Rhubarb Bread Pudding

There isn't too much ready to be harvested yet on my little homestead, but two things I do have in abundance are eggs and rhubarb. This recipe uses plenty of both, and also got a vote of "yummy!" from all of the kids!

You may think that this looks a lot like my recipe for Overnight French Toast Bake, and you'd be right - it's pretty much the same thing, just with the seasonal addition of a thick layer of rhubarb.

Rhubarb Bread Pudding

Cubed Bread (enough to generously fill the bottom of an 8x8 square baking pan)
3-4 cups chopped rhubarb stems
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)

Layer bread and rhubarb; sprinkle spices and nuts over all. In a separate bowl, mix:
6 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup (or sweetener of choice plus vanilla)
1 1/2 cups milk (either buttermilk or sweet milk both work fine)

Pour liquid over dry ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Serve hot or cold.

This can be made ahead: simply refrigerate after adding the liquid ingredients, then bake at your convenience (I often refrigerate this overnight for baking in the morning).

Once you've mastered this recipe, you can easily change it up with whatever seasonal fruit you have available. I've yet to find a fruit that doesn't work!

Simple Home Smoked Ham

In my previous post I outlined how I make bacon from our home-grown pork; to make ham, I use the same basic recipe, with just a couple of tweaks:

1.Cure the meat for a longer period of time. Since it's a bigger cut of meat, I like to cure it for three days instead of just one, which gives the salt more time to permeate the pork.

2. The other change was for my husband's preference. In my first attempts at curing ham, I followed the bacon recipe exactly, just leaving it in the refrigerator longer, as I said. When I made a pot of potato soup, however, my husband requested that I leave out the maple syrup when I make ham - the sweet flavor just didn't taste right in the savory soup. So I changed that as well, and the recipe became even more simple: just salt and smoke.

Simple Home Smoked Ham

2 pounds pork roast
3 Tbsp salt (I use canning/pickling salt because of the finer texture)
Smoke as in the bacon recipe, again to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. This will take a little longer than for the bacon due to the thickness of the meat.
Feel free to adjust the recipe to whatever size cut of meat you have; just try to keep the same meat to salt ratio.

I should note that the finished ham will be fully cooked in the smoker; no further cooking is necessary, so you can go ahead and slice it for your sandwiches!



Please note - the links above are affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking I will receive a small commission, but your price remains the same. Thank you for your support!