The Return of a Taste of Tuesday

A while ago, I went through a vegetarian phase. My buddy Joy sent me a bunch of recipes, including one for Spinach Casserole. I have adapted it a little to suit my tastes. It's really good as a side dish, but it has enough nutrients to be a main dish as well.

Spinach Casserole

Ingredients:

• (2) 9 oz bags fresh spinach, chopped
• 8 oz your favorite cheese. I like cabot 50% pepperjack
• Spices in dish: I use nutmeg, cayanne and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• Pumpkin seeds
• 1 onion, diced
• Brown rice, cooked (I use a bag of boil-in-bag brown rice, it's easy to cook and hard to screw up)
• Paprika (enough to look pretty)
• Garlic (to taste, I use LOTS)

Procedure:

1. Cook the rice according to package directions and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, cook the garlic and onions till the onions are translucent.  I use regular cooking oil, but I guess you could use Pam if you wanted to reduce the calorie count.  Add the chopped spinach by handfulls. letting it cook down (it will eventually all fit in there.) 
3. When the spinach mixture is all cooked, take pan off the heat. Either in the frying pan or in a big bowl, add the cooked rice, cheese, egg whites, nutmeg, cayanne an black pepper to the spinach.
4. Spray a cooking dish with Pam and dump the mixture into it. 
5. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top to taste (I like the texture, so I add quite a few), then add enough paprika to make it look pretty. 
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until browned on top.
7. Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom.