{"id":77403,"date":"2026-03-25T12:56:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77403"},"modified":"2026-03-25T12:56:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:56:54","slug":"leafy-green-balls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/leafy-green-balls\/","title":{"rendered":"Honor this leafy green in ball fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>For National Spinach Day, try these Louie-approved cheesy spinach balls\u2014perfect for an afternoon snack or appetizer to share. They\u2019re packed full of iron and delicious flavors and can easily be made vegan. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, gather your ingredients and let\u2019s do this.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/i2lfPuCVBJU\">Watch the video.<\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-77407\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"Ingredients for spinach ball recipe\" width=\"1916\" height=\"1078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM.png 1916w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-12.53.51\u202fPM-1536x864.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1916px) 100vw, 1916px\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Makes approximately 28 balls<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Time: 30 minutes<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Ingredients:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>24 oz frozen spinach<\/li>\n<li>2 cups panko bread crumbs<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup butter (sub vegan butter to make vegan)<\/li>\n<li>2 TBS Italian seasoning<\/li>\n<li>1 TBS garlic powder<\/li>\n<li>1 can water chestnuts, drained and diced<\/li>\n<li>4 eggs (sub 4 flax eggs to make vegan)<\/li>\n<li>1 1\/2 cups shredded cheese (sub 1\/2 cup nutritional yeast and one cup shredded vegan cheese to make vegan)<\/li>\n<li>1 TSP salt (optional)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Instructions<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Then microwave your spinach (according to packaging instructions). Once cooked, thoroughly drain out excess water.<\/li>\n<li>Next, add all ingredients\u2014spinach, breadcrumbs, butter, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, water chestnuts, eggs, cheese and salt\u2014to a large mixing bowl and stir.<\/li>\n<li>Once blended, make 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. (Because they don\u2019t grow, feel free to pack them in.)<\/li>\n<li>Place balls in oven and cook for 17-20 minutes, until tops are slightly golden.<\/li>\n<li>Remove from oven. Serve immediately and enjoy!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/leafy-green-balls\/\">For National Spinach Day, try these Louie-approved cheesy spinach balls\u2014perfect for an afternoon snack or appetizer to share. They\u2019re packed full of iron and delicious flavors and can easily be made vegan. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, gather your ingredients and let\u2019s do this. Watch the video. Makes approximately 28 balls Time: 30 minutes&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":77404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1815,1816],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lumberjack-features","category-lumberjack-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}