Surplus of Bread, Surplus of Milk, Surplus of Frozen Blackberries

We were gifted 3 loaves of bread over the weekend. That combined with my family suddenly drinking far less milk than anticipated, and I needed to do something quick with ingredients. I froze part of the milk and bread, which will come in handy in another week. But the rest I needed to begin using.

Last night, I made a blackberry bread pudding to go with a dinner of semi-vegetarian chili (there's chicken cooking liquid in the chili, just no meat). It was very delicious, and made good use of these items that I have in abundance.

One of the aspects of making bread pudding that I appreciate is how un-hands-on this dessert is. Cube up some bread, and combine with egg, milk, sugar and salt. Maybe add some fruit. And bake. It takes about five minutes to get the whole thing into the oven. That's a time-bargain for me.

When You Have Just a Little Bit of Ham Leftover . . .

I've made this before, and it is always a hit. Last night was no different. I had two slices of ham leftover from the previous night, some baked chicken breasts, and some really awesome Irish cheese (which was gifted to us over the weekend).

I call this inside-out Chicken Cordon Bleu. It is so good, and so easy. Real stuffed chicken is a pain to make. You have to pound out the chicken breasts, place cheese and ham on the pounded-thin chicken, roll it all up, then secure with toothpicks or string, and bake. A real pain. This way is easy.

Take some baked chicken breasts, then slice, cube or chunk it onto a plate. Top with some shreds, cubes or slices of ham (I use thin shreds of the sliced ham, to make it stretch to feed a family). Lastly, top each pile of chicken and ham with a white cheese, Swiss being ideal, but a white cheddar is also very tasty. Heat until the cheese is melty. That's it.

I had baked the chicken breasts the night before, while baking potatoes, as a way to have something quick and easy to make the next night, as well as a way to use the oven's baking capacity (potatoes don't take very much room in the oven).  Just before serving, I sliced the chicken directly onto the plates, then topped with shreds of ham, and slices of cheese. I microwaved each plate, to heat through, and served. This is truly one of those dishes that my family thinks is fabulous. It's better than just ham, or just chicken. The combination of the two meats together, along with the cheese is amazing. Really good, really easy. Inside-out Chicken Cordon Bleu.