have you tried? pasta with spinach

In Lebanon we eat lots of stews served with a side of rice: okra, lima beans, green beans, eggplant, to name a few. One of my favorites, though, is spinach cooked with ground beef and rice. Growing up, my mom would make it at least once every other week. Until, one day, we all got tired of it being served with rice. Bring on the pasta! Since then, it has become the new favorite. And now, with a child of my own who will eat pasta with almost anything, spinach as a topping is an amazing hit. If you are looking for something different than simply mac and cheese, try this. You can serve it with a dollop of garlic-mint whole milk yogurt on top to make it even more nutritious; that's how we eat it here.

Here is what you need;

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 pound bag of frozen spinach, not thawed
• 1/4 diced yellow onion
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to season
• 1/4 water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add onion and cook until tender, but not browned. Add meat and brown completely. Season to taste. Once meat is cooked through, add spinach, lemon juice and water. Cover, lower the heat to medium low and cook for 20 minutes. When spinach is wilted and flavors have blended it is ready to serve.

To serve simply pile it on top of a plate of angle hair pasta, drizzle yogurt and enjoy.

To make the garlic-mint yogurt, crush a garlic glove with salt. Mix it with 3 tablepoons plain yogurt and 1 teaspoon dried mint.