Friday Foodie Fix -Spinach

Friday Foodie Fix

Friday Foodie Fix

I can’t believe we’ve not had spinach for our Secret Ingredient for Friday Foodie Fix until now!  I love spinach and it’s a great spring and winter vegetable.  Whenever I think about spinach I still have visions of Popeye and the effect it had on him.  It always makes me smile.  As a kid I’d love to watch the cartoon on TV, but I still wouldn’t eat it.  Only in the past 15-20 years have I even given it a try.  Now I love it just about any way you want to fix it.

According to the The Produce Bible: Essential Ingredient Information and More Than 200 Recipes for Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs & Nuts, spinach is thought to have originated in Persia.  It is still eaten in large quantities as a fundamental part of the Iranian diet.  It is considered the “prince of vegetables” and combined with eggs, pine nuts, raisins and in lamb stews.

Spinach is an excellent source of beta carotene, folate, vitamin C, calcium and iron.  When you bring your spinach spinach leaf home this is the best way I have found to keep it fresh for a long time.  Make a bath either in a deep bowl or your clean sink.  Toss in the spinach and spin it around like a washer.  For an added cleaner you can toss in a little gluten free baking soda.

Leave it alone for a little while.  This will allow all of the dirt and sediment to sink to the bottom of the sink and leave your spinach leaves clean.  Put them into a plastic bag with a paper towel.  It will be damp from the leaves but if not make sure it’s a little damp.

I find spinach to be one of those vegetables that I can hide in many dishes.  If you cut it small then it looks like any other herb.  I use to do this a lot to my husband, but now he seems to like spinach so I just cook it up on its own now and serve it bold.  Here are a few of my recipes with spinach, I hope you will share yours.  I would love it even more if you would note on your blog that you are sharing here.  For all of the directions, check out a whole page dedicated to Friday Foodie Fix. There you will find directions and links to all of the past Secret Ingredients.

Spinach, Mushroom, & Bacon with White Wine

Chilean Sea Bass with Spinach & Mushrooms

Pizza Soup

Next week’s Secret Ingredient is ………………….Pork!


29 Responses to Friday Foodie Fix -Spinach

  1. Diane June 25, 2009 at 5:47 pm #

    Heather- wow, canned spinach. Did you really like it with vinegar?

  2. Heather @CeliacFamil June 25, 2009 at 10:40 pm #

    I did eat canned spinach as a kid. Unlike Popeye, mine was heated and served with vinegar. Now, I mostly eat fresh baby spinach leaves in salads, and in place of lettuce on sandwiches, wraps, etc.

  3. Heather @CeliacFamily June 26, 2009 at 2:40 am #

    I did eat canned spinach as a kid. Unlike Popeye, mine was heated and served with vinegar. Now, I mostly eat fresh baby spinach leaves in salads, and in place of lettuce on sandwiches, wraps, etc.

  4. Diane June 26, 2009 at 2:47 am #

    Heather- wow, canned spinach. Did you really like it with vinegar?

  5. Amy Green/Simply Sug June 25, 2009 at 10:58 pm #

    Diane – First, I made a mistake when entering my info in Mr. Linky and didn't get my title in – Cottage Cheese & Fruit Salad. Sorry. Can I fix it?

    Anyway – I LOVE spinach – I eat it every day at least once, and I eat it fresh. I can even eat it plain. Great secret ingredient. Can't wait to see what everyone has to share.

  6. Amy Green/Simply Sugar & G June 26, 2009 at 2:58 am #

    Diane – First, I made a mistake when entering my info in Mr. Linky and didn’t get my title in – Cottage Cheese & Fruit Salad. Sorry. Can I fix it?
    Anyway – I LOVE spinach – I eat it every day at least once, and I eat it fresh. I can even eat it plain. Great secret ingredient. Can’t wait to see what everyone has to share.

  7. gfe--gluten free eas June 26, 2009 at 8:28 am #

    I love spinach. I prefer it raw or slightly wilted. Back in the day, the only way I ate spinach was in pasta. And, I felt so much healthier doing that. LOL, but true! Today I enjoy adding it to my scrambled eggs, in green smoothies, in many different salads, etc. 🙂

    I've tried Mr. Linky three times now, but no luck … here's the link, Diane. http://glutenfreeeasily.com/a-little-crunch-of-ca… The recipe is for one of my favorite salads that one of my best friends introduced me to. It's greatly enjoyed by everyone. It's a requirement at our support group meetings now. I tend to make it a little more basic for myself (often skipping the cranberries, and using whatever nuts I have on hand), but it's such a great combination. 🙂

    Looking forward to reading all the recipes!

    Shirley

    • Diane June 30, 2009 at 12:51 am #

      Shirley- You did it right, I see your link just fine. Looks really good too. I think spinach got a bad rap when people only ate it out of a can. That really doesn’t taste good. I love the idea of having in eggs. That’s great. Thank you for sharing another one of your great gluten free easy recipes!

  8. gfe--gluten free easily June 26, 2009 at 7:28 am #

    I love spinach. I prefer it raw or slightly wilted. Back in the day, the only way I ate spinach was in pasta. And, I felt so much healthier doing that. LOL, but true! Today I enjoy adding it to my scrambled eggs, in green smoothies, in many different salads, etc. 🙂

    I’ve tried Mr. Linky three times now, but no luck … here’s the link, Diane. http://glutenfreeeasily.com/a-little-crunch-of-cabbage/ The recipe is for one of my favorite salads that one of my best friends introduced me to. It’s greatly enjoyed by everyone. It’s a requirement at our support group meetings now. I tend to make it a little more basic for myself (often skipping the cranberries, and using whatever nuts I have on hand), but it’s such a great combination. 🙂

    Looking forward to reading all the recipes!
    Shirley

    • Diane June 29, 2009 at 8:51 pm #

      Shirley- You did it right, I see your link just fine. Looks really good too. I think spinach got a bad rap when people only ate it out of a can. That really doesn't taste good. I love the idea of having in eggs. That's great. Thank you for sharing another one of your great gluten free easy recipes!

  9. glutenfreeforgood June 26, 2009 at 10:13 am #

    Okay, I need to jump on this Foodie Friday, Facebook, Mr. Linky stuff and figure out what's going on out here in food blog land.

    I love spinach and think my favorite way to use it is on pizza. Spinach, tomatoes, red onions and black olives on a nice GF pizza crust. Yum! But I've always loved spinach in all forms, even when I was a kid. My CSA box is overrun with hearty greens right now, so I'm thrilled to check out all the spinach recipes. Thanks, Diane and gang!

    Melissa

    • Diane June 30, 2009 at 12:56 am #

      Melissa- I can’t wait to get my CSA box this week. Lots of spinach sounds like a good problem to me but we’ll see when I actually have it. Love your idea of spinach on pizza. I sure miss pizza. I hope you will share lots of great spinach recipes.

  10. glutenfreeforgood June 26, 2009 at 9:13 am #

    Okay, I need to jump on this Foodie Friday, Facebook, Mr. Linky stuff and figure out what’s going on out here in food blog land.

    I love spinach and think my favorite way to use it is on pizza. Spinach, tomatoes, red onions and black olives on a nice GF pizza crust. Yum! But I’ve always loved spinach in all forms, even when I was a kid. My CSA box is overrun with hearty greens right now, so I’m thrilled to check out all the spinach recipes. Thanks, Diane and gang!

    Melissa

    • Diane June 29, 2009 at 8:56 pm #

      Melissa- I can't wait to get my CSA box this week. Lots of spinach sounds like a good problem to me but we'll see when I actually have it. Love your idea of spinach on pizza. I sure miss pizza. I hope you will share lots of great spinach recipes.

  11. Linda June 27, 2009 at 1:10 pm #

    I never thought of chopping it up to hide it in dishes. I'll give that a try. My family does eat it raw, they just don't care for it cooked. I'm okay with that too.

    • Diane June 30, 2009 at 1:03 am #

      Linda- sometimes you just need to give something a try and hide it to do so. Sounds like your family has as many rules about eating food as mine. Well all we can do is try.

  12. Linda June 27, 2009 at 12:10 pm #

    I never thought of chopping it up to hide it in dishes. I’ll give that a try. My family does eat it raw, they just don’t care for it cooked. I’m okay with that too.

    • Diane June 29, 2009 at 9:03 pm #

      Linda- sometimes you just need to give something a try and hide it to do so. Sounds like your family has as many rules about eating food as mine. Well all we can do is try.

  13. Ali (Whole Life Nutr June 29, 2009 at 3:04 pm #

    Thanks Diane for hosting this! I just added (a little late) another recipe using spinach. -Ali 🙂

    • Diane June 29, 2009 at 9:23 pm #

      Ali- So great you joined in. They are always available through the nav bar at the top of the blog. In July I'm going to do a recap but before I do I'll do a call for more recipes just in case people want to add more.

  14. Ali (Whole Life Nutrition) June 29, 2009 at 7:04 pm #

    Thanks Diane for hosting this! I just added (a little late) another recipe using spinach. -Ali 🙂

    • Diane June 30, 2009 at 1:23 am #

      Ali- So great you joined in. They are always available through the nav bar at the top of the blog. In July I’m going to do a recap but before I do I’ll do a call for more recipes just in case people want to add more.

  15. Alisa - Frugal Foodi June 29, 2009 at 10:35 pm #

    Hi Diane,

    I posted an udon recipe – note that I do have a gluten-free option in that recipe (as it was originally posted). Eden's buckwheat noodles or rice noodles will still work great!

  16. Alisa - Frugal Foodie June 30, 2009 at 2:35 am #

    Hi Diane,

    I posted an udon recipe – note that I do have a gluten-free option in that recipe (as it was originally posted). Eden’s buckwheat noodles or rice noodles will still work great!

  17. Katie @ Kitchen Stew July 20, 2009 at 8:33 pm #

    Here's my fav spinach recipe, that could be made with gluten-free pasta: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/07/21/reci
    And my 2nd fav: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/07/14/reci
    Thanks for this compilation!

  18. Katie @ Kitchen Stew July 21, 2009 at 1:33 am #

    Here's my fav spinach recipe, that could be made with gluten-free pasta: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/07/21/reci
    And my 2nd fav: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/07/14/reci
    Thanks for this compilation!

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