by izzy

Created on: April 30, 2008

My mom was born in the mid 1920's. The economy was very tight when she was a child. She was one in a family of seven children. I remember hearing stories that were told over and again about the struggles the family faced. I have heard some "Good Time" stories and some "Bad Time" stories, but no matter which story was told, there was always a Mother and a Father trying their best to care for and raise the seven children to be upstanding citizens. Mom and her siblings were taught right from wrong and the consequences that came with wrong doings.

There were many stories that involved favorite holidays, good food (my grandma was an excellent cook, family fun, and luscious desserts made from whatever could be scraped up around the kitchen. One of my mom's favorite desserts was Bread Pudding. Grandma would save all of the bread scraps until she had enough to make Bread Pudding. It didn't take much to make, it was easy to make, and it was a treat.

I recall trying Bread Pudding once when I was a child and thought it was absolutely awful. I'd much rather have cake or pie any day, I thought to myself.
This was not something I would consider a delicious dessert.

Last Mother's Day, I cooked a nice meal for my mother (of course all of my children and grandchildren were here too) to honor her for all the wonderful things she has done for me throughout my life. While planning the meal, I tried to think of a dessert that my mom would like; one that would perhaps remind her of her mother and her childhood. After thinking long and hard, I pulled out my grandma's old cookbook and shuffled through the stained up pages looking for a special dessert. There were handwritten recipes on scraps of paper with no title or directions written. They just listed ingredients. There were recipes written on old doctor's statements (can you believe that a gall bladder surgery and follow up only cost $78.00?). There were recipes written on the front and back cover of the old cookbook, too. There were recipes for pies, cakes, candy, and cookies all scrawled out in grandma's handwriting, mostly in her own particular type of shorthand. Finally, I came to a recipe for Bread Pudding. BINGO! This is it; the special dessert. This would surely bring back some very pleasant childhood memories for my Mother.

I began looking at the recipe and decided that I wanted to make this old dessert better, since the Bread Pudding I remember tasting was not very yummy. You know, I had to improve it a bit. I began with a

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