Spinach Bake

Last night I was feeling particularly lazy and had remembered seeing a recipe somewhere for a spinach bake. I was feeling like I really didn't want to do too much prep or clean up and not have to worry about defrosting anything for 6-8 hours. I was also thinking, "if I'm going to laze this out- it should at least have some nutritional value". I found the original recipe here but I did modify a few ingredients.

This was outrageously simple.
The brand of frozen spinach I had (Central Market Classics from Price Chopper) actually comes in a bag with little rolled up portions of the spinach. It's a really nifty idea.
I did this by spraying the casserole dish with cooking spray and then laying the spinach on the bottom. Later, I had to stir it around and break it up in the oven so it would cook completely.

Then I covered it with some left over shredded cheddar from taco night on Sunday.

Then I mixed everything else together and covered the spinach and cheese with it.

Then baked it for probably what wound up being an hour--I should have defrosted the spinach--because I had to break up the spinach toward the end so it would cook through.

Spinach Bake

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 16 oz. bag frozen spinach
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack
• 1⅓ cups all purpose flour
• 1½ cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• ⅛ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp. paprika

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F 
2. Spray the bottom & sides of a 9×13 baking dish and place spinach on the bottom in a even layer, then sprinkle cheese on top.
3. Combine four and remaining ingredients in a bowl, whisking together. Pour mixture over spinach & cheese.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, until lightly browned. Serve immediately.