Spinach!!!

We LOVE spinach at our house, especially in our morning fruit shakes/smoothies.  We harvested all of our spinach from our garden last week and I don't even know how many sinks full of spinach I washed, soaked and rinsed!!

When I wash my spinach, I like to wash it and then soak it to make sure that I didn't miss any dirt, grass, bugs...etc.  Then I rinse it one more time.  After I rinse it, I put it in freezer bags and try to squeeze out as much air as I can.

I love having a freezer full of spinach for fruit shakes/smoothies, I bet I've got 30+ bags.  We have started putting spinach in ALL of our morning smoothies.  The frozen spinach works great, you can use the entire bag, or break-off what you want to use and put the rest back in the freezer.  It is also great because it breaks up easily, so you don't have one big clump of spinach you are trying to blend....and because we grew it....we know that it is all organic!!

Zuppa Toscana

I have been seeing recipes for Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana everywhere lately.  I have never tried this soup before, so I don't have any idea how close it is to Olive Garden's...but I do know that it is DELICIOUS!!  I adapted my recipe from this one.  I used spinach instead of Kale, but feel free to use whichever you prefer.  I used spinach so that I could get my kids to eat it.....they just DON'T like Kale in soup....fruit shakes yes, soup...NO.  I didn't even chop my spinach, just used baby spinach and it cooked up nicely.

Zuppa Toscana

 Ingredients:

1 pound ground hot sausage

4-5 russet potatoes, chopped (I left skins on)

1 onion, chopped

2 T. minced garlic

32 oz. chicken broth

fresh baby spinach...I added 3 large handfuls...it seems like a lot, but cooks down fast, I wish I had added more.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 T. flour

salt, pepper, cayenne pepper

Real bacon bits and Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:  Brown sausage in a medium size pot.  Drain sausage.  Add cooked sausage and onions to pan.  Cook until onions start to brown.  Add garlic, cook an additional 30 seconds.  Add chicken broth and potatoes.  If vegetables aren't covered by the chicken broth, add just enough water to cover them.  Cook until potatoes are tender.  Whisk heavy whipping cream together with flour until there are no lumps.  Stir into soup.  Add spinach, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Cook until the soup starts to thicken, stirring frequently...20-30 minutes.   Serve topped with bacon bits and Parmesan cheese.

Green Smoothie

We LOVE to have smoothies with breakfast and I really should make them more often!  It was SO nice this fall to have a nice healthy crop of spinach in the garden to use for green smoothies!  In fact, it has been so mild here, I still have spinach growing. 

My husband bought me a Vitamix a couple of years ago and I LOVE it!  It makes whipping up smoothies quick and easy!  When I make these, I just quarter the apples and throw in the cores, seeds and all....of course you can cut out the core if you would rather.

Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 banana

1 apple, quartered

1/2 can sliced pineapples, with 1/2 of the juice....5 or 6 rings

1-2 large handfuls of spinach

ice

 extra juice (orange, apple or pineapple)

Directions:  Add ingredients to blender.  I add in order listed above.  Start blending...you can add more ice to your desired texture, or add extra juice if you need to...to get it to blend more easily.

If I have extra smoothie, I like to freeze it ice cube trays and save them for another day.  Pop them out into a glass and within 15-30 minutes they should be nice an slushy.