Apple Bread Pudding

I was almost prepared and on top of things...almost. I bought a loaf of bread on Thursday to make garlic bread to go along with mussels in a tomato & white wine sauce that I was planning for supper. Well, that supper didn't happen, so tonight I was prepared to make it and realized that, while my mussels went off without a hitch, my bread was stale. My large (LARGE) french loaf, which fortunately only cost me $0.98, was crusty and dry.


So what was I to do? I didn't want to waste it, so I went on allrecipes.com and found a recipe for bread pudding, which also worked well since I had hard raisins and soft apples to get ri of as well. After soaking the raisins, they were as good as new.


GRANDMA'S APPLE BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients

PUDDING
4 cups soft bread cubes
1/4 cup raisins
2 cups peeled and sliced apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup margarine
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

VANILLA SAUCE
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 7x11 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, combine bread, raisins, and apples.


In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 3/4 cups milk, and 1/4 cup margarine. Cook and stir until margarine is melted.


Pour over bread mixture in bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and eggs. Pour bread mixture into prepared dish, and pour egg mixture over bread.


Bake in preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes, or until center is set and apples are tender.



While pudding is baking, mix together sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup margarine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.


Serve over bread pudding.