Spinach and Chocolate (Yeah, maybe I am pregnant!)

This is the blog post in which I must make a confession or two. My first confession is that I never liked spinach unless it was fresh and in a salad. Cooked greens of any type just do not do it for me. Ever. Period. No matter how they're cooked, seasoned, dressed, flavored, I just can't do it. I mean, I can. I'm a big girl and can choke down a bite or two to be polite to the host but the whole time I have this "moo-ing" sound going on in my head feeling like I'm chewing silage (what cows eat).

My second confession would be that I finally gave in to some recipes that called for spinach and looked so good. I was super skeptical but for some reason every time I looked at the pictures and read the recipes it just seemed like they would be utterly delicious.

Ham, Spinach and Tomato Frittata

I had a bag of frozen, chopped spinach in the freezer and one Saturday morning while Daniel and the girls were eating their traditional Saturday morning breakfast of cold cereal I tried the first recipe. The recipe is for Ham, Spinach and Tomato Frittata. I started reading Aliesha's blog, Feather in Our Nest last month and it was one of those "can't put it down until you read the entire archives - in order" kind of blogs. Anyway, I made the frittata generally following her recipe and adding cheese on top. 'Cause I'm a cheese girl. :-) It was so good!  Since then I've been making it a lot. At least a few times a week a lot. Daniel and the girls like it, too (Susannah calls it "froo-tata!!"). I love the mixture of flavors and that I'm getting iron from a good source (spinach). This recipe was just the start of my slide down the slippery slope...

The second spinach recipe I wanted to try was one I had seen early this year and thought it looked good, but ew, cooked spinach?? However, I kept thinking about it and looking at it. After loving the Ham, Spinach and Tomato Frittata I decided I had to at least try this other recipe. The recipe is for Skillet-Poached Eggs with Spinach, Pea Tendrils and Leeks (from GoodCheapEats.com). A few things going against my mind here were the "poached eggs" and the amount of spinach. I've never eaten/couldn't imagine eating poached eggs. I've seen too many runny-egg pictures of poached eggs to begin thinking of eating them. But, lo and behold, I still thought the recipe looked too good to not try at least once.

I didn't (and don't) have any pea tendrils or leeks, so I loosely follow the recipe. I use onion, frozen chopped spinach, bits of ham, the eggs (of course) and some pepper. (The ham I'm currently using is salty country ham so I don't need to add any salt.) After I saute the vegetables and meat I slide them to the sides and crack in the eggs. After seasoning with pepper I cover the skillet with a lid and let everything cook until the eggs are DONE. No runny egg for me, noooo thank you. The surprising thing? It is REALLY good. I do like to make sure my bites of spinach all have some egg with them, but even alone it's pretty good. SCORE for another great-tasting source for iron from spinach! I make this recipe about once a week, depending on how I feel like eating my eggs that day. :) I don't think I've made this for the girls but Daniel has tasted off my plate and said it was different but not bad. It is especially good served with a slice of buttered whole wheat toast. :)

Now on to the chocolate part. We ran out of milk on Tuesday. That meant Wednesday morning I had to miss my morning cup of Café con chocolate leche. (My fancy wording for mixing coffee with chocolate milk. ;-) ) I had hoped to pick up milk while I was in town Wednesday but the timing didn't work out. After church I mentioned to Daniel that we needed milk but I didn't want to unload-load the girls at the store just for milk (I needed to go grocery shopping sometime soon anyway). He had driven to church in his work van and Susannah was riding home with him. Sylvia and I got home before they did and they weren't right behind us like I thought they would be. After a while they got home. Lo and behold, not only did they have MILK, but Daniel had brought me a chocolate bar, too! And it wasn't just any old chocolate bar. It was Hershey's WITH ALMONDS.

He said that when they were getting ready to buy the milk he picked up the candy bar to buy also. Susannah asked what it was for and he told her "because it will make Mama happy." "Is Mama sad?" was her question. He told her no, I wasn't, but the chocolate would still make me happy. When I was giving him a hug and telling him thank-you for the chocolate - possibly grinning like a fool the whole time - he turned to Susannah and asked "What did I say the chocolate would do for Mama?" "Make her happy!!" was her answer.

Yes, it sure did make me happy. That morning I needed some chocolate medicine and broke into a plain Hershey bar because that was the best I could do. Needless to say, the next time I needed some chocolate medicine I went for the Hershey's with Almonds candy bar. It might not have lasted very long, either...

There you have it. My blog post about spinach and chocolate. I just need to make sure I eat more spinach than chocolate. ;-)