Eat Your Spinach

Ask anyone who’s ever watched Popeye cartoons, spinach will make you strong. Alas,as  with many cartoon created conceptions, spinach will not give you big sailor muscles.  Nor can you  get flattened by a truck, get back up, shake yourself out and keep on running.

But, spinach is good for you. One cup has only 7 calories and little more than 1 carb. It delivers 11 vitamins and is especially high in A and K. .  You’ll also get 9 minerals from each cup of spinach.

Growing up at my house, it was served boiled and the best we could do was cover with salt or vinegar, ick. According to my parents, and probably yours, starving children in China would love my un-eaten spinach. And probably like you, I offered to send it to them.

Times have changed,  First those Chinese kids eat pretty well these days. We have found spinach is great in calzones, artichoke dip, Hidden Valley dip and creamed . It’s a good thing there are only 7 calories in a cup of spinach because all those dishes add lots of calories and fat. Here’s a way to get your family pumped up on vitamins and minerals without all the calories and fat.

Spinach Pesto

You might be familiar with basil pesto. Replace with spinach to make it more cheaply, more healthful and spinach is available all year long.

You’ll need a food processor for this.  I was able to make it in my Bullet/mini food processor. This will yield about a cup of pesto..  It’s like magic. You’ll put in more than 2 cups of ingredients and end up with a smaller volume.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh baby spinach.
Juice of ½ lemon

1 clove garlic, chopped

2T chopped nuts (walnuts or pine nuts)

Olive oil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (use freshly grated hard cheese. Soft cheese will gum up the blades)

Salt

Pepper

1/8 t ground nutmeg

Grind up the spinach with the lemon juice. Add garlic and nuts. Process until fine. Slowly add in olive oil, you may use up to ¼ cup.  You want to add the olive oil slowly until the pesto is a smooth consistency, or as you like it.

Add the Parmesan  cheese slowly, again watch for desired texture.

Mix in nutmeg

Add salt and pepper to taste

Of course your family won’t want to eat this with a spoon like oatmeal, You’ll need to serve it over some thing.  I used a package of fresh tortellini (sold on dairy aisles)

Cook per package directions. During the last few minutes, I dropped in a handful of broccoli florets. When pasta is done and broccoli is slightly cooked, drain. Put back into dry, hot pan. Stir in a few slices of roasted red peppers. (You can roast your own, or buy a jar already roasted) .  Turn the heat on low. Add the pesto, stir til warm.

When ready to serve, grate a little more Parmesan over the top.