This recipe originally comes from a Polish recipe called “Projass”, pronounced “pro-hass” with a long “o”. It is essentially a quiche with eggs, cheese, and spinach, baked together. In its easiest form, below, most kids over 6 can do it themselves, except for the help they will need with the hot oven.
Here is the recipe in the easy form, with pre-grated cheese, frozen spinach, etc. Of course, you can do this with fresh ingredients that will offer more nutrition.
When you are buying the cheese you want in the grocery store, look at the bag of shredded cheese on the rack. Just duplicate the volume of cheese when preparing it with your preferred cheeses. Virtually any firm cheese will do. Soft cheeses will not hold the shape of the pieces and your finished product may be too mushy for kids to enjoy.
We prefer to grate the fresh hard cheeses because we have read that ground or grated food (like hamburger or grated cheeses) have more surface area on which bacteria can (and will) grow. Therefore, we prefer to grate it up fresh ourselves. Similarly, you can take a piece of ground round and ask the butcher to grind it up for burgers to eat that day, offering much less chance of bacteria in the final product.
Ingredients
6 eggs, beaten lightly together
1 bag shredded Jack, Colby, and Cheddar Cheeses
1 medium carton Cottage Cheese (4% fat or less)
6 tbsp. Flour
6 tbsp. Milk
6 tbsp. Butter
1 pkg. frozen Spinach, thawed (squeeze water out; see below)
Pre-heat oven to 350º F.
Combine everything. Mix well. Pour into a baking dish. Bake at 350 º F for 35-40 minutes, until lightly brown on top. Cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
Note about the Butter: You can go light on the amount of butter or skip it entirely to reduce the fat in this recipe. The cheese has plenty of fat and the butter just adds to the browned top.
Note about “drying” the Spinach: For the frozen, thawed spinach, devote one tired (or new) towel or hand towel exclusively for kitchen use. When you wash and dry it after each use, return it to the kitchen storage so it doesn’t get mixed back into bathroom or linen closet.
Spread the towel out on the counter top. Dump the thawed spinach onto half the towel and fold the other half over the spinach. Press the towel over the wet spinach, squeezing as much water as possible out into the towel. Transfer the pressed spinach into a medium-size bowl and shake the towel over the bowl to get all the small spinach pieces into the mix.
Add the other ingredients and stir together to mix well. Bake as above.
If you are using raw spinach, steam it down first, then press the water out as above. You will probably need a bag of raw spinach about the size of a soccer ball to duplicate the amount of cooked, frozen spinach required.
