Cooking with Dr. Monkey (Birthday Party Edition)

We went to a party last night at my friends Sandra and John's house. The party was in honor in Sandra's turning 29 for the 17th time. It was a lovely affair and mucho fun was had by all. It was a pot luck affair so I got to cook for people other than Sparky and I, woo hoo!


I made my soon to be famous savory bacon spinach casserole with hot habanero croutons, it's now of our new favorites here at el Casa de Monkey, and unlike the last time I took this to Sandra and John's, this time I made it correctly!

Here's the recipe:

I sliced and diced two cloves of garlic, one third of a sweet red bell pepper, a medium sized onion, and a quarter if a small zucchini. I sauteed them all in canola oil with cracked black pepper. I also put some ziti on to boil.

Then when my ziti was done, I cooked up about half a regulation sized box of ziti, I mixed the pasta and the sauteed vegetables together in a 13 x 9 Pyrex pan.

Then I cooked up six pieces of bacon and tore them apart and sprinkled them over the pasta. I added about a half a cup of grated Parmesan Reggianno.

Next I mixed together 3 and 3/4 cups fat free milk with 1/3 cup of flour. I added in two big tablespoons of plain low fat yogurt and I heated that mixture up over medium heat. Then before it could boil I added half a bag of fresh organic spinach. When the spinach was sufficiently wilted and the milk/flour/yogurt sauce was thick I poured it over my pasta.
Then I cubed about three big slices of hot habanero bread that I got from Scratch Bakery here in Johnson City. I tossed it into a pan with some melted Brummel and Brown spread, Brummel and Brown Spread is a yogurt based butter substitute, and I coated the bread cubes all over. After the bread cubes were coated then I tossed them on top of the pasta and I baked the whole shebang for about 8 minutes at 425 degrees.

And this is what it looked like when it came out of the oven. Boo ya, spicy hot, savory, and it's got a green leafy vegetable in it too!

When it was time to eat the kids dug in. Notice how they avoid my casserole.

Still not touching it.

See any on her plate? Nope.

June stepped in to make the kids eat some. Thanks June!


What happened after the boys ate some of my casserole? Why the lil' guys immediately tossed back some soda pop and iced tea to get the taste out of their mouths!


The "habanero effect" had just kicked in by the time Donna and Bobby and their cutie pie daughter Susie got to the party. We were all whacked out of our gourds and it took us all a moment or two to focus properly. Thank goodness Donna brought some cupcakes, after we all ate one we came down from our habanero high, climbed out of the trees, put our clothes back on, and we sat down by a fire that John had built in their fire pit.

More cupcakes were enjoyed and someone even may have slipped us a canoli or three. All in all it was a successful party and to my knowledge no one went home sick from my dish. (Actually I have no idea if any of the kids, and seriously, how good looking are all those kids anyway?, ate my any of my dish but I do know that there was just a little bit left by the time Sparky and I left. And at no point did June force any children to eat my cooking, she did however force us later to eat more cupcakes.)


Oh, one more thing, all you fancy pants Chicago and New York City bloggers who were getting together this weekend, you got nothing on us. All the east TN bloggers who mattered were at Sandra's party, there was me, Sandra (who writes two blogs by the way), Joseph (who writes the Democracy Now! Tri-Cities blog), and Rev. John (who writes Shuck and Jive). Tally it up kids, that's four bloggers and five blogs! Suck on that Chicago and NYC! Oh and I got to meet more people who are willing to admit in public that they read my blog, shout out to Bobby, Donna, and cutie pie Susie!

I hope we helped you have a happy birthday Sandra and I hope you have many more!