Ok… I’m probably pushing it by saying this recipe is “healthy”, but it’s certainly got more healthy ingredients included than some of my recipes, so hopefully you’ll forgive this slight.  In any case, I think this bread pudding recipe is fabulous… I’ve made it twice now and it’s only tasted better each time.  If you’re not a huge fan of bread pudding, then feel free to skip this one.  If you like bread pudding at all, this is definitely one to try!

This recipe makes a single serving, so if you’re planning to make this for more people, just increase the ingredients as needed.  I made my recipe with the following ingredients:  2 cups of cubed ciabatta bread,1 mini-box of raisins, 1 Tablespoon of chocolate chips (I chopped mine), 1/4 cup fat-free egg substitute, 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/4 cup white wine, 2 teaspoons Chia Seeds, 2 packets of Equal (feel free to use your sweetener of choice), and some cinnamon to taste.  I also sprinkled the pudding with regular sugar just before popping it into the oven.

I started by assembling all my ingredients, pre-heating my oven to 350 degrees, and spraying my baking dish with Pam cooking spray.  Note:  I neglected to spray my baking dish the first time I made this recipe and it took ages (and some serious elbow grease) to get the dish clean.  I put the bread cubes into the baking dish and then mixed the remaining ingredients in a measuring cup.  I then poured the liquid (and the raisins/chips) over the bread and, using my hands, mixed and mashed the liquid into the bread cubes until they were sufficiently soggy (see the lower right photo).

Once the bread was heavy with the egg/milk mixture, I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top and popped the baking dish into the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center came out relatively clean.  I let the pudding rest for 10 minutes, til the dish was cool enough to hold, and dug in with a spoon.  It was heavenly, in my opinion, with tiny bits of chocolate and plump raisins found throughout the dish, with a very faint back note from the wine.

This recipe was wonderful and a great example of comfort food to me.   The reason I called it “healthy” was the use of Fat-free Egg Substitute (in place of eggs), Almond Milk (in place of cow’s milk of any sort), along with the use of Chia Seeds (rich in Omega-3 fatty acids) and raisins with a small amount of chocolate.  Even with the wine, this recipe came in under 275 calories, which was a definite plus in my book.  Another plus?  This is a dish that you could serve to company as a dessert, simply by adding a hard sauce or ice cream to top each serving.

I hope you’ll try this recipe out sometime.  Call it whatever you like, it’s simply delicious to me!