As kids many of us watched Popeye, and were told that spinach was the key to his super powers of strength. Well, today, we are still being told to eat our spinach and I for one love it. In fact, I’ve written several recipes containing spinach on this website. So today as part of our Tuesdays in The Garden series, with the theme “Spring Crops,” I’m sharing five of my favorite spinach recipes, that you can utilize when harvesting this super food, cool weather crop.
It’s readily available for purchase in both fresh and frozen options at just about any grocery store, but did you know it was easy to grow? And, spinach is a cold weather crop. That means you can get started on it outside about 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost date. If you don’t know when the last frost date is for your area check out this handy zipcode tool.
Similar to other leafy greens, spinach can be planted and harvested in about 6 to 8 weeks from planting. Start by picking the outer leaves and move toward the middle, or remove the entire group.
Did you know that spinach has more protein per calories than beef? According to The New York Times, “a cheeseburger contains 14.57 grams of protein in 286 calories, or about .05 grams of protein per calorie; a serving of spinach has 2.97 grams of protein in 23 calories, or .12 grams of protein per calorie.” In addition, according to this article in Prevention Magazine, spinach is one of 8 nutritious foods that have more iron than beef. And let’s not forget that it is also a great source of fiber, calcium, and several other vitamins and minerals. You might even think of it as a multi-vitamin vegetable.
Have I convinced you that including more spinach in your diet is a good thing? Well, if I did, here are five of my favorite spinach recipes, to add to your list.
Five Favorite Spinach Recipes
Check out what my friends are sharing
in this week’s Tuesdays in the Garden:
Where to Buy Heirloom Seedlings @Simplify Live Love
Tips for Growing Peas @ The Freckled Rose
Spring Garden to Table @ An Oregon Cottage
5 Recipe Ingredients @ Creative Living with Bren Haas
About Patti Estep
I also watched popeye and it was those cans of spinach that inspired me to give it a try and to this day I LOVE spinach. My family thinks I’m crazy and just looks at me weird when I eat it. I love cooked greens in general adds a nice flavor to any meal. This post contains so many nuggets of information and those recipes all look amazing.. Thank you for sharing..
Hi Carole,
Another spinach lover! My daughter was vegetarian for a while and spinach is one of her favorite things to this day. In fact, there’s a little Mexican restaurant near us and they serve delicious spinach enchiladas. The only one I’ve seen and my daughter orders them every time.
Have a great week,
Patti
All of your recipes look delicious, Patti! I have a very similar egg recipe with spinach, but I can’t help but add the bacon too. LOL! I can’t wait to try your shrimp pasta. Looks delicious!
Hi Michelle,
Bacon would be a great addition to the muffin recipe. I didn’t add it mostly because I didn’t want to take the time to cook it. Even the precooked stuff (though I do use it) is sooo messy. Now you have me craving bacon and eggs. 🙂
Have a great week,
Patti
We love spinach but don’t find it easy to grow here. Where we live the weather is so unpredictable spinach often bolts before it get big enough to harvest. And the slugs love it! But I’m yearning to eat more delicious, healthy spinach. Your recipes look scrumptious! I may try to grow it again.
I try to grow spinach each year but like Diane mentioned it doesn’t always work out. The last few years I had it bolt before it even had gotten thumb sized leaves and when it does make it the slugs are relentless. I’m going to give it a try again this year and see what happens. We’ve had a cooler spring so far so it might just work out.
All of your recipes look so yummy!
Spinach for me is always on the very top of my list when it comes to crops I’m planning to grow. It’s delicious, and I love eating it right out of the garden! Even when I was just starting out, I found it very straightforward and easy to grow. It does super well in our short growing season here. I even feed some to my aquatic snails as a source of calcium weekly! They love it 🙂 I’m dying to try that spinach and ricotta pita bread pizza now. Om nom nom! Thanks for all of these wonderful recipes. Now I definitely want to get growing!
Love spinach – can’t wait to try those egg muffins with parmesan and spinach!