Leftover Remix: Glazed Donut Bread Pudding

Hello there fellow frugalistas!!  I am back after a long hiatus from blogging.  My life has changed drastically since my last blog post including a move back to my home town to join the family farm, several job changes (I can happily say I now LOVE LOVE LOVE my current job), and the addition of a second beautiful baby girl.

Even with all these changes, one thing has remained constant and unwavering.  I still believe in frugal living especially with more mouths to feed, a dream of building a new house, and the reality of needing a...VAN (gasp, choke, cough). With my return to blogging, I will be sharing new recipes, frugal living concepts, and other money-saving tips. 

My first frugal tip is to try to find ways to reuse leftovers.  The recipe that I am sharing today uses old, stale glazed donuts and converts them to a decadent, rich bread pudding. 

That's right.  Do not throw away those stale donuts!!!  Even if there is one lonely donut left in that bag or box, break it into small chunks and throw it in the freezer.

Once you have a large enough portion, try out this delicious recipe remix.  I followed a basic bread pudding recipe, but I cut down on the sugar since the donuts are so sweet themselves.  I also tweaked (not to be confused with twerked) this particular recipe by swapping Cinnamon Chips that I got on markdown after Christmas for regular cinnamon.  I have also been known to save those leftover breadsticks from Papa Johns and used this same recipe....YUM!

Glazed Donut Bread Pudding

Ingredients

6 cups leftover glazed donuts (or breadsticks, cinnamon rolls, or whatever else your heart desires)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup cinnamon chips or 1 tsp. cinnamon

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk 

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

SCORE...I love a good markdown!!!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Take the donuts that have been cut into chunks and spread out in an 8 inch baking pan.  Drizzle the melted butter over the donuts.  Sprinkle the cinnamon chips over the donuts.  Be sure to eat a good portion of the bag of chips while making this recipe.  This is a very important step. 

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the milk, sugar, and vanilla (this would be the step where you add the regular cinnamon if you do not have the cinnamon chips) and mix together.  Pour this wet mixture over the donuts and allow them to soak up the goodness.  I massaged the wet mixture into the donuts to be sure it was well absorbed.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool slightly before serving if you can manage that kind of willpower. 

 

Enjoy!

It's Getting a Little CORNy Around Here

If you follow my sister's blog over at Gal in the Middle, you have most likely read about the Shuckfest that happens each year at my parent's house.  Since I am the long lost sister that lives away from home, I have my own little Shuckfest at my house.  Mine doesn't involve the large amounts of corn and multiple helpers for that matter, but I would say we did pretty good.

I invited the White Trash Hillbilly Neighbor over for the afternoon to share in the festivities.  It was fun teaching her how to use the electric knife to simplify the whole process.  We both ended up with around twenty baggies of corn to use the rest of the year.

Here is our starting point...

So how did we turn that into this??

It was simple, just follow these easy steps.  Shuck, clean, boil, cool, cut, freeze!  Shuck the corn.  Clean the silks by washing it in the sink.  Boil the ears for a few minutes.  Toss the cooked corn into cold water to cool.  Cut the kernels off the ear with an electric knife.  Scoop into freezer bags and freeze for future use.

The hard work is worth the effort!

I'm Feelin' Blue!

Who knew that Indiana had so many wonderful blueberry farms.  I stumbled upon a U-Pick farm a couple years ago in the area.  If you are looking for something to do with your family, I highly recommend finding a U-Pick farm in the summer. 

As a ten year 4-H member, I was able to use the skills I learned in in my Food Preservation projects to savor these beauties all year long.  This method freezes each berry individually so that you can enjoy a few berries at a time.  I scoop out a few berries each day to add to my yogurt.  If you try to put them all in a freezer bag at once to freeze, you will end up with one big clump of berries.

Step 1: Give these babies a good rinse.

Step 2: Spread the berries out of a dish towel to dry completely.  It is important that there is no residual water. This is a good time to remove any stems or bad berries that you missed before.

Step 3: Spread the berries out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Step 4: Put into freezer for a couple hours or until each individual berry freezes.

Step 5: Put the frozen berries into a freezer bag and put back into the freezer to enjoy!

The skills I learned in 4-H sure do come in handy.  I can't wait to go to the Indiana State Fair to see all the projects from this generation of 4-Hers!

Yummy In My Tummy: Zucchini Pie

I have oodles and oodles of zucchini.  This week alone, I have picked approximately 20 zucchini, all being on the large (slightly obese) size.  I ran into this problem last year.  I gave away dozens from my garden. Did I learn my lesson?  Nope, I think I even planted more this year than last.  In the past week and a half, I have made 5 large and 8 small loaves of zucchini bread, 2 zucchini pies, roasted zucchini for dinner, 11 pints of zucchini pickles and this doesn't include the 9 zucchini that I am taking home to give away to my family this weekend. 

Last year, I had a co-worker pass along this Zucchini Pie Recipe!  It is phenomenal if you like a good cream pie.  It is a mix between a sugar cream and pumpkin pie, if you can imagine that. 

This pie freezes extrememly well!  Just wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of foil, toss it in a plastic zip lock freezer bag, and throw it in the freezer. 

The blogosphere has been full of talk about weight loss and diets! Well YOU are in luck! This pie can be made with fat free evaporated milk, splenda, and without a crust for a low calorie treat.

First off, you need to cook your zucchini.  Follow these easy steps!

Start off with some peeled zucchini or bare-naked ladies as I like to call them!

Dice up the bare-naked ladies into large chunks.

Boil them in water until fork-tender.

Strain the zucchini.  I press the excess water out of the chunks with a paper towel.

Now for secondary ingredients. (Disclaimer: Only one egg was harmed in making this recipe.  It landed with a lovely splat as it hit the kitchen floor!)

Mix all the ingredients in a blender!  It is almost as fun as making margharitas (almost I said)!

Pour into a deep dish pie shell!

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with cinnamon!

 

Zucchini Pie

1 cup cooked zucchini

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 Tbs melted margarine

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs flour (heaping)

1 egg

Bon Appetite!

Lets Get Snappin...Green Beans That Is!

Have you ever met someone who you very quickly knew you could be friends with? Well it just so happens that we got a new manager a few months ago at the potato chip factory.  At the time, I wasn't too thrilled with having to train a newbie.  Give me a little credit: I had just gotten pregnant and wasn't feeling so hot, AND I was still trying to learn my new job, let alone train someone else.

Anyhow, she was assigned to me and luckily, she turned out to be sown from the same seed.  I often refer to her as my partner in crime (PIC) at work, and just recently she has become my canning buddy.  I am pretty sure that all the other managers make fun of us for talking about gardens and canning and these sorts of things all the time, but that is ok because we enjoy it!

Believe it or not, I hadn't ever canned green beans before so my PIC (pictured below) invited me over after work for just that reason.  Oh boy, did she work me hard.  I believe that we snapped around 13 pounds of green beans! 

That is one large bowl of green beans!

Lets heat it up...for about 5 minutes in boiling water.

The pressure is on..10 pounds for 10 minutes!

We ended up with 12 quarts total!

Did I mention that we also canned bread and butter pickles!  Canning is definately easier and funner if you find a canning buddy! 

Yummy in My Tummy: Golden Harvest Bread

I found this amazing recipe in a magazine last summer.  In the magazine, they call it a cake but I think it is more like a bread.  The star of this recipe is the zucchini!  I love planting zucchini in my garden.  They are so versatile; they can grilled, roasted or baked, and they are wonderful in desserts.  My momma always made zucchini bread in the summer.  Actually to be more specific, she made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread (we wouldn't eat it as well without the chocolate chips). 

So here is my take on an old favorite...

I started off with these gorgeous zucchinis.

I love any recipe that allows me to break out the food processor! Well it just so happens that the grating tool on my food processor is perfect for grating zucchini for bread.

Time to work on the dry ingredients!  Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the shredded zucchini.  I sometimes add half carrots and half zucchini for a spin (not today).

Now lets focus on the wet ingredients. Mix together buttermilk, vegetable oil, and eggs.  (I happen to use the same trick that they do over at the pig pen.  I mix together regular milk and a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to make buttermilk).

Now it is time to mix the wet and the dry ingredients together.

Now, it's the time you have all been waiting for!  Lets add the chocolate chips.  I mix mine in flour to prevent them from sinking from the bottom of the pan.

I made a triple batch this time.  That way, there is plenty to share.  I'm sure our white trash hillbilly neighbors would enjoy some! I like to use both regular loaf pans and mini loaf pans. Be sure to spray them with cooking spray!

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30-35 minutes for the mini loaves and 45 minutes for a regular loaf.

Bon Appetite!

Golden Harvest Bread

1 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 cups zucchini

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

A Bountiful Harvest

Check out what I harvested from my garden this morning!

Here is what I have up my sleeve for today: Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Eggplant Parmesan from Ott, A for dinner, and Golden Harvest Bread for dessert (more on this later in the week)!

Looks like I have a fun and relaxing day ahead of me.  I think I will put in my James Taylor CD and get started!

Yummy In My Tummy: Oven Roasted Chickpeas

During our fun-filled family vacation in Florida, I must have flipped through twenty-five different magazines throughout the week. My favorite part of magazines are the variety of new recipes and pictures that go along.  One of the recipes that caught me eye was this one.  I am a big fan of using beans in recipes.  They have multiple health benefits, and they are relatively cheap. 

The star of this recipe is chickpeas which are also known as garbanzo beans.  Each half cup serving of these beans contain 6 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein and only 2 grams of fat.  They also have 110 calories in each half cup.  Hope you enjoy this easy snack!

Drain 1 can of chickpeas.  Rinse and dry thoroughly.

Drizzle the chickpeas with a healthy amount of olive oil.  Season to your own taste.  I just used salt and pepper but you could use whatever spices and herbs you prefer.  Roast in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Bon Appetite!