Featured recipe from Marilu's table * Banana bread pudding

Bread pudding is the perfect comfort food – it's soft and sweet and warm. It smells like home. This particular recipe has the addition of bananas for sweetness and flavor. We love it for a special breakfast food – perhaps for Christmas morning? (Really, how different is bread pudding from French toast? Not all that different when you break it down. So go ahead – enjoy it for the holiday.)

This recipe can be prepared for vegans. Be sure to get vegan bread.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Banana Bread Pudding

Adapted from Totally Dairy Free Cooking, by Louis Lanza

1 liter vanilla soy milk

3/4 cup Sucanat®

3 eggs or equivalent egg replacer, beaten well

4 ripe bananas, mashed really well

1/2 cup raisins

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

a 1-1/2 pound loaf of whole-wheat or spelt cinnamon-raisin bread

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease a 9×13 pan. Cube the bread in 1″ cubes and place in a mixing bowl.

In a saucepan, heat the soymilk over medium heat, but do not boil. Add the Sucanat® and beaten eggs, and stir. Add the bananas, raisins and cinnamon, and stir. Remove from heat.

Pour the soymilk mixture over the bread, and toss gently to combine. Turn the mixture into the 9×13 pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Serve warm.

Tip – If you can't find cinnamon-raisin bread, increase the raisins to 1 cup and the cinnamon to 1-1/2 teaspoons. A half recipe is easily baked in a small casserole dish or a loaf pan.