Popeye's been living a lie. Do the tabloids know about this?
The notion that spinach contains extraordinary amounts of iron is based on a mistake. From the Reader's Digest Book of Facts: "The misconception arose when a misplaced decimal point in a set of published food tables made spinach appear to contain 10 times as much iron as other vegetables. In fact, it has no unusual amount."
Never proven to be especially valuable in building musk'ls, iron does have its nutritional merits, none particularily appetizing to think about.
All those years ...
Spinach Dip in a Bread Bowl
Slice a lid off the top of a round, unsliced loaf of bread and hollow out the bowl by pulling bite-size pieces for dipping. Upon consideration of which way the wind is blowing and other barometric and time factors, cover the bread with plastic wrap or not.
Thaw (ok to nuke, don't let cook) and drain one or two packages of frozen chopped spinach. (Line the colander with a paper towel or the small pieces will escape.) Add spinach to the sour cream and Knorr Vegetable Soup/Dip package(s) that you mixed up at least an hour ago, preferably earlier. Flavors must mix and mingle to get into the party mood.
Spinach-Stuffed Turkey Loaf
Mix one lb. ground turkey with 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 cup milk, one egg and instant minced onion, garlic powder and pepper (to taste). The original recipe said to press out meat mixture into a 9 x 12 rectangle to be topped with the following filling to be rolled up into a loaf - it was a very pretty picture. Tried it, what a pain. Do this instead: put half the meat mixture into a baking dish or casserole, top with filling mixture of one 10 oz. package chopped spinach, one cup shredded or cubed cheddar and two tbsp. parmesan cheese. Top with the rest of the meat mix. Bake at 350 for about an hour, maybe longer if using a deep casserole. Make sure the pink is gone from center. Serve with a sauce made of ketchup spiked with yellow mustard and brown sugar. Hollandaise sauce (the packet is really easy) is great with this too.
Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing
Fresh spinach that doesn't look like it's been through a war is hard to find. It also has to be rinsed and rinsed and rinsed - look for a bag of Popeye brand. It's already clean and every bag I've used has had minimal waste. Tear leaves into bite-size pieces.
Cut up (scissors easiest) about a pound of bacon into small pieces, fry, don't drain. Add sugar and vinegar, tasting along the way. Reheat before serving.
Mandarin orange slices and chopped or sliced hard boiled eggs look lovely with this too. Chopped onion in the salad or in the dressing is also a nice touch.
The same dressing can be used on boiled, chopped potatoes - has to be the easiest version ever of a hot German potato salad.
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