Savory Bread Pudding with Spinach and Feta

Prep Time: 17 minutes
Rest Time: 20 - 30 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Best of 2010


This was in The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2010 book, and appears to originally come from The Best Slow and Easy Recipes cookbook.

This is definitely an easy recipe with very little effort.  I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between a strata and a bread pudding.  I guess bread puddings are a little richer.  You only use yolks, and the recipe called for 3c. heavy cream and 2c. whole milk.  I usually make my stratas with low-fat milk.  There was no way I was making this with all that cream - too heavy for me.  I ended up using whole milk and about 1/3 c. cream (for a half recipe) instead.  It still was plenty rich.


I did really like this, but guess I will probably just stick to making stratas which I do quite often.  They are lighter and I can basically make them from memory with whatever leftovers I have on hand.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes
Filling: 30 minutes
Chill: 3 hours
Topping: 15 minutes (or less if you cheat!)

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2001)

The first time I used this recipe was the first time I ever made a cream or pudding from scratch. I thought it was so fun to see the ingredients thicken up and was happy with how easy it was. I made this one several times after that, but it has been at least 4 years since the last one. Not because it isn't great - but because I have too many good dessert recipes and not enough time for dessert!

This is really rich and delicious, but not too rich. It does use Oreos for the crust, so I guess it is not 100% home-made, but the crust is quite good. I think I could have made the filling even quicker, if my electric stove heated up faster. It just took a while for the half-and-half to come to simmer, so I was waiting around a bit.

It is really fairly easy to make. I added the extra step of straining the filling, on top of the removing the chalazae on the eggs, because I wanted to make sure there were no lumps at all.

I did cheat with the cream, and used a Cabot canned version of whipped cream. I didn't want to have to mess around with whipping up the cream with a crowded kitchen and lots of kids underfoot.

I didn't even take the photo the day I served this. I froze the leftovers and added some new cream to the top (which is why you might notice the melted cream under the new cream.) The chocolate doesn't look creamy either because it was still frozen when I shot this, but it is very creamy when thawed. (The leftovers still tasted great.)

Banana-Caramel Coconut Cream Pie with Dark Rum

Prep Time: 46 minutes
Cool Time: 3 hours
Grade: B

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2004)

I didn't feel like making this look pretty, so I skipped the whipped cream and coconut on top. It was good, but I don't think it would be my first choice for a cream pie. (That would be the chocolate version.) I love coconut, but I'm not sure if I love coconut cream. I did really like the crust with the bananas and caramel. I actually ended up not eating much of the cream part, because it just wasn't too exciting to me (or worth the calories.)

The prep time would have probably been less, or included a break while waiting for things to cool. I took longer because I burned my first caramel. I've only done caramels two times before (the Turtle Brownies and Caramels) and both times I didn't cook the caramel enough. The problem though, is that this was a small amount, so didn't take much time at all to make.

I tried to use all the correct ingredients since it was my first time with this recipe, but I didn't want to get unsweetened coconut when I had sweetened on hand. Also, my rum wasn't dark.

I should mention I made a half recipe and put it in a 7.5" pie plate. I thought the crust might not be enough so I used a few extra animal crackers. This was a mistake, because the crumbs were a bit too dry and I couldn't make the crust as sturdy as I would have liked. It was also too thick on the sides, so a simple half recipe would have worked fine.

This is a good recipe, but not an "A" for me just because of my taste buds more than anything else.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Rise Time: 60 minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Rise Time: 90 minutes
Cook Time: 45-60 minutes
Cool Time: 2 hours

Grade: A-

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (April 2007)

I really liked this bread, and thought the dough was really tasty. But I ended up wiht some gaping holes in it with the cinnamon sugar dripping out. Due, I'm sure to my shabby rolling technique. You can't see from this picture, the gaps were a few slices in.

I don't know if it is worth the effort to make again. I might actually skip the swirl part, and mix a little more of the sugar mixture into the dough (it already includes 1/4 c.) instead. You also sprinkle some on top, so the bread it still quite tasty without the swirl, so I think it might be worth a try.

Shepherd's Pie

Prep Time: 40 minutes (35+5)
Simmer Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Recipe Source: Cover & Bake

This was good, but I don't know that I liked it better than the Cook's Country Version which is similar but uses beer instead of wine. I used ground beef instead of lamb, and it works fine, IMO.

Chicken Divan Pasta

Total Time: 40 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Me - inspired by Cook's Country Modern Chicken Divan

I tried changing up the Modern Chicken Divan recipe from Cook's Country to make it a little more appealing to me. I had really liked the flavor of the sauce, and I love chicken and broccoli, so I wanted to find a way to make it really work for me. My goals were:

1) quicker. I don't care if I mess up another pot, if I can make something faster.
2) lighter (don't want to use a full cup of cream in a weeknight dish). However, this is still not a truly "light" dish
3) some sort of carbs included in the recipe, like pasta
4) using more reasonable ingredient amounts (I hate it when a recipe calls for strange amounts of chicken broth - like 2.5 cups of broth, meaning I had to open a 2nd can).


So here is my version:

Chicken Divan Pasta

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds broccoli , florets cut into bite-sized pieces
1 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, minced
2 T. flour
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 c. heavy cream
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, and sliced into bite size pieces, about 1/4" thick
1/2 c. dry vermouth (or sherry)
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. grated Parmesan Cheese
salt and ground black pepper
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 oz pasta (I like Gemilli or Bow-tie)

1. Bring large stockpot of water to boil while starting to prep ingredients

2. When water boils, add 1 T. salt and broccoli. Cook for 1-2 minutes until bright green and starting to get tender. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

3. Bring water to boil again and add pasta. Cook until just al dente and drain. Set aside.

4. Meanwhile, heat oil in 12" pan (or a dutch oven, if you have 2nd large pan not being used for the pasta) over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add onion and cook for a minute or two until softened.

5. Add flour and stir for a minute.

6. Add broth and cream, scraping up bits from bottom of pan. Stir until sauce is not lumpy from flour, about a minute or two.

7. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to sauce. Stir to break up pieces. Cook for a 3-4 minutes until chicken is cooked through (time will depend on size of your pieces.) When cooked, removed chicken from sauce with a slotted spoon, and place in a clean bowl.

8. Add vermouth and Worcestershire sauce to the sauce and simmer until slightly reduced, 2-3 minutes. Stir in Parmesan.

9. Whisk lemon juice and yolks in a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup of the sauce. Remove pan from heat, and add yolks mixture into the sauce, whisking immediately. Whisk in butter.

10. Add broccoli and chicken back to the sauce. (If you are using a 12" skillet or saute pan, you might want to combine everything in pot you cooked the broccoli and pasta in instead, for more room.) Stir carefully to combine everything and reheat briefly.

11. Optional - place in ovenproof dish, add a little more parmesan to the top and broil for a few minutes (put dish in middle of oven, not at the top.)