This recipe is awesome!  I could have eaten the entire dish myself.  But I didn’t (well, almost).  I made this for dessert when my parents came for dinner tonight.  I’ve been on a bread pudding kick lately, getting it at any and every restaurant that has it on the menu.  And I’m not sure why I have been craving this specific dessert.  Growing up, my mom would make her own version of this somewhat regularly, but I wouldn’t eat it.  I don’t remember if I just didn’t like it or if I thought it looked mushy or what.  But I love it now.  The actual bread pudding is pretty basic.  Out of all the recipes I have seen over the years, the following is pretty standard.  It’s the fabulous sauce that goes on top of this one that takes this from plain bread pudding to pure, sweet awesomeness!  Try it, I promise you’ll thank me.

Drunken Bread Pudding:

4 cups of bread torn into cubes

2 eggs

2 T. melted butter

2 1/2 cups milk

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325.  Place bread pieces into a 9″ baking dish, keeping the pieces tight together.  Beat eggs, butter, milk and sugar together.  Pour over bread.  Sprinkle pecans on top.  Bake for about one hour, or until golden brown.

Drunken Pudding Sauce:

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup jack daniels whiskey

Combine all in a saucepan.  Stir constantly over low heat until mix reaches a low boil.  Continue cooking about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Serve on individual servings of the pudding.

Completely fabulous!  I think I ate half the dish tonight, with my dad eating the other half.  You could add raisins and/or cinnamon to the pudding, but I’m not into raisins.  You could also leave off the nuts if you are allergic or just don’t like them.  Enjoy!

I found this recipe while on vacation in July.  I pulled it out of a magazine intending to make it for my father-in-law, who loves blueberry pie.  Blueberries are not my favorite fruit, I bought these specifically with this recipe in mind.  They taste great, somewhat tart and firm.  After making sure I had sour cream, I threw this together in less than 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

Creamy Blueberry Pie:

1 refrigerated pie crust

5 cups blueberries

3/4 cup sugar

3 T. corn starch

3 T. water

1 T. lemon juice

8 oz. sour cream

Preheat oven to 400.  Bake pie crust for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely.  In medium saucepan, combine blueberries and sugar.  Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally.  Whisk cornstarch and water together, stir into blueberry mixture.  Bring to boil and cook for 1 minute, or until thickened.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.  Stir in lemon juice.  Add sour cream, stir until well combined.  Pour into crust and chill at least 4 hours or until firm.  Store covered in the refrigerator.

As I mentioned in my last post, my parents rent the same cottage every year in August for a week.  We all go up as one big, extended family (Papa, Oma, Beca, Sara, all the kids and hubbies when they can get out of work) and love each other all week.  My parents have been doing this for seven years now and I love this week.  Every year my boys and I look forward to it.  I tend to take lots of pictures all week, and this year was no exception.  I’ve also realized that my twins like to just wear their underwear all week.  I came home to one whole load of underwear in the laundry, and that’s all.  They swam in them, slept in them and played in them.  Good enough for me.  We spend a lot of time kayaking, a lot of time swimming and a lot of time giving kisses.  And the week would not be complete without watching all the Tiger baseball games!  These are a few of my favorites from the week.

I had the opportunity to photograph Kim and Nick’s wedding in South Bend, Indiana.  The wedding and reception took place at St. Mary’s College.  What a beautiful place for a wedding!  So many spots outdoors and indoors to take awesome wedding shots.  And Kim was a beautiful bride.  I’ve been waiting for one of my brides to wear a wedding dress from the JCrew bridal collection, and she did.  Thanks again Nick and Kim for allowing me to spend this very special day with you and your families.  Enjoy!

To see the slideshow from the beautiful wedding, click here.

Wow, I’m finally home after another week long vacation.  I had the best intentions of blogging every morning, but when I got to the cottage we rented, there was no internet connection and no phone service.  So, we’re back and I’m ready to behave; a blog post every morning 🙂  My parents rent a cottage every year.  My boys and I go and my sister and her family go.  We spend the whole week together and it’s always fun and awesome!  This year, my sister was pregnant for their second baby and due on September 1.  No problem, we all thought, she’ll be fine.  But Monday night, my sister came into my room and woke me up, “I think I’m in labor.”  Needless to say, I ended up driving her in to Grand Rapids on Tuesday morning and by 1130am little Henry Paul was born via repeat c-section weighing in at 5 pounds and 18 inches long.  We went up to see him that night and here are a few of the pics I got.  I will be taking his official newborn pics tomorrow after church.  So watch for a post of those soon to come.  We love you Henry!

Once again I am on vacation for a week, staying at a cottage that my parents rent every year for our entire family.  Every year we spend a week together as a family; my kids and I, my sister and her child and our parents.  Our husbands come out after work a few nights and we all have a wonderful time.  My dad has two kayaks, one is newer and one he bought from someone and it’s got to be at least 30 years old!  This kayak is much bigger and can hold two people easily.  This morning my dad took me out for an early morning ride and I grabbed a few pics.  Unfortunately, I have very limited internet here and no way to edit these shots.  These are straight out-of-camera.  The best part was seeing a mother deer and her two fawns walking through the woods as we coasted by.  What beauty God puts in front of us if we just take the time to look.  I love you Dad for helping me “see” God’s beauty every day and for taking me on these rides every year!