Spinach and Zucchini help please

Posted: Thu, May 29 2008, 3:54 pm Post subject: Spinach and Zucchini help please

We get organic veggies delivered hoping that it will motivate my husband and I to eat more veggies (him especially). There is so much spinach I don't know what to do with it. It is too rough, not like baby spinach, to put in a salad. Once I sauteed it with garlic and olive oil and my husband wouldn't eat it. I doubt he'll eat a kugel unless it is very bread like because once I made the standard broccoli kugel and he didn't eat it because it was too "slimey" and broccoli is his favorite veggie. I, personally, eat lots of veggies but am not partial to spinach at all. Any ideas? I'd rather not make dairy.

The one thing I do that works is chop it up finely and hide it in a turkey meatloaf so I'll make that but I need to figure out how to use up the rest of the spinach. Thanks!

There is also a lot of zucchini. I like it sauteed or stuffed in my chicken but my husband never eats it that way. He is open to spinach but pretty opposed to zucchini. He hates any texture he thinks is slimy. Any ideas? Like a stuffed with meat recipe?
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Diamond Member Joined: Nov 11 2007 Posts: 3791

I love spinach and to me either in a salad or sauteed with a little olive oil and garlic is ideal. But if you're looking to hide it more, one thing I can think of is to make pasta with tomato sauce and then cook it right into your tomato sauce. It shrinks down so much and will not be much different tasting then adding herbs to your tomato sauce. Another option is to make a veggie soup and throw both the spinach and the zucchini into it along with whatever other veggies you like.

Crispy (Sweet) Spinach: this is actually best with fresh spinach (although a wee bit unhealthy!): after checking spinach, dry very very very well. Heat a pot/wok with oil (sesame is great), once hot, add spinach in small bunches. Fry 1-2 minutes until it is slightly shriveled and crisp. Remove and place on paper - sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar. Repeat with remaining spinach, sprikling each time. Serve warm as a side dish

You can make great salad with reg. spinach by wilting it over sweetened salt water (boil water with enough salt and sugar that you can taste them in the water but that neither is overpowering. Place a collinder/steamer over the boiling water and add spinach. cover pot and remove from flame. Let rest 5-10 minutes dep. on the toughness of the spinach. Once wilted, chill and use in salads (really food with sliced strawberries, mango, almonds and a balsamic vinegrette)

As for zucchini, I slice it lengthwise and placed on a shpritzed baking sheet with a little salt and bake, flipping once. The baking dries it out enough so it's not slimey anymore but still soft and moist.

Zucchini soup (recipe from Rebbetzin Freidman here in Montreal): slice a bunch of onions (IMO, the more the merrier!), place in a deep pot with a bit of oil and suatee until they begin to carmelize. Add garlic (as much as you like) and at least 5-6 avg. zucchinis (with or without peel, with makes the soup a little greenish, without it's a clear/whittish soup). ADd just enough water so the onions don't burn and simmer until the zucchinis are soft. Puree. Add salt and pepper to taste, you can also thin the soup if you'd like with stock, consume, or any other liquid of choice - thie soup was fabulous - even good cold the next day!, If you like a thicker soup, add 1-2 potatoes to the pot when cooking and this will provide a thicker, hearier texture.

My personal favorite is zuchini bread. There are so many recipes floating out there - they fall in the category of "quick breads", which means no yeast, but light and fluffy and a cross between bread and cake. Ulitmately delic!

You can saute garlic in olive oil. chop up some mushrooms add it to the oil. Then add spinach and saute till wilted. Make it as a side dish with salmon or stuff the salmon with it.
You can make the same saute mixture as above and put it into a puff pastry. roll it up like a boreka and brush with egg and bake. You can also chop it up and add it to lasagne or ziti.
There are tons of zuchini quiches. Just google it.