Bread Pudding (Lightened)

Inspired by Cooking Light

Bread pudding used to make me think of soggy bread, and sounded absolutely gross. Then I went to Carinos and tasted Mascarpone Bread pudding, it was absolutely delicious with a wonderful caramel sauce and was served hot with ice cream. They have since taken it off the menu, which is both good and bag. It is bad, because I no longer can enjoy it, but it is good because this dessert had over 1600 calories, 96 grams of fat (56 grams of which were saturated)!

 So I recently subscribed to Cooking Light Magazine and came across their lightened version of Bread Pudding, which (according to the magazine) has about 300 calories and less than 5 grams of fat per serving. So between my half of Mascarpone bread pudding (800 calories) and the lightened version (300 calories), the lightened definitely wins! Just a few pointers 1) make sure you keep the sauce warm, if not it will harden (which is why my pictures have caramel crumbles instead of sauce 2) make sure your bread is no larger than the ½ inch, otherwise it will not soak up enough of the milk mixture. Other than that this recipe was really easy and was delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
For Bread Pudding:

• 5 cups 1/2 inch dubbed Italian bread
• 1 cup fat free evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup fat free milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbs. Bourbon
• 1 Tbs. Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 2 eggs

For sauce:

• 3/4  cup light brown sugar
• 3 Tbs. Bourbon
• 1 Tbs. Butter
• 6 Tbs. Half and half
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. Salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place cubed bread on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes.

3. Combine all other ingredients under the bread pudding ingredient list together. Add the toasted bread cubes and let stand for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. For the sauce: mix bourbon, butter, brown, sugar in a small pan on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Stir 5 of the Tbs of half and half and reduce for about 10 minutes.

 

5. Remove from heat and add the other 1Tbs. of half and half, salt and vanilla. Remember to keep this sauce warm!
6. Put half of the bread mixture into loaf pan. Drizzle about 3 Tbs of sauce over this, then put the rest of the bread mixture over top.

7. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, and top with the warm sauce.

The crumbles is my hardened sauce, which did add a nice texture, but I wanted sauce

We finally got snow, so Greta decided to eat it!

Fruit Pizza Tarts

Growing up my sister would always ask for fruit pizza for her birthday instead of a cake. Fruit Pizza is sugar cookie dough topped with cream cheese frosting and then finished with your favorite fruits. This past weekend my sister and I had a Halloween party and the snacks were all finger foods. I thought of making mini fruit pizzas and putting them into muffin tins. After tweaking the recipe and simplifying ingredients, I came up with these bite size delights. These are very customizable since you can put whatever type of fruit on them that you like.

(I made these at my sister's apartment, sorry about the picture quality.  I took them all with my iPhone, so the lighting may be off.)

Ingredients

• 2 packages premade sugar cookie tubes (cut and bake)
• 1 package of Neufchatel Cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese, look for it with the cream cheese)
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 stick of light butter
• 1 tub of light frozen whipped topping (thawed)
• Fruit of your choice. I used:
• 1 quart of strawberries
• 1 pint of blackberries
• 1 small can of mandarin oranges

Directions

1.  Set the cookie dough, neufchatel cheese, and butter out to start warming to room temperature. 
2. Take a small amount of the dough (approximately 1 1/2 inches or so) roll into a ball and then flatten it out so that it is relatively thin (if it is too thick the tart will just have more cookie and less room for filling). 

The rolled cookie dough

My sister decided to get in the Halloween mood with this dough by making a skeleton face.

The flattened cookie dough, I used my hands, but a rolling pin would work.

3. Spray the muffin tins with cooking. Take the flattened out cookie dough and put it into the muffin tin. If need be cut the edges so that the tarts lay flat. 

A butter knife can just be taken around the edges to even the dough.

3. Gently roll the edges of the dough into the cup to prevent the dough from sticking to the top side edges of the tin. 

Gently roll the edges of the tarts inwards, this allows the tarts to come out of the pan easier.

4. Bake for the shortest time recommended on the cookie dough package. (I cooked mine for 7 minutes at 325*).

The tarts will come out of the oven very puffy, so don't worry.

5. After baked, let the tarts cool in the pan.  Make sure to cool completely. 

This tart turned out a little thick, so initially thinner is better and will make the final tart lighter.

6. For the frosting, cream together the Neufchatel cheese and butter with an electric or hand mixer.

Cream the butter and Neufchatel together evenly.

7. Add the vanilla and mix together with the frosting.
8. Slowly add the powdered sugar while mixing on low.
9. Once the frosting is mixed, fold in the entire container of whipped topping and put into a quart size bag. When ready to fill the tarts cut the corner of the bag to easily allow you to fill the tarts. 

Make sure to fold in the whipped topping, otherwise it can lose its shape.

Putting the filling into a bag makes it really easy to fill each cup without the mess.

10. Fill the cups 3/4 (or more) full with the cream cheese frosting/whipped topping.

You could add some food coloring to the filling to make these really festive for any holiday.

11. Add the desired amount of fruit to each cup.

Choose which ever fruit to fill the cups with. These have fall colors, so they were perfect.

 

Makes about 24 cups

I was out of town so Greta was not in the Kitchen with me, but I have many pictures of here to share.

Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups

These are (almost) bite sized and really easy for breakfast on the go.

I enjoy breakfast foods and like any excuse to make them, so when Sunday rolled around and I wanted breakfast at about 2:00 pm I was all for a new recipe. I wanted quiche, however I did not have all the ingredients nor did I want to go through finding a quiche recipe. For this cups, I looked up many recipes, but none sparked my interest. Some used puff pastry and others crescent roll dough; both are unhealthy. I decided to use a healthier option (wonton wrappers) and combine numerous recipes for these cups. They are very customizable and can be made for one or for a lot of people.

Ingredients (Per Cup):

            3 Wonton Wrappers

            1 strip of bacon

            1 egg

            1 Tablespoon Light Sour Cream

            Salt and Pepper to Taste

Greta is just waiting for the bacon to drop on the floor.

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to about 400*F.

2.     Cook the bacon until crispy over medium heat and then place on a paper towel to take off excess grease. Set aside.

3.     In a muffin tin, line with two of the wonton wrappers and then cut a third in half and put both halves in the same muffin tin.  (Follow the picture below).

This recipe can be easily multiplied to make for many people.

The two full wonton wrappers are put on opposite sides, then the two halves are placed in the center.

4.     Take ¾ of the strip of bacon and crumble. Place the crumbled bacon into the muffin tin (on top of the wonton wrappers).

5.     On top of the bacon place a tablespoon of the sour cream. Then put salt and pepper on top to taste.

The sour cream after baking tastes more like cheese than sour cream (so don't be afraid to add it)

Add as much salt and pepper as you want.

6.     Put the egg on top of the sour cream. If yolk is desired simply crack egg and put onto sour cream. If no yolk is desired crack egg into a separate bowl and whisk, then pour egg over the sour cream. Additional salt and pepper can be added at this time. Also add the rest of the bacon (1/4 strip).

These can be made healthier by only using the egg white!

A close up of one of the pre-cooked cups

Cheese can also be put on top, just be careful not to overfill the cups.

7.     Bake the cup for 25 to 30 minutes or until egg is cooked all the way through. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

The two cups in the front have intact egg yolks, the two in the back has whisked egg yolks.

Close up of an intact yolk cup. 

Notes:

·      The cups turn out better if eggs are whisked. Also it would be very easy to take out the yolks and just have egg whites.

·      Vegetables or other meats can be added to a variety of breakfast cup options

Recommended Products:
 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Inspired by RecipeGirl

It could have used more Icing, but it was still amazing!

I enjoy going onto StumbleUpon and looking up recipes, and I have came across this one multiple times. I love pancakes and I love cinnamon rolls, combining the two is just an amazing idea. So for my first blog post I decided to make these for a late breakfast.

This is Greta my little Kitchen Helper. She is a French Bulldog.

 

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

1 cup pancake mix

¾ cup water

(This may vary depending on the pancake mix, I used the recommended mix for 7-8 pancakes)

You can also use your favorite pancake recipe.

Cinnamon Filling:
½ cup margarine, melted
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Icing:
4 Tablespoons margarine
2 ounces Neufchatel Cheese (1/3 less fat Cream Cheese)
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. For pancake batter make according to the box. (Make sure not to over mix)

2. For the Cinnamon Filling mix the three ingredients. Let stand in order to thicken.

Cinnamon/ Brown Sugar Mixture (The Granulated Brown Sugar is used here)

Cinnamon Filling (sorry about the messy picture)

3.  For Cream Cheese Icing mix the margarine and Neufchatel Cheese and heat in the microwave until melted (I heated for about 45 seconds, but both ingredients were at room temperature). Whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.

Cream Cheese Icing turned out a little yellow for some reason

4. Heat a large pan to medium heat, once heated spray with nonstick spray. For the pancakes put 1/3 cup on batter onto pan. Once bubbles appear on pancake add the filling in a swirl around the pancake. Wait a couple seconds and flip the pancake. Cook the bottom of the pancake for a couple minuets (Do not wait too long, otherwise the filling will burn).  Flip the pancake on the plate and put in the oven on warm until all pancakes are done.

5. When the pancakes are done, drizzle the cream cheese on each pancake.

Notes:

* You can use butter instead of margarine, but the margarine cuts down on the fat and calories.

* Neufchatel Cheese had less fat than Cream Cheese, and had the same taste and texture as Cream Cheese.

* I used granulated Brown Sugar, which I would not recommend. It made the filling a little grainy, but I don’t think that it affected the taste.