on Mar 3rd, 2008Things to make with spinach
It’s so easy to get into a rut, isn’t it? We have a few favorite recipes for certain foods and make them time and again until someone hollers uncle. Well, what to do with it this time?
A fabulous-looking recipe on my friend brightfeather’s blog reminded me I’m close to being in a rut with spinach, which I absolutely adore, so I checked some other favorite blogs and sites for more new ideas. If your repertoire needs a revamp too, I hope these suggestions will help.
Spinach, after all, is a superfood and chock-full of things that are good for us; Popeye got it right. With fresh spinach it’s important to use it quickly or it will begin to lose some of its nutrients. Frozen spinach is actually more nutritious than spinach getting old. Cooking reduces the levels of Vitamin C and folate, but it raises the beta-carotene level and lutein bioavailability.
So here are some interesting, easy ways to use spinach:
Creamy Spinach and Tortellini with Tomatoes from brightfeather’s blog, This time, this space.
Sweet Potato, Eggplant and Spinach Madras Curry from vegeyum’s blog, A Life (Time) of Cooking.
South Beach Diet Spinach-Stuffed Mushrooms from greenliving.
Mediterranean Spinach and Poached Eggs Over Spinach and Mushrooms are both from The World’s Healthiest Foods, a site that deserves to be better known. It’s non-profit and ad-free, brimming with great information.
From this blog, Spinach Salad with Oranges and Mrs. Kostyra’s Creamed Spinach. She was Martha’s Stewart’s mom and it’s delicious.
Wikipedia’s article about spinach has a lot of good information about nutrition and storage and a site called Spinach Words has a lot of facts about it. And if this type of post is helpful, please let me know in comments and I’ll do it from time to time with other foods.
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Yay! Four more spinach recipes and link love too.
^^ Keep your girls up and keep on blogging.
brightfeather’s last blog post..Self-acceptance
Sheesh! I peeved. My comment just disappeared {snarl}. What I said was:
“Yay! Four more spinach recipes and link love too. ^^ Keep your girls up and keep on blogging.
P.S. I’m glad you liked the Carole King track at lastfm. The two of hers I like the best are Tapestry and Smackwater Jack.
brightfeather’s last blog post..Self-acceptance
- Well, we got a chance to tell Akismet twice that you’re not spam. Maybe it has learned now. Oh…Tapestry! Love the cut, love the album. I like Smackwater Jack but Tapestry is stellar. I’ll have to add it to my playlist.
Lotsa link love! I’m so glad I saw your recipe. It’s the first I’m going to make from this list.
^^ Yours too!
[…] Ella from FoodPlusPolitics includes this on her post on Things To Do with Spinach. […]
Yes, I enjoyed this entry. Love fresh, organic spinach. One of my favs. Not a huge fan of cooking it, although if cooked properly, it’s supposed to be more nutritious than uncooked.
Much like tomatoes, if my memory serves me correctly. Proper cooking means you eat more of the vegetable . . . or something like that.
But I prefer mine uncooked, as cooking spinach and making it tasty is one of the more difficult feats on the planet. I like to toss baby spinach with some fresh sliced apples, raisins, a few walnuts, a little veganaise with lemon juice, honey (or agave); also love it with blue cheese, cherry tomatoes, and a little dressing, maybe a few crumbled crackers thrown in.
Another fav is to make a “taco salad,” but use spinach. My version is abbreviated: fresh spinach, shredded cheese, baked tortilla chips (Guiltless Gourmet has a nice Chile Lime), some nice sliced olives, maybe a few tomatoes, green onions, etc. You get the idea. A great dressing is veganaise mixed with hot salsa and spiced as you like.
These are my favorites for quick, single person healthy spinach dishes.
Great entry.
Keep these food features coming, if you are so inclined.
Will try Martha’s mom’s idea, at some point. Without the bacon . . .
Blue Smoke of Paradise’s last blog post..Salon obituary on Buckley.
These look like great recipes!
I love creamed spinach as long as there is mashed potatoes to go with it as well. Oh and a steak too. Maybe even some Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream. (That’s what I order, without fail, every time I go to my local steak house..and am not counting the calories!)
Meanwhile, who has a good recipe for the Hot Bacon Dressing that goes so well with raw baby spinach?
bluesmoke - I’m glad you liked it, but do tell re: veganaise?
All the research I did mentioned the gain some/lose some aspect of nutrition when cooking spinach and it seems the ideal plan is to eat it both ways but certainly, raw prevails, so long as it’s fresh, fresh.
Your baby spinach salad sounds delicious. I’ll certainly try that. Thanks!
startcooking - Now that’s a menu! Yes, please.
I’m amazed by how many people I’ve met in New England who have never, ever had creamed spinach. In NY steakhouses, the standard combo is steak, baked potato and creamed spinach. I eat spinach more often than steak but I can inhale creamed spinach.
Here’s hoping somebody has a warm dressing recipe….
I will have to get my wife over to read this - she loves taste of iron, well that is how it tastes to me.
Don’t even mention Broccoli!
Or cauliflower
Will Rhodes’s last blog post..My wife is nuts!
Oh, Will, I love all three of those!
However, with cauliflower, I shouldn’t bother. I prefer to snack on it, raw, plunked into a creamy dip that’s so fattening I might as well eat cookies.
I hope Mrs. Will stops by!
@ Blue Smoke - Many thanks for the email and links about Veganaise. This mayo-hater will have to try it!
Spinach is one of my favorite veggies: it’s always delicious, versatile and so good for you! I just wrote about a big spinach salad I did earlier this week, actually. And the great thing was that I had leftovers for a few days…yum!
K’s last blog post..Spinach and Watercress Salad with Pomelos and Roasted Beets & Pan-Fried Eggplant
K, that salad sounds amazing. I love watercress even more than spinach, if that’s possible. I did search your blog for a spinach recipe but only found the one from BA, so this is great timing…and thank you for taking time to stop by and mention that salad.
Do you (or you mom) have a warm dressing recipe that startcooking is looking for?