Creamed Spinach and the Farm Stand...

This is not my creamed spinach.  This is Emeril Lagasse's creamed spinach from the Food Network.  I didn't take a picture of mine and there was none left!  Voodoo Biker had creamed spinach last week at a BBQ place in Denver last week and it put me in the mood for some...Yesterday I knew I had spinach in the fridge so I thought, "well, why not?"  We were having leftover pintos and cornbread, a grilled steak, that we split, and sliced tomatoes...creamed spinach seemed like a good addition.

I've made it once before and stuck with my original recipe though I did glance at some others (Emeril's included).  First I washed all the spinach I had left.  That amounted to a salad spinner full.  That's about enough for 2 people ;)  Spinach wilts and turns into about a quarter of what you started with before you cooked it - so keep that in mind. 

I chopped up some (about 1/4 cup) onion and 2 cloves of garlic.  I got out 1 small sauce pot and 1 skillet.  In the sauce pot I started 1 tbsp of butter melting (real butter - not margarine).  When that began to melt I added in the garlic.  In the skillet I heated 1 tbsp olive oil and threw in the onions.
Once the butter was melted I added in a couple of spoonfuls of flour and whisked that around.  I let it cook for just a minute or two.  Then I added about 3/4 of a cup of skim milk because that's what I had...obviously 2% or even cream would be better ;)  I whisked all that around, added salt, pepper, and nutmeg (maybe 1/4 tsp of this).  I turned the heat up slightly so it would bubble.

In the mean time, I sauteed the onions until they were softening and then I threw in all the spinach.  I started stirring it around so it would start to wilt.  The sauce should be ready at this point - a little thicker, but not super thick.  Just enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Take the spinach off the heat as soon as it begins to wilt and add in enough of the sauce to coat your spinach.  Add more pepper or nutmeg if needed.  Trust me, the nutmeg makes a difference!

That's it!  So simple and, if you use skim milk, not at all bad for you.  Spinach is a great source of all sorts of things - fiber, Vitamins A, C, Iron and Calcium!

In other news, I've visited the Taylor's Farm Stand in front of K-Mart twice in 3 days.  We were almost out of tomatoes this morning and, now that I've gotten a taste of the "home grown" ones again, I can't stand the grocery store ones.  I spent $17.50 today on tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and garlic.  YAY summer!