How to eat 2.5 pounds of spinach in a week...

I have become a big fan of greens over the past several years.  Swiss chard was my favorite for a while, then I learned some of the joys of kale, and I have now moved on to arugula as my favorite.  Somewhere along the way spinach became a bit "meh" to me.  It cooks down soooo much, and it doesn't have the flavor of chard or arugula.  But, when I saw a 2.5 pound bag of baby spinach for $2.99 at Costco the other day, I couldn't resist.  I figured if nothing else, I could steam it and freeze it, to pull out at some point when all the other veggies had been used up.  In the end, we, including the kids, ate the entire bag before the week was out.  AND (and this is a huge and) Will asked if we could go get another bag and now goes around singing "Spinach, spinach, oh how I love spinach, spinach." Disclaimer, pretty much all of his love of spinach is confined to one thing I made, but still, I considered that a pretty huge success to come from someone who previously wouldn't touch anything green.  So, how do you eat 2.5 pounds of spinach in a week...?

1) Spinach w/tahini sauce. - w/ grilled steaks and roasted mixed russet and sweet potatoes w/oregano.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spinach-with-Tahini-1222193
Basically, steam a colander-full of spinach or cook it however you like.  Puree or mix together a clove of garlic, 3 T tahini, 1 1/2-2 T lemon juice, 1/4 t. salt, and 1/4 c water.  Pour the sauce on the spinach and enjoy.  The tahini and lemon juice complement the flavor of the greens a lot.  I think this would also be good with arugula.

2) Spinach rice casserole:
Cook 2 c of rice.  Cook a colander-full or two of spinach, the chop.  Add a cup or two of grated cheddar cheese and 2-3 cloves of minced garlic to the rice.  Mix together three eggs, ~1/3-1/2 c milk, salt, pepper, mustard powder, and some nutmeg, then stir into the rice.  (Best to let the rice cool a bit before adding the eggs, if possible, but if everyone is getting hungry, just add the eggs and stir quickly, and you'll be okay.)  Spread into a buttered casserole.  (I used a 9 X 13 pan to make it shallower and thus help it cook more quickly.)  Bake at 375 for 20-25 min.  It's a one-pot-wonder - Yum!

3) Spinach banana smoothies
This is the one Will liked so much.  You can play around with the proportions to find what you like.
Puree together 1-2 bananas, another colander-full of spinach, two peaches, and ~1/2-3/4 c yogurt.  I think it helps if either the bananas or peaches have been pre-sliced and frozen.  You don't need to add any liquid.  It seems odd at first, but the spinach releases plenty of water to make a nice smoothie.  Tonight we had this again as our vegetable/fruit with our "breakfast for dinner" of sweet potato hash browns and eggs.

4) Spanish spinach and white beans
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spanish-White-Beans-with-Spinach-356051
This recipe was okay, as written.  I would definitely start things off by frying up some bacon next time.
Fry up some bacon.  Remove the bacon, then cook an onion and some garlic in the grease.  Add 1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes and 1/2 t smoked paprika (I just used regular - maybe part of my problem with my version of this dish).  Stir in 2 19 oz cans of white beans (I have no idea how many I used.  I just threw in all the ones I had cooked and frozen in my freezer, about 1/2 a gallon bag full) and two colanders-full of spinach, along with some water.  Cook until the spinach is wilted. Crumble the bacon and add back.  There should be a decent amount of sauce, and I recommend eating it spooned onto bread.  Healthy and pretty tasty.

5) With sausage and sauerkraut sandwiches.  Did I mention I'm trying to clean out my freezer and fridge in preparation for moving?  Well, I had a lot of sauerkraut in there, so I bought some brats and grilled them up to make sandwiches.  Then I started thinking I needed more vegetable, but the only thing we had was the 2.5 pound bag of spinach.  So I cooked up a bunch.  Aleks and I put it underneath the sauerkraut in our sandwiches, and couldn't tell the difference.  The kids were not so easily fooled, perhaps because they were already so suspicious of the sauerkraut.  I really need to move them some place more German, so they can grow up right!

One final note:  I don't like slimy steamed greens, and almost every time I try to cook them in a pot that's what I end up with (or else they burn due to lack of water).  I've found that microwaving them in an uncovered bowl is my favorite method of cooking them.  Just put in a bowl and microwave for a minute or two.  They cook down, but not completely, and they don't get all wet and slimy.

And that is how we used up a huge bag of spinach in one week.  The only problem was that I didn't have any left over to try Andy's power-of-tower breakfast on the weekend.  I'll get there...