You can vary the amount of spinach you use depending on how much you have – I buy those giant bags at Costco and this is a great use for it.  This is a perfect brunch or lunch dish, and would make an excellent side at dinner.

Spinach Surprise, salad and smoked salmon

• 16 oz fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 T butter
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Clean spinach thoroughly.  Roughly chop if leaves are large.  Steam until wilted (you may need to do this in two batches depending on the size of your pan/steamer). Drain and set aside.

Melt butter in small sauté pan over medium heat. Stir in breadcrumbs and heat until lightly browned (watch carefully, this can happen fast). Set aside.

Sauté shallot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until translucent. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, milk, salt and pepper. Fold in cheddar cheese, spinach, shallots and garlic. Pour into 2-quart buttered casserole. Top with Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for one hour. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

posted by Kim Williamson

We’re all fairly accomplished home cooks, so we frequently share ideas, recipes and dishes. Often the lunch counter is a mini-buffet of leftovers.

And while we are all accomplished eaters, there is an amusing list of dietary restrictions in the house:

• Honey allergy
• Fish/shellfish allergy
• Beef/pork/veal/lamb aversion
• Low carb restriction

We share this with you to answer the inevitable question, “why don’t they ever cook fill-in-the-blank?”

Anyway, this group is the perfect test ground for experiments. Sometimes we hit a home run. Sometimes we don’t.  We’ll share our successes here with you, along with sporadic color commentary.

Bon Appétit!

Gramma’s Deconstructed Cabbage Roll Casserole

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, medium chop
• 1 c cooked rice or quinoa
• 1/2 T dried parsley flakes
• 1 small cabbage, cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 T flour
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 8 oz sauerkraut, drained
• 1 16 oz can whole tomatoes, quartered, reserve juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Butter large casserole. In a large saute pan, cook turkey and onion until onion is translucent and turkey is no longer pink.  Drain. In a separate bowl, combine rice or quinoa with parsley flakes. In a plastic zip-bag, toss cabbage chunks with flour. Dilute tomato sauce with 4 oz of water.

Assemble the layers bottom up as follows:

1. Uncooked cabbage mix
2. Sauerkraut
3. Turkey/onion mixture
4. Diluted tomato sauce
5. Rice/quinoa mixture
6. Tomatoes and juice

Cover with foil and bake at 325 for 3 hours.

posted by Kim Williamson