7 WAYS TO SNEAK SPINACH INTO YOUR MEALS
Getting our 5 servings of fruit and vegetables may seem daunting. But imagine trying 7 ways to sneak spinach into your meals. Spinach, surprisingly, is a great place to start to increase your fruit and veggie intake.
Do you remember the cartoon, Popeye? The character was a sailor, who after eating a can of spinach, suddenly became very strong. The cartoon wasn’t too far off. Spinach contains compound nitrates, which helps to boost muscle strength. Spinach also contains Vitamin A, Vitamin C, fiber, folate, potassium, and Vitamin K. Health experts recommend eating 2 cups of spinach a day. But what if you (or your kids) don’t like the taste of spinach salad? The good news is, there are ways to still get adequate amounts of this healthy vegetable.
Try these 7 ways to sneak spinach into your meals.
1. Add Spinach To Eggs
Do you like scrambled eggs? What about an egg bake or omelet? If so, you can easily throw in some fresh spinach leaves. When combined, eggs and spinach taste really good. If it wasn’t for seeing green bits in your eggs, you would have a hard time believing the spinach was there!
2. Toss Spinach Into a Casserole
Casseroles are famous for including all kinds of veggies. One vegetable you might not have thought about, however, is spinach. One of the most popular dishes is a creamed spinach casserole. Along with fresh spinach, this casserole contains other ingredients, such as chopped artichokes, butter crackers, sour cream, cheese, garlic, and onion.
3. Blend Spinach Into a Smoothie
Have you ever wondered what gives a green smoothie its color? It’s usually the spinach! Even though this might not be the sneakiest idea, there are lots of health benefits for drinking green smoothies. Some of these benefits:
- Helps improve mental clarity
- Aids digestion
- Improves mood
- Promotes natural weight loss
- Hydrates the body
Along with spinach, you can also add fresh fruit, almond milk, flaxseed, and plain Greek yogurt to your green smoothie.
4. Add Frozen Spinach to Soup
Nothing beats a warm bowl of soup on a cold day. And if you want your comfort food to be healthy, too, just add frozen spinach. The best part is, you don’t even have to thaw the spinach first! There are lots of different soups that contain frozen spinach. Some of them include lentil spinach soup, sausage & spinach soup, Italian spinach soup, and chunky tomato spinach soup.
5. Make Meatloaf or Meatballs with Spinach
It’s super easy to add meatloaf to your spinach. Simply add it to your meatloaf mixture, form it into a loaf, and bake. You can even make meatballs with spinach! Depending on the recipe, you can use either fresh spinach leaves or frozen spinach.
6. Stir Spinach Into a Stir-Fry
When done right, stir-fry recipes contain a little bit of meat and a lot of veggies. Most people use vegetables, such as asparagus, celery, onions, and broccoli. However, for something a little different, try using spinach. For something totally different (but not very sneaky), you could try making a spinach stir-fry with garlic.
7. Top Pizza with Spinach
Covering the spinach with cheese is probably the best way to sneak spinach on your pizza. If you are going to top your pizza with spinach, you might also want to use feta cheese along with mushrooms.
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