Sausage and Carmelized Onion Bread Pudding

Most bread puddings I've had are sweet. They were either for breakfast or dessert. I was in the mood for something savory and it was lunch time but I still wanted bread pudding for some reason. I can't decipher the reasoning behind my stomach and tastebuds sometimes but I just go with it. So I decided to go for a savory bread pudding.

A friend was coming to visit and I wanted to surprise her with something different. I turned it into a brunch. I went with this Sausage and Carmelized Onion Bread Pudding as it was light, yet filling.



4 oz pork sausage
1/2 c water
1 1/3 c milk
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
8 slices french bread, day old, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and cook for about 10 minutes or until carmelized into a beautiful brown, stirring occasionally. Stir in water and cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove onions from pan to a small bowl and set aside. Coat pan again with cooking spray. Crumble sausage into pan. Stir and cook until browned. Add onions back to pan and stir to combine. Once combined, pour onto a paper towel covered plate or bowl. This will help soak up any additional grease. Set aside.

Whisk together, milk, salt, eggs and egg white. Add bread and gently toss to coat all pieces.

Stir the sausage and onion mixture into the bread mixture. Spray a 8-9 inch baking dish. Add the combined mixture. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Apple Monkey Bread

I'm sure I've mentioned it before but I absolutely love the smell of cinnamon and sugar!  Make a dessert using the heavenly ingredients as a main feature and put it in the oven and I'm done for!  Some of my favorites: Cinnamon Rolls, Snickerdoodle cookies, Coffee Cake.  I have been itching to try out a semi-homemade monkey bread for months now.  I had some energy and luckily the ingredients and decided it was time to give in to the temptation.  I made 4 individual servings which was really convenient.  I'll admit, if I made just one big one, I would have just eaten it all by myself in one sitting with no regrets.  None!

The caramel sauce that pools at the bottom of the dish is sinful but soooo good!  You can also make your own glaze or caramel sauce to add on top.

1 can biscuits (I used Grands flaky layers)
1 c sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 small green apple, cored, peeled and finely diced

Melt the butter in a small bowl.  In a separate small bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar.  Cut the biscuits in quarters so you'll have 4 pieces from each biscuit.  I set piles of 6 pieces aside for each ramekin.  I worked in batches and dipped biscuit pieces in butter, then rolled in the cinnamon and sugar.  Add to ramekins.  Then rolled the diced apple pieces in cinnamon and sugar and sprinkled about 1 tablespoon in each ramekin.   Bake for 16-18 minutes or until biscuits are cooked through.   Serves 4 individual ramekins.

Mexican Pasta Bake

Spring has definitely arrived!  The DFW area was hit by a couple of tornadoes yesterday.  The sirens started going off just after lunch while we were at work.  We took shelter in the bathrooms at least 3 times.  The boss finally decided we weren't going to get any work accomplished for the rest of the day and allowed us to go home if we wanted.  There tornadoes that touched down caused destruction in various places.  Luckily, no one I know was injured or had any damage.  My thoughts go out to those that lost their homes.  Check this out to see some crazy pictures. 

People were anxious to get home to their families so we were released from work when there was a break in the storm.  The storms in my area were finally calm to a light rain when I got home so I decided to take advantage of the extra time to make something new and hopefully delicious for dinner.  I used the same ingredients I usually throw in a crockpot and decided to make a casserole out of it.   My husband said this is better than the crockpot version.   Try it out either way.  **If you go the crockpot route, add everything to the crockpot except the pasta and cream cheese.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add pasta and cream cheese the last hour of cooking on turn on high.

1 lb pasta (Any tube or corkscrew pasta would work best, I used rigatoni)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (if you do crockpot method, you can put it in raw)
1 c chicken broth
1/2 block cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 c salsa
1 small can diced green chiles
1-15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 c mixed veggies (I used the frozen peas, corn, green beans and carrot mix)
2 c cheddar jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cook pasta according to package.   Drain and add to large bowl with veggies and stir.   Set aside.  In a separate medium bowl, mix together the chicken broth, cream cheese, cumin, salt and salsa.  Stir into pasta and veggies.  Add green chiles and veggies.   Pour half the pasta mix into a buttered 9x13 baking dish.  Sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded cheese.   Add remaining pasta mix and top with remaining cheese.   Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and bubbly. 

Sublime Chocolate in Allen

I hosted my friend's Bachelorette Bash last weekend.   The fabulous weekend consisted of shopping, chick flicks, delicious drinks, disco dancing and much needed girl time!  Best of all, we stopped in at Sublime Chocolate in Allen, TX.  So I wanted to share our wonderful and memorable experience. 

We were shopping in the area and decided to enjoy a few treats and take a break in between stores.  I had recently read a great article on a foodie blog and knew it would be a great treat for the ladies.  I also noticed they were voted Best Chocolate in Dallas by the D Magazine!  It's a cozy chocolate shop in the Watters Creek shopping center off Bethany & 75. 

We were warmly greeted and welcomed with smiles from the 2 ladies behind the counter.  They offered us samples of the sipping chocolate in milk, white and dark flavors.  I had the pleasure of tasting the white chocolate which was perfectly creamy and very rich!  So good!

I purchased a sampler box so we could each pick a piece and share.  A small sampler includes 6 pieces of your choice.   It comes in a beautiful box with 2 layers of 3 openings for the delicate bites.  They told me if I bring my box back when I visit again, I receive a free piece of chocolate with a purchase of another sampler. Yay!!

We also decided that drinks were necessary to go with our treat so we tried everything from the Chai Tea, Frozen Hot Chocolate to Frozen Mocha.   All flavors were phenomenal!  If you haven't tried this place, it is a MUST!

We tried the following chocolates and passed them around to take bites of each.  The Soyokaze and Chile & Lime were definitely up there as far as favorites for most of us.  Although it was hard to decide because they were all delectable.   I'm pulling these descriptions from my memory so this is as close to the details as I could remember.

• Milk Chocolate Truffle -  Milk chocolate shell filled with milk chocolate ganache
• Caramel with Sea Salt - Creamy caramel covered in milk chocolate sprinkled with sea salt crystals
• Golden Curry and Coconut - Milk chocolate shell filled with a chocolate curry ganache and flakes of coconut
• The Caliente - Dark chocolate heart filled with a dark chocolate ganache infused with chile powder, cayenne pepper and cinnamon
• Soyokaze - Mango, coconut filling in a dark chocolate shell
• Chile and Lime - Dark chocolate infused with fresh lime and dried habanero chile