I'm an Easy Believer

Sometimes, when you're cruising' along in all those other people's blogs out in the blogosphere, it can begin to cloud your inner perceptions. You know, frankly, some people make things appear so darn easy, and you begin to think that, perchance, you should try something along those lines as well.

I can always look at the photography on another blog and return to my own mirror with a clear understanding that God has not really gifted me in that realm. I can hop through a documented daily schedule of a woman with sixteen children (I believe it was three or four sets of twins and one set of triplets - yikes), and still know that there is no way in the world that I will ever be as organized or on top of things. Chaos with my three is, in fact, probably equivalent to the level of noise and commotion in her household of sixteen kids. (Let's see, ES = 3, YS = 4, and MS = the other nine!)

But, today, the stars were aligned and I fell for the delusional idea that what is easy to another could be achieved by myself. It just happened that my husband reminded me that we had a container of egg substitute in the refrigerator, about to expire. (The fact that it was egg substitute instead of real, honest-to-goodness eggs may have been my first mis-step.) I was thinking it might be fun to look up some egg recipes which include spinach, because I've really been enjoying spinach lately.

After searching for a bit, I printed out one from the EatBetter America site for a simple Spinach-Cheddar Frittata. Before I exited, I flitted over to some blogs. What should I chance upon, but a fellow blogger, Lisa, presenting mouth-watering photos of her own spinach quiches. She gave the bare bones gist of where the ingredients came from (eggs from their hens, milk from their goat, vegetables from their garden, pie crust from their grocer).

I headed to my kitchen, convinced that I could pull off this new, tasty feat. Upon inspection, I realized that my hubby had eaten up all the remaining fresh spinach and that we did not have a deep dish pie shell in the freezer. Still, we did have frozen spinach and I had a container of crescent rolls which were also due to expire soon (one would get the feeling we don't eat up our food quickly enough).

Lisa hadn't really mentioned to what temperature she set the oven or how long she baked her lovely quiche pies. I decided, I would do a blend of both recipes (it was already pretty healthy fare with the egg substitute, spinach and tomatoes, so I figured a bit of cheese couldn't hurt). I set the oven for 350 degrees, greased a round cake pan (in case the egg substitute, which said it was equivalent to 8 eggs - same as Lisa used per pie) and pressed the crescent roll dough onto the bottom and up the sides. I beat the eggs and milk together, per Lisa, and poured it into the pan. I sprinkled frozen spinach into the egg mixture and topped with a coating of cheddar cheese. Then, I sliced a tomato and placed the wedges in a beautiful circle near the edges of the pan.

When I placed this in the oven, I was worried that my husband's portion would get cold because he was downstairs exercising and would need to finish up and shower. I set the timer for 15 minutes, per the frittata recipe and waited to smell the delicious goodness of my effortless, dinner creation (I believe at that moment, I was channeling MckMama, who has lately been providing us with her impromptu recipes of the day - all full of healthy ingredients, like her spinach and flax pancakes, which I must try ... following her recipe. step. by. step).

Alas, after 15 minutes the eggs were still liquid and the crescent roll edges were nicely browned. I continued to add five minutes, oh, say about FIFTY times (o.k., maybe seven or eight more times) until I was absolutely sure that hubby would not balk at the consistency of the egg mixture (he is phobic of undercooked eggs and salmonella, among other things). By then, the crust was fried to charcoal brown, but hey, you can always cut off the burnt bits, right?

I cut a slice for myself and poured a glass of skim milk (did I mention that I probably used skim in the mixture as well, since I'm always conscious of cutting down on cholesterol levels now). It was really a beautiful thing on my plate. It did look very similar to Lisa's pies. However, as I've learned before, looks aren't everything.

It wasn't inedible. It was merely fair. I can add up all the things I should have done differently. 1) Recipes are made for people like me, who don't have much practice improvising in the kitchen, unless it is in adding granola to the top of our bran flakes. 2) Pie crust is a must. 3) The frittata recipe only called for 3 egg whites and 1 oz. of cheese - therefore it only took 15 minutes to cook at 350 degrees. 4) Both of the recipes called for raw spinach leaves. If anything, I should have thawed the spinach and squeezed out the extra moisture (instead of having to cook-out that extra moisture). 5) I'm betting that real eggs and full fat milk also provide full flavor. Darn!

Still, we did both eat two pieces (leaving two to be reheated tomorrow) and it was pretty. I'm glad I didn't merely waste the container of egg substitute (although I doubt I'll buy it again).

Note to self: Just because someone else looks brilliant in red hair, doesn't mean that I could pull it off, too!