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.

Makeover Mac 'n Cheese

So, I am a subscriber to the Taste of Home brand magazine, Healthy Cooking. I love it. One of the things I love most about it is that readers can submit their favorite recipes that are, shall we say, not exactly "lite," and ToH's cooks will revamp the recipe and make it a million times better for you, but still really, really yummy. It's pretty cool. I have yet to submit a recipe, but I will someday. As you can probably gather from the title of this post, someone submitted a recipe for homemade mac 'n cheese. When I saw it I thought, yeah, no way that is going to be as good as regular homemade mac. But I tried it anyway. SO good. I love it. Beware, it makes a LOT. We STILL have leftovers and I've been eating some every day for a bit. Here you go...

Makeover Macaroni and Cheese

1 pkg. (16 oz) elbow macaroni (or whatever noodle you want)

2 T. flour

2 c. milk

1 pkg. (16 oz) reduced-fat process cheese, (e.g., Velveeta) cubed

1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine flour and milk until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in process cheese and 1/2 c. cheddar until smooth. Drain macaroni. Stir into cheese sauce.

Remove from heat; sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Now, for the best part. Get this:

Nutrition Info for 1 serving of the original Mac n Cheese:

Calories: 593

Fat: 32 g

Saturated fat: 20 g

Cholesterol: 100 mg

Nutrition Info for 1 serving of the makeover Mac n Cheese:

Calories: 403

Fat: 11 g

Saturated fat: 6 g

Cholesterol: 36 mg

Carbs: 54 g

Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 23 g

And really, this makeover recipe was yummmmy. Mac n Cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods. I am so glad I found a recipe that will let me eat it without killing myself slowly. :)