Rebounding From Raw Food

As much as I wish this was a post about how good I felt after a day of raw food, it just isn't.  In fact, it is quite the opposite.  It was a terrible day.  I was tired and hungry the whole day.  I couldn't even have coffee?!  What kind of life is that?!  I have so much respect for people who adhere to a raw diet, it is hard.  Granted, I don't think we really did it properly.  We basically just ate fruits and vegetables all day, which I am all for... but I had trouble incorporating any grains and protein into my diet that day.  By dinner time we were starving and weak (mentally).  We tried to tackle these marinated veggie wraps with kale as the wrap, but couldn't bring ourselves to finish making it and left the house in a tizzy to go out to dinner at this raw place in Berkeley (Cafe Gratitude).  Now, this restaurant is a vegan restaurant that also has some raw selections... sounds right up my alley, right?  Unfortunately, I now have a negative associate with it.  To sum up the dinner, this is a quote from my dear roommate post eating our entrees:

"I'm not going to punish myself with dessert!" 


'Nuff said.

And the worst thing about the whole day?  Our other roommates (including the one that bet we wouldn't be successful) went to our favorite restaurant for dinner that same night!  The horrors.  They got some very angry text messages from me during dinner, including some harsh emoticons.  

After our raw day, we felt the need to swing in the other direction and found ourselves succumbing to gluttony the rest of the weekend.  For a dinner party on Saturday night, it was requested that I make Bananas Foster for dessert.  Normally, I would have been delighted.  But not this time, I complained that it wasn't fattening enough and I wasn't going to punish my roommate again with dessert.  The last thing I wanted was another meal that consisted primarily of a fruit or vegetable.  Anyone who knows me well that is reading this is going to think I have gone crazy (my boyfriend has been quoted as saying, "Why do you have to put vegetables in everything?!" in reference to my culinary decisions).  I decided that the bananas foster would only be allowed if it were mixed in with brioche and cream and served with ice cream.  I didn't have to twist too many arms :-).

I bring to you:

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse's Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

Materials:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 loaf brioche bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 5 bananas, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch disks 
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• salt

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Grease a 9' by 12' baking dish and set aside
3. Whisk together the eggs, cream, 1/2 cup brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl.
4. Add in the brioche cubes and mix around until the bread is completely coated.
• I recommend getting in there with your hands here.
5. Set aside the cream and brioche mixture and allow the bread to absorb all the liquid, about 10 minutes.
6. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat.
7. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar and cinnamon and cook until the sugar has dissolved. 
8. Add the bananas and cook about 3 minutes until the bananas are nice and soft.
• Flip the bananas halfway so they are cooked evenly.
9. Add the rum, give it a stir, and carefully light on fire.

We had a little flambe' incident... oops!

1. Shake the pan back and forth until the flame dies. 
2. Remove from heat and let cool. 
3. Add the cooled banana mixture to the bread and mix thoroughly.
4. Pour into the baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.

Unfortunately, this went so fast that I didn't get any good pictures.  So you are going to have to trust me on how absolutely delicious this was.  I'm talking crunchy on the outside, warm banana gooey interior surrounded by pillows of brioche.  The best part?  It was really quite easy!  It is a great bang for your buck (where the buck is actually your effort) type of dessert that will impress everyone, especially your taste buds.  And now I will leave you with the one picture my roommate got via iPhone.

Bananas cooking in sugar and butter.  Yum.