savoury veggie bread pudding with v8-tequila sauce

OK, so I got a little carried away here! It all started when we had some leftover artisan roasted garlic bread and it was a little on the stale side (nice crusty bread hardly ever gets old around here, though - this was a fluke for sure). What to do? I just looked up a basic bread pudding recipe (complete with cinnamon, raisins, and vanilla), looked around the kitchen for savoury substitutions, and went a little mad (not so unusual, actually).

I had bought some mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and yellow squash, so I sliced 'em up and sauteed in a little olive oil. Meanwhile, I chopped the bread, had Matthew help me mix up the grated cheese, milk, and eggs, added a few extras, slopped it all together in a greased pan, and baked in a nice relaxing jacuzzi (aka water bath) for a bit.

And shhhhhh, don't tell anybody (oh, maybe I already gave it away in the title), but I made a creamy milky tomato sauce with leftover V8 juice and a few sloshes (whoopsies) of tequila! Mmmmm.

Ahhh, what a lovely bath...

For the savoury veggie bread pudding you'll need:

• 3/4 loaf stale roasted garlic bread, cubed (or use regular bread and add garlic)
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 c. grated sharp cheese
• 4.5 c. whole milk
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 yellow squash, halved lengthwise and then thinly sliced
• 2 c. sliced mushrooms
• 2 small onions, diced
• olive oil for sauteing
• seasoned salt
• 1/4 c. flaxseed meal
• grated parmesan and romano cheeses

For the V8-tequila sauce you'll need:

• 6 T butter
• 6 T flour
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 3/4 c. V8 juice
• few splashes tequila
• seasoned salt
• ground black pepper
• powdered garlic

Do this:

Saute the veggies with seasoned salt in olive oil till tender, then beat the eggs, milk, grated sharp cheese, and flaxseed meal in a large bowl. Toss in the bread and veggies to coat, then dump it all into a greased pan. Grate or shake the grated cheeses over the top. Set that pan in a larger pan with sides, place in a preheated 350 F/180 C oven, then pour hot water into the larger pan on the bottom, about 1 inch deep. Bake about an hour, checking to see that it doesn't get too browned on top - if it does, just cover with foil till done.

Make the sauce just like you would a regular white sauce. (I like to use a wire whisk to avoid any clumps.) Melt the butter in a pan, toss in your flour bit by bit, whisking all the while (whistling if you like, and if you can). Slowly add in the milk and V8 juice, still whisking, and then season with powdered garlic, seasoned salt, black pepper, and slosh in a bit of that fragrant tequila. Simmer (while whisking, of course) till thickened.

Serve in big whopping helpings with a happy splash of sauce on top. Eat with a spoon and a croon.

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I haven't been doing much food blogging lately, but of course I've been cooking and eating! Can't stop me!

A few things I've made (and devoured) recently:

• cranberry sauce (I can get fresh cranberries now - yea!!!) - great on vanilla or chocolate ice cream
  
• peanut butter and choco shortbread (and don't worry, if you use self-rising flour instead of all-purpose and it ends up too salty, just crumble the shortbread over ice cream - yum)
• apple and sour cherry crumble (just made this one up)
• silken tofu chocolate peanut-butter pie
• pumpkin cheesecake
• carrot curry soup
• butternut squash soup
  
• lentil stew (a must-have for Wisconsin winters)
• our favorite green smoothie lately: 2 T flaxseed meal, 2 bananas, 3 clementines, 2 mangoes, plain yogurt, honey, a splash or two of orange juice, and heaps of organic baby spinach and romaine lettuce
• and lots more!
  

Planning on making Tribeca Yummy Mummy's cranberry curd just as soon as I can buy some more eggs. I promise I'll let ya know how it is and what I slather it on.