Blizzard food

Next in the Things I Made For Dinner series: breakfast. This is what I think of as perfect snowstorm food - it's warm, it's rich, it's cinnamony, it's vaguely tropical, and it tastes really damn good. Also, it makes your kitchen smell freaking awesome while it bakes. Good for giving you the stamina to trudge through those 3-foot drifts to class. Also it's lactose-free. Don't let that deter you; coconut milk has enough fat in it that you won't miss the butter & cream. (Damn you, milk allergy!)

Blizzard Bread Pudding
4 un-iced cinnamon-raisin buns, or 10-ish slices cinnamin-raisin bread, or cinnamon, raisins, and challah
1 can coconut milk
2 cups almond milk (or milk, but I actually like the almondy flavor)
3 eggs
cinnamon
cardamom
cloves
vanilla
salt
(Brown sugar to taste, but I didn't use any)

Preheat oven to 350. Chop the bread into 1-inch cubes. Spread them in a glass baking dish big enough that they just peek over the top.
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On the stove, warm the milks. Beat the eggs in a bowl & add them. Add a pinch of salt, and roughly a 1:3:5 ratio of cloves:cardamom:cinnamon. Maybe 1 shake cloves, 3 shakes cardamom, spoonful cinnamon? I dunno, I don't measure these things. Also add a little vanilla. 1 tsp-ish? (And sugar, if you're into that.) Mix well.

Pour the liquid over the bread crumbs. Mix it a little so all the bread is covered and it starts to soak up the milk. Bake at 350 for roughly an hour and a half, but start checking after an hour to make sure the top doesn't burn. If you cut it open and the bottom is soggy, bake some more. Eat warm or cold, with a little maple syrup if you like. Go make a snow fort.

Almost Hungarian

Last week, some friends and I made chicken paprikash from a family recipe. (The friend's family, not mine.) This weekend I wanted to make it again, but I didn't have the recipe, or chicken, or paprika, and besides I don't really like bell peppers, which we'd used plenty of. So I made this instead.

Un-Chicken Paprikash-ish
4 links hot Italian sausage, cut into big-ish pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
lots of garlic, minced
2 big carrots, diced
1 jalepeno, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
cayenne pepper
Armadillo Rub or other smoky pepper mix, if you've got it
Salt & black pepper to taste
Corn starch

Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic, carrots, S&P, and sausage. Cook til the sausage is not quite browned.

Add everything else. Simmer for a while, until the veggies are soft and the sausage seems cooked. Use plenty of olive oil. Add some cornstarch and simmer a bit more, until the sauce gets thick and velvety.

Serve over rice, or pasta, or spaetzle, or mop up with bread. In any case, copious starch is mandatory. Some parsley might be nice on top too, if my herb garden weren't buried under a foot of snow.