Strong like Popeye

Ben will probably never see a Popeye cartoon. They are too out of date for his generation, and I never thought much of them anyway. Yet I exclaimed at dinnertime this evening: "Good boy! Eating your spinach will make you strong like Popeye!" Hopefully he'll avoid bizarre forearm mutation.

The happy discovery is that Ben not only likes spinach, he thinks it is spectacular. The way I cooked it probably helped. I sauteed it in sesame oil (the kitchen smelled heavenly--like a really authentic chinese restaurant), sprinkled it with a bit of sea salt, and mixed in a dollop of whole milk yogurt. He took one bite and opened his mouth so wide for more that I thought he'd dislocate his jaw. He finished his spinach and went on to feed himself some pears and pineapple, but he kept eying the empty spinach cup on the table, hoping it would magically refill itself. This kid loves his vegetables.

I had a spinach salad and was actually bummed out that I didn't just cook some extra spinach for myself, minus the yogurt. I tasted it right out of the pan and it was finger-lickin'.

I'd like to post a recent photo, but my husband keeps hiding the digital camera cable. Maybe tomorrow....