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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Spinach As Finger Food


Spinach Thingies (shown cut into quarters)
 This recipe is based on Dr. Praeger's Spinach Littles, of which we're big fans. No fun shapes, but the toddler-friendly texture and flavor are similar. Any fun ideas on what to call these?

16 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and excess moisture squeezed out
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp canola oil
4 medium potatoes
1 red onion, cut into chunks
2 egg whites*
1 Tbsp arrowroot**
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp salt

1. Peel and slice potatoes into small chunks. Boil potatoes until tender.
2. In the meantime, place onion in food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Add spinach and pulse again for a few seconds.
3. Whip potatoes until smooth in a stand mixer or with hand mixer.
4. Make a slurry by mixing the arrowroot and water in a small bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. In a saucepan, heat the canola oil and garlic until the garlic "speaks" (makes sizzling sound). Add the spinach/onion mixture. Then add the whipped potatoes.
6. Be sure that the bottom of the saucepan is covered with the mixture and add the egg whites (You want to avoid cooking the eggs on the bottom of the pot) and the arrowroot slurry. Stir until combined and remove from heat.
7. When the mixture has cooled enough to be handled, create patties (each about the amount that would fill an ice cream scoop) and arrange on a cookie sheet covered with cooking oil spray.
8. Bake the patties for 10 minutes (this will help the arrowroot to set).
9. To freeze, tuck the patties into aluminum foil pockets (to prevent the patties from sticking together). When they have cooled completely, place the foil pockets into a freezer bag and freeze.

On serving day, place the patties on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking oil spray and broil on each side for approximately 5 minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning.

*For a vegan version, use egg replacer. I'll update when I've made the recipe again with an egg replacer.
**Arrowroot will likely be in the baking aisle of your grocery store.

Here's Linus enjoying his spinach after the plate idea was abandoned:


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11 comments:

  1. Popeye's Pops? Popeye . . . ???

    Seems like you'd have to pay homage to Popeye somehow with all that spinach.

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  2. I love you for this! My 2 year old devours the Dr. Prager's & my stash ran out. We can't get them in my town, so I have to stock up when I'm in the big city. I am thrilled to have finally found a recipe to replicate them at home. He ate some last night & he didn't seem to notice they were different. Thank you!!

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    Replies
    1. Yay! Thank you so much for letting me know that they worked out for you. It makes me so happy to know that someone else is enjoying our recipe!

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  3. I am trying this tomorrow! My 17 month old daughter loves the Dr. P's little bites especially the spinach but we are vegetarians...and a few boxes have tasted STRONGLY fishy. So we don't buy them anymore. Hopefully this will get her eating spinach again and not wrinkling up her nose at the fishiness!

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  4. My 13-month-old loves Dr Praeger's, so I can't wait to try them. I have a huge amount of spinach in my fridge that I need to use, so I'll be cooking it down today instead of using frozen.

    As a former Whole Foods employee I have tried almost everything the store carries by Dr Praeger, and now that I don't have an employee discount, I'm definitely interested in replicating things at a lower cost. Thanks so much for the recipe!

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    Replies
    1. I hope they turned out great for you with the fresh spinach. We love all things Dr. Praeger, too, but it's just so pricey!

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Thank you so much! My son loves the Dr. Praeger's, and I too have been looking for how to make this myself.

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  7. We loved this! I am thinking you could do the whole shapes thing if you patted the mixture until it was evenish and froze it....then it should be firm enough to cut w/cookie cutters! I swiped that idea from the weelicious website and their veggie nuggets recipe...but I like this recipe better since it doesn't contain wheat. Has anyone had success w/no egg?

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  8. Has anyone tried this with an egg replacer? What did you use?

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