By Emma Partridge
AmesEats Flavors writer
To get a few more greens in your diet, try spinach. Spinach is an easy vegetable to work with and healthy. Try using it cooked and raw to see the different profiles, you’ll be surprised that Popeye’s favorite snack will soon be yours.
A very quick way to get more spinach in your diet is to add it to your current meals. For example, if you have a sandwich you can add a few spinach leaves to spruce it up. Another idea is if you prefer salads to sandwiches, you can make a spinach salad. This is a healthy option and can be a nice change from regular lettuce. To make it more unique, add some fruit such as dried cranberries or fresh cut grapes. To make this salad a meal, you can add some cut up prosciutto or ham, vegetables, cheese and hard boiled eggs. Omelets are an easy way to pack in vegetables and spinach, tomato and cheese omelet is one sure way to fill you up.
If you are looking for different ways to make with spinach, you can also sauté some up with olive oil, garlic and salt. This dish is a nice way to taste the flavor of the spinach. The recipe can be found below. If you were trying to find another dish, you can add cooked spinach to any pasta dishes along with any other vegetables. For a more complex dish, you can make spinach lasagna. This can be done by finding a lasagna dish and instead of adding meat to the layers; you can add some cooked spinach.
To make the simple spinach dish, use two pounds of spinach, olive oil, three cloves of garlic and salt to taste. Clean and wash the spinach and pat dry. Heat up two tablespoons oil and garlic, until the garlic is beginning to brown. Add the spinach and turn the spinach to coat it with the olive oil and garlic mixture. Cover and cook for three minutes or until the spinach is wilted. Drizzle some olive oil on top with salt and serve.
Spinach is a perfect ingredient for appetizers and smaller size dishes. Spinach stuffed mushrooms with walnuts and feta cheese, is an example. Spinach wrapped in phyllo dough with feta cheese is a great appetizer to serve and great because they can be made into small triangle shaped appetizers.
So whether you enjoy spinach or if you need to add something to eat it, spinach can be a healthy choice. No matter what form, fresh, cooked, plain or added to dishes, spinach can transform your dish into something new.
