Here's What I Did with My Spinach...

The spinach directly from the farm is quite possibly the best spinach ever. I almost consider it an injustice to do anything with it other than prepare a salad from it. A few toasted pecans, cranberries, blue cheese and a drizzle of a fruity vinaigrette over a a handful of those crinkly, dark-green leaves is simply divine... Alas, such was not the fate of MY spinach leaves. As "unjust" as it might have been, the spinach just didn't get slated on the menu for a salad. I had quite a bit of lettuce, and since lettuce has fewer alternative preparations, it got designated as the "salad" green. Using the spinach for a salad would mean an awful lot of salad eating, and since man can not live by salad alone... that's probably not true- I can't back that up... anyway, since my family needs some dinner variety, I put my spinach to other uses, and I thought I might share those uses with you.

Spinach Omelette
That's right. I did just suggest vegetables for breakfast. It's not a crazy idea - it's downright genius. In fact, should you have extra vegetables that might not make it on your dinner list, I recommend roasting or sautéing a big batch and serving them with eggs for an easy, well-rounded breakfast. I served this spinach omelette with a pumpkin muffin to my husband and my brother, who's facebook post, today, was (and I quote), "I love eggs....and meat....and cheese..." and I didn't hear one pining for the lack of bacon or sausage while they devoured their breakfast. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this creation since I made it prior to the blog, and my compulsive need to photograph my meals, but maybe you'll make it for yourself and get to see it in person.


Ingredients:
half an onion, diced
a couple of handfuls of spinach, chopped
drizzle of olive oil
shredded cheese of your choice (feta would be good too)

two eggs
splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste


Saute the onions in the olive oil, over medium heat until translucent. Add the spinach and saute until wilted. Remove form heat and set aside.
 Whisk eggs, milk, and your salt and pepper in a bowl. Heat a little olive oil in a small nonstick pan. Pour egg mixture into pan. Let cook until you can slide a spatula underneath without breaking the firming egg. Flip the egg. Spread spinach mixture and cheese (I added jalopenos, too, cause I like heat) across half of the egg circle and fold over. Cook another minute, or just long enough for cheese to get melty. Slide onto a plate and enjoy!




Chicken, Spinach and Rice Soup
Soup is another good way to use vegetables that might otherwise go to waste. I had not planned on making this soup, but a last-minute, executive decision to soothe sore throats resulted in the recipe below.  I can also tell you that just about every soup I make starts the same way, so keep that in mind in case you want to improvise.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
olive oil
Enough spinach to fill a large salad spinner
7 or 8 chicken tenderloins (or leftover baked chicken would be even better) 
6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth 
2/3 cup brown rice
salt and pepper to taste


Saute onion, celery, and carrots in a little olive oil over medium heat in a 5 qt or larger pot. I use my oval dutch oven for most of my soups 'cause it has a large, even-cooking bottom that serves well for sauteing and browning meat that is going into the soup. Once the onions begin to look translucent, add the garlic and saute for about a minute. Now, unless your chicken is already cooked, let's cook the chicken. When I'm making soup, I really hate to dirty up multiple dishes so here's what I do. Using your spoon, push the vegetables off the the sides of the pot. In the center, add your tenderloins. Let them brown on one side then flip them over to brown on the other. Shift the veggies back over the chicken, and add just enough broth to cover the chicken. Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from pot, chop or shred, and return to the cooking pot. Add the rest of the broth and bring to boil. Add the rice and simmer for 50 minutes (20 if using white rice or quinoa) covered. About 5-10 minutes before rice is done cooking add the spinach. When the rice is tender, the soup is done. Add soup and pepper to suit your tastes.


*A note about this soup: I used several "quick fixes" for this recipe that ideally I would not promote because they are less sustainable friendly and they add to your grocery bill, BUT... they are good to have around as back-ups, in case you have to swing a change in menu as I did. Those ingredients are the tenderloins and the broth. Typically, I would suggest this soup the day after I baked a whole chicken. I would shred the leftover chicken meat and boil the rest of the chicken to make my own chicken broth. Not only is your own chicken broth going to be more flavorful, but you'll be getting more use out of the WHOLE chicken, and stretching your dollar in the process!