Tag: spinach

• 

  Green Smoothies for skeptics. Back in first grade.

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Mar 16th

  It’s that time of year again. If you have known me for a while, you know that my “thing” for the last several years is to force my way into my kid’s’ class and bust out my basic green smoothie recipe for them.

  Making spinach drinks for a bunch of first graders? Can’t think of a better way to spend my Friday morning.

  Green smoothies have been around for years and really there are 1000 variations, but spinach seems to be the most versatile green to throw in so as not to alter the taste too much. The recipe here that I use seems to be the least “scary” recipe for some of the biggest skeptics, KIDS.

  Although there are plenty of closed-minded adults out there too. 🙂

  I began using this recipe years ago when I did the Green Smoothie Taste for the My Foodie Call family.Check it out how we decided on this basic recipe.

  

  Gearing up.

  

  I explained about spinach and its nutritional components. Every time that I have come in to class, I have picked a specific nutrient to focus on. For the green smoothie lesson, I focused on spinach and fiber. I told that it was nature’s toothbrush for their intestines. They think I’m weird.

  

  We got to work.

  

  We peeled, measured, and poured.

  

  Although some kids were horrified, one boy had no problem stuffing in extra piles of spinach.

  

  Where the magic happens.

  

  Love when a blender gets 1st grade encouragement. These kids did not disappoint.

  

  Such a vibrant green. Love it.

  

  Empty. The Green Smoothie test yields excellent results.

  

  Lots of cheers and thumbs ups. Can we keep them this age?

  Green smoothies are important for pretty obvious reasons. A veggie in your drink? Duh, healthy. But what’s more important is that when put in a blender, the spinach leaves are just flat-out pulverized. This action really helps break down the cell walls of the spinach and makes these micronutrients more available to your body. I guarantee none of us are chewing our spinach near as much as we should.

  Get blending.

  Super Basic Green Smoothie

  (perfect for those that either fear spinach or are convinced that it doesn’t belong in their orange juice)

  • 3 cups organic spinach
  • 12-16 oz  orange juice
  • 1  banana
  • 2 cups frozen peaches (or frozen pineapple)

  Blend until smooth. Add a fancy straw. Or at least a bendy one.

  Posted in Snacks | Tagged banana, spinach
• 

  Whole Wheat Mini Pitas with Spinach and Artichoke

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Feb 14th
  

  Spinach and Artichoke Mini Pitas. (Whole wheat too. Woo hoo.)

  Would your family freak if they saw a green topping like this?

  What’s with kids, green foods, and their fight or flight response??

  Is it because they know that greens equate to health?  Is their scrunched up rejection face their body’s emergency response? “Reject green food no matter what the heck it tastes like…”

  On this particular night I just got the eye roll as we sat down.

  No actual complaints. Shocker.

  

  In short: These were devoured. I am as shocked to write this now as I was on that night. Even my pickiest child ate several of these.

  

  This dip is pretty versatile. Read what I did below.

  Whole Wheat Mini Pitas with Spinach and Artichoke

  Inspired by the Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip Recipe in Cooking with Trader Joe’s

  Ingredients

  • 1-16 oz bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed and excess liquid squeezed out
  • 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and fine chopped
  • 1-8oz container vegan cream cheese (or light cream cheese if you do not need for it to be vegan)
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt
  • 2-3 packages whole wheat mini pita breads

  Directions

  1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  2) Add all ingredients to your food processor bowl and pulse until desired consistency. (I blended this up pretty good because this family does not do chunky.)

  3) Arrange your mini pitas on a prepared baking sheet.

  4) Spread dip on each pita. Bake for 20 minutes.

  5) Repeat with the rest of your pitas or save the dip for future use (a veggie dip, a spread for your sandwich, thin it out for an awesome salad dressing???)
  Posted in Random stuff | Tagged spinach, vegan, whole wheat
• 

  Whole Wheat Hummus Lasagna (and it’s vegan)

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Jan 29th

  Hummus in my lasagna? Say it isn’t so.

  Yes, it’s true.

  Quit freaking out… It’s good…

  

  And surprisingly creamy.

  A closer look at how this goes down….

  

  Crumble your pressed tofu.

  

  Grab your hummus, nutritional yeast, and garlic.

  

  Pile it in with your tofu.

  

  Add basil, onion powder and salt. Teaspoon of each.

  

  Mix it up.

  

  Grab your spinach.

  

  Fine chop it by hand or take the easy route and use the food processor.

  

  Add your hummus/tofu mixture to your food processor bowl.

  

  Layer up your dish with your cooked noodles and spinach/tofu mixture. Bake.

  

  Finished product is filled with awesomesauce.

  Whole Wheat Hummus Lasagna

  Ingredients

  • 1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles
  • 1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and pressed (remember my tofu post on buying the right tofu so that you actually like the outcome of a recipe?)
  • 1- 8oz tub hummus
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1-5 oz bag baby spinach, chopped
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 2- 26 oz jar of marinara sauce

  Directions

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cook your lasagna noodles according to package directions until they’re a tad underdone (mine took about 7-8 minutes).
  3.  In a large bowl, crumble tofu with your hands.
  4. Add in hummus, garlic, nutritional yeast,  garlic, onion powder, salt and basil. Mix with a large wooden spoon to incorporate.
  5. Use you food processor to fine chop your 5 oz package of spinach.
  6. Add your hummus/tofu mixture to your food processor bowl and pulse for 20-30X. Do not process, make sure you “pulse” because you still want it to be a tad chunky…
  7. In a pre-sprayed 9×13 inch baking dish, pour in enough sauce to cover the bottom. Layer lasagna noodles on top. Top the noodles with spoon drops of the hummus/spinach mixture. Lightly spread the mixture onto the noddles to cover. Add more sauce, then noodles, then hummus/tofu mixture until your last layer is a creamy mixture of sauce and hummus. ***Don’t be afraid that there is too much sauce, this will help “meld” the flavors together during cooking.***
  8. Tightly cover with aluminum foil.
  9. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 minutes more.
  10. Allow it to sit for 20 minutes to set.
  11. Enjoy!

  

  Whole Wheat Hummus Lasagna

  Posted in Meatless mealtime | Tagged spinach, whole wheat pasta
• 

  Spinach and “Sausage” Pizza Pockets (with whole wheat dough)

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Dec 2nd

  You know those packaged pizza pockets? I used to eat them and yes, loved them. Despite how bad they were for me, I still have fond memories of those crusty things.

  

  Vegetarian Spinach and Vegan “Sausage” Pizza Pockets

  Here is a healthier version…pretty much homemade.

  Slight cheat. I cheated by using store-bought dough. Here is how this recipe unfolds…

  

  Your ingredients. Don’t like vegan cheese or sausage? Captain Obvious says, “Use regular.”

  

  Slice up your vegan sausage into quarters.

  

  Cook up with your spinach.

  

  Let your dough sit at room temperature, then roll it out.

  

  Cut into rectangles, squares, ovals…whatev…

  

  Layer your cheese, and sausage/spinach mixture on half.

  

  Fold dough on itself and seal the edges with the back of the fork.

  

  Line those whole-wheat puffy pillows up and bake. Warning: ***Your house will smell insane.***

  

  Finished product. Mine were a little overstuffed apparently.

  

  Vegetarian Spinach and Sausage Pizza Pockets

  Vegan Sausage and Spinach Pizza Pockets Ingredients

  • Coconut oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced (remember to leave your garlic alone for 10 minutes. Why?)
  • 14 oz Vegan sausage, sliced and quartered (I used Tofurkey brand)
  • 1- 6oz package baby spinach
  • 1 cup marinara sauce of choice
  • 2 packages whole wheat pizza dough
  • 1- 8 oz package mozzarella cheese

  Directions

  1. In a large skillet, heat a couple of tablespoons of your oil.
  2. Add minced garlic.
  3. Add sausage and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add bag of spinach, adding water or vegetable broth if necessary. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring the entire time until slightly wilted.
  5. Add marinara and stir. Turn off heat and set aside.
  6. Roll out one of the pizza doughs onto floured surface, in a rectangle shape.
  7. Cut into 6 rectangles.
  8. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over half of each rectangle to within 1 in. of edges.
  9. Top mozzarella side with spinach/sausage mixture.
  10. Fold dough over filling and press edges with your fork to create a seal.
  11. Transfer all pizza pockets to a prepared baking sheet (I put parchment on mine)
  12. Repeat with 2nd whole wheat dough.
  13. Bake at 400° for 14-17 minutes or until lightly browned.

  

  The reason I used two packs of dough is because it was my intention to make a double batch and then freeze a few or even pack in school lunches.

  

  Never happened. They were gone.

  Posted in Meatless mealtime | Tagged spinach, vegetarian sausage, whole wheat dough
• 

  Chick Pea Sliders Salad

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Oct 24th
  

  It’s-a-slim-pickings-salad-kind-of-night.

  I have been on a slight grocery boycott lately because I am trying to “use what we have”. I put that in quotes because my kids hear me say it so much that I am sure I sound like a robot by now.

  But seriously, our country wastes so much food that I do not want to add to the problem by continuing to buy foods when we have more than enough. If our cupboards look understocked, so be it.

  Although that said, probably by tomorrow I’ll be sick of the kids complaining there is no food and I’ll go buy out the snack aisles of Target.

  Sigh.

  For now as a result of my grocery shopping hiatus, our cupboards were looking EMPTY.

  Time for dinner.

  After sneaking a peek in the cupboard, I found two workable ingredients.

  A can of chick peas (yes, garbanzo beans, same thing) and some brown rice.

  Add a little seasoning.

  Veggie burgers, done.

  

  Pile in your ingredients.

  

  Process.

  

  Mini burgers. AKA “sliders”.

  

  Cook ’em up.

  Except we are out of rolls….

  

  Chick pea slider salad?

  Sometimes the meals take on a non-traditional presentation. Yes, this is why the above veggie burger is on a bed of spinach instead of in between 2 buns and slathered with ketchup and mustard.

  Here is the basic veggie burger recipe that really can be extremely versatile. These became “sliders” because I wanted to make them small and have more than 4 large patties.

  Chickpea sliders

  makes 7

  Ingredients

  • 1 can drained chickpeas
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped onion
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste

  Directions

  1. Place all ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until it forms a chunky paste .
  2. Use a large ice cream scoop to scoop paste into your palms. Shape into patties and place on a large plate.
  3. Put in fridge for 10-20 minutes to help “set”.
  4. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliders and cook until golden brown, about 6-8 minutes per side.

  Because these wound up being “non-traditional” in that I knew we were not putting traditional condiments on them, I decided to make a nice sauce for it.

  Miso-Ginger Sauce

  (modified from Eat Spin Run Repeat)

  • 1 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp white miso
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1-2 tbsp honey
  • 2-3 tablespoons each water and Extra virgin olive oil

  

  Whisk it up.

  

  Now off to the grocery store….
  Posted in Meatless mealtime, Salads, Soups, and Sides | Tagged beans, spinach

• You missed a call?

  • Make friends with…Bean Pasta.
  • Whole Wheat Flax ‘N Apple Muffins
  • Small changes…Eat what’s in season.
  • Whole Wheat Broccoli Mac N Cheese
  • What I pack my kid.

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