Raisin Bread Stuffing

1 Cup hot water
2 Chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 Cup diced onion
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp poultry seasoning
dash ground pepper
1 Apple -cored, chopped, unpeeled
2 Tablespoons butter – melted
3 Cups torn/crumbled raisin bread (or enough to soak up the liquid)

Dissolve the bouillon cubes in the hot water.  Add the rest of the spices.  Combine the water mixture with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl.  Stir until all the liquid has been dissolved into the bread.

Spray a bread pan or square cooking pan with nonstick cooking spray.   Put the stuffing in the pan and cover with tin foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for forty minutes.

Here’s a photo of the stuffing.  The stuffing is on the right and boozy pork roast is on the left.

Bread Pudding

8 cups torn/crumbled bread
3 cups milk
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup raisins
¼ cup butter
1 t vanilla
¼ t salt
¼ t nutmeg
3 eggs

1 – Start out by putting the milk, sugar, raisins, butter, vanilla, salt and nutmeg in a saucepan. Set the temperature on low and let it slowly warm while you deal with the rest of the preparation. The goal is to have the milk just start to boil (and not burn) by step 4.

2 – Take a small square pan and put tap water in it until you’ve got about an inch of water. Put the water-filled pan on the lower oven rack. Set the oven at 350 degrees. The water and the temperature will create a nice steamy environment for the pudding.

3 – Grease a 2 quart baking or casserole dish. Put the crumbled bread into the baking or casserole dish.

As an aside let me mention that this is a great way to use up extra bread. We save all of our bread heals in the freezer until we have enough for a batch of bread pudding.

4 – Beat the eggs gently in a medium bowl. Now we turn back to the cooking milk mixture. Ideally it will be just starting to gently boil. (Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn at the bottom. ) Once you see a few bubbles take it off the heat and add a few tablespoons of the mild mixture into the eggs and stir it around. Then add the egg mixture to the milk.

5 – Pour the milk and eggs over the bread. Gently stir to distribute the raisins and make sure that all the bread gets wet. Open the oven (brace yourself for the steam) and put the pudding on the upper rack. Cook for one hour.

When you serve you can top this with honey, jam or cream.