Spinach Night!

Okay the reason for the spinach is that we had two bags sitting in our fridge and they were really bugging Phil and he told me to go ahead and make a spinach salad for dinner.  Ha!  I don't think so, make something someone told me too, I think not!  So I decided to do a bit of research and found this scrumptious little morsel online this evening, I call it spinach latkes and tomatoes (it was easy for Phil to remember).  I have also been in the mood for chocolate (but when aren't I?)  so I decided I wanted to try to make some brownies too, and since I was in the spinach mindset, why not?

Spinach Latkes

2 cans of either diced or plum tomatoes

1 egg

1 can of potatoes or a few boiled potatoes

2 handfuls of fresh spinach or really a can would probably work (but I think it is nasty looking)

1/4 cup flour

bread crumbs

salt and pepper

mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

olive oil

canola oil

1 squirt of lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon zest

Preheat oven to 450

1.   Coat a baking dish with olive oil and place the tomatoes inside.  "Roast" the tomatoes in the oven until the skin in blistered or until you are ready for them (if you do this then just before they are finished turn off the heat and just let them sit in the oven to stay hot)

2.   Place all of the spinach in a food processor and grind to a paste.  If you don't have one just chop it as finely as possible.

3.  Mash the potatoes and once finished add in spinach, egg, some parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture holds together.  

4.  Make into patties and coat with flour.

5.  Fry in a large skillet until lightly browned or for 3-5 minutes on each side.

Serve on the tomatoes and grate mozzarella cheese on top.

warning:  These latkes will be very green, but tasty!

Brainy Brownies from the sneaky chef's website

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Purple Puree

1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons Flour Blend

1/4 cup rolled oats, ground in a food processor

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

cooking spray

optional extra boost:  1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Spray the bottom of a 13 by 9 or 9 by 9 inch baking pan

Melt the butter and chocolate chips together in double boiler or in the microwave (checking often) Remove from heat and let cool.  Meanwhile in another bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, Purple Puree.  Combine the purple egg mixture with the cooled chocolate mixture.

In a mixing bowl, stir together Flour Blend, cocoa powder, oats and salt.  Add this to the chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly.  Mix in the chopped nuts, and pour the entire thing in the baking dish.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely in pan before cutting or eating.  

Purple Puree

1 1/2 cups raw spinach

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (NO syrup or sugar added)

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons of water

Put in at food processor or blender and smash it together until it is as smooth as possible.

Makes just enough for the brownies.

Flour Blend

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon flour

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon wheat flour

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon wheat germ

Mix together and makes just enough for the brownies.

I really loved these brownies and Phil didn't know that all of that stuff was in there until I told him and then he didn't really believe me.  This recipe can be found at www.thesneakychef.com under the free recipes.  I haven't tried the others but going off of this one the others are probably wonderful too.  The brownies were fudgy and had little different texture but I think that it was the chocolate chips because mine got too hard before I baked it and they were all lumped together.