1) Preheat oven to 350°

2) Prepare frozen or fresh spinach and set aside:
For frozen chopped spinach cooked according to box directions. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
For fresh spinach – around a pound. Wash, drain and chop – no need to cook.

3) In a large pot bring to a boiling point the milk, butter and salt. Add the Cream of Wheat and stir constantly on medium heat until thickened, but not stiff.

4)Turn off the heat and stir in the shredded cheese, egg, chives, spinach and nutmeg.

5) Turn into a buttered casserole, 8 x 11 inch, and spread evenly.

6) For the Custard Topping:
In a new small bowl, whisk 1T of flour with 1 egg until completely smooth. Add another egg and whisk until smooth; then add milk and whisk again. Carefully pour on top of Cream of Wheat mixture.

7) The original recipe called for baking for 30-45 minutes at 350° until the topping sets into a custard. But bake time depends a lot on the fat content of your milk, size of eggs, heat of your oven, the shape of your pan and whether you double the recipe - lots of variability!

Note: Perhaps because I always double the recipe and use lower fat milk, it takes much longer - the sides will get nice and stiff and light brown on top while the middle is a puddle of raw egg. (Use a buttered 10 x 15 inch glass or ceramic dish for double the recipe.) My solution is to let the casserole bake for 30 minutes at 350°. I then increase the heat to 375° and watch carefully checking every five minutes - that gets the middle of the custard puffed and cooked. As soon as you take it out of the oven it will deflate - so don't worry about the appearance.

It's better to let the dish cool a bit or even get it to room temperature so people don't burn their mouths on the hot cheese. You can also make it a day ahead, cool completely, cover and refrigerate and then serve it the next day at room temperature.

Easy Every Day Version: Skip the topping, and serve straight from the pot - just be sure you add the ingredients to the cereal mixture when it's hot enough to melt the cheese and cook the egg.