Four Easy Ways to Add More Spinach to Your Diet

Spinach is nutritious, relatively inexpensive, and easy to prepare. Here are four easy ways to add more spinach to your diet.

Spinach can be used instead of lettuce for a more nutritious salad. Simply rinse the leaves with water and then tear with your hands into bite-size pieces. The flavor of spinach is complemented nicely with vinagrette dressings, dried cranberries, toasted almond slivers, sliced onions, bacon crumbles, soft cheeses like feta and goat, and even fruit such as mandarin oranges and strawberries. Spinach has more fiber and vitamins than lettuce, so you can feel good about eating your salad!

Another easy way to add spinach to your diet is to make a green smoothie. Making a smoothie is very easy if you have a blender, just add your fave ingredients and blend until smooth. Spinach pairs especially well with almond milk, regular milk, vanilla or greek yogurt, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, or ripe bananas. You can adjust the consistency of your smoothie by adding either ice cubes or more liquid. Smoothies are also a great place to add vitamin supplements like flavored protein powder or flax seeds, for an even greater nutritional impact.

The third easy way to add more spinach to your diet is to throw it in to dishes you are already making. If you buy the baby spinach that is already washed and bagged, then it literally adds no additional steps to your cooking. Try adding a thin layer of spinach in your lasagna, or putting chopped and cooked spinach into your potato soup to add flavor and nutrition to your homemade meals.

The fourth easy way to add more spinach to your diet is to cook it and eat it! To cook spinach, you can cover it with salted water and bring to a boil. After the water boils, remove the spinach from heat and let sit for five minutes. Strain the water out of the spinach and then season with salt, pepper, and a little bit of butter or vegetable oil. Spinach can be eaten as a meal with a slice of homemade cornbread or used as a delicious side item for another meal, such as meatloaf.

Now that you have four easy ways to add more spinach to your diet I hope you will consider adding this inexpensive, delicious, and highly nutritious food to your diet and that of your family. Enjoy and bon appetit!

Heather Boger loves to eat spinach, especially in her Simple Spinach Quiche. She blogs her simple recipes at thirtythreemom.com.

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