Spinach Balls

I wanted to try something with a little bit of a Mardi Gras theme, but I also wanted something with ingredients I had on hand and is quick and easy - not demanding at all, am I? :P Luckily for me, I found a spinach balls recipe, and it looked like something worth trying. I also liked that these are easy to make and freeze and also to eat as finger food, but, as usual, I couldn't follow the recipe exactly. The first thing I did was only make half a batch since I didn't really want 6-8 dozen and I only had about 10 ounces of spinach. Also, to save time (or increase efficiency :P), I didn't cook the spinach - I just let it thaw out a bit, but I did add some extra cornbread stuffing to soak up the extra liquids. I also feel like I'd just be pouring nutrients from the spinach down the drain by squeezing the liquid out after cooking. In addition, I also eliminated the margarine from the recipe. If I had not eliminated it, I would have substituted in butter and used it differently. I think I covered most of the material differences, but I won't go over the method differences in detail here. While making these spinach balls, I thought of Christmas since the red pepper flakes and the green spinach contrasted each other, so that might be another time these would be fun to serve. These spinach balls are also somewhat similar to the stuffing balls I made previously.

Spinach Balls

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
	10 ounces			spinach	I used frozen, but you could also use fresh, just make sure to chop it first.
		2 cups		stuffing	I used cornbread stuffing.
			1	onion, finely chopped
			3	eggs, beaten
		1/2 cup		cheese, grated	I used Pecorino Romano, but Parmesan is another good option.
				chili pepper flakes
		1/2 teaspoon		garlic powder
		1 teaspoon		soul food seasoning	Creole seasoning or seasoned salt are some other options.
				butter	optional

Methods:

1. (optional) Melt butter and cook onion until slightly caramelized. This step will add extra flavor, but unfortunately, I did not think of it until it was too late. Next time!
2. Mix stuffing, onions (either cooked or raw), cheese, pepper flakes, garlic powder, and seasoning together.
3. At this point, I just put the frozen spinach on top and let it melt while I did other chores, and then I just mixed it in once it melted. If you're using fresh spinach, you could just mix everything together.
4. Once the spinach is ready, add the eggs and mix everything together.
5. Shape into balls. I made mine about an inch in diameter, but you could go larger or smaller - just be sure to adjust your baking time.
6. Bake at 350F. You could also freeze them at this point, and when you want to eat them, just thaw slightly and bake.