motd Thurs Sept 22 - Spinach

[Guest guest]

MY FAVORITE SAILOR

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Oh how I loved to watch TV when I was a

kid. I don't get to watch as much these days but

back home in New Orleans, I loved turning on our

old black & white set in the living room.

My favorite cartoon character was Popeye

The Sailor Man.

Back then, my favorite cartoon character

was Popeye

The Sailor Man. Oh, whenever some bad guy

threatened Popeye or his girlfriend, Olive Oyl, look

out! All he had to do was use those biceps

of his, squeeze open a can of spinach and gobble it

down. That can of spinach would make Popeye

super-strong. Then he'd put a really good whipping

on any of those bad guys. You get 'em, Popeye!

My mother knew how much I loved Popeye so, to help

me eat better, she came up with what she thought was

a great idea. She prepared some spinach for me at

dinner time. She figured I'd think the spinach

would make me big and strong, you know, like Popeye,

so I might be more likely to eat it. (I wonder, was

Popeye produced by the "Spinach Growers

Association of America" or some other group like

that to make our parents buy more spinach? LOL.)

"Dicky, come to dinner, baby," my

mother called from the dining room. "I've

made something special for you tonight."

"Come on, honey, it's

spinach. And if you eat it, you'll grow up big

and strong, just like Popeye!"

Oh, I couldn't wait. (Hey, any call to dinner got

me up off the couch! LOL.) When I got to the

dining room table, right next to my slice of meat

loaf was this green stuff that looked like it had

been plucked from one of the swamps that surround

New Orleans. It was these mushy-looking green

leaves that came out of a can. I'm sure, they must

have been around for as long as Popeye was on TV!

"Come on, honey, " my mother

said. "It's

spinach and if you eat it, you'll grow up big and

strong, just like Popeye!"

Well okay, I couldn't disappoint my mother so I had

to give that spinach dish a try. I tasted it

and....yeechh! It was just

dreadful! I immediately jumped up from the table,

ran to the kitchen and spit it out! The next

Saturday morning, I switched from Popeye cartoons to Casper,

The Friendly Ghost. And Casper didn't eat anything.

(Hey, he was a ghost,

after all and ghosts don't have to eat!)

Now that I'm all grown up and a lot wiser, spinach

has become one of my favorite vegetables. I love

making a spinach salad. I also like adding spinach

to my turkey meatballs. I make this fabulous

fat-free spinach souffle, too. I use frozen

spinach, thaw it, squeeze out the moisture, toss it

into my food processor and blend until it's very

fine. Then the spinach is ready to use in my

souffle. Mmm,

mmm, good!

Spinach is good for you!

And not only that, spinach is good for you! It

contains hardly any calories and no fat. It's high

in vitamins and minerals, too. I'm talking plenty

of Vitamins B2, B6, C and E. Those dark green

spinach leaves are also full of potassium, protein,

zinc and fiber. See? I told you, spinach is just

full of stuff that's good for your body.

Spinach is also heart-healthy. It contains

antioxidants that help elevate your good

cholesterol. And get this, some studies have shown

that spinach can actually help slow the age-related

decline of brain function. Now there's some really

good news. And oh yeah, here's some more. Spinach

is rich in iron which helps carry oxygen to every

cell in your body and gives you a much-needed boost

of energy.

Popeye had the right idea!

So it looks like my old hero, Popeye, had the right

idea after all! Hey, I want you to be strong,

just like me and Popeye. Make an effort to make

spinach a part of your healthy food program every

week!

P.S. I'm

very honored to be writing a monthly blog now for Huffington Post. Click the link to

see my entry for this month!

Love,