Recipe #86 - Cheese Straw-Spinach Casserole

_______________________________________________________________________________

A Betty Crocker recipe served at this years Thanksgiving feast.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13"x9"-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter, stirring frequently, until golden.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and flour until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in salt and pepper. Beat in half-and-half with wire whisk until blended. Add spinach, Cheddar cheese and onion mixture. 

Spoon mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese straws (aka cheese crackers). 

Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly. 

It was a little dryer than I'd like.  I think I would have added a little less spinach and a little more onions and half-and-half. I also didn't enjoy the Cheese Nips. I'm more of a Cheese-Its kind of girl. So all-in-all not my favorite recipe. I think it was geared more towards trying to get little kids to eat something at Thanksgiving. Not an "adult" recipe. Lol.

Rating: 5 

Time: 50 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Per serving: Calories384; Total fat 31 g; Sodium 714mg; Total Carbohydrates 12g; Protein 12g.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 large onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups half-and-half or milk

5 boxes (9oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed ro drain

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8oz)

2 cups cheese straws, coarsely crushed (I used Cheese Nips)

Recipe #48 - Italian Sausage Spinach Pie

_______________________________________________________________________________

This one was a suggestion from my little sister TJ. She had it at a friends house and wanted me to give it a go. So here it goes...

In a skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Separate one egg and set the yolk aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg white and remaining eggs. Add spinach, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, salt, garlic powder, pepper and sausage; mix well.

Line a 10-inch pie plate with bottom pastry. Add filling. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cute slits in pastry. If desired, make your own design from the pastry scraps; place on top crust. Beat water and remaining egg yolk; brush over top of pie.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

And it's finished! Although TJ said it wasn't as good as the one she had before, I think it turned out pretty well. Two things I would have done differently: 

1. After I thawed the spinach, I squeezed out a lot of the juice with a paper towel. It made the mixture a little dryer than I would have liked. 

2. There was a lot of mixture left over. Almost enough to make another pie. Also, I think the spinach to sausage ration was pretty off. It was very spinachy. To solve both problems I would add an extra half pound of sausage to the mix. It would balance out the mixture and add enough to be able to make a second pie.  

Rating: 7

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 2 pies - about 6 servings per pie

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds bulk Italian sausage

6 eggs

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and slightly squeezed dry

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 (10 inch) pastry for a double crust pie

1 tablespoon water