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Yes, yes, banana bread. I love it personally, and I frequently make banana muffins or a loaf with my overripe bananas. But how about something different?
Use your overripe bananas for Bread Pudding! They sub in for the sugar, and make the bread pudding moist and delicious. You’ll find a basic Bread Pudding formula in my book. My goal with Zero Waste Cooking For Dummies® was to inspire you to waste less food. However, I also to inspire you to unleash your own creativity! In this recipe, I used the Soda Bread with Dried Cherries that I made earlier in the month. I froze the leftovers, and used it in this recipe. This Bread Pudding is definitely more delicious than the ripe bananas and leftover soda bread would be on their own!
It’s not meal planning, it’s planning to use your food
Food prices are skyrocketing due to multiple factors along the food supply chain (including fuel prices). Throwing away food is the same as throwing your money away. You might not think twice about throwing a banana into the trash, but now is a good time to stop and save your money.
What if you start thinking about food in the same way you think about caring for your dog, cat or child. You wouldn’t just put them in a room, close the door, and never check on them right? No! So why do you do that with your bananas or the other food on your counter or in your refrigerator-freezer?
In fact, you probably have bananas on your counter, staring at you, right now.
Bread Pudding to the Rescue
Bread pudding is a food waste hero because it used up stale bread. You’ll see tips about that featured on page 283 of my book. The beauty of a bread pudding, is that you can really change up some of the ingredients as long as you have the stale bread, eggs and some other liquid (in this case milk and pureed bananas). You can add different spices (nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, allspice – or even make it savory). You can add different types of sugar, or less sugar (in this case I omitted sugar because the bananas offered both sweetness and moisture).
So many possibilities! Tell me what combinations of bread, spices and fruit you come up with!
Zero Waste Banana Bread-Pudding
Ingredients
- 3 cups stale bread, cubed I used Soda Bread with Dried Cherries
- 3 ripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons brown or granular sugar
- Fresh berries
- Whipped cream optional
Instructions
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Butter the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch or 2-quart baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350F.
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Place all ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and combined (about 1-2 minutes).
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Pour the creamy banana-egg mixture over the bread cubes. Top with sugar and bake for 45-50 minutes, until center is set.
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Cool slightly and serve (or eat at room temperature). Spoon into serving dishes and top with berries and optional whipped cream.
Notes
The bananas replace sugar in traditional bread pudding recipes. They add both sweetness and moisture.
