Final Course and the NBA Finals!!!!!

There's always an opportunity to make a meal better if it didn't start off too good, but the final course has to be great, because it's the last thing your guest will taste. You want to make something that is fabulous, looks like you took all day to make, yet easy for you to prepare. Some really great dishes that are eye-catching and simple include: Cheesecake, Pie, Banana's Foster, Layered Fruit Parfait, Bread Pudding, and many more desserts. One of my favorites is Bread Pudding!!

Bread Pudding is simply pieces of bread mixed with an egg mixture and baked. The wonderful thing about it is, many people usually already have all of the necessary ingredients on hand to make it. For my recipes, I like to add a bit of raisins just to jazz it up a bit.

8 slices of  Bread cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Milk
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Raisins
2 tbsp Cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut bread into cubes. Mix both Milks and beat in eggs, cinnamon and raisins. Spray a pan with non-stick spray and add bread. Pour egg mixture over bread and mix to ensure all bread in moist. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 mins or until golden brown and custard has set.

This recipe is even more delicious served warm with extra cold ice cream. Simple, yet tasty enough to be considered hard work, lol.

One really fancy light dessert that I think is really good for a hot summer's day is a Granita. Granita is Italin for fruit ice and originates from Sicily. To make this wonderful item simply add equal parts fruit juice and warm water to a shallow glass pan with half the amount of sugar. (ex. 1 cup water= 1/2 cup sugar). You don't want it to be overly sweet like a snow cone or anything. Mix these ingredients in the dish and freeze for at least 4 hours. To serve, just scrape the fruit ice with a fork and serve in a fancy martini glass with a sprig of mint as a garnish.

Whatever it is you're making, always try and make it your best dish ever!! :)

And about the Finals game last night between Dallas and Miami..... Wow!! I don't want to be too quick to judge or take sides, but I'm thinking that Miami may have the Finals in the bag. It was a good game, but I'm just anxious to see how the rest of the series will play out. There's always a chance Dallas could make it interesting and make it last til game 7!!! :)