[Wind Chaser]

Trying to eat more raw greens and spinach is at the top of the list.  So far I haven't tried anything but Italian with raw spinach.  What do you recommend?  Also, got any spinach based wrap ideas?

[Lyndon]

Wind Chaser,
I am not the best to recommend anything to you as I am trying to be a better cook in the kitchen.
Just finished a chili mole and with all those ingredients, I was not impressed.
Had steamed broccoli and a garden salad with a low cal cream dressing with blue cheese.
If you are not turned off with low calorie cream (Ranch type) dressings, they go very well with spinach.
Costco has an excellent deal on bagged spinach, but I can't eat it all by myself, so I give some to my neighbor.
There are also flavored vinaigrettes that may go very well with spinach.
Slumming on my stereo tonight...too many glasses of chianti with that chili...using my low grade Technics Jukebox
on random play...ah...Holy Modal Rounders...

[lonewolfny42]

John....try this....

1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. 7 up or ginger ale
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange zest
1 T. orange juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste
pinch red pepper flakes

Whisk ingredients together and toss with spinach.....

Tasty....

[jimdgoulding]

A friend's wife makes a nice creamy curry dressing that rocks on fresh spinach.  Wish I could tell you how.  I wish I knew myself.  Don't think it's a major thing, tho.  That be sounding good, Wolf.

[satfrat]

I've never eaten just raw spinach by itself but I regularly use spinach with ieceburg & Romaine lettuce along with sweet onions, bell peppers, shaved carrots and sharp cheese & bacon bits. Just had it the other night with Thousand Islands,,,,,  Balsamic Vinegarette is another favorite of mine.

Cheers,
Robin

[jimdgoulding]

Lyndon-  Mole on salad??  Broil some chicken.  Pull the meat off the bone.  Get you some Mole in a jar (Rogelio Bueno Autentico) and saute it up with the chicken.  Serve with avacado slices (for coolness) and bemuda onion slices on top with sesame seed.  Goes well with Margaritas made straight up.  Frozen Margaritas are for gringo pendejos.

[some young guy]

One of my favorites is spinach with grapes, endive, gorganzola and basalmic-dijon vinaigrette.

For the dressing, I use :

Basalmic vinegar
Shallots
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Dijon Mustard
Olive oil

I put it all (except for the oil) in a blender and puree. Then add the oil.

[jimdgoulding]

One of my favorites is spinach with grapes, endive, gorganzola and basalmic-dijon vinaigrette.

For the dressing, I use :

Basalmic vinegar
Shallots
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Dijon Mustard
Olive oil

I put it all (except for the oil) in a blender and puree. Then add the oil.

Uhmmm. 

[mca]

My favorite salad dressings ever



http://www.rikkirikki.com/dressings.html

[Wind Chaser]

For time being, I decided to take the easy way out and bought a variety of Kraft dressings including...

 - Sundried Tomato with Oregano
 - Greek with Feta and Oregano
 - House Italian
 - Zesty Italian
 - Balsamic

Chris' recipe looks good and easy enough, but nothing beats the convenience of a prepackaged product.  I do intend on giving it a try, seeing as it doesn't require too much effort and maybe, just maybe, it might inspire me to put at little more effort into the kitchen.

[JerryM]

Wind,

Check for salad dressings in the produce section of any major market. Look for Marie's Premium Spinach Salad Dressing. It's great.

Use baby spinach, then sprinkle on the desired amounts of bacon bits and blue cheese. Egg and red onion optional. Heat up some Marie's in the microwave. Pour a small amount on (two good tablespoons or so) and enjoy. 

Have fun,
Jerry

[Folsom]

A lot of these sound AWFUL.... Bacon bits?

One of my favorite's is Spinach with candied walnuts, carrots shredded, some sweet onion (cut into tiny rings), those tiny oranges (forget name) on the side, gorgonzola cheese, and an almond vinigret thing (sweet, tasty, not too oily).

Iceberg? Where is the throw up smiley face. That type of stuff is the reason as a child I would not eat green vegetables hardly at all.

One of the best tasting dressings is Poppyseed. The dressing is white, and the label is white with orange and black in the center. I also like Poppyseed and Papiaya dressing too (I think Amy's makes it). Well I like a number but those two are kind of sweet and amazing.



One of the best salads that is not spinch based is raw carrot and beat shredded up, tons of roasted and salted (the kind without MSG or anything like that) sun flower seeds, and the first Poppyseed dressing I mentioned, mix lots of dressing in until it looks like there is a nice kind of purple glaze over everything (expect to use half the dressing if not the whole thing depending on if you say use one of each veg or two to three depending on size). It makes all other carrot and beat salads crap.

[satfrat]

A lot of these sound AWFUL.... Bacon bits?

Yea, I know how you feel DOS. Candies nuts in a salad? That's some sick #hit. But I'm not surprised,,,, they make me think of you.

I'll have to try it sometime.


Cheers,
Robin

[Brown]

Just chop some nice smoked bacon of your choice and render the fat while crisping the bacon. Then dress spinach with fat and bacon. Traditional dressing that is a clogger but very tasty. Oh and some fresh cut mushrooms as well. enjoy!

[Folsom]

Just chop some nice smoked bacon of your choice and render the fat while crisping the bacon. Then dress spinach with fat and bacon. Traditional dressing that is a clogger but very tasty. Oh and some fresh cut mushrooms as well. enjoy!

Now that is bacon on a salad! I bet some real well cooked murels would be nice, kind of a soft meat texture. I would through in something maybe a bit zangy with that though, what though... strong mustard? vinegar? Well something to give it a little kick so it is not a flat taste.

[Brown]

Just chop some nice smoked bacon of your choice and render the fat while crisping the bacon. Then dress spinach with fat and bacon. Traditional dressing that is a clogger but very tasty. Oh and some fresh cut mushrooms as well. enjoy!

Now that is bacon on a salad! I bet some real well cooked murels would be nice, kind of a soft meat texture. I would through in something maybe a bit zangy with that though, what though... strong mustard? vinegar? Well something to give it a little kick so it is not a flat taste.

Just some chopped scallions will do. You can also put some hot pepper flakes in the oil [ do not burn] to jazz it up a bit.

[Wind Chaser]

Sundried tomato is a winner!  Lay out a tortilla / pita, add spinach, a little sundried tomato dressing with mozzarella / feta.  Wrap and chomp.  Quick and convenient.  Very simple and very tasty!

[Brown]

Well its not salad but it has spinach. Take one package frozen chopped spinach cook as directed and cool. Squeeze all the liquid out and add three eggs, two tablespoons Romano cheese, fresh nutmeg & S&P to taste and mix very well. heat a cast iron pan add olive oil bring to frying temp and spoon mixture in pan and flatten with spoon. repeat for otherside.
    Great for anytime

[Philistine]

Sundried tomato is a winner!  Lay out a tortilla / pita, add spinach, a little sundried tomato dressing with mozzarella / feta.  Wrap and chomp.  Quick and convenient.  Very simple and very tasty!

You know looking back on the whole thing I think I might know something that could help in general with greens.

This is from personal experience.

Get organic spinach and greens (I would get something better than say Trader Joe's). Try local markets or something, or I am sure you have a store that sells them.

When I try to eat non-organic greens I usually just want to spit it out or choke on it a little. The taste is just mortifing. That is the biggest reason I never ate them as a child. It is like apples that are sprayed with chemicals, I can freaking taste it! The human tongue can taste like 250 more different types of bad things for it like chemicals, poisen, etc, than it can things that are good for you to eat. My tonque really shows this when it comes to produce. You might have a similiar problem if you are not enjoying them. I would not argue there is some aquired taste, but believe me it would of never happened had I not tried some organic stuff.

  I was a picky eater when I was a kid too. But a backhand from my grandfather quickly broke me of that habit and I now eat whats put in front of me w/o pi$$ing and moaning about "what's in it or where did it come from". I benefited from that attiude change as I'm now more open minded,,, enough so that I will try candied walnuts in a salad at some point. Guess what i'm trying to say DOS is maybe your educated tongue needs a backhand. aa

Cheers,
Robin

I bet your Grandfather didn't have to put up with all that chemical sh$t they put on food today  DOS is jut trying to say if you don't like it try the real organically grown stuff instead.
A few years ago I was in a village in rural China and had a plate of stewed tomatoes and eggs - it was so good I'd forgotten what they tasted like, much more flavor than the crap they sell in the supermarkets today.  In Costco last week they were handing out samples of Folgers coffee, me being cheap thought it might save a few $ -it was so bad I almost threw up.  That's why you and I buy great coffee from specialist roasters  Guess what I'm trying to say is DOS is just doing what we do, cut him some slack    

[JackD201]

My two favorite combinations are blue cheese dressing with tyrolian bacon bits when having a western meal or Miso dressing garnished with white onions sliced thinly (.5 mm) on a mandolin with asian fare.

THIS I have got to try

1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. 7 up or ginger ale
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange zest
1 T. orange juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste
pinch red pepper flakes

Thanks lonewolf