Creamed Spinach (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

I love vegetables. I think that almost everyone else would too if they knew how to prepare them deliciously . . . and easily. The recent article in the New York Times Told to Eat It's Vegetables, America Orders Fries seems to imply anecdotally that for American vegetable consumption, two major barriers to entry are knowing how to prepare vegetables and access them. Well my friends, the secret—for even the busiest amongst us—is making large batches of vegetable soups and concoctions on the weekend or whatever spare minute you can find and eating them for the rest of the week.

In this spirit, here's one of the recipes from the old blog that I never transferred. It's a way to quickly make over a pound of spinach that will last you for a few days. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby and are cost-conscious, you can buy a bag of pesticide free spinach there for about $2. If you are away for the weekend and don't have time to buy fresh produce right away, you can make this pretty quickly so long as you keep a few bags of frozen spinach on hand and like me, pretty much always have garlic and onions in your produce drawer (they last for weeks).

CREAMED SPINACH (Gluten-Free, Vegan)

1 pound frozen spinach, thawed

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped or smashed

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp gluten-free flour (Buckwheat and almond flour work well)

1 cup cashew milk or milk/ milk substitute of your choice

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast* (Optional- Sold in the bulk bin at Whole Foods. Red Star also sells this in a packaged version)

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

dash of nutmeg (optional)

1. Heat the oil in a sauce pan.

2. Add onion and garlic cooking over low heat, stirring until softened.

3. Add the gluten-free flour (I usually use buckwheat) stirring constantly until a past is formed (about 1-2 minutes).

4. Remove from heat and add the milk.

5. Stir well and then return to heat.

6. Bring to a boil and then simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

7. Mix in the nutritional yeast (if using), salt and nutmeg.

8. Stir thawed frozen spinach and heat until well-combined (about 5-10 minutes).

* I think that nutritional yeast enhances this recipe but if you don't have any and don't cook with it regularly, this recipe still tastes great without it.