Meatless Monday: Broccoli Rice Casserole

May 15, 2012 By 5 Comments

So we’re a day late getting Meatless Monday up this week, but this recipe will definitely not leave you a dollar short.  When you combine rice, broccoli, mushrooms, and cheese, you know that you’ve got something healthy, delicious, and easy on your pocketbook.  You get plenty of protein from the broccoli, cheese, and rice, meatiness from the mushrooms, plenty of carbs, and lots of vitamins.  As a bonus, this would work incredibly well as a side dish for just about any meat you can think of.  A great way to use leftovers!  The best I can say about this dish is to quote my four-year-old and five-year-old girls who both looked up to thank me for dinner, saying, “Daddy, this dinner is yummy!”

Broccoli Rice Casserole

No cream of mushroom soup here.  Just fresh, unprocessed ingredients coming together to form a tasty dish!  Mmmmmm!

To cook the rice, pour 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt into a saucepan.  Bring it to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Wait 20 minutes.  Perfect rice every time!

Ingredients

4 Cups fresh broccoli stems and florets, rinsed and chopped small
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Cup diced onions
1 stalk celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Cup chopped mushrooms
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 Cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
2 Cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 1/2 Cups cooked rice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Steam broccoli until just tender (about 3 minutes on high in the microwave) and top with lemon juice.

Add oil to a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Sautee 5-6 minutes until veggies are tender.  Add flour and cook another minute.   Stir in the milk and continue stirring until just beginning to thicken (it will still feel pretty loose…good!).  Add in 1 1/2 cups of cheese until just melted.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.

Mix broccoli, rice, and cheese sauce in a casserole dish.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.  Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes so that sauce can thicken.  Enjoy!

What did you have for Meatless Monday?  Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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The Daring Cooks’ Challenge April 2012: Boeuf Bourguignon

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Our May 2012 Daring Cooks’ hostess was Fabi of fabsfood. Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.

This is the first time that I’ve ever made Boeuf Bourguignon.  I’ve heard of it and I’ve made a number of stews and other dishes similar to it, but this is my first time for this particular dish.  It just so happens that I love to make comfort foods, so I was very excited to have an excuse for making another one.  One change that I made to the dish was that I did not get a chunk of streaky bacon nor did I use the bacon rind.  Instead, I used 4 slices of pre-packaged bacon sliced thinly.  I also decided not to strain the sauce.  It was plenty thick for my taste as it was.  We served it over polenta, so the sauce being a little thinner was actually very nice.  The picture here is the final product of what I cooked, but the recipe is Fabi’s.  She did a great job with this and deserves all of the credit.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

Ingredients for 6 people:

Ingredients

1 x 6 oz (200 gm) chunk of streaky bacon
Olive oil
3 pounds (1⅓ kg) stewing beef cut into 2 inches (5 cm) cubes
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) salt
½ teaspoon (5 ml) (2 gm) pepper
3 tablespoons (45 ml) (1 oz/30 gm) flour
3 cups (1½ pint/720 ml) of young red wine. Suggestions: Bourgogne, of course, but also Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Rioja etc., depending on your country and your taste. Being Spanish, my choice this time was a good Rioja. It really has to be a good one but it hasn’t necessarily to be a very expensive one, you know, il ne faut pas exagérer Smile
1 carrot, sliced (I prefer to cut it into chunks, but that’s just my taste)
1 onion, sliced in julienne
1 ½ to 2 cups (¾ to 1 pint/355 to 475 ml) of beef stock or beef bouillon
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (½ oz/15 gm) tomato paste or tomato puree
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (1 gm) thyme leaves
1 bay leave (Julia says it has to be crushed, I prefer not to crush it so that I can remove it at the end of the process)
The blanched bacon rind
18-24 small onions, brown-braised in stock
1 pound (½ kg) mushrooms sautéed in butter (Champignons are perfect for this purpose)
Fresh parsley sprigs to serve

Directions:

1.Prepare the bacon: Remove the rind. Cut the bacon into lardons (Sticks, ¼ inch thick and ½ inch (5 mm x 15 mm) long) and simmer everything in 4 cups (1 litre) of water for 10 minutes. Drain and dry carefully with paper towels.

2.Dry the meat cubes carefully with paper towels.

3.Preheat oven to hot 450ºF/230ºC/gas mark 8

4.In a fireproof casserole or a frying pan, sauté the lardons in a tablespoon of olive oil for 2-3 minutes until they’re lightly brown. Remove them to a side dish with a slotted spoon.

5.In the same casserole/pan, sauté the beef until it’s golden brown. Remove it to the side dish where you keep the bacon and set aside.

6.Still in the same casserole/pan, sauté the carrot and the onion.

7.Return the bacon and the beef to the casserole. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper, then add the flour and toss.

8.Place the casserole/dish uncovered in the middle position of the oven for 4 minutes. This gives the meat a lovely crust.

9.Remove the casserole/dish from the oven. Stir in the wine, stock, tomato paste, mashed garlic cloves, thyme, bay and the blanched bacon rind.

10.Bring it to simmering point on the stove. Now, if you were using a frying pan, discard it and put the stew in an oven proof dish.

11.Cover the casserole/dish (If your dish doesn’t have a lid, use aluminum foil and stretch it to the edges of the dish in order to minimize the loss of juices) and place it low in the oven. Adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly, it has to go on for 3-4 hours.

12.While the stew is cooking, prepare onions and mushrooms. For the onions: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan and sauté the peeled onions until golden brown. Add beef stock until they’re almost covered and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until almost all the liquid disappears and they’re tender but keep their shape. Set aside.

13.Prepare the mushrooms as well: Wash quarter and sauté them in 2 tablespoons butter. Keep on stirring until they’re nicely brown. Set aside.

14.When meat is tender, put the stew into a sieve over a saucepan, wash out the casserole and return the stew to it. Put onions and mushrooms over the meat.

15.Skim the fat off the sauce. Put the saucepan on the stove and simmer it for 2-3 minutes. Skim additional fat if it rises. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. If not, boil it until it thickens. If it’s too thick, stir in some stock or bouillon to make it lighter.

16.Pour the sauce over the stew. Put the casserole on the stove or in the oven and reheat for 2-3 minutes. Serve it in the casserole with some sprigs of fresh parsley. Some goods sides are potatoes, noodles or rice.

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Meatless Monday: Veggie Subs

May 7, 2012 By 4 Comments

Each week, we post a meatless recipe that is intended as a dinner meal.  It’s easy to forget, however, that the point of Meatless Monday is to spend the day without meat.  On that note, we are going to start introducing some breakfasts, lunches, and snacks that are all meat free.

This week, we made veggie subs.  No recipe needed here.  We just put some mayo and cheese on a sub roll and add whatever veggies are handy.  In this case, we have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and a lettuce mix.  We pair it with some chips (Veggie Straws, in this case) and a small salad.  We have a little Mediterranean salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  This is all super easy to throw together and would keep nicely refrigerated in a lunch box for a couple of hours.  Best of all, for those of us with significant others who have to have the bit of meat, you can just add that slice of turkey for them and have yours without.  Enjoy!

What do you have for lunch on Meatless Monday?  Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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May 2012 Monthly Meal Plan

May 2, 2012 By 2 Comments

Our monthly meal plan is a staple of our budgeting process.  We look at it this way.  We are planning meals one way or the other.  We can do it on the fly, trying to figure out each day what we are going to feed our kids; we can plan week to week, spending the time planning while we make our grocery list or letting the grocery store choose for us while we shop; or we can put in a little time at the beginning of the month and make it easier each week to just write out a shopping list and get what we need.  Since we’ve started planning month to month, we have found that we actually spend less time planning what we eat.

This month, we are focusing on a number of different comfort foods.  These are foods that we love to eat, that the kids will eat, and that pair well with large salads and multiple sides of veggies.  On several nights, we will actually be recreating that idea of a “Blue Plate Special”–a meat, a starch, and two veggie sides, served with a side salad.  We are upping the veggie quotient this month.  Why don’t you check out what we’re having and join us for a couples of meals?

 

May 2012 Monthly Meal Plan

Week 1 (April 29 – May 5)

Sunday–See April Meal Plan
Monday–See April Meal Plan
Tuesday–Spaghetti Dinner
Wednesday–Veggies and Cold Cuts
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Pizza Night!
Saturday–Fish in a Pouch

Week 2 (May 6 – May 12)

Sunday–Beef Bourguignon
Monday–Veggie Subs
Tuesday–Eggs, Bacon, and Western Hash
Wednesday–Veggie Spanish Tortilla
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Fried Fish
Saturday–Picnic Dinner!

Week 3 (May 13 – May 19)

Sunday–BBQ Chicken (Beth’s Mother’s Day request)
Monday–Broccoli Rice Casserole
Tuesday–Taco Tuesday!
Wednesday–Turkey Sliders
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Meatball Subs
Saturday–Dinner Out!

Week 4 (May 20 – May 26)

Sunday–Pork Stir Fry
Monday–Quinoa and Potato Stew
Tuesday–Smothered Chicken
Wednesday–Baked Potatoes
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Pizza
Saturday–Baked Fish

Week 5 (May 27 – June 2)

Sunday–Steaks
Monday–Fried Mac & Cheese
Tuesday–Chicken Fried Steak
Wednesday–Quiche
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–See June Meal Plan
Saturday–See June Meal Plan

As always, if you are looking for recipes or answers on monthly meal planning, please leave a comment or email us with your questions.  We can’t promise that we will have all of the answers, but we will do our best to find them!  Just send us an email at simplybudgeted@gmail.com.

Have you tried monthly meal planning? How did it go? Any tips or suggestions?

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Meatless Monday: Portobello Mushroom Burger

April 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

Last week we went easy with the pancake dinner. This week is another easy meatless recipe for you because sometimes life is just about being easy. We love burgers but we aren’t big on the alternative meat foods. The ingredients in those foods, especially the sodium, just seem to make them a less than ideal meatless choice. We do love mushrooms though and they have a wonderful meaty taste to them.

When grilled up and seasoned just right, portobello mushroms are a hearty and healthy alternative to your typical burger.  You can find them in just about any supermarket produce section and they are pretty reasonably priced when compared with ground beef.  We put ours on a crusty ciabatta roll with lettuce and tomato for a nice warm weather treat.

Portobello Mushroom Burger

While it’s not necessary, I always remove the gills (the black stuff on the bottom of the mushroom) and cut the stem down pretty small.  You can use an outdoor grill or a grill pan for this, but since we had out our panini press from the weekend, we decided to give that a try.  It worked out very well and saved time by cooking both sides at once, but I did miss the little big of extra char and smokiness that the outdoor grill provides.

Ingredients

4 large portobello mushrooms
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp hamburger or steak seasoning rub
4 ciabatta rolls, halved
additional oil for brushing rolls
1 beefsteak tomato, sliced
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into leaves

Directions

Combine mushrooms, oil, and seasoning in a large bowl.  Let sit for 15-20 minutes so that the mushrooms can soak up the flavor.  Grill over a medium-high flame for 5-10 minutes or until most of the liquid has released from the mushroom and the outside is slightly charred.

Brush the rolls with a thin layer of oil before toasting them lightly.  Assemble sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, or any condiments that you prefer and serve with chips and a small salad for a healthy and tasty meal.

 

Have you had a portobello mushroom burger before? Do you love other meatless burgers?  Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Meatless Monday: Pancake Dinner

April 16, 2012 By 2 Comments

Sometimes dinner on a Meatless Monday needs to be really simple. Pancake dinner fits that bill for sure. Our kids would eat pancakes for dinner every night if we let them. They love pancakes so dinner tonight was a hit for sure!

We … haha, that is funny! Brian tends to break out the electric griddle on pancake days. Making 4-6 pancakes at once sure beats making two at a time in a skillet!

Brian’s favorite pancake recipe is Alton Brown’s instant pancake recipe. The best of the recipe is that you can make a batch (or double or triple) the mix and then just store it in the cupboard. We do this. I can even manage the mix! In the years that Brian has been making this recipe, he has cheated on all of Alton’s steps in the recipe but does make sure to let the batter “rest” just as you do with a meat!

What pancakes do you like? Do you add to the pancake batter or put toppings on there? Our kids love cinnamon sugar on the top of their pancakes.

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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The Daring Cooks’ April 2012 Challenge – Create Your Own Recipe

April 15, 2012 By 5 Comments

With our diet plan for January, February, and March, we haven’t had a great opportunity to do our Daring Kitchen Challenges this year.  We are very excited to get back in the mix and take up the challenge for the rest of the year.

Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients!

As part of the challenge, we were required to pick one ingredient each from three lists:

List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle Peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas

I chose to use parsnips, chipotle peppers, and instant coffee to create a Coffee Rubbed BBQ Sandwich with Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Apple Parsnip Slaw.

Coffee Rubbed Beef BBQ Sandwich with Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Apple Parsnip Slaw

The combination of sweet and spicy made this a sandwich that you would go back to over and over again.  So yummy!

Ingredients

2 Tbsp instant coffee
2 Tbsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp sweet paprika
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 eye of round steaks
Chipotle BBQ Sauce (recipe follows)
Apple Parsnip Slaw (recipe follows)
8 sandwich rolls

Directions

 Combine first 7 ingredients (through onion powder) and coat steaks liberally.  Place into a zip top bag and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.  Pull steaks out about 30 minutes before cooking to allow them to come to room temperature.

Heat one side of a grill on medium-high heat and the other on low heat.  Sear steaks over medium-high heat about 5 minutes on each side.  Move to the low heat side and cook for another 30-45 minutes or until meat is cooked through and indents when you push it.

During the last 10 minutes of cooking, baste the meat with the Chipotle BBQ Sauce, flipping and basting at least 3 times per side.  Allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing thinly.

To serve, place a small pile of meat on a sandwich bun and top with sauce and Apple Parsnip Slaw.  Enjoy!

Chipotle BBQ Sauce

You can add more or less of the chipotle or adobo depending upon how spicy you like your sauce.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 chipotle peppers, chopped
1 Tbsp adobo sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sautee 3-4 minutes.  Add garlic, salt, pepper, and chipotles and sautee another 3-4 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, turn heat down to low, and cook for 10 minutes.  Pour into a blender and puree sauce.  Return to heat and keep warm until ready to use.

 

Apple Parsnip Slaw

My tip:  Mix all of the dressing ingredients together before shredding the apple so that they don’t turn brown!

Ingredients

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 tart apples (Fuji, Granny Smith, etc), shredded
3 medium parsnips, shredded

Directions

Combine first five ingredients.  Mix well.  Combine apples and parsnips and coat well with the dressing mixture.  Refrigerate or allow to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

 

Have you ever created a recipe?  Given those lists of ingredients, what creations could put together?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Tapas

April 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

We are all about keeping our dinners simple, affordable, and tasty.  On the other hand, I’m still just a big kid who still likes to play with his food.  Sometimes, experimenting with new flavors or new types of food can really negate these factors (especially the tasty part).  This especially becomes a problem when, like me, you come from a household that adores meat and are now trying out meatless recipes.  These tapas are a great simple way to experiment a little, without all of the fuss.

The word tapas comes from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover.”  The idea is that a piece of bread or meat or even a plate would be set on top of a glass of wine to keep stuff out of the wine.  These “covers” could then hold various other foods, leading to a long tradition of Spanish cuisine.  Our offerings today are quite easy and could even be accompanied by a small meat tapas for those individuals who “could never have a meal without meat.”

Below you can see, from left to right, a Spinach Artichoke Dip, Patatas Alioli (Potatoes with Garlic Mayonaisse), and Deviled Eggs.  We purchased the dip at the local big box store.  You could make your own, but this is all about being simple, right?  The Deviled Eggs…well, it’s after Easter right?  Most of us have a Deviled Egg recipe looming somewhere or can easily find one.  That will have to be another post.  The potatoes, however, were so good that I just have to include a recipe.

Patatas Alioli or Potatoes with Garlic Mayonnaise

This dish is a pretty traditional tapas and couldn’t be easier to put together.  We used fingerling potatoes, making it easy just to cut round little knobs, but you could easily cut a larger potato into long quarters and cut chunks from there.  Just use what you have.  Making the alioli can be tricky.  Whisking can make your arm tired, but get the hand blender going too fast and you’ll just have an oily mess (trust me on this one!).  If  you like more garlic, feel free to add more.

Ingredients

4-6 Cups potatoes, cut into 1/2-3/4 inch chunks
oil for frying
salt

2-3 large garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 Cup olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Over medium-high heat, heat about an inch and a half of oil in a large skillet (make sure not to come up over half-way up the sides or you might spill over when the potatoes go in).  When the oil is hot (a potato fries immediately when inserted), add one layer of potatoes.  Fry for about 10 minutes or until the insides are fluffy when opened up.  Drain on paper towels and salt immediately after pulling them from the oil.

For the alioli, press or mash the garlic into a paste using the salt.  Add to a large bowl with egg yolks and whisk until well combined.  Slowly add the olive oil, whisking the whole time.  Add little bits at first, making sure that they are fully incorporated before adding more.  As you near the end, you can add larger quantities, but never more than 1/8 Cup at a time.

Serve the alioli on the side of the potatoes or fold the potatoes into the sauce in the traditional fashion.  Enjoy!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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April 2012 Monthly Meal Plan

April 1, 2012 By 2 Comments

We are so very happy to be back to our normal meal plans.  Our little experiment went very well with both of us losing a fair amount of weight, but the draw of meat and the need to feed our kids healthy food that they will actually eat just became too much.  We did learn quite a bit about eating meat more sparingly and focusing our meals more on healthier grains and vegetables.

This month’s meal plan is almost like a “greatest hits” of many of our favorite dinners.  Some of it is time intensive (but so worth it), some things are convenient cheats, and others are just plain good.  We hope that you give some of these great ideas a try!

April 2012 Monthly Meal Plan

Week 1 (April 1 – April 7)

Sunday–Chicken and Mushroom Pizza
Monday–Vegetarian Tapas
Tuesday–Pork Stir Fry
Wednesday–Lasagna
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Chicken Sandwiches
Saturday–Coffee Rubbed Beef Sandwich with Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Apple-Parsnip Slaw

Week 2 (April 8 – April 14)

Sunday–Easter Dinner!
Monday–Portobello Mushroom Sandwich
Tuesday–Tacos
Wednesday–Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Pizza
Saturday–Date Night!!

Week 3 (April 15 – April 21)

Sunday–Fish with Tempura Veggies
Monday–Pancakes
Tuesday–Chicken and Rice
Wednesday–Chili w/ Cornbread
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Chicken Pot Pie
Saturday–Shrimp Kabobs w/ Rice Pilaf

Week 4 (April 22 – April 28)

Sunday–Chicken and Waffles
Monday–Panzanella
Tuesday–Cheese Quesadillas with Corn Salsa
Wednesday–Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
Thursday–Leftovers
Friday–Subs
Saturday–Shrimp and Grits

Week 5 (April 29 – May 5)

Sunday–Fried Chicken Dinner
Monday–Spinach Ravioli
Tuesday–See May Meal Plan
Wednesday–See May Meal Plan
Thursday–See May Meal Plan
Friday–See May Meal Plan
Saturday–See May Meal Plan

As always, if you are looking for recipes or answers on monthly meal planning, please leave a comment or email us with your questions.  We can’t promise that we will have all of the answers, but we will do our best to find them!  Just send us an email at simplybudgeted@gmail.com.

Have you tried monthly meal planning? How did it go? Any tips or suggestions?

 

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Meatless Monday: Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

March 26, 2012 By 4 Comments

Sometimes after a long day, we just need a dinner that is quick, easy, and not too heavy.  We tend to keep pie shells, eggs, mushrooms, spinach, and cheese around at all times so it’s only natural that a quiche would find it’s way into our repertoire from time to time.

Quiche is basically a pastry crust filled with with eggs and meat, veggies, cheese, or any combination of the three.  Our version leaves out the meat, but maintains the light, but fulfilling nature of any good quiche.  The buttery, flaky crust with the creamy, custardy filling and chunky bites of mushroom and spinach all topped with nutty Gruyere cheese will tickle your taste buds with every bite.  Pair it with a side salad and you have a lovely meatless meal for a warm evening or a Sunday brunch.

From a Simply Budgeted perspective, the Gruyere will be your most expensive item.  We bought ours from the big box warehouse store for about $12/pound.  The nice thing is that Gruyere has a big flavor, so a little goes a long ways.  We only used about 1/4 pound (so $3) for the whole dish.  It should also only take you about 15 minutes of active cooking time, giving you time to chill out for a bit after getting home from work while dinner cooks itself.


Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients

1 9 ” pie shell
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper
2 cups baby spinach
1 garlic clove, minced
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.  Prepare pie shell in 9″ deep dish pie plate.  Set aside.

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil, mushrooms, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook mushrooms until lightly browned, 5-6 minutes, and add spinach and garlic.  Cook until spinach is wilted and most of the liquid has evaporated, another 4-5 minutes.  Drain off the excess liquid and set vegetables aside for a few minutes to cool.

Whisk together eggs, half and half, and salt and pepper to taste.

Place vegetables into bottom of pie shell.  Pour egg mixture over the vegetables and top with Gruyere.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until quiche is puffy and golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  It makes about 6-8 servings.  Enjoy!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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