Meatless Monday Attempt 1, part 1: Spinachballs

Yes.  Spinachballs.  Like meatballs.  But instead of meat, spinach.  And you know what?  They're really good.  My husband and I really liked them.  But our 2-year old toddler, who believes that he's allergic to vegetables?  LOVED them.  I'm fairly certain that he ate about 1/2lb of spinach last night.  I'm not exaggerating.

Yesterday during naptime, I was frantically searching my Pinterest boards for something that I could make for dinner - something that fell into the low-carb, low-sugar, high-protein category that I'm trying to stick with right now.  The protein part was a little tricky, since I didn't take any meat out of our little meat freezer before naptime, and said freezer is located in the 8-month-old's room.  (The joys of renting out your basement....freezers in bedrooms!)  So.  I remembered hearing about a thing called 'Meatless Mondays' a little while ago, and I did a quick Google & Pinterest search for that term.  Wow.  So many good recipes!  I filtered them by dishes that looked delicious and then by ingredients that we had on hand, and I was left with my main and side dishes - Goat Cheese & Fresh Herb Souffle (I'll get to that one in a bit) and Spinachballs.

 I came across the Spinachballs at Denise's blog, Chez Us.  Head over there to take a look at the AMAZING recipes and photos that she posts, as well as the original recipe for Spinachballs.  I altered some things, so I'm going to share my version of her recipe with you here.

Ingredients

• 3 10 oz packages frozen chopped spinach
• 1 cup panko or crackers put through the food processor
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 clove garlic mashed
• pinch of kosher salt
• coconut oil (taste/aroma free is what I used) for frying

Directions

• Thaw spinach, rinse with cold water
• In batches, place spinach on cheesecloth, roll up, and twist to ring out as much water as possible.
• Place the spinach, panko/cracker crumbs, cheese, nutmeg, garlic and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Beat the eggs in a separate mixing bowl, then add to the spinach mixture.
• Using your hands or a KitchenAid, mix well.
• Form into small spinach balls.
• Add about 1/4c of coconut oil to a large frying pan.
• Heat over medium heat.
• In batches, brown the spinach balls until golden brown; about 2 minutes per side.
• Remove with a slotted spoon or tongs, set aside on a paper towel.
• Continue browning the spinach balls. 
• Serve warm.  

 Yes, this is a LOT of spinach.  It makes roughly 30 balls, which was enough for 3 adults and 1 toddler in our house (who ate almost as many as we did!).  If you're using fresh spinach, please head back to Chez Us to see the measurements for fresh.  The original recipe called for using canola oil - I'm really trying to be healthier with the fats that we eat right now (not cutting them out, by any measure!  Just trying to make healthier decisions), so I opted for using aroma free coconut oil.  (I am really not a coconut person, or I would use the unrefined, virgin oil, as I know that's the healthiest.)

Anyhow, I served it along side the souffle (my first attempt at making a souffle!  And it turned out perfectly!!) and a green salad (not really necessary, considering the amount of greens we consumed in the spinachballs...  but the plates just seemed to be asking fore something else!).  I'll share my souffle with you soon.  I think that I'll try to keep on going with the Meatless Monday schedule.