Savory Asparagus Mushroom Bread Pudding

Oh, man. It's been quite crazy on this end lately, which has led to quite the backlog in recipes. Mea culpa.

I tried this recipe out LOOOOONG LOOOONG ago (after veganizing the original, of course), and I had slightly mixed feelings about the results.

The mixed feelings, however, were not from the fact that the original recipe is a lousy suckfest (I'd bet my left nipple that it's not). Neither were they from the fact that veganizing it made it suck pootie (because it didn't). I think it mostly was because *couIUSEDVANILLASOYYOGURTINSTEADOFPLAINBECAUSEIAMADUMBSHITLIKETHATSOMETIMESgh*.
Laugh if you will. But I'm sure most of you out there have found yourself at the grocery store thinking "Should I spend money on this very LARGE tub of [insert accurate ingredient here] or should I buy this smaller, less expensive [insert slightly INaccurate ingredient here] since all I really need is, like, 2 T. and I don't typically EAT [insert accurate ingredient here], so the rest will just end up sitting in my refrigerator for like 2 months until I finally give in to the fact that it's turned into something resembling purple mold."

Don't deny it.

*Clearing throat*

I also had a bit of a mishap (as I do about once a month or so) with measuring. This time it was with egg-replacer. For some reason all of the sudden I thought 2 t. was 2 T., and I was like, Damn, I don't remember ever having made ANYTHING that requires *this* much egg-replacer. Unfortunately I realized the mistake RIGHT AS the water was poised mid-air in its downward fall towards the egg-replacer, and since I am not Superman and do not have the ability to make time stand still by flying around the earth really fast (he DID do that at some point or another, right?) splat. I salvaged a little, but nonetheless: suckfestery.

But anyways. The *only* other thing I did to fuck with (and thankfully not fuck *up*) this dish was to leave out the dill. Ever since I threw up swedish meatballs down the carpeted stairs of my house when I was in 6th-grade, we've not been real big fans of one another ('cept in pickles). So. Yes. No dill.

Despite all that, it *still* was pretty good. Which I think says something about the recipe, seeing as it still tasted okay despite being slightly vanilla-flavored.

Next time, however: PLAIN yogurt. (I'm not vouching for this recipe until I know for certain that it doesn't taste weirdly sweet with the PLAIN yogurt as well. So if you try it, and it doesn't taste weirdly-vanilla-ish, please do let me know.) And next time, I will definitely use more 'shrooms and asparagus. Oh, and for the record, you can use ANY type of vegan cheez, but I recommend cheddar (mostly because I used mozzarella myself and the whole time kept fantasizing about how I wished I'd had the foresight to have thought of cheddar as it would've been so much beddar... GET IT!
But seriously: cheddar).

INGREDIENTS:

• One 1-pound loaf sourdough or other crusty bread


• 2 1/4 c. soy milk


• 3/4 c. soy yogurt (PLAIN!!!!)


• 1 c. vegetable broth


• Egg substitute for 3 large eggs


• 1 t. salt


• 1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper


• 1/2 tsp dried dill (optional)


• 1/2 t. fresh thyme


• 1/2 t. fresh oregano


• 1 lb. asparagus


• 3 - 4 oz. mushrooms (I used baby 'bellas)


• 1 c. shredded vegan cheez (I used mozzarella, but next time it's TOTALLY gonna be cheddar--I think it'll improve the dish by leaps and bounds)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan or casserole with nonstick cooking spray.
Using a serrated knife, cut the bread into 3/4-inch slices, then stack 4 or 5 slices of bread. Cut them into 3/4-inch cubes. Repeat with the remaining bread and put all of the cubes in a large bowl.

In medium bowl, whish together the soy milk, broth, egg-substitute, salt, pepper, dill (if you're using it), thyme, and oregano until combined. Pour the mixture over the bread (in the bowl).

Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus and cut the spears into 1-inch pieces. Add them to the bread along with the mushrooms. Fold everything together well to combine the ingredients. Spoon them into the prepared pan and pat down the top to compact the ingredients. Sprinkle the cheese evenly ever the top.

Bake the pudding for 45 to 80 minutes (I think mine was closer towards the 80-minute mark--it had too much liquid still in the middle, and it made me unhappy--but judge for yourself), or until the top is browned and crisp and there is no liquid in the center. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting into portions.

(Original recipe at Cupcake Punk)