SOUTHERN RECIPE RESTORATION PROJECT
Gerry Baxter: Grape-Nut Pudding

Lynn Jacques of Snellville grew up on a small farm on Verona Island, off the coast of Maine. "We had a little henhouse of chickens, and we had one cow and one donkey, and we had some sheep, " she said. Jacques doesn't ever remember going hungry as a child, but her mother, Gerry Baxter, recently reminded her that times weren't always easy for them. "We had one week when I was a child that we lived on nothing but eggs and milk, " Jacques said. That would explain why custard desserts like bread pudding regularly appeared on the family's table. And Baxter combined the dairy staples with her husband's favorite cereal, Grape-Nuts, to make a dessert popular in Maine. "We always had Grape-Nuts and Cheerios and eggs and milk, " Jacques said. "As long as there was some food around, I was happy."