Ham and Perogy Casserole

I used to eat perogies all the time. However, since I've started doing more and more of my cooking from scratch, I've stopped eating this kind of food as often. I was clearing out my freezer, taking a tally on what I need to use up and I came across a bag of perogies. I decided to do something a little different with them so I started searching for recipes for perogy casserole (I also had ham in the freezer I wanted to get eaten up). Most of the recipes I came across had cream of mushroom soup in them and I thought that the heaviness of the perogies wouldn't need such a heavy sauce so I just decided to do my own thing. This recipe still isn't overly healthy, by any means, but it is a little bit lighter without the cream soup.

Ham and Perogy Casserole
1 bag frozen perogies
2 cups chopped ham
1 cup chopped Velveeta (I would use regular shredded cheese next time but I needed to use up the remaining Velveeta that was in my fridge)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
A handful of baby spinach leaves

1. Heat a little oil in a skillet and add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are soft, about 3 minutes.

2. Add mushrooms and peppers. Cook until soft.

3. Add spinach. Cook until wilted.

4. Add peas and ham. Cook until heated through.

5. Place vegetable and ham mixture in a large bowl. Add frozen perogies and cheese. Stir to combine.

6. Place perogy mixture in two greased 8x8 pans or one greased 9x13. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted and perogies are soft.

I made two 8x8 casserole. We ate one immediately and froze the other for later. Each one contained about 4 servings.

This was a good "clean up what we've got" recipe but I don't think I would put it on the menu regularly. In other words, I wouldn't go buy a bag of perogies just to make this but if I had another one kicking around, I'd do something like this again.