I’ve never been a cook. I can’t even say “I’ve never been much of a cook” – I’ve just really never been a cook. I can make some things, not entirely awesomely, but enough to have survived to 29-years-old, at least. I know how to make up my mom’s tuna casserole and meatloaf, and I’ve always been proud of my stir fry experiments. But that’s about it. My mom’s always joked that even as a nearly-30-year-old, I still live like a broke college student (yes, instant ramen noodles are a food group – what?). Yes, my foodie best friend gives me hell often.

However, during my job hunt I have spent the last two months marathon-ing reality tv of the cooking variety. Hell’s Kitchen. Cake Boss. The American Baking Competition. MasterChef Junior. MasterChef. Lidia’s Italy. It’s been an education, let me tell you. So, I decided to try my hand at some time in the kitchen. However, being that I have nearly no experience at all, I started simple. Box-mix bake cakes. Piping store bought icing onto box-mix cupcakes. After some crowd sourcing on facebook and twitter, I moved on to my first from-scratch cake. I did a super simple vanilla two-layer with homemade icing (mixed with strawberry jam). Then I tried chocolate chip cookies. And yesterday, inspired by Baubles & Bites’ hazelnut bread pudding recipe, I took a stab at that. I didn’t have everything she had, so I improvised a lot and came up with the following – it was surprisingly delicious (pictured)! I can’t wait to make more (the one I made last night is already gone!).

World’s Easiest Bread Pudding
(Adapted from this recipe from Baubles & Bites.)

2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
2 cups milk
.5 loaf of wheat bread (all ripped up/cut up)
4 tablespoons butter or mergerine; softened
cinnamon
nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350°. In a medium-large casserole dish (I used one just like this) mix the sugar, eggs, milk, and cinnamon & nutmeg (to taste). Add the bread pieces and make sure they’re all fully in/covered with the wet mixture. Let it set while you mix the softened butter with cinnamon and nutmeg (spice to taste). Once you’re set, pour the butter mixture on the top of the bread mixture, and pop into the over for 25 minutes. That’s it! I wasn’t sure about how it would come out or how it would taste but it ended up warm, gooey, filling wonderful-ness in a bowl!

This is only the second time I’ve ever put up a recipe, so let me know what you think if you try this out!