Naan

I love naan, it's so light and delicious. Anytime we go to an Indian restaurant, we always ask for more naan. I decided to make naan because it had to be simple, right? Guess what? Not only was it simple, it's delicious and we can now have fresh naan anytime we want! Perfect with a salad, turn it into a pita or just drizzle melted butter on it. You'll love it!

Ingredients:

1 (.25 ounce) package of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm water

1/4 cup of sugar

3 T of milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons of salt

4 1/2 cups of bread flour

oil (I use olive oil)

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand for about 10 minutes or until the top of the yeast turns frothy. Stir in the sugar, milk, egg, salt and flour. On a dry surface, add flour and knead dough for a few minutes. Place dough ball into a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. I've made this dough at noon, and let it rise until 7 p.m., or you can just let it rise for an hour, makes no difference really.

Once the dough has risen, punch down the dough to release air. Pinch off small handfuls of the dough, about the size of a tennis ball and place back into oiled bowl, repeat until you have used all your dough and turned into small balls. Place wet towel over the bowl and let rise for another 15-30 minutes.

You can either use your bbq grill to cook these or your oven (I use a natural stone pizza slab to cook these at 500 degrees). Cook for 3 minutes and then flip for another 1 minute. They will puff up a bit.

Because we like burn marks on ours, I place our naan over our gas fire indoor grill and toast them up a bit. If you use your outdoor bbq, you can get great grill marks that way too.

Almond Bread Pudding

My husband was heading over to my parents home to pick up something from dad when I realized I needed a can of tomatoes from my moms pantry (I didn't feel like going to the store for one thing). I called her and asked if she had a can and she said, "I sure do". When my husband came home he didn't have the can in hand, he had a HUGE bag of food my mom gave us! Lots of boxes of Mac and Cheese for our son, mangos, the can of tomatoes I needed, 3 cans of soup and a big loaf of sliced bread, the good kind. We hardly eat bread in our home but I didn't want to waist this bad boy so I remembered how dad always use to talk about bread pudding, so I made one for him. He & my mom loved it.

Usually bread pudding calls for raisins but I didn't care to add raisins to it, so I left it out but I did include almond extract. Makes the world of a difference. So remember, if you ever have 5-6 slices of bread left, USE THEM UP! Make some bread pudding.

What you need:

6 slices of bread

2 T of butter, melted

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground all-spice (optional)

1 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of almond extract (optional)

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Break bread into small pieces and place into an 8 inch baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over the bread. If you choose to add raisins, sprinkle over bread and butter. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, spices and extracts and mix well.

Pour liquid mix over the bread and take a spoon and flatten the bread down to make sure it's fully coated.

Bake for 45 minutes. Allow 30 minutes to cool and let bread set.

READER SUBMISSION FRIDAYS

T.G.I.F...because that means it's READER SUBMISSION FRIDAY! First let me say that I'm really happy that every one is getting into this foodie blogging that Jen and I just recently started doing. It's turned into such a fun hobby and I love all the participation...thanks folks! Keep the recipes (and if you want..pictures as well) coming...we LOVE them! Now on to business....Today we are featuring none other than my crazy and fun loving cousin Jana Murphy... and her family...from the pictures it looks like this was a team effort.

I really need a clearer pic of you Jana...this is all I could find. Sorry!

I don't have the recipe yet (um, er, Jana...you actually have to send the most pertinent information...the actual recipe would be really helpful), but as soon as she emails me I will update this post.

Quick Bio by Jaime: Jana is my first cousin...my aunt Marti's daughter. She is more like our adopted sister though. She is an only child and has always kinda been like one of us kids....the Guill kids that is. We torture her mercilessly and deep down, she know she loves it. She is better known as Jana Banana and I'm really trying to get her to patent that name...no such luck yet!

She is married to Ken who is good friends with my dad...it's frightening how much they look and act alike...it's like Jana married my dad...eeeewwwwww.

Just kidding Ken, we love ya! They have one absolutely zany fun loving crazy adorable daughter...River McKenna Maggie Murphy...now that's Irish for ya folks.

I cannot say enough about Jana. Not only is she sooo beautiful (my son Gavin gets his beautiful blue eyes from her...she told me say that), she is kind and generous. She has so much love to give. Everytime she comes to visit from Cali, she never comes without gifts for everyone (and they are always wrapped!). She writes letters, emails, sends pictures and calls weekly. She is one of those people that you know will always have you in her thoughts come rain or shine. So with out much further ado, I give you Jana Banana's Bruschetta.

Great Mother Daughter Team!

I love kids that like to help cook.

Good job River!

Ken thinks "WOW, Jana, can cook and it's GOOD!"

That's all folks...BON APPETITE!