Do you know what liverwurst is? It’s a thick, paste-like sausage made from pig’s liver, pork and spices. It comes in these tubes that you squeeze it from (or cut a slice if you’re a little less lazy). And it was my absolute favorite lunch when I was a kid.

Spread it thick on hearty bread with a squirt of mustard and I was in heaven. Sometimes it was lunch 5 days in a row.

Most of the kids at school were expert lunch traders. It was like being on the NY Stock Exchange floor. Hand signals and everything. Lunchables, Ding Dongs, and Nutty Buddy bars were the most valuable commodities in the lunchroom. Not so much the liverwurst sandwich.

My neighbor’s son Aiden has some funky taste of his own. He asked for a heaping helping of spinach balls for his birthday party. When’s the last time you had a kid ask for spinach on his birthday? I brought them over to his parents place for a Christmas party last year. And he tried one. And then another. And then pretty soon, half the tray was gone and he had green spinach strands all in his teeth and no room for anything else.

I’m bringing a small truckload of these over for his birthday. They’re meant to be appetizers, but given the way he tore through them last year, it’s better to be safe than sorry. They may be the main course for all I know.

If he brings leftovers for lunch, I don’t think anyone will ask to trade a Ding Dong for a spinach ball. But they’re the ones missing out.

Spinach Balls
makes about 75

-20 oz (2 packages) frozen chopped spinach
-6 oz (1 package) Stove Top Stuff mix, any flavor
-1 c grated pamesan cheese
-6 beaten eggs
-3/4 cup melted butter
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon black pepper
-2 teaspoons salt

Directions
1. Cook and drain spinach
2. Mix in all other ingredients
3. Form into bite size balls on a baking sheet
4. Bake at 350 degrees till brown, about 20 minutes