On March 26, not only Popeye the Sailor Man but all Americans should be celebrating National Spinach Day. Loaded with water soluble vitamins, iron, calcium antioxidants, and other nutrients, eat it raw to gain the maximum benefit from its nutrition. In honor of this special day and this special dark green leafy vegetable, we offer several ways for you to enjoy spinach and to celebrate this holiday.
Spinach is one of the healthiest vegetables, and it’s delicious to boot! It’s rich in water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, iron, calcium, cancer-fighting antioxidants, phytonutrients … we could go on, but we’d run out of space. When it’s raw, spinach is basically a super-food. And, although it loses some of its nutrients when it’s cooked, it still maintains enough of them to be incredibly healthy. A bit of spinach a day keeps the doctor away!
There are so many different, yet iconic ways to cook spinach. And they all go way beyond boiling it into mush like your mother. The classic unhealthy way to cook spinach is to boil it and add heavy cream – voila, creamed spinach! You can also use it completely raw to make a salad. Just add vinaigrette and craisins, maybe some almond slivers and goat cheese, or how about strawberries and chicken? So many options. Sprinkle some spinach leaves into your next stir-fry or add them into your homemade burrito for a quick calorie and nutrient boost. Spinach is useful, and delicious, in all of these different forms.
One of the world’s most amazing sights is how much spinach reduces in size when it’s cooked. Have you ever added an entire bag of baby spinach to a pan until it was overflowing? Have you questioned how you were going to add any of the other ingredients in your recipe? And then have you watched it reduce at least six times in size until it barely took up any space in the pan? Spinach constantly reminds us of how amazing science is, and we love it.
We’ve talked about a lot of different ways to enjoy spinach, but we bet you’ve only tried a couple of them. If you usually enjoy cooked spinach, make a spinach salad for your next meal. If you love you some raw-spinach-y goodness, try it cooked! It’s always nice to expand your palette, and to get a couple new recipes under your belt. You go, Master Chef.
“I’m Popeye the Sailor Man
I’m Popeye the Sailor Man
I’m strong to the finich
‘Cause I eats me spinach…”
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