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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, April 17, 2008

Show your appreciation with some tasty bread pudding

By Alice P. Clark, Special to the Tribune

Every year at about this time, the School of Education and Office of Field Experience at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse celebrate a wonderful group of people known as “cooperating teachers.”

These generous and caring souls allow aspiring teachers to test the waters of the school room experience with the assurance that there is a life buoy close at hand if they need it. Those involved in the education programs at UW-L celebrate the cooperating teachers in April but are always appreciative of the the hard work and dedication evinced by these good people. The rest of us also should be mindful of the tremendous job our teachers do and be generous with thanks and praise for them.

And now on to the business of food: Diane Dippel sent another of her great recipes, this one a bread pudding for Norma Piper. The unique thing about this recipe is that it is made in the microwave. Louise shared a bread pudding recipe that she found in Southern Living magazine a few years ago. She says, “I believe my recipe is close” to the one served at Old Country Buffet and notes that many bread pudding recipes call for a “bain marie” or what we know as a “water bath,” but “this recipe is NOT baked in a pan of water.” Sharon Helstad of Ettrick, Wis., added a little glitz to our collection by sharing a recipe from the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

There are apparently lots of vegetable lasagna recipes out there. Some are traditional pasta recipes that substitute vegetables for meat. And some are made using thinly sliced vegetables such as eggplant or zucchini instead of pasta. Noreen Fish, electronic resources and periodicals librarian at the La Crosse Public Library, wants to “put in a plug for the library here. We’ve got lots and lots of cookbooks in the collection, plus we can borrow from other libraries, too. I’d be happy to help anyone who needs help finding something.” Noreen says she uses the lasagna recipe on the back of the pasta box, substituting spinach for the meat. She also shared a number of Web sites featuring lasagna recipes:

http://theslowcook.blogspot.com/2008/04/dark-days-butternut-squash-lasagna.html

http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2007/09/pesto-lasagna-for-one-tomatoes-for.html

http://clickblogappetit.blogspot.com/2006/10/celebrate-pesto-mushroom-lasagna.html

http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/2005/03/berry-berry-good-lasagna-recipe.html

This should give Jody and Randy Clark of La Crosse some vegetable lasagna ideas to get started on. They live next door to me, so hopefully when the fabulous aroma starts wafting through the neighborhood and they find me camped outside their kitchen door, they’ll invite me to dinner!

More fried fish and/or rhubarb recipes are certainly welcome, so if you have something you’d like to share, by all means, please do so. Send requests and recipes to Alice P. Clark at: Reader Exchange, c/o La Crosse Tribune, 401 N. Third St., La Crosse, WI 54601; e-mail: exchange@lacrosse tribune.com or send a fax to (608) 782-9723.

Microwave Bread Pudding

2 cups milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins

3 cups soft bread cubes

1 tablespoon butter

Combine milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish; beat with a whisk or rotary beater. Stir in raisins and bread cubes. Cut butter into pieces and scatter on top. Cover loosely with waxed paper and set on an inverted (microwave-safe) pie plate. Microwave on medium 26 to 28 minutes or until almost set in the center. Let stand 5 minutes. Option: Use old nut bread and less sugar.

(Shared by Diane Dippel)

Grandmother’s Bread Pudding

5 eggs

3 cups milk

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup half and half

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) melted and cooled

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 cups cubed day-old white bread

4 cups cubed day-old wheat bread

1/3 cup raisins

Lemon Sauce:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups cold water

3 egg yolks, beaten

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the first eight ingredients; stir in bread cubes and raisins. Transfer to a greased or sprayed 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake uncovered 45 to 55 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. For sauce, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and water in a large sauce pan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot sauce into egg yolks (Note from Alice: Stir the sauce in quickly and thoroughly, so the egg doesn’t start cooking). Return mixture to saucepan and stirring constantly, bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Remove from heat; gently stir in lemon juice and butter. Serve with bread pudding. Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes 12 to 15 servings.

(From Southern Living magazine; shared by Louise)

Famous Bread Pudding

16 ounces half and half

8 ounces whipping cream

8 eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

4 1/2 slices white bread

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons raisins

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix well half and half, whipping cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Arrange bread on bottom of a greased or sprayed 10-by-12-inch pan. Pour egg mixture over bread. Mix cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over bread. Spread raisins over top. Cover with foil; bake in water bath 75 to 90 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

(From the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas; shared by Sharon Helstad, Ettrick)

Eggplant Lasagna

1 large eggplant

Non-stick cooking spray

2 cups of tomato sauce

8 ounces fat-free ricotta cheese

1 cup fat-free mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 egg

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut top and bottom off eggplant and discard them. Stand eggplant on one end and slice downward, creating 1/4- to 1/2-inch slices, for a total of 8 slices. Brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil and lay flat on cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn slices over and bake another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the egg, ricotta, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, garlic powder, basil and oregano in a medium bowl. In an 8-by-8-inch baking dish, pour enough sauce to coat the bottom (Note from Alice: It doesn’t hurt to spray the pan with nonstick spray); layer two slices of eggplant, side by side. Spoon egg/cheese mixture on top of eggplant slices (about 2 or 3 spoonfuls per slice) and pour sauce over the cheese layer to coat it. Continue layering of eggplant, cheese and sauce, making sure to alternate the direction of the eggplant 90 degrees with every layer. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over dish and bake until melted, about 5 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Makes 4 to 5 servings.

(From foodfashionista.blogspot.com; shared by Noreen Fish)