Cooked Spinach Salad

I used to think I was the kind of person who could eat the exact same thing for lunch every day. Read: I used to BE the kind of person who could eat the exact same thing for lunch every day. I don't know what happened, but lately I'm all about trying out new ways of cooking the same foods. Mostly spinach. I sure love spinach.

I was reading my nature foods book today, and you would not believe how good for you green leafy vegetables are. They have all the vitamins and nutrients you need for the day, they improve your skin and eyesight, fight all kinds of cancer, and improve your brain power. Eat more of them!

So today I got on Pinterest and followed a few links to take me to a dish I wanted to try out. It's perfect for today because a) it will use up the rest of my spinach before I go shopping tomorrow and b) it is FILLED with protein, and I had just done a butt-kicking 4-minute workout. Now, I looked up this recipe 2 minutes before I wanted to make it. So...I had to improvise a little, because shrimp and feta are not items I am constantly stocked with.

So here's what I did:
1. Heat oil in a pan while opening all the canned stuff and cutting up half an onion.

2. Cook 1 can of salmon in the hot pan, just until it's warmed through.

Now, I used salmon because I get it for free with WIC and have been trying to find ways to use it, but I'm sure chicken, bacon, or whatever else your clever mind can come up with would work just fine. Or just buy shrimp and do the recipe the way it's written ;)
3. Remove salmon from pan and start frying your onion.

I love onions.

Now, the recipe says to add garlic here, but I looked high and low and my handy squeezey garlic thing was nowhere to be seen (the pantry has gotten out of hand lately). I had some fresh garlic, but no time to mince it myself, so I decided to use garlic powder. A poor substitute, I know, but don't worry, I forgot to put it in anyway.
4. Add some balsamic vinegar to the onion (I skipped the chicken broth. Yuck.) and let it cook down for just a minute. I hit the jackpot today and found out my dad had bought pomegranate infused balsamic. It. Was. Amazing.

5. While your onions/vinegar are cooking, drain AND RINSE your can of beans. ALWAYS rinse your canned beans! You'll take of a lot of the sodium, and you'll actually decrease the, um, after-effects of the magical fruit.

6. Add the beans and spinach to the pan and let it all cook together until the spinach is nice and wilty.

You might employ a lid to trap the steam to speed this process up. A tip: If you're cooking spinach in a frying pan with lots of other foods and you're required to stir it, just don't bother. It's so light and big before it's cooked that you won't be able to stir it together with the other contents of the pan. Just lid it for a few minutes until it starts to wilt, then mix it up.


7. Return your salmon (or whatever) to the pan, and sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese. Give a couple stirs for good measure, then plate and enjoy.


Ok listen. This meal was heavenly. It's great if you're trying to eat more spinach but don't really like the stuff, because what you taste is the vinegar infusion that happens to the entire dish. It's also really heavy in protein, so it will keep you going until dinner.

Start to finish this took me maybe 15 minutes, and I was WAY pressed for time.