Easy, Cheap, and Healthy Side Dish - Spinach Souflee

A friend asked for easy side dishes.  This is a super easy weekday recipe that is healthy and happens to be low cost.  This side dish is a great way to get those veggies.  This recipe is also open for experimentation, add an egg for more souffle, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for more creaminess, or add cooked bacon crumbles for more deliciousness.

Altered from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-spinach-souffle/

1 egg

1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste 
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, or a bag of fresh spinach washed, dried, and lightly sauteed in 2 tsp of olive oil or steamed in the microwave until tender.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl whisk together egg, milk, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold in spinach. Place in a small casserole dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly set.
4. NOTE: If you are in a hurry, use a microwave safe casserole dish, cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high for 3 minutes. Release the steam, recover, and cook on high for another 3 minutes. Enjoy!

 Serves 4 - about 90 calories and 2 WW points plus per serving

Lightened Spinach Queso Dip

This is a perfect Summer Party Dip.

Queso typically is a Tex-Mex Cheese and Salsa mix popular in parts of Texas.  The recipes shared by our Texas family and friends use Velveeta and Ro-tel Tomatos.  This is definitely a guilty pleasure.

I wanted to make a Queso with Velveeta without so much guilt, so I lightened up a recipe for Spinach Queso found right on the Velveeta Box. Mine turned out to be about a quarter of the calories of the original.

Here's what I used:

1 12 oz bag of frozen spinach
4 oz Velveeta
1 Can Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Green Chiles
2 TBSP Philadelphia Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Can Black Eyed Peas (optional)

This also makes a nice side dish for a dinner. Split into four

Passover Spinach Muffins

Happy Passover everyone! 

Last night I went to a lovely Passover Seder given by Friends of Food. 

I made Aunt of Food's Passover Spinach Muffins which are one of my favorite Vegetable based dishes at any time of the year.  This recipe was the inspiration for the topping on my sausage blinis, now featured on the ATK Foods website and, of course, on this blog. 

This dish is vegetarian, but not vegan; however, if you can find a substitute for the eggs, you may be able to make this dish vegan.

Here is the recipe as I make it:

2 TBSP Margarine (or Butter)

Olive Oil for Pan (About 2 TBSP)

1/2 Green Pepper

1 Medium Onion

1 Celery Stalk

2 Raw Carrots

10 oz package of Frozen Chopped Spinach

3 Eggs Beaten
1 1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper

3/4 Cup of Matzo Meal

Use the margarine to generously grease a metal 12 count muffin pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grate the Pepper, Onion, Celery, and Carrots in the Cuisinart with the grating disk, or chop by hand.

Heat some Olive Oil in a large Pan and put chopped fresh veggies in the pan.

Sauté vegetables stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, until the veggies are soft.

While the vegetables are cooking on the stove, microwave the frozen spinach according to package directions, draining when done.

Take the pan with the fresh vegetables off of the heat and add the spinach to the mixture.

Combine beaten Eggs with Salt, Pepper, and Matzo Meal. 

Combine that with the vegetable mixture in the big pan.

Spoon the mix into the greased muffin cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the muffins are firm.