Many apologies to my readers for my absence. I had intended to publish this article sooner but family obligations and pure distraction has kept me away from blogging. So here I am again to continue defending our defenseless and under appreciated foods.
For the next week or so I am going to focus on vegetables for a very good reason. Today during a text conversation with a friend I had to try and explain how I get my monkeys to eat their veggies and it was something that wasn’t very easy to explain but I did tell her that I would teach her all of my tricks to get veggies in my kiddos mouths. And before I get into our defendant I wish to share my theory as to why most kids don’t like vegetables, get ready for it: Parents… I blame you. Yes, I said it. It started with parents many many generations ago who cooked their vegetables until no one would recognize them as a food source. Then when they put it before their children on the table and the kids refused the phrase “You’re not leaving this table till you plate is clean” was born. And this process has been handed down for generations. Then somewhere along the lines parents became more and more indulgent and when the children refused to eat the healthy food Mom or Dad would give them what they wanted. Fast forward to today. Our supermarket shelves are filled with meal supplements and enhanced foods that geared for, you guessed it, kids. The child obesity rate is sickening and if you ask the average child what their favorite vegetable is you will either hear “Potatoes” or “I hate vegetables” . So what can we do? Well, for starters, lets start to make vegetables that are edible again. And hopefully the that small change will be a start to at least get them to try them. Ok, I shall get off of my soapbox and give our defendant some much needed help.
Our defendant today is Popeye’s favorite vegetable, spinach. I’m fairly certain that if spinach actually gave you instant super strength the way it does for Popeye in the cartoons I would not have to be defending it now. Unfortunately it doesn’t so here we are. Most people can’t get past the appearance of spinach and the few who do don’t really care for the taste and if all they have had is boiled spinach I can understand why. It has a flavor to it that is hard to describe and the texture can be rather slimy. And really unless you are having it in a salad there is no to avoid the wilting that happens when cooking spinach but it doesn’t have to be slimy and it can taste amazing.
As before let me tell you the benefits of this wonderful food before we get into the technique for preparing it. First and foremost you should know that Folic Acid was first purified from, you guessed it, spinach. Spinach especially when you opt for steaming instead of boiling is LOADED with antioxidants, and is a great source of vitamins A, C, E and K and magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids. And if all of that wasn’t enough spinach has more iron than an equal serving of hamburger. There is one warning though. Spinach is also high in oxalic acid which can increase your risk of kidney stones so I wouldn’t recommend a diet of nothing but spinach but a once a week addition to you menu should be fine.
So, with all of these benefits why is this super food sitting all alone? Short answer, boiling. Which is what you get when you buy canned spinach by the way. Alright, I’m gonna say it, I hate boiling as a cooking method. In my honest opinion boiling should only be used for pasta, boiled or poached eggs, and for my favorite oatmeal 
Boiling and any variety of vegetables should never be used in the same sentence, period! Ok, I may have some wiggle room when talking about potato salad or mashed potatoes but that’s about it. Now there is a huge disadvantage to boiling spinach in particular, all of those wonderful nutrients from up there are cut in HALF when you boil for four minutes. Wow, just wow. So we steam or flash boil, sounds simple enough right? No, we all make the mistake of cooking things for just a touch too long so this is one veggie that must be watched like a hawk. Because spinach can go from tasting side dish to unidentified blob in an instant. So, are you intimidated yet? Don’t be it’s easier than you think. I actually prefer to work with frozen spinach rather than the fresh stuff, unless we are talking about a salad. Frozen spinach is washed, chopped blanched and then packaged for freezing. So what we are really dealing with is pre-wilted spinach, one step done, next add the flavor. Make sure you thaw it thoroughly, when I’m getting ready to cook I like to remove it from the package place it in a colander lined with a damp paper towel and let it sit while I get the rest of my recipe together. By the time I’m ready to add it the pan it is thawed and drained, how convenient.
So since we have the thawing method explained, lets talk flavor. What you’ll need:
- One package frozen spinach, thawed
- One medium onion finely diced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 slices of bacon chopped
- 1 14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons italian seasoning
- salt
- pepper
Simple isn’t it? So in a large skillet over medium heat add the bacon, you can use turkey bacon but you will have to add oil to it if you do. Cook the bacon until it’s slightly crispy and you have enough of the bacon fat to just cover the bottom of the pan. Once you are there add the onion and sauté until they are just beginning to clarify then add the garlic. As soon as you mouth begins to water with the aroma of bacon, onion and garlic wafting in your kitchen add the can of tomatoes juice and all and the spices and allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes. Now that your spinach is thawed, add it to the tomatoes and work quickly to combine them all together. Cook until the spinach is thoroughly heated about 2-3 minutes. Serve this warm topped with a little Parmesan, oh my YUMMY!
Now that’s not too scary is it? Let me know what you think and as always I welcome suggestions for future posts 