Bob Ate Spinach!

No joke! I made Spinach Pie and he ATE it! That is huge. He actually preferred the filling to the crust. Not sure he is my kid now though. I love crust. Who doesn't love crust? Especially cream cheese crust. I have a difficult time believing that MY son is one of the few that doesn't like crust. I would go the route of switched at birth but he looks exactly like PE. He is too damn cute to dismiss anyway.

The whole thing was good. Even though PE and I chose the recipe, we were still a little skeptical. I love when we are pleasantly surprised by recipes. I chose this recipe because I wanted to make something other than salad with the spinach from the co-op. The other option was spinach soup and PE wasn't interested in that at all. I blanched the spinach by placing it in boiling water for two minutes then immersing it in ice water. (I did that part on Monday.) I treated it the same as I would frozen spinach I had thawed. I ended up combining it with some frozen spinach to reach the 10 oz for the recipe and I couldn't tell any difference between the two. . . when looking at them anyway.

The Chicken Curry is from PE's family cookbook and has been a favorite of his since he was young and I am glad that even with my switch to a cream of chicken substitute he still enjoys it. I really like the apples that are in it. I like to serve it over rice and if I feel it is too spicy I put it in a tortilla--what isn't good in a tortilla? Bob wouldn't eat it but Moo thought it was pretty good.

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Chicken Curry
from PE’s Family Cookbook
Print Recipe

2 cups chicken, cooked
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup apple, chopped
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp curry
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 can cream of chicken (or substitute)

In pan combine onion and butter. Cook. Stir in soup, milk, curry, ginger, and salt. Cook till thick. Add meat, celery, and apple. Cook until heated through. (If you want softer celery add with onions.)

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Cream of Chicken Substitute
adapted from Apartment Therapy The Kitchn
Print Recipe

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Add the flour and poultry seasoning. Stir with a whisk or fork until it's well blended. Now add the broth and milk. Stir well. Let it heat over a low to medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until it's thickened. Take it off the burner and let it sit for a few minutes. This equals a condensed can of cream soup right out of the can.

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Spinach Pie with Cream Cheese Crust
from Karenpie
Print Recipe

Crust:
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 brick (4oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar

Filling:
1 onion finely chopped
olive oil for sauteing
1 (10 oz) box frozen, chopped spinach, thawed
3 eggs
1 (15 oz) carton ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Optional: 8 oz cooked, cubed ham or chopped bacon

Crust:
Using your food processor, mix the butter and cream cheese together. Add the milk and pulse until it's mostly mixed. There will still be some small lumps present. Dump in the salt, sugar and flour and pulse until it comes together in a ball. It will still be a bit sticky. Turn it out onto a pastry cloth or your counter top and divide in half. Put each portion on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten/wrap them up into discs. Stick these in the fridge while you make the filling.

Filling:
Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil or butter and cook til translucent. Let it cool a bit. Dump the spinach into a folded up cheesecloth (or use your hands). Squeeze the heck out of this sucker to get as much moisture as possible out of the spinach. It doesn't have to be dry, some liquid is okay, but get the majority of it out. The spinach will turn into a little green, dense ball. Put the spinach in a large bowl along with the cheeses, salt, pepper and eggs. Don't forget the onion that's been cooling on the stove. Chopped up ham or cooked bacon can be added at this point too. Set this aside while you roll out the crust.

Roll out one disc at a time. Now roll out the top crust. When it's rolled out, fold it in half. Don't trim the edges to the proper size with the top crust. Cut a triangle pattern in the center of the fold. Make a big one with two smaller triangles flanking it. Once this is done, scoop the spinach filling into the bottom crust and even it out. The filling will be very stiff. Then, lift your folded-in-half pie crust and place it on the filling. The fold should be in the center. Fold the top half of the crust over, to completely cover the pie. Now begin folding the edge of the top crust under the bottom crust's edge, to completely enclose the filling. This pie isn't real juicy and doesn't bubble over like a fruit pie would, but doing this makes it easier to make a pretty edge. If right-handed, move counter-clockwise around the crust. Thumb and forefinger of my right hand pushing the dough around the forefinger of my left hand. If left-handed, reverse it and go clockwise. Brush the top of the crust with some milk or beaten egg. I used milk here, but egg will make it look glossy and browned when it's done. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, checking about 5 minutes before end-time to see if it's getting too brown.

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Detailed Instructions and Tips & Tricks

Below are detailed instructions for making cake flour and making beans in the slow cooker (from previous posts). I have also listed some links for substitutions, tips & tricks, and some frugal cleaning agents.

Cake Flour
From Joy the Baker
Click here to visit her blog.

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Dried Beans

Beans in the Slow Cooker
from Stephanie at A year of Slow Cooking
Click here to get the directions.

Additional Tip for Dried Beans
Being Frugal is Fabulous has a good write up about using beans in place of meat as a source of protein in order to save money. Click here to go read more and to see how to make your own refried beans.

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Tips & Tricks
Tanya, from Sunday Baker, along with her readers has compiled a great list of tips & tricks. Click here to see all the great tips.

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Substitutions
Barry Farm Foods has a great list of substitutions. Click here to go to their website.

Kate from Our Best Bites has also provided a list of substitutions. Click here to go see her list.

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Using Vinegar as a Cleaner
I keep a spray bottle of vinegar water in my kitchen at all times. I use a 8:1 (water:vinegar) ratio. This works great for cleaning windows. Used with a microfiber cloth, you can't go wrong. Additionally, if you use the tip of wiping one side of the window horizontally and the other side vertically, you can more easily tell which side has the streaks, if any. We also use it on the wood floor, we sweep, use a microfiber mop to wipe the floor with water, then spray the floor with the vinegar water and dry with a microfiber cloth--it has a nice shine after we do this. I use it for many other things. Below are several sites you can visit to get ideas.

I have a post of
Vinegar . . . Quick Tips.

The New Homemaker has an extensive list of cleaning uses for vinegar. I have used many of them and plan on using more. Click here to go read the tips.

Another site, Vinegar Tips (go figure) has 1001 Tips for Using Distilled White Vinegar. Click here to go peruse the site and read all the many uses for vinegar.

Yet another site, The Vinegar Institute, has tips all. Click here to go see what they have to offer.

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Using Baking Soda in Cleaning
I use baking soda for many things. I use it to clean my glass top stove by sprinkling some on the cooked on stain then rubbing with with a a cloth. I use it to scrub the marks out of the porcelain sink. I used it to scrub the build up off of Moo's flat iron. I clean my diamond jewelry with baking soda, water, and a soft toothbrush. I use it in more ways as well.

Baking Soda Book provides many more ideas. Click here to view the book.

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Have a fabulous Sunday!