When I'm pregnant, I almost always crave two things - red meat and spinach (iron anyone?) So in honor of that beautiful, dark green miracle food - I give you SPINACH, your Veggie of the Week.
Did you know Alma, Arkansas is the spinach capital of the world?!? I didn't either. I'll have to go up there sometime and check it out. Spinach is a great source of iron, calcium, folate, and vitamin A.
So, how do I like my spinach? One of my favorite breakfasts, which I ate almost every day during my pregnancy with Sophia, is to cook some fresh spinach until just wilted in a little butter. Then add some whisked eggs and cream cheese and scramble. Add a whole wheat bagel, and you've got one scrumptious protein packed start to your day! I discovered that eating a protein-rich snack before bed and first thing in the morning kept my morning sickness at bay.
As a side dish, I usually make spinach salad (Pioneer Woman has a great one!) or cook some chopped onion in butter until soft, then add spinach and cook until just wilted. Remember that spinach cooks to about 1/3 of its raw size, so use lots!
And then there's this bacon and spinach lasagna, adapted from my friend Marcela's recipe:
1 onion, chopped
about 8 cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 lb bacon
olive oil
about 10 ounces fresh spinach
1 box lasagna noodles
3 Tbs butter
flour
about 2 cups of milk
Nutmeg
Cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook the lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Cook the bacon in a large skillet, remove from pan and crumble, set aside. Drain bacon fat. Add some (1-2 Tbs?) olive oil to the same skillet, then add onion and mushrooms. Cook until onion is soft, then add spinach and cook until all the spinach is wilted. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan, then add enough flour to make a paste. Cook until golden, then add milk. Cook over medium high heat, whisking to dissolve flour paste. Add a dash of nutmeg. Then reduce heat and cook, stirring frequently until thickened. Add cheese (I used gruyere) to sauce.
In a casserole dish, layer noodles, spinach sauce, noodles, bechamel sauce, noodles, spinach, noodles, bechamel. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.
Good thing the spinach negates any unhealthiness in the bacon :) My whole family loved this recipe, even my spinach hating husband!
4 comments:
Sounds yummy!!
That sounds very yummy!
Quick question, I think you said something earlier on about being on a blood thinner to prevent miscarriage. If I remember correctly, and you are on coumadin (warfarin)--spinach is the antidote to it. Basically that means, if you are on coudmadin and eating a high amount of spinach you can reverse what coumadin is doing and effectively thicken your blood.
:) Just keeping an eye on you. I hope Ms. Sophia is enjoying cooking with you.
I just want to let you know that it isn't the spinach that is the antidote but the vitamin K. Just wanted to clarify that.
Yum. I actually quite like spinach too, and I am certainly not pregnant, lol!
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