ingredient of the week: spinach

oh, hey there! here's another installment of ingredient of the week! this time it's spinach. i know, i know, why the hell would i want to eat spinach? well. for one, it's full of iron and i'm anemic.. soo... that's just a match made in heaven. two, it's so versatile! it can be eaten raw or cooked, and it wilts down super small so you can fit lots of it into one portion, magnifying the amount of nutritiony goodness! now who doesn't like that? so, how do i like to eat my spinach? well... usually any salad i have has spinach in it, cause in my case, you can never get enough iron. i also love adding it to my morning fritattas!

spinach fields forever

nutrition wise, spinach is pretty much a superfood. its super high in vitamin k, a, e, b2&6 and c, manganese, folate, calcium and iron, not to mention has tons of fibre, some omega-3s and is super low in calories. along with all these, spinach is also full of health promoting phytonutrients such as carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein etc) and flavanoids which provide powerful antioxidant protection. these function as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents and reduce free-radical damage all over the body. spinach also has certain antioxidants that help prevent eye problems including macular degeneration, blindness in the elderly and cataracts. sooooo i eat spinach a lot of ways, but this time i decided to make a soup. it's uber important that you have a nice big piece of crunchy, delicious bread with this!

spinach and sweet pea soup

what you need:
1 9oz package of spinach
2 cups of frozen peas
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
2 pinches of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 tbsp cayenne pepper (less if you don't like it spicy!)
1/3 cup skim milk 
* optional: 1 package of crimini mushrooms

step 1:
put a big pot on medium heat and add in your oil. while that's heating up, dice your onion, celery and carrot and add in. let that cook down for ~15 minutes. once the onion is translucent, add your spinach, stirring to help wilt it down.
step 2:
once wilted, add in your broth frozen peas, cayenne, nutmeg, salt and pepper. let that simmer away for ~15 minutes. in the meantime, if you want, sautee mushrooms. these just added an extra depth of flavour to the soup.
step 3:
once your soup is done, set it aside and let cool for a bit. ladle out ~1 cup of the broth so you can adjust the thickness of the soup. carefully blend the soup in batches until nice and smooth. if it needs to be thinned, add the extra broth. add the soup back to the pot to heat and pour in milk. this just makes it nice and creamy.

enjoy!

spana... whatchamacallit?

sorry for the delay in posting everybody! exam time is nearly upon us so this will be one of the last blog posts for a while. i'd much rather spend my time cooking epic food, but no.. no... i have to write exams. oh how i love my life. downside: somehow i still have managed to have 2 exams on the same day (one being 70%).. upside: i have about a two week break after that until my last exam! so, i've decided to pack up again and head out to montreal for a real greek easter: lots of family, church services and of course, lamb on a spit! it's gonna be such a nice way to spend the holiday!

anyways, back to my post. a while back i decided to try and make σπανακόριζο, or spanakorizo (pronounced spah-nah-KOH-ree-zoh). got that? haha that's ok. if not, spana... whatchamacallit works just fine  : )  aaanyways, spanakorizo is a traditional greek rice with lots and lots of spinach. i had this cube of frozen spinach in the freezer for aaaaaaages and finally found a way to use it! now, i don't actually have a recipe for this... i kind of made it up as i went along, but it tasted quite like the real deal! it's a super fast recipe, all you need to do is throw things in a pot and let it cook... and it's also pretty good on the student food budget!

a squeeze of lemon brings it all together  : )

what you need:
big chunk of frozen spinach
2/3 cup of brown rice
~ 2 cups water/chicken broth (i used more broth than water -- it gives more flavour)
1/2 an onion, chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp dill, chopped (i keep mine in the freezer so it doesn't go bad)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a lemon

step 1:
in a pot set to medium heat, add in your oil. when hot, add in your chopped onion and garlic and saute until translucent. then add your chucks of frozen spinach. you can use as much or as little as you like!
step 2: 
once the spinach separates and heats through, add in your rice and water/broth and bring do a boil. cook for ~15 minutes or until rice is done, stirring occasionally. 
step 3: 
at the end of the cooking time, add your chopped dill, lemon juice and stir. sprinkle on some crumbled feta if desired, and there you go!


this goes really well as a side dish to basically anything greek (the flavours are pretty classic) souvlaki, lamb, etc etc. it's also perfectly fine on it's own as a meal! i always have it with a nice piece of feta on the side and a fresh squeeze of lemon on top. yum yum yum!   : )