Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Pudding

This is such a good and easy dessert to make.  I recently made it for a potluck (which is perfect because you can eat it warm or room temp or even cold) and I enjoyed it so much, I made a batch for home just a few days later.  This is really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

1 tablespoon butter
8 slices cinnamon raisin bread
2 cups milk
4 oz chocolate
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
confections sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Spray or butter a 9 inch square baking dish. Toast the
bread and tear each slice into four pieces. Place them in baking dish. Heat chocolate, milk and butter over med until chocolate is melted (stirring frequently). Whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Slowly add the milk/chocolate mixture and stir until combined.  Pour over bread and bake 25 minutes.  Cool for about 15 minutes and top with confectioners sugar (if using).  Otherwise, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Avocado, Tomato, and Heart of Palm Salad

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  This is a delicious, easy to prepare salad. It's a little spicy so if that's not your thing, you can omit the chipotle powder. This is great on its own or over a nice piece of baked chicken (or meat of your choice).
  
  Juice of 1 med lemon
  1 tsp white vinegar (optional)
  1 tsp salt
  1 tsp sugar
  1 tsp chipotle powder
  ½ tsp ground black pepper
  ½ large red onion, diced
  ½ c finely chopped cilantro
  2 med roma tomatoes, diced
  2 large ripe avocados, diced
  5 stalks Hearts of palm (or one large jar), thinly sliced
  1 med lime

  Whisk first 6 ingredients together until spices dissolve. Add everything else except the lime. Lastly, squeeze the lime juice into the bowl and fold the mix together.
  
  That's all there is to it.

  
  

Pita bread, hummus, and tzatziki

Today's lunch consisted of  hummus, tzatziki and pita bread.  These recipes are all pretty easy to prepare and so much better than store bought stuff.  Enjoy! 

Pita Bread

Makes 8 pitas

3 1/2 cups flour (depending on your flour you may need a little less.  Start with 3c and add if it's too sticky)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 packet yeast 

1 1/4 cup room temp water (you may need a little more depending on your flour.  Start with 1 1/4 and work up until it's all incorporated but not too sticky to work with)

2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or shortening

Add yeast to water in a mixer (or a bowl if you're doing by hand) and stir to combine.  Add the flour, salt, sugar and oil and mix on low until combined. Knead on low for about 10 minutes. Check the dough and see if you need to add more flour.  If it's too sticky, add a little more at a time until feels like you can knead it by hand without having it stick to everything. Lightly coat a bowl with oil and put the dough in and cover with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel.  Let double in size (about 1 1/2-2 hours).  Once it's doubled, punch it down to release gas.  Divide dough into 8 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a ball and set on a greased cutting board.  Let rest 20 minutes.  While it's resting, place a cookie sheet upside down in the middle of your oven.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Once the dough has rested, on a floured workspace, roll out the balls into 1/4-1/8 inch thick pita.  Place on the the preheated cookie sheet (I did two at a time) and cook for about 3 minutes.  They will puff up beautifully!  Take them out of the oven and flatten the pita with a spatula. Continue until all 8 pitas are done.  You can store these in a plastic bag for several days. If they last that long.

Tzatziki
2 small contains plain yogurt
1 cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped
4 cloves minced garlic
1T vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of lemon zest or dried lemon peel (optional)
pinch of chipotle powder (optional)

Mix together.  Let chill in fridge for about 30 mins.  Enjoy.



Hummus recipe is linked here.

Life is good!