Spinach, Tomato, and Hashbrown Pie

I have spent most of the spring in a cooking rut. I go through this every year. At the first sign of warm weather, I lose my appetite for soups, stews, and hearty casseroles. On the other hand, I'm not quite ready for salads and fruit smoothies served as meals until the farmer's market opens. So I was really excited to find this recipe back in April. It is quick, easy, delicious, and includes vegetables and seems to be on the spectrum between winter and summer meals.

I got the recipe from here, although I adapted and doubled the recipe from the original a bit because I made one pie with tomatoes, and one pie without. Although my boys are healthy and hearty eaters, they are going through a "no tomatoes" phase right now - as in they won't touch it if they see tomatoes in the form of tomatoes (tomato sauce doesn't count). Lucky for me and them, spinach is permitted.

Ingredients (for 1 pie - double these if you want 2 as pictured below).

2 cups hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 T. olive oil
3 cups packed fresh spinach
2 garlic cloves
3-5 slices of tomatoes (I used large tomatoes, so 3 covered it)
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375.

1.) Spray 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. I fill a Misto with olive oil and use that to spray baking pans. I highly recommend one if you don't have one. Here's the link.

2.) Press the hash brown potatoes in the bottom of the pie plate. Bake the hashbrowns for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, remove from oven and top with half of the cheese.

So far, easy peasy, right?

3.) Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat, and stir in spinach and garlic until the spinach is wilted.
Remove from skillet and layer it over the hashbrowns.

4.) If you're using tomatoes in your pie, layer them over the spinach.

5.) In a mixing bowl, mix together eggs, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

6.) Pour over spinach and tomatoes, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is beautifully golden brown.

 See, I told you it was easy! Also, it's really, really good. Perfectly cheesy and veggies in practically every bite. You could easily add different veggies if you have others on hand. Happy spring cooking!