Level 1 Cooking: Sautéed Spinach

I recently moved into my first apartment, and with that glorious independence comes cooking for myself. I've never really had to do this before, since my parents always cooked at the house, then I ate off a meal plan at the dorms, so I'm pretty much a novice at the whole thing.

A lot of you are probably in the same boat, so this Munchy Monday, I'd like to share my technique for sautéed spinach. You'll need a medium frying pan, some olive oil, onion, garlic, and fresh spinach.

The first time I saw "sautéed," I didn't know what it meant. Basically, it means "fry this quickly in some oil, butter, or fat." It's not nearly as hard as it sounds.

Step 1: Heat some olive oil in a pan at medium heat. You just need enough to coat the bottom.

Step 2: Once the oil is hot, toss in some chopped onion and minced garlic. I like to use frozen, pre-chopped onions so I don't cry, and minced garlic from the jar because it's easier. Fry those for just a few minutes, until they start to smell pretty good. This blends the flavors.

Step 3: Toss in your spinach one handful at a time. If the leaves are pretty big, I like to rip them in half so they aren't so difficult to eat. Stir each handful up so it gets coated in some of the oil/garlic/onion mixture.

Step 4: Continue throwing spinach in until you have as much as you want. It shrinks a lot as it cooks, so don't be surprised if you feel like you've discovered a black hole in your kitchen.

Step 5: Continue stirring  until the spinach is hot and tender, but not mushy. It'll look small and kind of shriveled.

Step 6: Eat!

Logan and I have found, in true college kid fashion, that this spinach goes particularly well with fish sticks and mac 'n' cheese.

Enjoy!