It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

This week's recipe is from

DEATH IN THE STACKS

by Jenn McKinlay

Lindsey Norris and her staff are gearing up for the Briar Creek Library’s annual Dinner in the Stacks fund-raiser. The night of dinner and dancing is not only a booklover’s dream—it’s the library’s biggest moneymaker of the year. But instead of raising funds, the new library board president is busy raising a stink and making the staff miserable.

Although Olive Boyle acts like a storybook villain, Lindsey is determined to work with her and make the event a success. But when Olive publicly threatens the library’s newest hire, Paula, Lindsey cracks like an old book spine and throws Olive out of the library.

The night of the fund-raiser, Lindsey dreads another altercation with Olive—but instead finds Paula crouched over Olive’s dead body. Paula may have secrets, but Lindsey and the rest of the crafternooners know she’s not the one who took Olive out of circulation. As the plot thickens, Lindsey must catch the real killer before the book closes on Paula’s future . . .

🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

CHEESE AND SPINACH STRATA

All food photos property of Cinnamon & Sugar

Ingredients

1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed

1-1/2 cups finely chopped onion

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

8 cups French bread, cubed

6 ounces grated Gruyère cheese

2 ounces finely grated Parmesan cheese

2-3/4 cups milk, 2% or whole

9 large eggs

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Instructions

Dry spinach with a paper or lint-free towel, then finely chop

Cook onion in melted butter in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until soft.

Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg. Cook for 1 minute.

Add spinach, then remove from heat.

Spread one third of bread cubes in a buttered 3-quart casserole dish and top with one third spinach mixture. Sprinkle with one third of each cheese.

Repeat layering twice, ending with cheeses.

Whisk together milk, eggs, mustard and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large mixing bowl and pour evenly over strata.

Chill, covered with plastic wrap, for 8 hours to allow the bread to absorb the custard.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). 

Let strata sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Bake strata, uncovered, in middle of oven until golden brown and puffed, about 45 to 55 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 

Tips

8 cups of cubed bread is about 12 ounces or 14 - 15 slices of bread.

Dried out, stale bread absorbs the egg mixture more readily. You can cube bread, place on a baking sheet and leave out overnight. Alternately, you can warm in a 180 degree (F) oven for 15 minutes, stirring twice. Allow to completely cool before proceeding with recipe. 

A cup of diced ham would be a terrific addition to this recipe! 

Perfect for a cold winter's meal!

📕📖📘📖📙📖📗

Please keep reading to check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

Both the BB and 56 are from

DEATH IN THE STACKS

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading.

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's okay.) *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you. *Post it.

My Book Beginnings

September in New England was about as perfect a season as there was on earth. The days became cooler, pumpkins ripened and colorful leaves decorated the trees like they were getting ready for a party, the last colorful gala before winter. 

My 56

"No, no, no," she shouted. 

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 

upper right hand corner of this page. (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.