Creamed Spinach

This really easy spinach side dish takes it up a notch with creamy, rich cream cheese and because its low carb and keto (as long as you skip the bread crumb toppings), stays within most nutritional diets that your picky eaters may have. 

• white onion & minced garlic – as with most dishes, onion and garlic bring the most flavor and really enhance the vegetable
• frozen spinach – thawed and drained of excess moisture, using frozen spinach keeps this dish as simple and as quick as possible
• cream cheese – melted right in the pan, cream cheese gives the best creamy and rich tasting texture out of all of the options.
• grated Parmesan cheese – while it may be tempting to use shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese, it melts differently and will add a cheese pull to your spinach versus just a nice creamy topping. Adding a real heavy cheese like shaved cheese basically turns the cream sauce into cheese sauce, so while it tastes great, it’s a lot harder to stir and will alter the recipe. 
• heavy whipping cream – whole milk or even half and half could be used in a pinch, both of those ingredients are a lot thinner than whipping cream. Heavy whipping cream is worth the extra thick texture that it adds to the creamed spinach.
• salt & pepper – Never skip the salt and pepper on the green vegetable side.

Step 1: To get started, first put 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil in a pan and heat up with white onions and minced garlic. Sauté for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, till fragrant and cooked.

Step 2: Add thawed and drained spinach to cast iron pan and stir. Heat pan on Medium heat, with lid on pan, for just about 6 minutes – stirring occasionally. 

Step 3: Tear up creamed cheese and place around the pan on top of spinach. Pour in heavy whipping cream, grated Parmesan cheese, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine all ingredients.

Step 4: Incorporate all ingredients by mixing well and melting cream cheese, taking care to make sure there are no lumps, which takes about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the pan and serve.  

Frozen vs. Fresh Spinach: Creamed spinach CAN be made with fresh spinach over frozen as well. There are two ways to really handle fresh spinach leaves.

1. Remove stems and chop down any excessively large leaves. Add a bit of butter into the pan and then cook spinach down, which takes about 3-4 minutes.  Proceed with the rest of the recipe as is. 
2. The other way is to add about a pan of spinach leaves into a pan with onion, garlic and butter and then proceed with adding the creamed cheese directly, cooking the leaves as you go. 

Both of these require more work than just using frozen spinach. Please note that fresh spinach cooks down a LOT smaller than you believe it will be, so while a pound of spinach may seem like a lot, it cooks down the same as frozen. 

Spices – If you are cooking creamed spinach for the fall holiday season, add just a pinch of nutmeg to the dish.

Pasta – Add cooked warm penne to this dish for a great warm spinach pasta side.

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