Transform your leftover bread into tasty treats
A few weeks ago my house was filled with leftovers from our
Christmas Eve buffet. There were appetizers such as brie puffs
filled with pears and dried cranberries, mini cheese souffles,
mushroom turnovers and mini meatballs. There was coppa, prosciutto
and sliced cheeses. And there was lots and lots of bread.
Transform your leftover bread into tasty treats
A few weeks ago my house was filled with leftovers from our Christmas Eve buffet. There were appetizers such as brie puffs filled with pears and dried cranberries, mini cheese souffles, mushroom turnovers and mini meatballs. There was coppa, prosciutto and sliced cheeses. And there was lots and lots of bread.
See, whenever we plan the Christmas Eve buffet, my mom and I always vow to cut back from what we served the year before. But every year, we tend to put out a little more than is necessary. We forget that some family members just stop by for a while before heading off to visit in-laws, and the teenagers hardly eat at all for some reason. So though we have a lot of people in our small house, we don’t always need so much food.
So once again, we ended up with an awful lot of leftovers. My mom and I made our best effort to make use of as many of the leftovers as we could. We ate the mini appetizers reheated in the microwave and used the lunchmeat in sandwiches the weekend after the holiday. We planned our week’s meals around the leftovers – including a frittata made with some of the leftover cheese and meat from a spiral-cut ham. We made a white chili with the ham bone, from a kit that included the beans, seasoning packet and dried vegetables. We planned grilled cheese sandwiches for one night to use up the last of the Monterey and cheddar cheese.
But there was one leftover ingredient we knew would go to waste if we didn’t think up a quick way to use it. We had tons of bread left over – French bread loaves, sourdough baguettes, rolls – and by the Saturday after Christmas it was all quickly on the road to becoming stale.
I took on the sourdough baguettes and transformed them into croutons with a little bit of olive oil, seasonings and some time in the oven. The crunchy salad toppers lasted for another week and even prompted some healthy vegetable intake during the holiday season.
My mom used the French bread and sweet rolls to make a pumpkin bread pudding. We had most of the ingredients at home from our month of holiday baking so we only needed to pick up a handful of items to make it.
While we found a good use for most of our leftovers from Christmas Eve, my mom and I both have promised that next year we will remember what items went and what items stayed so that we can plan to have less of all those leftovers.
Pumpkin bread pudding with toffee sauce
Recipe courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens ‘Christmas Baking’
2 c. half-and-half or light cream
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1 c. packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
9 oz. French bread, torn into bite-size pieces (about 10 cups)
½ c. golden raisins
½ c. granulated sugar
½ c. evaporated milk
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
½ c. chocolate covered toffee pieces
Lightly grease a 2-quart shallow baking dish; set aside. In a very large bowl, combine half-and-half, pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. Add the bread pieces; stir to moisten evenly. Stir in raisins. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish. Cover and chill for one to four hours.
Meanwhile, for sauce: In a small saucepan, combine granulated sugar, evaporated milk, butter and corn syrup. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered for one minute. Cool to room temperature. Transfer to a serving bowl. Stir in toffee pieces.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread pudding, uncovered, about 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Serve warm bread pudding with sauce.
Makes eight servings.
Homemade croutons
Stale sourdough bread
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Grated parmesan cheese
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.
Slice up slightly stale sourdough bread into bite-size chunks (The bread is best a few days old.) Place the bread in a large bowl or Zip-lock bag and coat each piece with olive oil. Toss in salt, pepper, garlic powder and parmesan cheese, adding enough to coat each piece of bread.
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place the bread pieces on the sheet so that the pieces are not touching. Bake for seven to eight minutes and remove from the oven. Turn each piece of bread over and then put back in the oven for another seven to eight minutes. The croutons should be crispy and brown, but not burnt.
Allow croutons to cool on the cookie sheet before putting them in a Zip-lock bag for storage. Croutons will last for up to a week. They can be used on salads or with soups.
