Who doesn’t love a latke?  Fried foods such as latkes (potato pancakes) and jelly donuts are traditionally eaten throughout the jewish holiday Chanukah…but the combination of oil and carbs can start to even the most die-hard french fry lover 😉  These are lighter and healthier, and a really nice  way to get some green vegetables into your kids! There are no hard ingredients or large chunks, so they make a great food for a younger toddler as well as for older kids and adults.

Spinach and Feta Latkes

2-3 tbsp olive oil, plus enough additional oil for frying

1 medium/large yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic

2 lbs fresh spinach, steamed & chopped, with as much liquid as possible squeezed out

1 cup bread crumbs

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 ounces feta cheese, grated or broken into small crumbles

freshly ground pepper, to taste

lemon wedges, sour cream, salsa or tzaziki for serving

1.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan (one or two turns around the pan should be about right) over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is pretty soft and becoming translucent. Remove from heat.

2.  Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.  If mixture is too loose, add another handful of breadcrumbs.

3.  With your hands, shape mixture into smallish patties–about 3 inches in diameter and no more than 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.

4.  Pour enough oil into your frying pan (no reason not to use the same one you used for your onions and garlic!) to have about an inch or two of oil for frying.

5. In small batches (don’t do more than 3 or 4 at a time), fry the patties until golden brown–flipping them over after about 2-3 minutes.  Watch them carefully while cooking, because they have a tendency to burn pretty quickly if you don’t pay attention.

6. Drain well on paper towels.

These are best served warm, but they heat up really well even a couple of days later (heat them in the toaster!)  They are also pretty good eaten cold out of the refrigerator 😉

I haven’t tried to freeze them yet, but I assume that they would also freeze pretty well.