| Leftover vegetables take up valuable refrigerator | | | | soup, vegetable soup, and pasta dishes. These |
| space and often get pushed to the back of the | | | | Spinach and Swiss Cheese Custards are a tasty |
| shelves. Three weeks later, as you're putting | | | | side dish for chicken, steak, pork, and fish. You will |
| groceries away, you may find a carton of fuzzy | | | | need four oven-proof custard cups and a glass |
| vegetables. Too bad, because you have just | | | | baking dish for this recipe. |
| wasted good money and good nutrition. | | | | Ingredients |
| I'm a grandmother and was a young child during | | | | 1 cup milk |
| World War II. Every family on our block had a | | | | 1/2 teaspoon salt |
| victory garden. When you have planted seeds, | | | | 1/2 teaspoon onion powder |
| watered them, and watched them grow, you | | | | Pepper to taste |
| don't throw out produce. Food was scarce and | | | | 3 large eggs, room temperature |
| many housewives used leftover vegetables in | | | | 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, |
| timbales -- baked custards with leftover | | | | cooked and drained |
| vegetables or meat. Timbales, such as | | | | 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese (more if you wish) |
| caramelized onion, are coming back, only now | | | | Method |
| they are called custards. | | | | Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat four |
| Having leftover vegetables on hand saves you | | | | custard cups with cooking spray and put them in |
| preparation time. Last week I made a batch of | | | | the glass baking dish. Whisk milk, salt, onion |
| slow cooker stew. I put the meat in the cooker | | | | powder, pepper, eggs and spinach together. Make |
| first and, when it was time to add vegetables, I | | | | sure the eggs are well incorporated. Ladle the |
| found some fresh green beans and baby carrots | | | | mixture into the custard cups. Sprinkle Swiss |
| in the refrigerator. Since the vegetables were | | | | cheese on tope of the custards. Pour hot water |
| already cooked, they only needed to be heated. | | | | carefully into the dish until it almost comes to the |
| Fifteen minutes later the stew was ready. | | | | top of the custard cups. Set the baking dish on |
| The uses of leftover vegetables are almost | | | | the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25-30 |
| limitless. You can add them to soups, creamed | | | | minutes. Remove custards from the dish and cool |
| dishes, salads (green beans are great), and | | | | on rack for 3 minutes. Run a paring knife around |
| casseroles. We love spinach and I never throw | | | | the edge of the custards, unmold, and serve |
| leftover spinach away. Instead, I add it to tomato | | | | immediately. This recipe may be doubled. |