Possible kid-friendly spinach recipe to share

[LA98]

This recipe is an old favorite of mine, from back before I knew to properly credit sources of recipes! :) I believe it was from Shape magazine in probably 1995 or so. Anyway, my 2-year-old who barely eats anything at all, never mind vegetables (much less the green kind!), LOVED this. I mean really loved it. He ate the sauce alone, then ate two bowls of it with pasta, which he normally won’t eat. I’ve made this many times without the yogurt, upping the cottage cheese, and it comes out great.

Pasta with Spinach Sauce

10 oz package fresh spinach, washed and stems trimmed
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
5 Tbs nonfat cottage cheese
ground pepper
2 1/2 oz parmesan cheese
your favorite pasta

Steam spinach and garlic while pasta is cooking. In food processor, process spinach, garlic, yogurt, cottage cheese, and pepper until smooth. Add sauce to pasta, top with parmesan cheese.

[Canice]

This sounds excellent! I'm really looking forward to trying it.

[Clover]

Thanks! This looks like a healthy and tasty recipe that would be perfect for a too-tired-to-cook night. Or any other night, of course.

[sharris315]

Well, I'm not a kid--and I won't be feeding it to a kid :D but I think it looks pretty good--and it's now on my list to make soon. :D

Shar

[patissac]

Yum! Thanks for posting, my 10month old loves this spinach lasanga from gerber but I am now trying to introduce REAL food to her and this looks up my alley! :D

[magdon]

You might try this one too. My DS who is 19 months had this last night and actually asked for more. I'll have to try yours out too.

Palak Paneer (Curried Spinach & Cheese)
Baby Bistro Cookbook

1 T olive oil
1 bag prewashed fresh spinach
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 tsp mild curry powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 oz mozzaraella cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes (about 1/2 cup)
hot cooked rice

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and cook, quickly working the spinach down with tongs or a wooden spoon, until wilted but still bright green. Remove the spinach to a plate and cool.

In the same skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the flour and curry powder and cook, stirring constantly , for 2 minutes or until the mixture is bubbly. Stir in the milk and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Return the spinach to the skillet and stir. Let the spianch cool slightly in the skillet. In batches, puree in a blender or food processor. Return puree to the skillet and stir in the cheese cubes. Serve over rice. Makes about 2 cups (enough for the entire family!)

[Hoodone]

Along these same lines, my 2 year old absolutely GOBBLES this up, even though she usually resolutely refuses to eat anything "green". It's not that light, but you can make the obvious lightening steps such as low fat cottage cheese and less low fat "regular" cheese, use less butter (I believe last time I made it I just left the butter out completely) and even egg substitute. I sometimes make 1/2 a recipe, but DD eats this so well, I usually just make a whole recipe and we eat on it for several days.

Spinach Puff

½ cup butter, melted
10 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup flour
2-10 oz. Packages frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cans chopped green chilies
2 cups cottage cheese
12 oz. Cheddar, shredded
12 oz. Jack cheese, shredded

Combine all ingredients and place in a 9 x 13 inch dish. Bake at 400° F for 15 minutes then at 350° F for 30 minutes or until browned and a knife comes out clean. Serves 12-15.

Edited to add: my DD also loves the CL broccoli cheese soup, another violation of her "no green things" rule. It's often difficult to find vegetable dishes they will eat, so I thought I'd mention this.

[PoppyJ]

Pasta with Spinach Sauce

10 oz package fresh spinach, washed and stems trimmed
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
5 Tbs nonfat cottage cheese
ground pepper
2 1/2 oz parmesan cheese
your favorite pasta

Steam spinach and garlic while pasta is cooking. In food processor, process spinach, garlic, yogurt, cottage cheese, and pepper until smooth. Add sauce to pasta, top with parmesan cheese.

How much sauce does this make? Estimated serving amount per recipe?

[LA98]

Eek! I had hesitated before posting such an old recipe, and one that was copied by hand onto a scrap of paper no less... Best I can say is that it makes enough sauce to cover a little less than a pound of pasta. I do use "flat" pasta shapes to make it go as far as possible. Sorry for such a nontechnical explanation! :o

[PoppyJ]

No problem.....I will just have to try it and find out. Thanks for the recipe. It sounds really good.

[LaraW]

I told DH about this recipe, and we're going to put it on the menu for this week. I bet DD will LOVE it, as she tends to like things with sauces. :)

[beacooker]

That Spinach Puff recipe looks great, Hoodone. Thanks for posting!

[SueK]

Lori- thanks for the recipe! Sam loves pasta and is a pretty good vegetable eater, so I'll be trying this one on her this week.

[valchemist]

bumping up this thread while I am here printing out the recipe (agian). I misplaced the recipe since I made it a few weeks ago... kate (11 months) loved it, so I am making it again tonight.

[cherylopal]

thanks for bumping :) - i missed it the first time and i'm trying to put together a menu for when my nieces come up. i might have to try all of these and let them do a taste test. they might think thats fun and maybe even eat a bit more.

[LA98]

LOL, because in the time since I first posted this recipe, DS will no longer eat pasta. :rolleyes: But he does still love this sauce! I just make it a little thicker than I would if I was putting it over pasta...

[valchemist]

kate eats it both ways... with and without pasta. we just mix the parmesan right into the spinach mixture. also, I used garlic powder today since I didn't have fresh garlic on hand. tasted fine.

thanks for the recipe!

[Terrytx]

We had the Pasta with Spinach Sauce last night as a side to a fish dish and it fit perfectly. Nice comfort food sort of feel to it. Easy to put together and it rewarms well.

[seeteekay]

I make the pasta and spinach sauch quite frequently. It is easy and very comforting.

[patissac]

Just adding another review almost a year later, I made both recipes the spinach sauce and the spinach puff.
DD LOVED the spinach sauce and I served it over bow tie pasta! However, I was not too crazy about it, it was a bit bland IMHO.
The puff was a favorite of mine and oddly enough DD was not crazy about that one :confused:

[Hoodone]

DD#1 is now almost 4 and she is getting even more picky about food :rolleyes: . She'll still eat the spinach puff a bit, but not as well as before. It helps her trying recipes if I let her help me make them. She still loves the CL Broccoli Cheese soup, but I have to make her a special batch without onions. I do this as if she'll eat veggies this way, it's worth it.