Spinach

Where do they come up with this stuff? Gina and Scott Keatley are dressed as Popeye and Olive while their dog, Buttercup, is their fortifying spinach. Love it!. Of course, a costume this good hard to be part of the 21st Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in New York. Keep those furry ones safe during trick-or-treating tonight! Happy Halloween!

Where do they come up with this stuff? Gina and Scott Keatley are dressed as Popeye and Olive while their dog, Buttercup, is their fortifying spinach. Love it!. Of course, a costume this good hard to be part of the 21st Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in New York. Keep those furry ones safe during trick-or-treating tonight! Happy Halloween!

The country is full of uncontaminated fresh spinach, but it would be foolish at this point to eat any. An outbreak of E. coli in at least 20 states is probably traceable to one packager or even just one farm, but until that source has been identified, no fresh spinach should be considered safe. There was a time when produce was local and seasonal, but that time, though lamented by some, is gone. The American grocery business is national in scope, and one of the benefits of that - and it's a major one - is the availability of all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables, year-round.

Anna Biebl from Belcamp was looking for a recipe for spinach soup. She said the Double T Diners serves one that she is particularly fond of and she wanted to be able to make it — or something similar — at home. Elaine Martin of Short Hills, N.J., sent in a recipe for fresh spinach soup that she found on the web from Earthbound Farm Organic products (www.ebfarm.com). While this may be different than what is served at the diner, it is nonetheless quite delicious and healthy to boot.

Dolories Gurrola of Merced, Calif., enjoyed eating a dish called spinach Marie at a local restaurant. "I've eaten it many times there and asked for the recipe, but they won't give it out. I also collect cookbooks, but can't find the recipe in any of them. Please help." Frances Hamilton of Los Osos, Calif., responded. She wrote, "I think this is what Dolories Gurrola requested." Spinach Marie Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish one 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach 4 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 2 3/4 cups heavy cream 2 cups mild cheddar cheese, grated 1/4 cup to 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs paprika, to taste 2 tablespoons butter Butter a 9-inch glass pie plate or a 9-inch square dish well.

FRESH SPINACH AND feta cheese give this easy recipe a Greek flavor. It's from the Home Economics Department of the Rice Council.5/8Spinach Feta Rice1 cup uncooked rice1 cup chicken broth1 cup water1 medium onion, chopped1 cup (about 4 ounces) sliced fresh mushrooms2 cloves garlic, mincedVegetable cooking spray1 tablespoon lemon juice1/2 teapoon dried oregano leaves6 cups shredded fresh spinach leaves, about 1/4 pound4 ounces feta cheese, crumbledFreshly ground black pepperChopped pimiento, optionalBring rice, broth and water to a boil in medium saucepan.

Herb-crusted lamb steaks served on a bed of creamy spinach is a perfect dish for any weeknight. Tender, juicy lamb steaks are cut through the leg to make a piece of meat 3/4 -inch to 1-inch thick with a slice of bone in the center. If you don't see it in the meat case, ask the butcher to cut it for you. Lamb goes best with Spanish rioja. Florentine Lamb Serves 2 3 medium garlic cloves, crushed 2 teaspoons chopped dried rosemary 2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs salt and freshly ground pepper olive-oil spray 2 (6- to 7-ounce)

It is a little early, but already I know one thing I want for Christmas: a pot full of spinach. That is not quite as sorry a request as it sounds. As I envision Christmas festivities, this spinach would be part of a perfect holiday meal. It would sit on the Christmas table, a proud testimony to homegrown goodness. This holiday spinach would be grown from seeds, seeds that I planted some weeks ago in a large black pot in the backyard. The pot, which has been passed down to our family from grandparents, was once a soap-making vessel.

Maryland health officials confirmed yesterday that two more people in the state were sickened by eating spinach contaminated with E. coli during a recent nationwide outbreak, bringing the number of cases in the state to five. Since an alert Sept. 14 prompted grocers to pull potentially tainted bagged spinach from store shelves and consumers were told to discard any bagged spinach, state officials have investigated 15 cases of possible E. coli contamination of spinach. They have found that five of those cases are associated with spinach contamination; eight are not and two are pending, said John Hammond, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

I was eating a wrap the other day, and some of the baby salad greens fell out. I think one might have been a spinach leaf. I ate it anyway, and live to tell about it. My name is Jean, and I'm addicted to spinach. As the E. coli scare goes on, desperate people will do desperate things. I've been in spinach withdrawal ever since the bagged stuff was implicated in a nationwide outbreak of a particularly virulent strain of E. coli that has sickened 183 people, killing one of them. (A Hagerstown woman has also died, her family believes, from eating bagged spinach, but officials haven't confirmed that her death is related to the outbreak.

The line between subtle and bland can be small. As I ate pizza from Maxie's in Charles Village, my mind kept jumping back and forth between the two adjectives. The pizzas have thin, well-made crusts, but it was the toppings that gave me pause. Sometimes they had delicate flavors, while other times they were dull. The white eggplant pizza ($18.95 for a large), with baked eggplant, spinach, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, plus garlic and seasoning, had distinct spinach and garlic notes.

Judith Kelly from Guerneville, Calif., was looking for a recipe for pasta with shrimp and cherry tomatoes. She had a wonderful recipe for this dish that she found in a San Francisco newspaper 15 or 20 years ago that she unfortunately lost in the 1995 Guerneville flood. Some internet research on my part turned up a promising recipe from a site called eatbetteramerica.com. Their healthy adaptation of the classic garlic shrimp and pasta dish was delicious. At only 323 calories and 9 grams of fat per serving, the dish was surprisingly rich and full of flavor.

Savor a taste of Italy in only minutes with fish fillets topped with fresh tomato slices and melted parmesan cheese. Penne pasta tossed with fresh spinach completes this colorful dinner. Buy whatever white fish looks best at the market or use flash-frozen fillets, which I've found have a fresh flavor. Measure the thickness of the fish and cook 10 minutes per inch. Wine suggestion: I'd sip a nice Italian chianti. spinach penne pasta Cook: 10 minutes Makes: 2 servings 1/4 pound penne pasta 4 cups washed, ready-to-eat spinach 2 teaspoons olive oil salt and freshly ground pepper Bring 3 to 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Cook pasta 10 minutes or according to package instructions.

Seven years old this month, Burritos En Fuego is one of Fells Point's most encouraging success stories. A message on its Web site says the restaurant is for sale. Let's hope it finds a buyer who is as dedicated to using good ingredients and maintaining friendly and efficient customer service. If Fells Point is still largely free of chain restaurants, it's thanks to places like Burritos En Fuego. The formula here is very simple - quick and wholesome Mexican food, assembled from freshly prepared ingredients.

Fresh herb season is under way in gardens and pots throughout the area. So how about using them in a fast, easy and nutritious omelet? We're naming it Herbie and it's enough to feed two. And because it's quick to make, Herbie the Second won't add much time to making supper for four. Kids will like Herbie, too, especially if you use olive slices to fashion a face on the omelet. Sauvignon blanc will pair well with the herbs in the dish. For kids, a glass of milk is a fine partner. Renee Enna writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis.

Herb-crusted lamb steaks served on a bed of creamy spinach is a perfect dish for any weeknight. Tender, juicy lamb steaks are cut through the leg to make a piece of meat 3/4 -inch to 1-inch thick with a slice of bone in the center. If you don't see it in the meat case, ask the butcher to cut it for you. Lamb goes best with Spanish rioja. Florentine Lamb Serves 2 3 medium garlic cloves, crushed 2 teaspoons chopped dried rosemary 2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs salt and freshly ground pepper olive-oil spray 2 (6- to 7-ounce)

There's no doubt that fresh spinach is good for us, and it can be delicious, too. But it used to take so much time and devotion to clean it. The stems had to be cut or pulled off and the leaves submerged in plenty of cold water; sometimes it took two or three changes of water to remove every trace of grit and grime. Then it needed to be drained and dried.Now it's in the bag, prominently displayed in the produce section. It's clean and ready to cook or eat raw.Place several handfuls of clean spinach-in-the-bag in a microwave-safe casserole -- stems and all; the leaves can be left whole or chopped for easier eating.

Q. I have a problem growing spinach every spring. After I plant it in April, it grows for only four to six weeks before going to seed. Now I've received my first seed catalog of 1999, and notice that some spinach varieties are advertised as slow bolting. Do they work?A. Yes, they'll give you an extended period of picking before they bolt - compared with other varieties of spinach.Spinach plants send up seed stalks when plants are crowded, when day length exceeds 12 1/2 hours or when spring temperatures swing widely.

Just like gas prices, the cost of eating out continues to creep up. But the $5 lunch is not yet a thing of the past. A wide range of restaurants, cafes and carryout spots still offer midday meals that won't empty your wallet. Here are five places where five bucks can still fill you up. Angelo's Carry Out 3600 Keswick Road; 410-235-2595 A massive 18-inch slice of cheese pizza and a can of soda only cost $4.39 at this Hampden eatery. The trick is figuring out the best way to eat it -- it's too big to pick up all at once.

Motivated by the skyrocketing price of groceries, I took a stab at growing my own salad and baking my own bread. My efforts did not go well. The salad, made from spinach plants that I had nursed through the winter, was meager and tough. The leaves did not seem to have many flavors. The bread, which I made using a no-knead recipe, was disappointing. It was dense, flat and the crust tasted of cornmeal. I suspect that future loaves would have been better. Bread making, like essay writing, usually improves with subsequent efforts.