Spinach has always been a favorite veggie in our house. Not everyone is enchanted with this nutrition packed green, but add a bit of creamed cheese, and it takes on a totally different flavor profile.

I buy large boxes of fresh organic baby spinach with the idea that I’m going to have spinach salads several days a week. However, I almost always eat a few salads then realize that the remaining spinach is starting to look sad and wilted. That is the perfect time to finish up the rest of the box by cooking it. I’m very frugal, and this satisfies my need to use up food before it has to go to the compost pile.

This is an easy dish, and a great beginner cooking dish for kids…supervised of course. Cooking with kids encourages mindful eating throughout their lifetime and also enlarges their influenceable palates.

I had about 10 oz. fresh spinach remaining in the box and picked out and discarded the slimy bits which were in the bottom of the box. Also, there is always a block of cream cheese in the dairy drawer of the fridge.

In a 12 inch black skillet, I added about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and heated it to medium heat. Then I sprinkled the spinach over the olive oil and let it begin to wilt and sizzle. My leftover fresh spinach filled the skillet completely.

I turned the spinach regularly and allowed it to completely wilt down and cook until it was reduced in the bottom of the pan and to the desired doneness.

The cream cheese was from an 8 oz block, but I estimated that about 3 oz should make this amount of spinach very creamy, so I cubed about 40% of the 8 oz block…guesstimating here.. and dropped the cubes on top of the spinach. At this point I removed it from the heat, covered the pan while I cooked the remaining food. This allowed the cheese to soften.

Once my main dish was done, I stirred the cream cheese into the cooked spinach and it was ready to serve! It made about 3 servings and was wonderful alongside our blackened flounder.

So that’s the entire recipe! 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, 10 or so Oz of Fresh spinach and 3 Oz Cream cheese. It doesn’t really need salt or pepper to me, but you may choose to add if desired.

If you prefer canned spinach, which I ate as a child, you can drain the can of spinach, add it to the pan with a bit of olive oil and then add 3 oz cream cheese and allow it to melt. I hope you enjoy this dish. And, if there is a young person in your life — teach them to cook. They will thank you later.

Bon Appetito!

Kim Orsini, Iron Maiden – Black Skillet Cooking