What I ate for Dinner - Spinach and Protein - Your Choice! - in Garlic and Butter

I love spinach with garlic and butter. LOVE. Add a little pepper, and I’m an even happier camper. Add a protein source, and EVEN BETTER.

You can use any protein source in this, or none at all. I used turkey Polish-style sausage because I had some in my fridge that I needed to use, and I was jonesing for a little comfort food. But you could use chicken, shrimp, beef, tofu, whatever. Garlic and butter go with pretty much anything. (Which is part of the reason I love them. I’d have garlic’s and butter’s babies if I could. It’d give a whole new meaning to the term butterball! Ok, ok, I’ll stop now.)


The Recipe
Serves 4

Nonstick spray
1 lb (approx) protein, your choice, cut into bite-size pieces (In the pic below, I used Jennie-O Turkey Polish-Style Sausage. Yes, it’s been that kind of a day.)
2 Tbs butter
2 cloves minced garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp dried minced onion
2 pounds fresh spinach (I used prepackaged salad spinach that was nearing the end of its freshness.)
Butter spray (or more butter) (I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray)
salt and pepper to taste

Spray a large pan with nonstick cooking spray, and add the protein. Saute over medium-high heat until cooked through, then remove it from the pan and put it on a plate. (We’ll come back to it.)

Turn the heat to low and add the butter, garlic and dried onion. When the butter is melted and the garlic is golden, add a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach. Use a pair of tongs to turn it until it’s wilted, then add a few more handfuls, spray on a little butter spray, and turn that batch. When it’s wilted, repeat. Keep adding spinach and butter spray until you’ve used up all the spinach and it’s all wilted down. Add a little salt and pepper, and toss the protein back into the pot. Heat through, and serve.

(As an FYI, the calorie content of the spinach alone works out to about 370 for the whole thing. So figure just over 90 calories per serving for the spinach part. And then whatever protein you add.)

(Note: The picture below would serve about 3. I was REALLY low on spinach – I had about a pound and a third – so there isn’t QUITE enough to serve 4. If you use 2 pounds of spinach, you’ll be fine.)