Creamed Spinach

I love spinach.  I've eaten spinach salads, spinach in quiche, canned spinach and frozen spinach.  But I've never in my life eaten creamed spinach.  It never appealed to me, it didn't seem right...  Don't ask me why.

Last night I had a dream that we were at a fancy steak house.  The waitress brought me my meal and there was a beautiful steak and this creamy green stuff.  I asked her what it was and she said "creamed spinach"  I asked her to take it back because I didn't order it.  She told me to taste it and she guaranteed I would love it.   I woke up from my dream before tasting it, but that dream stuck with me all day long.

David wanted Sonic for dinner, Davy was going out with friends so I decided I would try to make creamed spinach for myself and if I didn't like it, oh well.

I've got to tell you, I could have eaten the entire pan if my stomach wasn't so full.  It was so yummy.

Creamed Spinach
4 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs fresh spinach
1/2 small yellow onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
3 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup water
2 tsp sea salt divided
1 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp xanthan gum
pinch of ground nutmeg
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water and 1 tsp sea salt to a boil.  Add spinach and let it wilt for approximately 2 minutes.  Strain the water off and run cold water over the spinach to stop the wilting.  Squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove excess water.  I bunched all the spinach up in paper towels and squeezed until all the water was out.  Cut the bundle of spinach into pieces.  Set aside.

In a large skillet melt butter, add onion and garlic and cook on medium heat until they just begin to brown slightly.  Add 1 tsp sea salt, pepper and nutmeg.  (You're probably wondering why nutmeg, well I can't answer that.  I did some browsing of different creamed spinach recipes and several of them called for nutmeg so I thought what the heck...this may be the one and only time you ever eat creamed spinach.)  Stir into the onions and garlic.  Add heavy cream and water bring to a boil. 

While continuously stirring, gently sprinkle the xanthan gum.  Don't dump a glob of xanthan gum or it will cook into a glob.  The trick is sprinkle and stir, sprinkle and stir.  Add mozzarella and cream cheese.  Stir the cheese until melted.  This should be getting pretty thick now.  Add the spinach and stir until it breaks up and the cream and spinach are thoroughly combined.  Add shredded parmesan.

This is so good.  I can't believe I've never tried it before.  This will definitely be a new side dish.

Nutritional values per serving:
calories 361; fat 32.3; total carbs 7.2; fiber 2.9; net carbs 4.3; sugar 1; protein 9.1

This is a little higher in carbs than I would normally have, but most of the carbs are coming from the spinach so that's okay in my book.

Hope you venture out and try creamed spinach and if you're already a creamed spinach lover, leave me a comment.