2 Missions, 1 Success!

This weekend was full of great weather and fun but I had two things (missions) I really wanted to get to! One was to create a Gluten Free dish for Mission Makeover (aka Mission Mondays). This is where I tweak a recipe to make it healthier and gluten free and then Bre (aka the Celiac triathlete) tries it out for herself up in Canada. I think this is our 4th or 5th recipe to makeover.
The second mission was for a family outing (and when I say family I mean the hubs and pup). This would be no ordinary outing though. It was for the GYPSY TRAILER PICNIC FESTIVAL! Lots of trailer bites to eat, live music, and dog friendly! I’ll get to that in a minute….
Back to Mission Makeover. Bre had never tried Bread pudding before and being that it was a childhood favorite of mine, I was on a MISSION to make the best GLUTEN FREE puddin’ out there. I decided to go with a savory “dinner” bread pudding. I found one or two recipes that got my creative juices rolling and then voila………..

Savory Bread Pudding with Persimmon,

Spinach, & Sage Sausage

Ingredients

• 1 cup Egg Beaters
• 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other milk of choice)

Seasonings

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• handful each of fresh basil or 1 frozen basil cube
• 1/4 teaspoon of garlic

Bread & filling

• 4 Large Gluten Free bread slices cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2-3 cups fresh spinach
• 1 persimmon- diced ( you can also use apple or pear)
• 3/4 cup diced cooked chicken sausage (I used Apple Gate Farms chicken and sage sausage)

Topping

• 1.5 ounces raw white cheddar cheese or other dairy free cheese (cut in strips or shredded)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat an 8 x 8-inch glass baking dish or casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. To prepare custard: Whisk egg beaters and almond milk in a medium bowl. Add mustard, salt, pepper and thawed basil: whisk to combine.
3. Toss bread, spinach, persimmon, and sausage in a large bowl. Add the egg and seasoning mixture and mix well, coating all the bread. Transfer to your baking dish and push down to even out and until the mixture hits all 4 corners evenly.
4. Bake for about 10- 15 minutes, remove and add your cheese on top. Then bake for another 10 minutes until the egg mixture looks almost fully cooked and the cheese is almost melted. Broil the last 3-4 minutes in order to get the cheese browned and corners crispy! 

NOTE: Oven temps may vary so make sure you watch the dish carefully.

I spy Cholula sauce on top…….

The hubs was pretty keen on this dish. In fact, the whole dish was gone within 24 hours. It made for some pretty delicious brunch the next day as well!
Moving onto Mission 2….GYPSY Trailer Picnic Food Festival. Lets just say we learned a few things from this so called Mission.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Check what other festivals are going on downtown. If there are 3 or more within walking distance, um….DON’T GO!! Crowds and lack of parking are not our forte!

2. If bringing the pups, bring extra doggy poop bags in case there are NO MORE in the park. EEK!!

 

 

 

3. If each line wraps around the park twice, don’t bother waiting in line for food because by the time you get there, they will be sold out of EVERYTHING!

4. And finally, just suck it up and enjoy the day! At least you are in good company and enjoying fabulous weather!

The Cotter Boys on the right (bro in law and the hubs) enjoying the only tacos left! haha!
I know a lot of you all had big Missions this past weekend……Ironman and marathon racing, Food Blogger Events and Festivals, Long runs and Training rides, etc. Biggest Lessons learned??
Cheers,
LC
p.s.
Stayed tuned for Bre’s recipe feedback sometime next week.