3, scissors to cut celery and even to reduce onion if you rough chopped it and want it smaller. Add carrots if you wish, hint #4 is save time and energy by using carrots cut and peeled and made to look small. (Baby size?)

Next add herbs and spice of your choice to taste: thyme, lemon pepper, ground garlic, some salt, and or cumin, mustard powder (strong, so less of this), ginger, curry, and or your favorites as you wish. Do cook at least an hour, and more is even better. Tastes great next day, and keeps well for additional meals. This serves at least 4 generously, and can be doubled for sure. Bon Appetite!

May your time in the kitchen be joyful and nourishing,

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS I so enjoy hearing from readers . Please email me at Tashahal@gmail.com or comment here. All suggestions, likes, dislikes and comments welcome and I will respond, thanks.

A Cake for All Occasions

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Grandmothers 3, cakeMy mother wasn’t one for desserts and she didn’t like to bake, so if there was something to be made in the oven, she occasionally enlisted my help. I was also allowed in the kitchen of a friend who visited her grandmother in the summer. Her grandmother had a cook who was kind enough to let us mess up her tidy domain, so my friend and I spent happy hours making brownies.

In those days my repertoire was limited; however, I was always happy to be allowed to bake. I still enjoy it, though these days my time is more often devoted to writing than to baking–and there are always the calories to be considered. Lately it’s been too hot to do so, but I needed a cake for Stephen’s birthday, so I went looking for my special recipe: Vinegar Cake.

While it is counterproductive to start the oven in the midst of the summer heat, this cake won’t take long. Quickly put together, it is easily made into whatever kind of a dessert you wish to serve. When I made it was for Stephen’s family birthday party, there were only a few of us to enjoy it. It is such a simple recipe that if you are pressed for time, as long as there is enough time for it to cool, it can be made shortly before you need it. Being without eggs, it is good for vegans. Do not be put off by the title.

Preheat oven to 350, grease an 8X8 square baking pan. This cake is fairly thin, and is nice and chocolaty. It really needs no frosting, but I include a recipe in case.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour—gluten free baking replacement, or wheat based

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbs cocoa powder (I added another) plus more for dusting top

1 Tbs vinegar

1 Tbs Vanilla Extract

1 cup warm water

6 Tbs Vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl, mingle wet ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add all of liquid ingredients. Mix well. If batter isn’t liquid enough, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get a thin batter. This cake is very moist. Bake in greased 8X8 pan in 350 preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick in the center comes out clean and edges have pulled away slightly from the pan–this could take up to 35 minutes. Or bake in cupcake cups, a little less. Dust to your satisfaction with cocoa powder. I used a sieve and stirred the cocoa powder in it to make it come out evenly.  Serves 16 cut in squares, or makes 12 cupcakes.

If you are using a gluten free flour or don’t want lumps it might be good to sift the ingredients together. It makes a better texture for the cake. For a simple frosting, mix 1 cup confectioners’ sugar with 2 Tbs soft butter and add 1 tsp vanilla and some milk or cream until spreadable. You can cut it in half and make a layer cake to serve 6 or 8.

 

Waste Not Want Not

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Glittering Glass 2The phrase “waste not want not,” sounds as though it might have come from the Bible, however it did not. It also sounds like old fashioned New England thrift. My mother being German, definitely learned the concept from her experience. I have found it useful in trying to utilize whatever food I might have left over from any meal. In my book, wasting food is not to be done.

It helps to be prepared. I usually cook enough rice to have plenty for extra meals. This saves me cooking time later.  I am always happy to see some leftovers in my refrigerator. One reason is that they help me to fix meals quickly, another is that they help make it less work to do so. I love to cook, and I also love to write poetry and do many other things. Cooking is fun, but not if I have to neglect the rest of my various duties and activities. I usually make enough food for a meal to create another or part of one from what is left over.

It is also true that by utilizing my leftovers, I save not only time but money. My mother, who grew up in war torn Germany, felt food was very precious. I was made aware of this very early on and it stuck. I often use small amounts of vegetables, for instance, or cheese, bread, rice or pasta and so on to incorporate into what I call a “Never Again,” because I will most likely never have just that combination of ingredients to use.

It is important to make sure to blend flavors appropriately. For instance, I’d never combine a curry with an Italian flavored dish. I would blend anything plain into something spicy or tangy. I don’t generally combine a cheese and pasta dish with something involving a strong fish, however you might. One of my favorite tricks is to add shrimp I’ve baked at 425 for 10 minutes to any leftover rice or pasta, then put in herbs to taste, some sautéed onions and any leftover vegetables I might have.

Try spreading leftover chicken or seafood salad on bread, cover it with cheese, and bake in a toaster or regular oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Add a salad to make a fast, tasty supper meal. There are several rules I follow in my thrifty ways with leftovers: I never combine pasta and rice leftovers; I usually incorporate some chopped, sautéed onions to freshen the flavor; I try to use most leftovers within a week. Have fun, Leftovers present great opportunities to be creative.

Something from the Oven

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Cooking with heartThere was an advertising phrase that went, “Nothing says loving like something from the oven…” however, I think the advertising agency had it backward. It’s the love in the preparation that does this. The oven only helps, as do the ingredients, preferably as clean and fresh as possible. Love helps us to choose them, as well as to guide the utensils used in the preparation. Furthermore, the focus of the mind is an important ingredient as well. If I am angry or upset when I am preparing food, it could affect the way it tastes as well as the way it is digested. Though I can’t prove it, it’s my belief that thoughts and feelings can be powerful in their effect on food.

A study of this potential would make an interesting experiment for a science project, though it could be difficult to set up. I do really enjoy cooking. Though I’ve never had any courses or training for it and am completely self-taught, I get great praise from those who taste my cooking. I remember one person saying, “This must be Tasha’s kitchen because it smells so good.” Another time, I had prepared a tropical entrée made with bananas with other ingredients, baked inside their skins. When I stopped one guest from cutting into his, he said, “Oh, I thought if you had cooked it, I could eat it.” I laughed and thanked him.

One of the most cherished comfort food desserts is bread pudding. According to the internet, sometime in the 11th or 12th centuries, a frugal cook somewhere in Europe needed to use up their stale bread and began thinking up ways to do it. Perhaps instead the cook needed a dessert and had only stale bread, eggs and milk to go with it. Be that as it may, bread pudding has become a staple food. Once called “Poor Man’s Pudding,” it is said to be served in upscale restaurants as well as homes all over the world. Many of the recipes for it call for some form of fat. My recipe omits this ingredient and I don’t think the calories or the taste of it will be missed. Feel free to experiment, I still do. You can butter the bread first if you wish to include it.

The recipe I have evolved from making it often is simple, and we eat it all the time. You do not have to wait until the bread is stale, though of course that is a good use for any you might have. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 1 ½ or 2-quart covered casserole. Put a pan of water the casserole will fit in into in the oven. Begin with 2 cups torn up bread—around 4 to 6 slices. I use a raisin bread and it’s on the small side. Sprinkle on ½ cup sugar and ½ to 1 cup raisins if not using raisin bread. Beat up 2 eggs and 2 cups any kind of milk. Add 1 plus teaspoon vanilla and 1 plus teaspoon cinnamon and beat again. Pour over bread and stir to combine well. Place covered casserole in the oven in the pan prepared with water. Bake 1 hour, remove cover and bake to brown for 15 or so minutes. If you can resist diving into it, the pudding tastes best the next day when flavors have developed.

I have no recollection of having been served bread pudding in my childhood; I have evolved this recipe from following one in a cookbook of recipes based on the Cat Who mystery series by Lillian Jackson Braun, both of which which I highly recommend.