Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach

If you follow along on my Instagram account, you will see food posts and more often then not they contain Spinach Balls.  So this post is about them and how you can Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach.

Now, let me start at the beginning. We are gluten free, dietary issues with my husband so we are always on the look out for gluten free taco like shells, wraps that we can eat. So when I went Keto, this hunt was even harder..thankful Pinterest was my rescue. Now the recipe I found is not the one I use, well i don’t actually use a recipe but i will share that with you in a bit & trust me you will want to keep reading – 20 minute ready delicious balls of spinach. TRUST ME!  We started by making these spinach balls more as a wrap for taco night & thus turned them into balls for easier eating enjoyment.

Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach

Let’s first talk spinach.

Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, copper, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin E, calcium, potassium and vitamin C. It is a very good source of dietary fiber, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc, protein and choline. ( See this website for more info )

Now I remember as a kid, I HATED the stuff, yuk – put it right up there with liver & onions. But since going Keto I have eaten more spinach by choice then I have all my life. And a little secret, my kids LOVE it too!! So much so that rarely do we have left overs. I know right?!  I guess cooking it right means it is actually tasty & is now a staple in our Keto way of eating.

One of our ways to eat it is fresh, I buy baby spinach leaves in a bag from Costco and just chop it up finely and sprinkle on pizza, soup, or over mashed cauliflower ( potatoes).  But when I have 20 minutes I make spinach balls. We usually eat these 1-2 times a week, that is how yummy they are. Here we go!

Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach

In an 8 cup glass measuring cup ( something that can handle HOT water) I pile the spinach in, wash it first but then just dump it into the cup. I push it down but not packing it in, then fill that measuring cup with boiling water and put a lid on it for 2-3 minutes. The longer the water the softer the spinach so go off your taste.  Now rinse out that spinach in ice cold water to stop the cooking process.  Ring it out, yes the spinach. Over the sink I squeeze it, and then squeeze some more, even use paper towel if you need. But get that water out of it or you will have mush balls.

And your rung out spinach needs to go onto a cutting board now and ready for chopping.

Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach

And chop away, small little pieces, the smaller the pieces the more the kids will eat it. And once it’s chopped into fine pieces, put it back into that measuring bowl.   Add 3-4 eggs, if you got out all the water from the spinach then 3 should be fine, but if not go with 4. I like to add a teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt and a spoonful of hemp heart seeds.  I use up to 1/2 a cup of mozzarella cheese, the more cheese the runner the balls will be, and up to 1/4 cup of almond flour. Again if you drained the water really well you might not need the full amount of almond flour but if it’s still wet, then add a bit more flour. Mix it all together, really well. If you like flavor sometimes I add chunks of orange sharp cheese to the mix as well. Right now it does not look nice at all, its a mushy ball of ingredients.

Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach

Hopefuly your oven is preheated to 400 degrees, and use a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Wash your hands, it’s about to get messy.  I scoop up a small handful,squeeze it into a ball and place it on the cookie sheet, leave a bit of space between each ball as they will flatten out slightly and spread out too.

Keep Calm & Eat Your Spinach

15 minutes in the oven is all they need, the bottoms will brown a bit, if you want a crunchier ball then leave in 3-5 minutes longer. But either way, they are delicous, and great the next day cold if you they last that long. I hope you enjoy these as much as my family, and if you don’t that just means more spinach for us to eat & enjoy.