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Creamed spinach
is one of those classic recipes
that has been enjoyed
by generations.
But it’s loaded
with more saturated fat and calories
than a nutrient-rich vegetable
like spinach deserves.
I decided to give it
a modern makeover!
Hi, I’m Liz Weiss
and you’re not going to believe
how good
my cream-less version tastes.
Let's get started.
I just wanna tell you about spinach.
Now this is the star of our recipe.
I have two 10 oz boxes
of frozen spinach.
I cooked the spinach
according to package directions,
and then I placed the spinach
in a colander
and just squeezed out
all that excess liquid.
This is what I ended up with—
concentrated nutrition.
I love this convenience ingredient.
But I'm going to get back
to that spinach in just a minute.
I want to show you how to make
our cream-less sauce.
I begin with olive oil,
extra virgin olive oil.
And I'll place
about a tablespoon of olive oil
into this medium sized saucepan.
And then we want
to sauté up an onion.
This is a small onion,
and I just chopped it up
into quarter inch dice.
And the onion
takes about 5 minutes to cook.
It smells great.
Once the onion is cooked,
I'm going to add the rest
of the olive oil—2 more tablespoons.
And I'm going to also add
2 tablespoons of flour.
This is all-purpose flour.
By combining olive oil
which is a fat, a healthy fat,
and the flour, we're building
what's called a roux.
And a roux is going to help
to thicken our cream-less sauce.
I'm just gonna whisk this up
till the flour and the fat are combined.
I'll cook it for about 2 minutes.
Now, instead of adding cream,
which a lot of people
would add to this recipe,
I'm going to add low fat milk.
So, I'm going to whisk this in,
along with
just a little bit of seasoning.
Once that's whisked in
I'll add salt.
This is kosher salt,
just 3/4 of a teaspoon.
And pepper.
Half a teaspoon of pepper.
And a few pinches of nutmeg.
Now, if you love nutmeg
add more than a few pinches.
But nutmeg
is just one of these spices
that goes so nicely
with creamed spinach.
It's just kind of a natural.
So, whisk this together.
Raise the heat just a little bit,
because we want to bring
this combination
of flour, fat, and milk
to a boil.
And once it boils
I'm gonna lower the heat
and just let it simmer
until our sauce thickens.
Once your sauce is thick
turn the heat off,
and then let's go ahead
and add Parmesan cheese.
This is just 1/3 cup
of grated Parmesan.
And we have a little bit
of cream cheese,
just 1/4 cup
of the light cream cheese.
It's continuing to thicken.
I'll whisk this all together.
We're almost ready for the spinach.
Not quite.
[whisking]
See how easy that is?
We have our cream-less sauce.
And now our final ingredient.
We're back to our star
and that is spinach,
packed with great nutrition,
Vitamin A which keeps
our immune system strong.
It's good for our eyes.
I love adding vegetables
to the diet.
So, just stir that in.
Once everything's incorporated
you can season with a little bit more
salt, and pepper, and nutmeg.
And you're done.
My slimmed-down version
is rich in flavor
and the perfect side dish
for any meal.
Mmm.
That is so delicious.
For Meal Makeovers,
I'm Liz Weiss.
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