Thursday, January 5, 2012

Spinach-Cheddar Casserole

I hope everyone’s new year is off to a terrific start. After working both big holidays and ringing in the new year asleep in my bed, I’m in a bit of a funk. A large part is due to something that I haven’t even mentioned on the blog yet.

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This guy, otherwise known as Joe, is leaving next Saturday to go to Kenya for a month because he’s doing an anesthesia rotation there. I’ll miss celebrating his 30th birthday. I’ll miss just hanging out, doing the things we like to do. Plus I’ll be running our household all by my lonesome. No avoiding cleaning up the cat barf now. Or having him clean up the mess I made cooking dinner. I know he’s going to have a great experience, but right now, I’m just majorly bummed out.

Also, Nashville Originals Restaurant Week is January 16-22nd, and I’m taking requests for dates (the non-romantic kind of course).

I really will miss his help in the kitchen. Shortly before Christmas, I whipped up chili and beer bread for us to eat and then remembered that I needed to make something savory and breakfast-like to take to my CPE group the next day. There were quite a few dishes involved that night, and he helped me with all of them, even though he never got to eat this spinach-cheddar casserole.

I found it by browsing the Epicurious app on my iPhone. Fortunately for me, it had decent ratings, and I only needed to pick up a few things at the store to make it. 1/3 of our group forgot to bring something, so it was a boon to have something hearty to eat. The original recipe recommends this as a side dish, and I guess you could go that way as well, but I served it more like a crustless quiche. Brunch, breakfast, lunch, or dinner – this would be good for any meal.

photo
(iPhone picture of leftovers)

 Spinach-Cheddar Casserole
source: Bon Appetit March 1995

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
  • 1 16-ounce container cottage cheese
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped (I used low-fat)
  • 1 cup packed grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dillweed
  • Preparation

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish. Beat eggs, salt and pepper to blend in large bowl. Mix in spinach. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.

    Bake casserole until center is firm and top is golden, about 45 minutes.