Getting your blood sugar balance

Today we are going to take a brief look at how eating the wrong food will tip you over the edge of what is good for you and what is not, so for those who like to indulge once in a while with a little bit of comfort food, then all well and good and it's not going too hurt too much!

Here is a simple recipe which will titilate your taste buds - easy to put together - absolutely ideal for keeping your blood sugar in check and chock full of good nutritious things to eat. The recipe shown here serves eight people.

Bread & Butter Pudding with Raspberry Sauce
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• 50g sultanas 70g softened margarine (unsalted)
• 50g raisins 2 egg yolks
• 4tbsp strong tea 50g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp brandy extract 700 ml skimmed milk
• 14 slices of medium cut whole grain bread pinch of grated nutmeg
• 4 eggs 2 tbsp vanilla extract (optional)

Raspberry Sauce mix

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• 125g fresh raspberry
• 1 tbsp sugar
• juice of 2 limes

Place the raisins and sultanas in a small non metalic bowl and pour over the tea and brandy extract. Cover with cling film and leave to soak overnight. Drain off all excess juices and reserve. Spread the bread with the margarine, remove the crusts and cut each slice into four triangles. Grease a 2-1/2 litre shallow oven proof dish with a little margarine and place a layer of bread triangles in the bottom of the dish, margarine side up. Scatter over half of the soaked dried fruits and place another layer of bread triangles on top, margarine side up, set the remainder on one side. Scatter over the remaining soaked dried fruits, pressing gently down into the dish with a firm spatular. Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and icing sugar in a medium sized jug, add the vanilla extract and milk and whisk to combine the ingredients. Pour 2/3 of the custard over the layered bread triangles and leave to stand for at least 45 minutes, or untill the bread triangles have soaked up all of the custard. Pre-heat your oven to 350F gas mk4 / 180C/. Pour the remaining custard over the soaked bread triangles, arrange the rest of the triangles with the margarine on top, press the slices down firmly with a spatula so that the custard comes half way up the dish. Sprinkle over with a little castor sugar and nutmeg. Place the dish into a roasting tin and pour warm water into the tin so that it comes 3/4th way up the the dish. Bake for 30/40 minutes or until the custard has just set and the top is golden brown. To make the sauce, place all the ingredients into a liquidiser until smooth. Pass the liquid through a fine seive to remove all the pips. place into a refridgerator until ready to serve. Drizzle raspberry sauce over the pudding and serve.