Settlers Night - Spinach Jack Bread Pudding and Company Cauliflower

Most Thursday nights you will find Matt and I, and at least Beth and Kyle playing Settlers of Catan at our place. This past Thursday was no exception. For dinner I tried out my newly found Spinach and Jack Bread Pudding recipe. I have never made a bread pudding, but I figured I like quiche a lot, so I wanted to try it. I also wanted to make cauliflower because I know it's one of Beth's favorite vegetables. Because I didn't know exactly how the bread pudding was going to turn out, I wanted at least one thing to go right, so I opted for a simple cauliflower recipe that always pleases everyone, Company Cauliflower.

First things first, I steam the chopped cauliflower.

Tonight Ronnie is my helper. I find whenever Ronnie is in the mood to help, just about everything he helps make he is eager and willing to eat too. It's a great way to get him to eat foods that a lot of picky five year old's would rather not eat, like spinach! So for the Spinach and Jack Bread Pudding Ronnie starts out mixing the eggs, milk, and various ingredients like salt, pepper, thyme, and nutmeg.

After the egg mixture is completely mixed, Ronnie adds the chopped spinach. This particular recipe actually called for frozen spinach, but I always use fresh. I have always loved spinach, and whatever I don't use for recipes I use to make salads.

Next, Ronnie adds the Monterrey Jack cheese. After the spinach and cheese is mixed well, 8 slices of bread that have been cubed are added to the mix. Once everything is all together, we transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 9x13 pan and put it in the oven to bake for about 25-30 minutes.

After the cauliflower is done steaming we put it into a large bowl and mix together some light sour cream, 2% cheddar cheese, garlic and onion powder, and Dijon mustard. Once this mixture is well together, we transfer it to an 8x8 lightly greased pan. I then top the cauliflower with some bread crumbs I browned in a skillet with a little bit of butter. It's then ready for the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

When everything comes out, we let it sit for a minute, which allows the eggs to cool down and settle a bit. Let me tell you - I was wowed by this recipe. Who knew a savory bread pudding could be so good and easy to make! And of course, even the Ron-man devoured it. This will definitely stick around as a staple in the Luckey-Meyer home.

As usually, the cauliflower turned out lovely. We had an extra guest that night, Steven, and would you know it, he had never had cauliflower before! EVER! But, I think I turned him on because he finished up his share in no time.

That next day, Friday, I tried my hand at some zucchini cakes and boy am I glad I did! Zucchini is so inexpensive, but until now, I could never get Matt to eat it. Well, I have found his weakness, just fry it and stuff it with cheese and he loves it. We served them with marinara sauce and I wanted more when they were all gone!