banana bread pudding.

my friend mere is beyond brilliant in every way but now i've realized she's also even a bit psychic. i've been buying this bunch of ten bananas each week from target for $2 and i can never seem to get through all of them without losing a few poor unfortunate souls. last time i only had to put three down, but still it saddened me and frustrated my competitive nature that was keeping track of money in vs. money out. now i'd thought of banana bread, of course i've thought of banana bread, but well i was pretty sick of it to be honest. but this banana bread  pudding was a new idea that required  less ingredients, less time and better taste. i don't think i will ever doubt dear mere bear again.

this recipe was modified from all recipes, which is sure to become one of my favorite new cooking sites. first start off with 1 cup of oatmeal, 4 pieces of whole wheat bread (the bread i used is even healthier than whole wheat bc nelzo bought the double fiber bread this week!) and 2.5 cups milk.

cube bread, put in bowl with oatmeal and top with milk. make sure bread and oatmeal are fully coated in milk. let soak for about 30 minutes.

now you'll need to get your other ingredients ready. sooo one of the reasons i picked this recipe is because i had all the ingredients on hand. or so i thought. i was very low on regular sugar but i was sure i had almost a whole bag of brown sugar. but guess what? i totally made that up because after removing every item from my pantry (what the brown sugar can't fit behind the sprinkles?), i realized i was really out. the oven was already preheating by this point and i didn't have time to run to the store. so the saving grace? yep, the good old internets people. you simply google: "make brown sugar."note: i am the best googler! this recipe is just two things: white sugar and molasses. luckily i had just enough white sugar left: 1/3 cup. so for every cup of white sugar you add 2 tablespoons which is 6 teaspoons of molasses. so to my 1/3 cup white sugar i addded 2 teaspoons of molasses (yes, i'm awesome at math too).

add the molasses to the sugar and keep stirring with a fork till it resembles brown sugar. at first you'll have sort of a clumpy sticky mess but within about a minute it should resemble this.

i was so impressed with myself after this! i felt like i was a farm wife in olden times of yore and i had churned my own butter, milked the cows and spun my own thread before 4am. all while watching hbo on demand,  checking my facebook via my iphone and buying itunes on my laptop of course. the modern woman at home if you will.
now add the brown sugar to the bread mixture. along with 4 sliced bananas. perfectly ripe right?

and some spices, i teaspoon of vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

and 1/4 cup (half stick) unsalted butter. my butter was ice cold so i put in a pan to soften it a bit

and then add all these ingredients to your bread/oatmeal/milk mixture and spread into a sprayed 8x8 pan

bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. mine took about 55 minutes.

 

close up. 

only let this cool for a hot minute, no 60 minute man will be needed today. real women eat dessert esp for breakfast.