Spinach and Sundried Tomato Spaghetti Cake with Kale Caesar Salad

Since it is New Year I am starting with something I found at the beginning of 2011 when I started my ban on take out. Of course it is a Jamie Oliver recipe because he was my starting point for finding new recipes. Prior I was only cooking from my head and looked at cooking blogs as inspiration, but to follow a recipe – I thought that it meant that I couldn`t cook. Yeah, it is stupid. To pair, I am doing a bit fancier than my standard simple salad and making this kale caesar that my friend David made for xmas eve dinner that I thought was pretty great. Luckily he texted me the recipe – a term I am using loosely here – about a half hour before I was about to start.

We also have a 1993 reserve Veuve Cliquot to drink that we have been holding and it is time. I was too sick to drink it on xmas, and last night we stuck with reserve cava as we were going out drinking at the bar with a friend so it seemed wrong to open at 8:30 and slug prior to going out. Our pre-night out meal was cheese plate, spanish almonds and the cava which we shared with my friend Delphine who we spent the holiday festivities with us.

I admit to making an almost total error in making this tonight, but luckily quickly caught it and was able to correct. Also, I modified it to lighten the calorie load by using skim milk. I also swapped 2 egg whites for 1 whole egg, but that was only because I had used 2 yolks in the dressing and didn`t want to trash them.

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