Spinach Casserole for the Vegetarian in Your Life

Spinacia oleracea in Flower

It is challenging to come up with a vegetarian entrée that even meat eaters will enjoy. This casserole is The One. It is simple to make and tastes delicious. I serve this to my Vegetarian on holidays every year.

Spinach Casserole

2 Eggs, well beaten

6 tablespoons Flour

1 package chopped frozen Spinach, 10 ounces

1 1/2 cups Cottage Cheese

1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Thaw Spinach and drain thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and flour in a bowl until smooth. Stir in Spinach, Cheeses and Salt. Pour into a greased 1-quart casserole. Bake for one hour. That is it. Eeezy Peezy. Enjoy.

Ghetto Garden Fabulous #3 - Desperately Seeking Containers

When you garden in a small area like a city garden, a hi-rise building terrace or a narrow alley, one of the ways you can gain or increase planting space is the use of containers. We have even developed a phrase for this avocation: Container Gardening. Yes, you can grow potatoes in a laundry basket. 

If you go to your standard garden store and price containers, you may find them costly. I mean, it is triage. What do you want more? Exotic new plants or fancy containers?

So many choices in life. How stylish do you want to be? Some people like funk. Some people like glitz or techno. Or whimsy. 

So I thought I would present you, cher Readers, with some creative, varied and unusual containers I have gathered from a glorious google tour of the net container gardening universe.

Look at junk with a creative eye. Anything you have that will hold soil is a possible container. Use industrial horse troughs. Use those capacious old aluminum pots from the thrift shop.

Do not forget that you must punch holes in the bottom of any container you plant in. Do not drown the Petunias.

The Kitchen Fairy Garden below is one woman's answer to the Fairy Garden craze.

Now this is what I call Ghetto Garden Fabulous. Your ghetto garden may be created from necesssity or otherwise.  Maybe we are witnessing the rise of a new, whimsical and environmentally sound genre in gardening. Whatever is happening, I like it. 

Gardening as Workout

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

Quindins de YaYa - Comida Latina

Quindins de Yaya is a Brazilian dessert made of grated coconut. It is also the name of a Brazilian song you may recognize. Yaya means "young girl" in a Brazilian dialect.

Here is the song Os Quindins de YaYa  followed by a recipe for this delightful dessert.

I found this recipe in Comida Latina, a cookbook published by Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University in 1977. It is the simplest version I have found. Another name for these little cakes is Mae Bentas. Recipe courtesy of Rollie E. Poppino.

Ingredients

3 cups grated Coconut

2 cups Sugar

1 tablespoon Flour

6 Egg Whites

10 Egg Yolks

1 teaspoon Salt

Small amount of Sugar and Butter for the muffin tins. 

Separate Eggs. Mix all ingredients. Butter small muffin tins and sprinkle with Sugar. Fill tins 3/4 full. Set muffin tins in a pan of water and place in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

This recipe may also be made as a single cake baked in a mold. Double the baking time but watch cake carefully. Done when a knife comes out clean. Some recipes are flavored further with the addition of Vanilla and/or Cinnamon. You will have fun experimenting, if you like. I like the plain version the best.