Incredible Spinach Salad

This recipe is for my buddy, who told me she is a big fan of spinach. Since it's winter, I thought a warm salad would be in order...

Are you a fan of spinach? Look at the facts below, dear reader, and you just might be swayed to include it into your diet more often...

1. Spinach Is One of the Most Nutritious Foods Available
Low in calories and high in vitamins, spinach is one of the most nutrient-dense foods in existence. One cup of the leafy green vegetable contains far more than your daily requirements of vitamin K and vitamin A, almost all the manganese and folate your body needs and nearly 40 percent of your magnesium requirement. It is a good, very good or excellent source of more than 20 different measurable nutrients, including dietary fiber, calcium and protein. And yet, 1 cup has only 40 calories! Spinach is an excellent choice for nutrition without high calories.

2. Cancer-Fighting Antioxidants Abound in Fresh Spinach
Spinach contains more than a dozen individual flavonoid compounds, which work together as cancer-fighting antioxidants. These elements neutralize free radicals in the body and thus help to prevent cancer. In fact, one study of New England women showed less breast cancer cases among those who ate spinach on a regular basis. Spinach extracts have reduced skin cancer in lab animals and show promise at slowing stomach cancer as well.

3. Fresh Green Spinach Improves Cardiovascular Health
According to research compiled by Whole Foods, spinach is an excellent promoter of cardiovascular health. The antioxidant properties of spinach (water-soluble in the form of vitamin C and fat-soluble beta-carotene) work together to promote good cardiovascular health by preventing the harmful oxidation of cholesterol. Oxidized cholesterol is a danger to the heart and arteries. Magnesium in spinach works toward healthy blood pressure levels. In fact, just a salad-size portion of spinach will work to lower high blood pressure within hours. A serving of spinach contains 65 percent of your daily requirement of folate, and folate converts harmful, stroke-inducing chemicals into harmless compounds.

4. Eating Spinach Combats Ovarian, Prostate Cancers
The Journal of Nutrition reports that our leafy friend, spinach, contains a carotenoid that makes prostate cancers destroy themselves. This same carotenoid, after being changed by the intestines, prevents prostrate cancer from reproducing itself. Spinach also contains kaempferol, a strong antioxidant that prevents the formation of cancerous cells. Women who have a high intake of this flavonoid show a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, likely because of kaempferol's ability to reduce cancer cells proliferation. Kaempferol is also found in non-herbal tea, onions, apples, citrus, grapes, red wine, curly kale, St. John's wort, leeks, broccoli and blueberries.

5. Spinach Improves Brain Function, Protects Against Aging
Still need motivation to eat a few servings of spinach every day? This dark green leaf will protect your brain function from premature aging and slow old age's typical negative effects on your metal capabilities. Spinach accomplishes this by preventing the harmful effects of oxidation on your brain. Those who eat a vegetables in quantity, especially those of the leafy green variety, experience a decrease in brain function loss. However, there is no such correlation with fruit consumption. Oh, and iceberg lettuce doesn't cut it. A good rule of thumb: the darker the leaf, the better. Which brings us back to spinach.

(Read more at www.livestrong.com)

Ready to dive in to deliciousness? Let's go!


Incredible Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
1 package baby spinach
Juice from 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil (approx. 1/2 cup)
2 Tablespoons of pine nuts
1 avocado
4 Roma tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut tomatoes in half, lengthwise, so that they are long, not thick. Place them on a cookie sheet, rounded sides down. Sprinkle thyme, salt and pepper over tomatoes, then distribute minced garlic on top. Carefully drizzle olive oil over the top of each tomato, giving it a light coating. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes.

While tomatoes are cooking, place pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Let them heat up for about five minutes, tossing occasionally. When they start turning golden brown, remove from heat.

While the pine nuts are cooking, slice up the avocado in chunks. Juice the lemon. Grab a big bowl and put the spinach leaves in it. Top with pine nuts and avocado. Remove tomatoes from the oven and coarsely chop them up a bit more, and top them over the spinach, oil and all, tossing immediately. Drizzle the lemon juice on top of that, then top with more olive oil to taste, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss it all together a bunch, and voila!

If you like, you can add some blue cheese crumbles or some feta. I used to make this salad that way, but lately I haven't been eating cheese. You may make this choice too, if you read The China Study, or see the movie Forks Over Knives.