Quick trick.

A few years ago I was hanging out at my parents' house and happened to be watching my mom cook. I don't remember what it was that she was making but I do recall that she pulled a huge container of dried green herby looking stuff out of the pantry labeled "parsley" and threw a handful into the dish. When I asked her why she was putting parsley into it(besides the color factor...it's kind of flavorless, no?) she sneakily told me that it was actually dried spinach flakes and that she always added it into whatever she was making. Apparently she's been doing it for years and none of us ever even noticed. Not even my picky brother and sister, who HATE spinach.

I thought it was a great idea to adapt into my own family, since Devin has the worst diet ever because of his work schedule(and hates green leafy vegetables) and Madeline is a picky, picky eater. She's getting better but for a while there is was only peanut butter sandwiches and pancakes for her. Anyway, you can buy dried spinach in big cans in Utah so that's just what I've always used, but lately I've been trying to do things as healthily(is that a word?) as possible and have started drying my own. No I'm not going all granola on you all, I'm just making little changes here and there. This is one thats super easy and I thought I'd share in case there's other moms out there with kids like mine that won't eat anything green. Or healthy. Or that doesn't taste like peanut butter. Oh and the difference between the store bought stuff and why I dry myself is crazy. My stuff is so. Much. Better. Look at the difference in the picture!

{Left: Store bought. Right: Home dried}

{Directions}

Just spread a thin(ish) layer onto a baking sheet and bake at the lowest temperature for a few hours, until it's crispy and dried through. My oven only goes down to 170 degrees so I just leave the door open a little to make the temperature as low as possible. If you have a dehydrator(which I recently invested in and am pretty much obsessed. You don't even know how many times I ask myself, "can I dry that?" It's ridiculous.)you can just use that. Anyway, once it's dry, just put it into a ziploc and squish it up until it crumbles into tiny pieces. Then just add it to whatever you're making! You can't even taste it, I've even put it in brownies and the people who eat them are none the wiser. Ha!

PS I've also been drying my own herbs(thank you dehydrator) and I love the way it makes my house smell. And the taste...! I don't know if I can ever go back to those 50 cent spices again:)

{Cilantro}