Betty Lives!

Lunches and Brunches

the editors of Better Homes and Gardens

1963

Right here is everything I always hope for when digging through vintage cookbooks: a deceptively simple recipe that yields surprisingly delicious results which then leads me to peruse more carefully through a book I would have otherwise avoided.  You see, of all the Kodachrome-bright mid-century books I have, this one gets the prize for the most eye-poppingly vivid photos.  The end papers are BRIGHT yellow, the pictures are so intense they look like they were taken in color and THEN colorized with glow-in-the-dark paint.  Observe:

But the Spinach Bake was perfect.  It contains: 1 10-oz package frozen spinach, cooked and drained; 1 cup cooked rice; 1 cup shredded sharp cheese; 2 slightly beaten eggs, 2 Tbl softened botter, 1/2 cup milk, 2 Tbl chopped onion, 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp rosemary, crushed.  Combine, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and serve.  As for my changes, there were only two.  I used brown rice and 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary instead of the dried.  It was really, really tasty with a very high ratio of spinach, not at all like a quiche, with the perfect amount of seasoning.  My only issue is that it didn’t have enough bulk.  Even in the 10″x 6″ baking dish called for it was way too thin.  Next time I would definitely double the recipe and adjust the cooking time/temp.  And there will definitely be a next time, especially when we have some leftover basmati rice from take-out Indian!