Savory Bread Pudding

I came across this article, "No Crumb Left Behind" in the San Francisco Chronicle. It details 33 different ways to use leftover bread -a perfect, practical read for these scrimping and saving times!

One of my favorite ways to stretch leftover bread into a meal is to use it in a savory bread pudding. The essential ingredients are: bread, eggs and milk. To this you can add whatever you need to use up from your fridge or your pantry: herbs, cheese, peppers, aromatics, etc.

Here's a loosy-goosy recipe for what I did this week with 5 uneaten bagels leftover from weekend brunch.

Savory Bread Pudding
Set oven to 350 degrees.

Tear up bread (bagels in this case) into large bite sized pieces and place in a 13x17 inch casserole dish coated with cooking spray.

Saute 1 teaspoon diced garlic and 1 diced onion (white, yellow or red) in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until soft and translucent. Cool in pan.

Whisk together 6-8 eggs and approximately 1 cup milk with salt and pepper. Fold in herbs (I used chives), peppers (2 diced jalepenos), cooled onion and garlic, shredded chicken (or any other protein you may have) and about 3/4 cup shredded cheese (I had cheddar)

Pour egg mixture on top of bread. Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Let stand for about 10 minutes.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until top is brown and cheese is melted.