Beach, Salad and Bread Pudding YAY!

I don't wish to gloat but it has been a glorious day here on the Costa Blanca - the whiff of Spring is most certainly in the air and I feel my nerves a-twitching to do some much needed Spring cleaning and airing out of nooks and crannies. But rather than do that, I went for a walk along the beach instead. HURRAH!

Sea and fresh air always gives me an appetite and I enjoyed a delicious dinner of Tuna Friendly Tuna, Baby Leaf Salad, Avocado and Cauliflower Salad. It was gorgeous and I could eat it all over again. Everything except the Chickpeas in the Tuna Friendly Tuna was raw too!

Yummah!

But onto the Bread Pudding recipe 'cos I know I promised you all and I've been keeping you waiting long enough. This is a childhood favourite of mine and the fact it uses up old Bread just appeals to my thrifty nature even more than the fact it's delicious - well maybe not more but it's pretty darn close! My mum always made Bread Pudding by using Tea and though I've not tried this recipe with Fruit or Herb Teas - I'm sure keen on doing some experimenting with them 'cos I reckon that would be a winner too. Bread Pudding makes 8 slices Ingredients 8 slices stale white Bread (crusts or a mix of half and half) 1 1/2 cups (300ml) of cold English Tea Handful crushed Almonds 12 Dried Prunes, roughly chopped 12 Dried Apricots, roughly chopped 80 grams/half a cup Sultanas 1/2 teaspoon Mixed Spice 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup 60ml/1 third of a cup Soya Milk Method Tear the Bread up into chunks and place in a big bowl. Pour over the cold Tea and stir round. Leave for an hour stirring every so often to make sure all the Bread soaks up the Tea. Beat out any lumps. Add the Almonds and Fruit and give a good stir. Add the Mixed Spice, stir. Add the Maple Syrup and Milk and give everything a really good stir. Grease a 7 by 10 inch pan with Marg and spoon the mixture in, making sure to even it out with the back of the spoon. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for and hour and a half. Keep an eye on it and if the top goes really brown then cover with aluminium foil for the remaining baking time. Use a spatula to loosen the edges when it comes out of the oven but leave it to cool before removing from the pan. Sprinkle with white Sugar and cut into 8 equal slices.

Nom Nom Nom