Sweeter Things in Life

Well, I don't know why I'm so hung up on sweets, or what I call, "The Sweeter Things in Life", but I am.

When I was a kid, my mom would fix this dessert that she always called, "Cold Bread Pudding".   I mean it was fantastic!!!  The six of us kids absolutely loved it, and if she ever makes it today, who ever gets some of it, rubs it in to the others that they didn't get any!  Talkin' about being mean!!!

It required left over home made biscuits.  My mom made about three or four dozen biscuits every morning of her life for more than thirty years.  She could make those things in her sleep.  She had this old biscuit board that she would take out of the cabinet every morning and then she would get her flour, lard, and milk and set out to making her biscuits.  Her biscuits were on the thin side, which we all loved!!!  They had a good crust on the top and bottom, but were tender in the middle, just ready and waiting to soak up a slather of homemade butter!!! They were also perfect for making a bacon or sausage biscuit, for covering with that thick sawmill gravy, and perfect for red eye gravy and ham.   It makes me long for one of her biscuits with mamaw's freshly churned, and hand made butter!!!

Anyway, in order to make this recipe, you had to have seven or eight day old biscuits.  Good grief, find a day old biscuit in our house!!!!  You was lucky to find an hour old biscuit in our house.  So, if we ever had a "cold bread pudding", mom had to make extra and hide them for a day.  That in itself was another story!  They were better because they had time to dry out a little to make them more absorbent for the sauce that you poured over the biscuits to make the pudding. 

When she finally did fix us a cold bread pudding, it was the most delectable thing that my unrefined palate ever tasted.  How in the world could something so plain and simple be so good!!!  And it is still as good today as I remember it being when I was a child.  She could make the biggest, fluffiest, stiffest, meringues you ever seen.  Spread that freshly made meringue on top of the cold bread pudding and brown it in the oven and I am tellin' you, it truly was a sight to behold!!!  I'm gonna beg her to make one for me when I go visit her sometime, and I will prove it to you!!!

But, until I have a picture to share, I will share her recipe, of sorts.  Its really hard to share recipes when there is nothing written, but I managed to talk her into writing the recipe, and here it is:

Susie's Biscuit Pudding (Susie was my grandmother)

1 tablespoon corn starch-mixed with a little of the milk
2 1/2 cups of milk
2 egg yolks, beaten with fork
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup of sugar-add more if it isn't sweet enough to you likin'
dash of salt
1 teaspoon of REAL vanilla

Mix cornstarch in a little bit of the milk.  Then add the rest of ingredients in a medium sized saucepan.

Cook and stir, till it starts to thicken a tiny bit, just until it starts to boil.  Set off heat.    Take seven or less, day old biscuits, slice each one about three times and start layering them in a 2 quart casserole dish.   On each layer, spoon the thin pudding over biscuits.  Repeat till all pudding is gone.  The key to this is having enough pudding so it is really moist and the biscuit absorbs all the pudding.   You don't want your biscuits to have dry spots in the pudding.

Take the whites from the eggs and fix a meringue from your favorite recipe and spread on top of pudding all the way to the edge of the dish and pop in preheated 350 degree oven just till browned a little.

Just thinking about about this takes me back to a time of kids playing in the yard, laughing and romping, and playing red rover, climbing trees and catching tad poles.  I sure hope and pray that you have a few special memories you can remember from days gone by.  I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the fabric of my life.

As you continue about your day, remember those in your life that are facing uncertain days.  That would be just about all of us, really.  Our days may be uncertain, but if you know Jesus Christ, you can be certain that He'll walk with you through every second of today.  Look for ways to share Jesus with the people you come in contact with today.

Hugs and enjoy the sweeter things in your life, Patty