Creamy Spinach Casserole - Very Good! - and Gluten Free Too!

Creamy Spinach Bake - Gluten Free and Delicious!

I was looking through some old Taste of Home recipes and found a recipe for Creamy Spinach.  I wanted a complete easy to serve supper so I figured I'd add some mashed potato and Farmers Sausage to the recipe.  This was served to 4 teens who at first complained, groaned and grimaced over their supper - they do not like spinach or swiss chard!  They all got a serving on their plate and after one bite they all changed their minds and they all had seconds!

You can use a can of  fried onions or you can make your own.  They are easy to make and can be made gluten free very easily. I assembled this in the morning and put in the fridge.  Just before baking add the crumbs and french fried onions. Recipe for Fried Onions and Cream Sauce shown below.

Creamy Spinach Casserole
1 package 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted (or make 1 1/4 cup of cream sauce - recipe below)
2 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained. ( I used homegrown swiss chard)
1 can french-fried onions (make your own gluten free french fried onions - recipe below)
2/3 cup bread crumbs (use gluten free if required)
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 large potatoes, cooked and mashed with a bit of butter
350- 400 grams Farmers Sausage - sliced ( slice when partly frozen)
Method

Cook and mash potatoes.  Spread in bottom of 10" x 10" x 2" casserole dish.
Slice farmers sausage into thin circles.  Layer over potatoes.
In separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the soup or cream sauce; mix well.  Blend in spinach.  Spread over the sausage and potatoes.  At this point you can cover and put in fridge.
When ready to bake: sprinkle french fried onion rings over casserole (see recipe below).  Combine bread crumbs and melted butter.  Sprinkle over casserole.  Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes until filling is bubbly.  Remove from oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.  Top layer will be saucy.  Serves 5-6 .

                                                                   

    

Gluten Free Cream Sauce - to use instead of mushroom soup - this is what I used.

In sauce pan melt: 2 tablespoons butter.  Stir in 2 tablespoons of rice flour and 1 cup of milk.  Stir and cook over medium heat until thickened.

Gluten Free French Fried Onion Rings:   Slice 1 medium onion into thin rings - separate.  Place in a shallow bowl.  Add 1/2 cup milk (use in cream sauce later).  Let sit for 15 minutes, stir around to make them all moistened.
In a clean plastic bag put 1/2 cup of rice flour and a shake of salt and pepper.  Remove onion rings from milk - reserving milk for cream sauce.  Toss in the flour mixture inside of the bag and deep fry in hot oil until light brown.  Place on paper towel.                                                                  

thinly sliced onions

Deep Frying the onions in about 1 1/2" hot oil