Spinach -N- Cheese Pie

Hi-Ya!

I get some of my inspiration for recipes by triangle folding the pages in my favorite foodie magazines, gasping at the most beautiful photographed foods in cookbooks, browsing through other foodie blogs, and binge watching cooking shows.

Hi, My name is Tee and I'm Food Addict !

A lot of my favorite foods may not be as healthy as I would like, so not to feel deprived I take a recipe and adjust RECONSTRUCT it to my personal preference.

The featured dish: Spinach & Cheese Pie

The first time I tried this pie was when a dear friend made it and actually brought me a slice when I was going through a tough time and not really eating like I should.  Remember....Life Happens!

Back to to my story.....

It was SOOOO good that I wanted to make a whole pie for myself ( I didn't eat it all in one sitting).
I asked my friend to send me the recipe and she did without hesitation, but she sent it as screen-shot and I couldn't tell the resource of the recipe, but I knew it was in a magazine. I always gotta give props where props are due, so after searching high & low I found the recipe on the internet and it was actually a Weight Watchers recipe. I figured that was a pretty healthy dish already, but there were ingredients that I just didn't prefer to use.

Let's get started !!!

The star ingredient in this recipe is the Gruyere cheese.  Its creamy, savory, and its a good melting cheese.  It can be pretty expensive, but so worth it.  If you can't find Gruyere then maybe a smokey Swiss cheese may be the next best thing.

The finest cheese around...yummy !

Express Lane Item

Tee's Spinach and Cheezy Pie

Ingredients  (Inspired by Weight Watchers)
Serves 6-8 slices

1 pouch of Uncle Ben's Ready Whole Grain Medley (Quinoa & Brown Rice w/ Garlic)
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons of EVOO
1/2 small onion, chopped
¼ green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
¼ red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 – 2 garlic cloves, minced (more or less depending on your love of garlic)
1 (10oz) box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 eggs
2 egg whites
½ tsp of thyme
1 cup of Gruyere Cheese, shredded
½ cup low-fat ricotta cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with EVOO  nonstick spray.
3. Cook rice per the instruction on pouch.  Place in bowl and let cool.  
4. Prepare the rice crust in the pie plate. Add the Parmesan cheese to the cool rice and toss until mixed thoroughly.  Dab your fingertips in a bowl of water and firmly press the rice mixture  in the plate and up the sided to form the crust.
5. Heat the EVOO in a nonstick skillet and add your onion, peppers, garlic and cook until aromatic (about 4-6 min). Stir in the spinach and take skillet off eye of stove to cool.
6. Beat the eggs and egg whites in bowl, and then add in the Gruyere, ricotta cheese, and thyme.  Stir in the cooled spinach mixture
7. Pour into rice crusted pie plate and bake 40-45 minutes until GD (Golden Delish)

How'd I reconstruct this pie - you ask ?

• Swapped out white rice and replaced w/ Quinoa blend
• Added red bell pepper for a little more color 
• Added an extra garlic clove than original recipe…. I Love GARLIC 
• Swapped out Cottage cheese and replaced w/ low-fat Ricotta cheese

Express Lane

• If it takes your several attempts to separate the egg whites (that was ME the first time !), then as a time saver you may use a carton of Egg Beaters Egg whites -  just simply follow the equivalent table on the carton.
• If you are not a a fan of Quinoa then you may substitute brown rice.
• Uncle Ben’s Ready 90: second microwave pouch (There are numerous blends to choose from)