Spinach Quiche

Or, as we call it at home, egg casserole.

This has been a family favorite for years, so it will be no surprise that the verdict would be rave reviews!  Still, this is the first time I have cooked it, and I was anxious to see if it measured up to Mom's.

Alex's parents were visiting for Easter weekend, and I knew that I wanted a special Easter morning breakfast, but I have also learned the limitations of my shoebox kitchen.  A casserole was the perfect solution.  And of course, I wasn't too eager to serve a potentially disastrous recipe experiment the first time cooking for my in-laws, which made this particular casserole even more perfect.

Recipe:
1/4 cup melted butter
10 eggs (can use up to 14 for an extra large group)
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
10 ounce package chopped spinach, thawed and drained (let sit in colander in sink overnight)
2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies
1 pint cottage cheese
1/2 pound shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 pound shredded jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400.  Beat eggs in large bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350.  Bake an additional 35-40 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes to set before serving.

Verdict:
As good as Mom's!   (And Alex has had both, so he is a qualified judge.)  This dish is light and fluffy, deliciously cheesy, and with enough vegetables to give you a good start to your holiday.  It is literally so easy that I forgot to take step-by-step pictures of the process because it was mixed and in the oven before I knew it!

And if you hesitate at a few of these ingredients, I can specifically see the chilies, spinach, and cottage cheese causing problems for picky eaters....  Know that the first time my mom made this recipe my brother and I were..... Well not picky per se, especially compared with other kids our age....  But no amount of persuading would get brother to touch cottage cheese and knowledge of green chilies would result in my steadfast refusal to come within 5 feet of the dish.  Spinach?  Let's just say it didn't give either of us a warm fuzzy feeling.  But Mom just served this one day without telling us what was in it.  Smart decision on her part because we both cleaned our plates before we knew to complain about what we thought were deal breaker foods.  Picky eaters can be fooled with this one - especially if they like cheese!

On a more important and much more exciting note: Easter is the last major holiday that we will be celebrating in Cincinnati!  Our inspection is this evening, and we are hoping for good results, but however it turns out, the next time a family holiday rolls around, we'll be right there with them!