Garlic Sauteed Spinach

Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten


Ingredients 

1 1/2 pounds baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic (6 cloves)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Lemon
Sea or kosher salt, optional


Directions

Rinse the spinach well in cold water to make sure it's very clean. Spin it dry in a salad spinner, leaving just a little water clinging to the leaves.

In a very large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, but not until it's browned. Add all the spinach, the salt, and pepper to the pot, toss it with the garlic and oil, cover the pot, and cook it for 2 minutes. Uncover the pot, turn the heat on high, and cook the spinach for another minute, stirring with a wooden spoon, until all the spinach is wilted. Using a slotted spoon, lift the spinach to a serving bowl and top with the butter, a squeeze of lemon, and a sprinkling of sea or kosher salt. Serve hot.

Food of the Day *Spinach*

I picked spinach today because it is a great source of fiber and vitamins.  

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant (rarely biennial), which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions. The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to triangular-based, very variable in size from about 2–30 cm long and 1–15 cm broad, with larger leaves at the base of the plant and small leaves higher on the flowering stem. The flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, 3–4 mm diameter, maturing into a small, hard, dry, lumpyfruit cluster 5–10 mm across containing several seeds.

Spinach has a high nutritional value and is extremely rich in antioxidants, especially when fresh, steamed, or quickly boiled. It is a rich source ofvitamin A (and especially high in lutein), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B₂, calcium,potassium, vitamin B₆, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids. Recently, opioid peptides calledrubiscolins have also been found in spinach.

Polyglutamyl folate (vitamin B₉ or folic acid) is a vital constituent of cells, and spinach is a good source of folic acid. Boiling spinach can more than halve the level of folate left in the spinach, but microwaving does not affect folate content. Vitamin B₉ was first isolated from spinach in 1941.

Iron

Spinach, along with other green leafy vegetables, is considered to be rich in iron. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture states that a 180-g serving of boiled spinach contains 6.43 mg of iron, whereas a 170-g ground hamburger patty contains at most 4.42 mg. However, spinach contains iron absorption-inhibiting substances, including high levels of oxalate, which can bind to the iron to form ferrous oxalate and render much of the iron in spinach unusable by the body. In addition to preventing absorption and use, high levels of oxalates remove iron from the body. But some studies have found that the addition of oxalic acid to the diet may improve iron absorption in rats over a diet with spinach without additional oxalic acid.

Calcium

Spinach also has a high calcium content. However, the oxalate content in spinach also binds with calcium, decreasing its absorption. Calcium and zinc also limit iron absorption.^[15] The calcium in spinach is the least bioavailable of calcium sources.^[16] By way of comparison, the human body can absorb about half of the calcium present in broccoli, yet only around 5% of the calcium in spinach.^[Wikipedia]

Garlic-Roasted Asparagus

Garlic-Roasted Asparagus

  

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• Makes: 6 servings
• Prep: 15 mins
• Roast: 10 mins 450°F

Ingredients

1 1/2

pounds fresh asparagus spears

2

cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2

tablespoons olive oil

1/4

teaspoon salt

1/4

teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Snap off and discard woody bases from asparagus. Place asparagus and garlic in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
2. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender, stirring once halfway through roasting. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.  

Nutrition Facts (Garlic-Roasted Asparagus)

• 64 kcal cal.;
 
• 5 g Fat, total;
 
• 0 mg chol.;
 
• 1 g sat. fat;
 
• 5 g carb.;
 
• 3 g Monosaturated fat;
 
• 1 g Polyunsaturated fat;
 
• 2 g fiber;
 
• 2 g sugar;
 
• 3 g pro.;
 
• 60 µg Folate;
 
• 0 mg Pyridoxine (Vit. B6);
 
• 1 mg Niacin;
 
• 30 mg calcium;
• 234 mg Potassium;
 
• 0 µg Cobalamin (Vit. B12);
 
• 99 mg sodium;
 
• 6 mg vit. C;
• 826 IU vit. A;
 
• 0 mg Riboflavin;
 
• 3 mg iron;
 
• 0 mg Thiamin
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Food of the Day Asparagus

Asparagus

Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant growing to 100–150 centimetres (39–59 in) tall, with stout stems with much-branched feathery foliage. The "leaves" are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they are 6–32 mm (0.24–1.26 in) long and 1 mm (0.039 in) broad, and clustered 4–15 together. The root system is adventitious and the root type is fasciculated. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5–6.5 mm (0.18–0.26 in) long, with sixtepals partially fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or three in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6–10 mm diameter, which is poisonous to humans.^[5]

Plants native to the western coasts of Europe (from northern Spain north to Ireland, Great Britain, and northwest Germany) are treated as Asparagus officinalis subsp. The British polished the pipe of the asparagus and tossed off the remainders.prostratus (Dumort.) Corb., distinguished by its low-growing, often prostrate stems growing to only 30–70 cm (12–28 in) high, and shorter cladodes 2–18 mm (0.079–0.709 in) long.^[2][6] It is treated as a distinct species, Asparagus prostratus Dumort, by some authors.^[7][8] A remarkable adaptation is the edible asparagus, while in the Macaronesian Islands several species, (A. umbellatus, A. scoparius, etc.), are preserved the original form, a leafy vine; in the Mediterranean, the asparagus genus has evolved into thorny species.