Spinach Cheese Cakes

I used love the spinach cheese dip appetizer served at a lot of restaurants. However, it's shocking to discover what most of those dips consist of...let alone the calorie content. Therefore, I wanted to come up with a spinach dish that was similar to spinach cheese dip but healthy. I also wanted something that could be used as a stand alone or main dish. With all this in mind, came these yummy spinach cakes. They are hearty enough to be served as a vegetarian main dish and you don't need chips to eat them unlike actual spinach dip!

Worth mentioning - Spinach is number 5 on the dirty dozen list so it's worth it to buy organic!

Ingredients:

16 oz bag frozen chopped organic spinach, thawed
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded
1 cup organic light cottage cheese
2 eggs, free-range organic if possible
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain or squeeze excess water off spinach. Place in a food processor. Add 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese plus all the remaining ingredients and pulse until well combine leaving texture. Set aside. Next, coat a muffin pan with cooking spray or light oil. Fill muffin cups to top with spinach mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 Parmesan cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes or until set and slightly golden on top. Let stand 5 minutes to set. To remove, loosen edges with a knife then use a flexible spatula to scoop out. Makes 8-10 spinach cakes.