Baked Spinach

Today's CSA farm box contained a beautiful large bunch of spinach.  If it had been baby spinach, I would have made a salad.  But I don't care too much for raw spinach (unless it's baby), so I was thinking of making my usual creamed spinach.  Then I remembered coming across this recipe last week and thought I'd give it a try.  YUM!

I had a huge bunch of fresh spinach, andI added in a 1 pound bag of frozen chopped spinach.  It yielded 2 cups cooked and was the perfect amount for 3 adults and a toddler.  I also didn't have any Swiss cheese on me, so I used a combo of Parmesan and mozzarella.

The original recipe calls for blanching the fresh spinach, but I was too lazy to do that and it turned out just fine.

Baked Spinach
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped fresh spinach (or 2 cups frozen)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Smart Balance
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Wash, drain and chop the fresh spinach.
• Thaw and drain the frozen spinach.
• Heat olive oil and Smart Balance in a pan.  Add spinach and TSSS and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until soft and most of the moisture has evaporated.
• Sprinkle flour over the spinach and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Add the chicken broth, a little bit at a time, stirring and scraping up the pan.
• Pour half the spinach mixture into a small baking dish.  Sprinkle with half the parmesan and half the mozzarella.  Add the remaining spinach mixture to the baking dish and top with the rest of the cheese.
• Bake for 20 minutes until heated through and bubbly.