Baked Quinoa with Spinach and Cheese

Yum!

Ingredients: 4 cups cooked quinoa (or about 1 cup uncooked)

6 oz. baby spinach

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (don't bother using the expensive stuff)

1 medium onion, chopped (I didn't have an onion so I used a shallot I had instead. Yeah. I'm weird like that. No yellow onion, but I had a shallot.)

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 large eggs

3 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated (about 3/4 c.) (I didn't have Gruyere, so used Emmentaler instead. Turned out great. I imagine any kind of nutty-tasting hard cheese would probably work.)

1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh sage or 1/2 tsp. dried

1 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 c.)

(The recipe didn't call for it, but I used asparagus as well, cut into 1 inch chunks)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil or spray a 2-quart gratin or baking dish (I used a 9X9 Pyrex).

2. Cook the quinoa, or it can also be prepared and refrigerated up to three days in advance. I used these directions, and used 1 c. of white wine for part of the liquid.

3. Heat a medium frying pan or a wide saucepan over medium-high heat. Wash the spinach and without spinning dry, add to the pan and wilt in the liquid left on the leaves after washing. This may require two batches. As soon as the spinach wilts, remove from the heat and rinse with cold water. Squeeze dry and chop. Set aside.

3. Wipe the pan dry and heat 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minutes. Stir in the spinach and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl and add 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir in the cooked quinoa, the onion and spinach mixture, the Gruyere, and the sage. (Here, I also added the chopped asparagus.) Add freshly ground pepper and stir the mixture together. Scrape into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top and drizzle on the rest of the olive oil.

5. Bake until nicely browned, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to sit for about 5 minutes, and eat. Duh.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

This was my breakfast quiche for last year's festivities. It keeps well in the fridge and freezes well in individual slices. It's definitely a special occasion quiche, since it has enough cholesterol to stop Lipitor in its tracks.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

Salt and pepper

2 c. chopped baby fresh spinach, packed (frozen spinach works, too)

1 lb. thick-sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 1/2 c. shredded Gruyere

1 (9-in) refrigerated pie crust, fitted to a 9-in glass pie plate (I don't bother with my own pie crust for this)

Directions:

1) Preheat the over to 375 degrees.

2) Combine the eggs, cream, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender.

3) Layer the spinach, bacon, and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust.

4) Pour egg mixture on top.

5) As pie plate will be very full, place on top of a jelly-roll pan to catch spills.

6) Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the egg mixture is set.

7) Makes 8 big servings.