I sure do love my very special dish
"What's so very special about it?"
It's actually a simple answer: it's the only dish I can cook, and also the only I came up with.
Moreover, my parents actually liked the dish and, considering that I'm the only person in the house who likes spinach, I was very happy about that.

Spinach
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How this recipe came to be
Giving credit where credit is due
One fateful day I was home alone. My parents were out spending an enormous amount of time trying to find the perfect products to buy at Home Depot; my brother was out with his friends; it was nearly 8 o'clock and I was hungry with no prepared foods to heat up.
So I was looking around and saw a pack of spinach in the freezer; I love spinach. There was an issue though, I didn't (and still don't) know how to cook anything other than buttered pasta and meat. So how could I properly prepare spinach? After all, spinach is a delicate vegetable that has to be properly prepared for it to taste good.
So an idea came to me. What if I used one of my mom's cookbooks? Surely there would be at least one recipe about spinach that I could be able to cook.
Well no. Except for sides I could not find a single dish that could be cooked easily with the lack of ingredients at my disposal.
However I was looking at a side dish for spinach and then noticed the recipe next to it. It was called "Broccoli and Pasta Bianco" and it looked so good - too bad I didn't have Broccoli, or Penne pasta, or mozzarella cheese, or Parmesan cheese (which were pretty much all of the ingredients required).
Then I realized that if I just found good substitutes I could make a spinach version of this dish. Looking back now the substitutes I picked weren't that great, but hey at least I have one special dish I can bake
Ingredients
1 Pack of spinach. Ideally it is cut spinach that ARE NOT LEAVES. I like the ones in line shape better, they slide in just like pasta.
2 Packs of noodles. I used Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup, the ones that come in freely, without cups. You can throw the flavoring (shrimp/beef pack) aside
1 1/2 cup of Milk.
1 slice of American cheese
1 can of cream of Mushroom. Conveniently I found a Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup, the same one that was advertised in the cookbook.
Directions: Prep time
Pour the condensed soup into a bowl.
Put water in the now-empty can
Pour that water into the bowl
Pour 1 1/2 cups of milk into the bowl
Stir so that it blends to a decent degree
Slice the american cheese slice into about 25 cubes (5x5) and make sure they are well separated. You can make smaller cubes if you like. They do NOT go into the prep bowl. Put this aside somewhere Cooking: Traditional Version
1. Get out two pots with water (at least 6 cups)
2. Put both on Med-High (7 on a 10 scale)
3. Once they start to boil, add the ramen noodles to one pot, and the spinach package to the other
4. Stir occasionally, gently use a fork to break apart noodles
5. After about 5 minutes, drain the pot with the noodles
6. Immediately add the noodles to the pot with the spinach
7. Stir and use the fork to make sure they are well blended
8. Let cook, with occasional stirring, for about 4 minutes
9. Taste to make sure the spinach and the noodles are both cooked thoroughly
BAKE TIME
1. Pick a baking dish (at least 12x8x2)
2. Drain the pasta/ramen mixture
3. put about half of it in the dish
4. Grab the preparation bowl and evenly pour about half of the mixture
5. Pour about half of the american cheese slices evenly across the dish
6. Repeat the process (steps 3-5) but with the remaining ingredients.
7. Put the dish into the oven and bake at 350 Farenheit for about 25 minutes, the cheese should have melted and slightly caramelized. If not, add in another 5-10 minutes
Show your love for cooking, baking ,and spinach!
all proceeds go to charity
Some people don't like spinach
The Cookbook that inspired me
Campbell's; Casseroles, One-Dish Meals and more
Amazon Price: $14.98 (as of 11/12/2009)![]()
This is the cookbook where I got the "Broccoli and Pasta Bianco" recipe (page 142). Without it I wouldn't have adjusted it into a spinach dish.
Comment Away
ecogreenbags wrote...
Sounds really good, and not too much work either! Excellent work here.
Tipi wrote...
I love spinach, so thanks for the recipe.
Best wishes on Squidoo!
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