Fresh spinach recipes

Fresh spinach recipes from a metre square patch will provide for all your needs year-round; except in Chicago. Some call this Swiss chard; they are first cousins.

No one having even the tiniest garden should ever have to buy spinach except in a very hot and humid period; blight can be a problem in summer. Make sure you also have some kale for these periods. In our mild South African climate we can enjoy the benefits of dark-green leafy vegetables year-round.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 8th February, 2023.

On another page we will show you how to grow spinach; after radish it has to be the easiest vegetable to plant and reap.

One square-metre will keep you in fresh spinach recipes. Seriously, pull out some of those straggly daisies; a Swiss chard patch is actually very attractive in any front garden.

Mine above, after picking those twenty plus leaves, has got a little untidy; I should have cut off those yellowing leaves before taking this photograph; it is all one small part of the summer vegetable garden.

Today we give you two of our favourite fresh spinach recipes; first a soup and then a salad.

Fresh spinach recipes

Fresh spinach recipes are rich in magnesium, water-soluble fibre and phytosterols; and much more. To get maximum absorption of the carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin enjoy it with some fat. 

One not so small virtue of spinach is that it's the betaine-queen; this perhaps unknown compound is vitally important for your wellness. A deficiency is thought to be one of the main reasons why there are so many folk who are poorly in the Western world.

Without betaine, rich in spinach, beets and 100% wholewheat, there is a serious break in the so-called methionine cycle; resulting in the build up of toxic homocysteine, particularly in the liver. That spells a host of diseases.

You are probably scratching your head and thinking what is betaine? I was until recently.

Creamed spinach

Fresh spinach recipes might also include our creamed soup; it is one of our favourites, and so simple and quick. It fits right in with our slow food, made fast slogan.

Ingredients

The ingredients for most of these fresh spinach recipes are right off your kitchen shelf; if you don't know how to make chicken-bones bouillon, then it is time to learn. It's strong stuff, so freeze most of it and use no more than a cup; in other words dilute it with water.

Pick a large bunch of mature spinach leaves

Make sure there are no creepy-crawlies lurking, otherwise you might like me end up with a frog in your throat.

Here is the Frog in my throat.

Did you spot the frog?

Wash your spinach soup leaves; actually this is a first cousin, Swiss chard. I use this rainwater tank, one of my best ever investments, for washing vegetables. It's fibreglass, and thirty-five years old. It has provided us with so much fresh manna from the heavens; they cost a bit more than plastic, but last for ever.

Spinach vs Swiss chard^[1] comes up regularly for discussion.

Oops, I left out the potato, but fortunately we had some mash left over from last-night.

1. Fill a small pot with your frozen chicken-bones, and cover with boiling water.
2. Simmer for at least an hour, but preferably longer.

• Better still,  is ten minutes in the pressure cooker; it is the most wonderful time-saving device and I am astonished more folk do not have one.
  

• Solar pressure cooking

• We cheat a little by slicing off the stalks with a quick flick with a sharp knife; devein them. The dogs get them; nothing wrong with them, just makes your creamed spinach recipes a little smoother.

• You need a lot of leaves, they boil down to almost nothing. Spinach benefits - they are mostly water, fibre, and packed full of phytosterols and minerals like magnesium, and of course vitamins.

Spinach is one of the richest sources of minerals, vital if you don't want to get chronic arthritis; like this under the patella which is caused by a magnesium deficiency, but also falling onto the knee.

• "What are phytosterols" and why are they so important?

Copy and paste into the site search engine in the main menu for more information.

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When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one tome that he has yet to finish reading; the book of wellness and life".

Steve Jobs

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How to cook spinach

Nothing could be simpler than how to cook spinach; wash thoroughly to remove any snails and frogs, chop lightly and add a couple tablespoons of water; steam briefly. The stems are sometimes a little tough but in fact they are the richest source of nitric oxide for lowering blood-pressure.

We remove them because we have so much fibre in our wholesome food that we sometimes verge on diarrhoea.

• Remove from the stove and wait for the spinach-soup to stop boiling.
• Add your half-avocado and blend. Do not cook it; it will taste bitter. 

Wow, does that not look great? It tastes fantastic.

Now if you have been on the green journey for at least a few months, in which case your cholesterol levels will be low enough, add a dollop of fresh-cream to each bowl.

Lutein

Lutein is a phytochemical found in very high concentration in the macula of the eye; a deficiency has caused five-million Americans to go blind needlessly in their dotage. Fresh spinach recipes enjoyed several times a week would have saved the day.

• Lutein benefit
  

Macular degeneration

Age-onset macular degeneration is a serious disease of the eye caused by a deficiency of two-phytochemicals, lutein and zeaxanthin; kale, fresh spinach recipes and broccoli enjoyed regularly help to prevent the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. Eat your greens.

I went to the optician yesterday for a new prescription of reading glasses. In passing I asked him what nutrition was particularly good for the  eyes? Spinach and broccoli, said he. When I go to collect my spectacles I thought I must remember to ask him why those two veggies in particular.

On my return, he told me to read further about a carotene called lutein; well it so happens that together with zeaxanthin they are two very important phytochemicals found in high concentration in the macula of the eye. That's the part responsible for fine vision and colour. They give protection against any high-energy light that reaches the retina.

A deficiency causes macular degeneration and cataracts. He taught me something important and I in return must remind him that kale is even richer in lutein.

And now let's look at creamed-spinach recipes.

Now depending on your blood cholesterol, you can add a dollop of cream or yoghurt. If you follow the recipes at this site, I can promise you'll soon be off those nasty statins.

Add salt and pepper, of course, to taste, and if you have a tendency to a hiatus hernia, then make sure you finish your beer first; or any other liquid for that matter, and wait for a few minutes before tucking into your soup.

It's no coincidence that soup is always the first course in the meal.

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If you suffer from indigestion at night, then don't have any bread or rolls with your spinach-soup; you may get away with sourdough.

Mind you I've been experimenting; I have found that it is the chemicals in the daily loaf that are the problem and that our own home-baked low GI bread doesn't give me heartburn.

In any case this severe burning pain is known as GERD; Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease. A large part of the solution is not to drink after dinner at night. I have my coffee before supper; a bit weird but it means I don't have a tortured night. 

• Indigestion heartburn
• FOODS THAT LOWER CHOLESTEROL naturally
  
• Lutein macular degeneration. 

I wrote this page some years back; before discovering that a probiotic called kefir cured fifteen-years of severe heartburn in just one week; dinkum.

How to make kefir might interest you.

Spinach soup

Creamed spinach recipes

The Banting diet is of course the craze of the moment; add some cream so you can lose weight. Personally I would rather you increased the fat by adding an avocado to your fresh spinach recipes, with all due respect to Professor Tim Noakes; nothing amiss with a dollop of cream occasionally provided you are into our nutritious choice foods. It's all about balance.

• Banting diet modified; copy and paste into the search engine below.
  
• Avocado fat
  

But yes we enjoy it with a dollop of cream too; those who indulge in their organic green foods can drop their guard occasionally because their cholesterol will be dangerously low. It's the way to "get off statins" safely; the side-effects are horrendous.

Copy and paste "get off statins" into Site Search for more information.

Fresh Spinach Salad Recipes

For your soup use the mature leaves, even if they are slightly woody. But for your other fresh spinach recipes, you really want the tender young shoots. You are going to enjoy them raw.

Raw food has the big advantage that the enzymes aren't denatured by the heat. They are very heat-labile. I am not that crazy but wellness nuts believe you should enjoy half your food uncooked. They have got a point.

• FRESH SPINACH SALAD RECIPES.
• Bernie's delicious spinach dip.

Spinach benefits

There are many spinach benefits, too many to list here but one is much less constipation; that's not unimportant, right?

More about benefits of spinach.

Nutritious choice foods

Spinach ranks very high on our list of choice foods; as much as anything because it is probably the easiest veggie to grow in the garden, and it goes on for years. In our mild climate it even thrives, albeit slowly, right through the winter. Eggs Florentine for breakfast is the daily fare in our green home.

Fresh spinach recipes, and even better kale enjoyed raw, contain very large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin; protecting our eyes. Macular degeneration is simply awful. 

• What's potting in the winter garden.
• EASY SOUP RECIPES …
  
• More about Swiss chard food.
  

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Oxalate

Oxalates are natural compounds found in many healthy, nourishing vegetables like spinach. However they bind to dietary calcium and other minerals giving them the dubious and controversial title of being anti-nutrients.

In addition the majority of kidney stones are formed from calcium oxalate crystals; the traditional medical advice is that we should avoid those foods that are rich in these compounds.

Now researchers have found that "Stone Formers" eat no more foods rich in oxalates that the Healthy Controls. The problem is an imbalance of the microbiome and deficiency of the friendly bugs in the gut and urinary system^[2].

You can enjoy your fresh spinach recipes without angst about kidney stones; but do consider fermenting kefir or something other probiotic in your own kitchen. Supplements are not an option.

• How to make kefir
  

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