Cooking with Spinach

I've never been a big vegetable person. I'm a bread and potatoes kind of girl. Give me one of those covered in garlic? Even better.

The one vegetable I love and have at nearly every meal is tomatoes. Which technically aren't a real vegetable, so I really can't win. Since I've been trying to cook and eat healthier, I've been trying to incorporate more veggies into my diet. One of those good for you veggies I've been working with lately is spinach.







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One way I've always loved spinach is fresh, mixed into a big bowl of salad. When we have salad, we load it with all sorts of different veggies, including fresh spinach. But since it's winter (because it sure doesn't look like spring!), most of those delicious veggies are less than fresh at the grocery store so a salad isn't that appealing right now. In a month or two, we'll be having salads left and right. Especially if they're served next to some grilled food. I'm impatiently waiting for warmer weather so we can assemble and start cooking on our grill.




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I recently tried my first green monster. It's basically a fruit smoothie with some spinach blended in, hence the "green". Her recipes usually call for milk, but I've had some V8 Fusion juice sitting in my fridge, so I've been using that to get an added kick of fruit and veggie servings. It's cold and filling and fruity, and it gives a boost of energy in the morning. I've always been a fan of smoothies, and these are no different. Try one, you'll love it!




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I read this tip somewhere online, but tonight I made spaghetti. Usually I brown some ground beef or turkey and add the pasta sauce and some seasonings. Today, I chopped up some fresh spinach and added it with the sauce and seasonings. I used a cup, maybe a little more, because I didn't know how it'd turn out. It was great--you couldn't taste the spinach at all. It added some fresh green color to the sauce, and it blended so perfectly. I waited until Jeff finished a plateful, than asked if he liked the spinach. He looked at me and said "What spinach?" Perfect! Next time I'll try adding some more, and we'll get a good chunk of veggies in our dinner, since the jarred pasta sauce also has a veggie serving or two. And since I paired it with a salad, tonight was pretty healthy! Until I toasted some bread and topped it with a garlic and basil butter spread I mixed...and then ate too many pieces. At least it was "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light"?

You can't change a bread and potatoes girl overnight!