Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Spinach and strawberries on the menu tonight

Since we got fresh spinach in our distribution Saturday I looked through my recipes for something to make that was different from the usual sautéed spinach. This recipe is from Cooking Light, though instead of using the egg substitute I used real eggs. We liked the flavor - but I felt the egg-flour part was a little dense. I was hoping for something along the Bisquick-type casseroles I've made in the past. I think I'll experiment in the future and try Trader Joe's Bisquick-type baking mix. It's whole grain and makes great pancakes, so it might be good for a dish like this.

Spinach-Cheese Casserole
from Cooking Light

1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 6 oz. packages fresh baby spinach
1 ¼ cups shredded lowfat cheddar cheese
¾ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups fat free milk
1 cup egg substitute (I used 4 eggs)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper

Preheat oven to 350˚. Pour the butter into the bottom of a 13 x 9" baking dish coated with cooking spray; tilt dish to coat. Place spinach evenly in bottom of dish; sprinkle evenly with cheeses.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Pour milk mixture over cheese. Bake 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve immediately.



I also had some fresh strawberries, and after seeing this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen, tried it using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It was FABULOUS!

Strawberries Romanof
from Kalyn Denny


1 pound fresh strawberries

1/2 cup sour cream (I used Fage 0% Greek yogurt)
1 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, or 2 T brown sugar (or to taste, depending on how sweet you like it)

Be sure to buy the reddest and ripest strawberries you can find for best flavor. Wash strawberries and cut off stems. Cut each strawberry into fourths. Mix sour cream and brown sugar and spoon over strawberries, or stir to coat strawberries. Makes 4 small servings.

7 comments:

PatL said...

Hi, Cyndi, thanks for dropping by my blog and leaving a comment! I love roasted radishes; when I serve them people are always surprised to hear what they are. They're also good braised, I think I have a recipe for that on my blog & will look it up for you. Cool idea to put "You might like these stories" with pictures at the bottom of each post. Do you track usage to see if people click on them much?

PatL said...

Here's the link for the braised radishes, Cyndi:

http://upacreekwithoutapatl.blogspot.com/2006/09/that-dish-is-named.html

The Cookbook Junkie said...

I love that Fage yogurt. I bet that was even better than sour cream.

Donna-FFW said...

Love the strawberries prepared this way. It looks absolutely incredible, such gorgeous color. Must have smelt delightful when making this!

PatL said...

Cyndi, thanks for that referral to LinkWithin. How coolto have it done automaically ... I was envisioning you toiling away, uploading and resizing images ... I love it! It did however lead me down a longish path to convert my blog from Blogger's old architecture, something I'd be postponing doing for far too long. Ah well, a nice chore for a rainy Saturday afternoon. Again, many thanks!

Michelle said...

I just learned that if you cut a drinking straw in half that it makes a fabulous tool for removing the cores and stems of strawberries. Just push the straw from the bottom of the strawberry and up through the stem and it all comes out in one piece. YUM!

BTW - the spinach dish looks very tasty from the picture.

Reeni said...

The casserole sounds good - kind of spicy and kind of sweet! And the strawberries sound yummy with yogurt on top - a healthy dessert!!