Food Waste Friday
Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. I started doing this in March of 2008 to help motivate myself to use up my food instead of wasting it and it's been very effective. Since it helped me so much, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
This week has been unusually busy, and it shows. My camera and I have logged a lot of time together (we even took a road trip), and so I haven't had quite as much time to keep an eye on my fridge.
That's a moldy tortilla (which I think was freezer burnt to begin with!), some dried up orange slices, a few leaves of basil (I'm not sure if those should even count. They fell off my basil plant and I scavenged them. They're now composting), and the spinach.
I bought the bag of spinach, thinking that we would use it for salads. However, a lot of nights this week I barely got dinner on the table, and as happens so often when I am rushed for time, I opted to serve something like grapes or oranges with our meal. They're faster and easier than salad, so my poor spinach has sat, neglected and unopened.
Normally when produce goes a bit off, I try to bake with it (I figure the heat kills anything that might be slightly dangerous), but I'm really not sure what to do with the spinach because we only really like it raw (like in salads or in smoothies).
If you have some wonderfully delicious suggestion for cooking the spinach (it needs to be a recipe that pleases avowed cooked spinach haters!), do speak up. Instead of composting it, I put the spinach back in the fridge in case one of you could come to my rescue. 😉
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Spinach lasagna?
http://southernfood.about.com/od/lasagnarecipes/r/blbb571.htm
1. Soup. Including No Cream of Greens:
- Saute some onion and garlic in a pot.
- Add damp greens and 1/2 c water.
- Cover, simmer till greens soft.
- Puree.
- Season to taste, add other stuff (rice, potato, leftover meat scraps, cream...)
2. Does your family like stir-fry?
3. Creamed Spinach: saute with lots of garlic and let simmer down; then add cream and a bit of grated nutmeg, salt, pepper.
4. I wonder what a smoothie with steamed spinach would taste like.
5. Is all of the spinach off? You could pull out the off bits and use the rest.
If you put it in a blender (with some liquid) and then stir it into spaghetti sauce, noone will even know they are eating it.
We also like spinach in scrambled eggs/omelet/quiche type dishes. Or we saute it with onion and garlic and use puff pastry or filo dough to make a savory tart.
Spaghetti sauce!! I always put spinach in my sauce and it tastes great! 🙂
My favorite is quiche with spinach, onion (any kind), swiss and cheddar. I add bacon, ham, or artichoke hearts, if I have them. Even my 3 year old likes it! Steam or saute the fresh spinach first.
Try this turkey and wild rice soup recipe with your spinach. It's become one of our favorites and we are not big cooked spinach fans either.
I'd throw it in a quiche...
Put your spinach in lasagna or on your pizza. I have a house full of spinach haters...and they don't even notice it! Basically, anything with a strong tomato base will hide it well. *;)
I make quiche! http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeId=110271
I usually make this one since it's relatively "more" healthy than some quiche. I just sub out the brocolli. mmm.
I also like the idea of spaghetti sauce or a stromboli too.
I make quiche! http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeId=110271
I usually make this one since it's relatively "more" healthy than some quiche. I just sub out the brocolli. mmm.
I also like the idea of spaghetti sauce or a stromboli too.
My favorite is the Pampered Chef Garden Florentine ring with spinach, ham, swiss cheese, carrots, onions, black olives, and plum tomatoes. Even my husband who HATES spinach loves it and asks for it!
Hands down, best use of spinach is Spanakopita...but it can be a bit time consuming to make. Some recipes call for multiple phyllo sheets stacked and then cut, but it's a lot faster to just fold one sheet in thirds and use that...slightly bigger results, but just as tasty! And disliking cooked spinach isn't an issue, so long as you like butter and feta!
We had a terrible week too! It's a constant challenge...
Pakoras are a wonderful way to hide spinach! I wasted 4 vege sausages this week, I was so bummed; especially as they came in non recyclable plastic too. Grrrrrr.
Sautee the spinach in olive oil, with garlic and chopped onions. Chop really fine and freeze. Add to pasta dishes. I do this all the time and my family just thinks I've added lots of basil.
The only way I (or anyone else in this house) will eat spinach is if I put it in Manicotti. It gives it a hint of flavor. We won't eat Manicotti with out it anymore.
Spinach works well in pasta sauce, on pizza, in quiche, soup, spinach and feta muffins, or if you steam it and stir in some egg and cheese with some garlic salt and ground black pepper, it tastes pretty good too. (I used to hate steamed spinach until my husband introduced me to it cooked like that!)
Just in case you ever have spinach left over again: Spinach and tamarind chickpeas. 1/2 tsp nigella seeds 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds and chopped onion into veg oil for 8 mins, add equivalent of tin tomatoes and tin chickpeas, 3 chopped mild chillies, tsp paprika tsp turmeric and 2-3 tsp muscavodo sugar simmer for 10 mins, then 1 tblsp tamarind paste some chopped coriander and around 150grams chopped spinach. Stir till spinach wilted. Great with rice or flatbreads and some yogourt. Freezes brilliantly.
I can't believe I forgot my favorite spinach recipe - Stuffed Mushrooms. This is close to the recipe I use: http://www.recipezaar.com/Mushrooms-Stuffed-With-Spinach-and-Cheese-163997
I lost some leftover steak. I kept meaning to eat it, but then I forgot about it and it was too late.
For the spinach, I'd just lightly wilt it with some onions that've been cooked down and lemon juice. I don't like spinach that's been cooked to death either, but lightly wilted is pretty good.
Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip!!
Spinach Lasagna!
1 jar spaghetti sauce (or equivalent homemade - about 2 cups)
1 c. cottage cheese (cheaper than ricotta and just as tasty in this recipe)
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp each dried basil and oregano
1 beaten egg
1 bag spinach, wilted then drained in a paper towel draped in a collander (get out as much moisture as you can)
1/4 tsp salt
about 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
4 no-boil lasagna noodles
Mix cottage cheese, minced garlic, salt, egg, basil, oregano, mozzarella (reserve a bit to sprinkle on top), and spinach in a bowl. In two glass loaf pans, layer everything as follows:
Sauce, noodle, cheese mixture, sauce, noodle, cheese mixture, sauce, then top with reserved mozzarella.
Cover with tin foil and bake at 350F for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and lasagna is bubbly. Each loaf makes 2 adult servings or 4 kid servings.
If necessary, you can freeze the lasagna loaf, then just thaw in fridge and bake as usual, adding extra covered time (about another 20 minutes).
Have you ever tried the Debbie Meyer Green Bags? I LOVE THEM! I put my spinach in one with a papertowl and it will last up to 3 weeks without getting slimy.