Have you heard of Orange Theory before?
It’s a work out program that my husband LOVES.
…
Advertisements
feta cheese
Skillet Spinach Pie
Hi my name is Popeye.
Well, it might as well be considering how much spinach I’ve been eating lately. I basically eat spinach every day. For real. I have spinach in salad every day for lunch and then I add more spinach to my diet for breakfast or dinner too in different ways as well. The Greek Quiche I recently made is a perfect option for either meal.
Spinach is just so good for you. It is a low fat food that is high in fiber, protein. As well, it loaded with vitamins A, C, E and K, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and manganese, niacin, and zinc. Flavonids in spinach also help as antioxidants to keep cholesterol from oxidizing and protect your body from free radicals. If heart health is a concern that spinach is your friend as it’s great for you cardiovascular system as the magnesium in it helps lower high blood pressure. Overall spinach is a great super food that can be enjoyed in juice form, raw, and cooked. It’s versatile nature makes it easy to incorporate into your healthy diet.
So, here I go again making another spinach packed pie!
This is a fun play on Spanokopita in that it’s served just like a pie instead of the handheld triangles I normally see. They are great as well but I like this ratio of filling to phyllo much more in this pie. I just love spinach and feta so much so my craving is satisfied with this pie. The original recipe called for dill but I just don’t like dill that much so I added some oregano, which pairs well with Greek recipes, instead.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s pie recipe! Get ready for a sweet treat for next week!
Skillet Spinach Pie
Makes 8 serving
Ingredients
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 20 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 cup whole-milk ricotta
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 pinch of crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 4 sheets frozen #10 phyllo dough, thawed
Process
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a 10-inch non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, reserve 2 tablespoons in a small bowl.
- Add the onion to the skillet and stir while cooking until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat and let cool slightly.
- Stir in the spinach, ricotta, eggs, feta, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper.
-
Lay 1 sheet phyllo on a work surface and lightly brush with the reserved melted butter. Lay the sheet, butter side up, over the spinach mixture, folding edges under to fit inside skillet. (Keep the extra phyllo covered while you work.) One at a time, brush remaining 3 sheets and add to the top of the skillet, rotating and scrunching each sheet slightly so edges are offset and the top is ruffled.
-
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and heated through.
Slightly adapted from Everyday Food, Oct 2013
Greek Quiche
I recently went to the mall to have lunch and hang out with some moms in my mom’s group. We breezed all around the mall with out strollers as a fun way to get out of the house in these intense winter. (NO MORE SNOW PLEASE!!) I’m sure it was funny to see a pack of 6 moms and their babies walking around the mall.
Well, before I left I ran into Sur la Table to get some fun things to play around with. I need more bakeware and napkins like I need a hole in my head! But I couldn’t resist and got this pie plate. Well, 2 actually… I ‘needed’ 1 in white and 1 in a color. Totally justified! ha!
So I put my new pie plate to good use with this Greek Quiche.
When I went to Greece a few years ago I really fell in love with spanakopita, feta, and Greek Salads (which are not like the ones you get from pizzeria here). Oh, I had some of the best feta while I was there. Since then I have been insistent on buying feta in a block and in brine since then. It really makes a big difference in texture, moisture, and flavor.
Anyway, instead of something sweet this week for this week’s edition, I decided to go with something savory. I was thinking back to my trip to Greece and was craving spanakopita recently so I decided to take those flavors and incorporate that into a quiche.
We eat so much quiche at home that I’m always thinking of new ways to change things up. I try it with different meats, vegetables, and cheeses to try different flavor combinations. By making it with spinach, feta, oregano, and the slices of tomato you can really enjoy your favorite Greek flavors right at home for breakfast!
Make this quiche and you’ll enjoy a piece of Greece right at home!
Greek Quiche
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 9″ pie crust
- 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed
- 12 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 6 oz of block feta
- 1-2 plum tomatoes
Process
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9″ pie plate with non-stick cooking spray then place the pie crust into the pie plate.
- Thoroughly drain the spinach removing as much liquid as possible.
- Mix together the spinach, eggs, black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, and oregano.
- Pour the spinach and egg mixture into the pie crust.
- Chop up the feta and add to the top of the quiche.
- Slice the tomato into pieces that are just thinner than a 1/4″ thick. Evenly place 8 slices in a circle around the quiche and place 1 slice in the center.
- Bake for 50 minutes. Turn off the oven and let sit for another 15-20 minutes, or until set in the center.
Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts
When we first got Kemper I took most of the next week off so I could run outside with him every hour-ish so we could get him trained quickly. Well in hopes of that. Also in making wrong assumptiongs… I thought I would get so much blogging, scrapbooking, cleaning done while he sleep but that is a big fat no since I just ooed and awwed over him while he slept. Seriously. Hopeless.
At least I did manage to make some great meals for my lunches and for our dinners that week. I’ve been looking all around at the mass quantities of cookbooks I have and I’ve decided that I need to actually crack them open and make some recipes from them. The first one I grabbed was The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. This is such a fantastic Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.
I suggest that you try the Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts because they were just fantastic. I love spanakopita with it’s puff pastry pockets stuffed with spinach, salty feta, and fresh lemon. Stuffing the chicken breasts with that mixture was a great way to spice up some chicken for dinner. I love Greek inspired dishes and this is one that I will make again.
I made some changes along the way but it still worked out just a planned. Mainly, I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. My preparation of the chicken differed as I didn’t stuff the spinach mixture between the skin and breasts, but created a pocket myself. Also, the recipe called for 3 tablespoons snipped fresh dill added to the spinach mixture, but I didn’t have it around so I didn’t want to buy it just for this as I don’t really like dill anyway.
Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 10oz box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta
- 1/4 ground nutmeg
- 1 medium sized lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 skinless chicken breasts (approximately 2 pounds)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium sized lemon, cut into wedges
Process
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 3 quart casserole dish by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a medium skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent (about 4-6 minutes). Remove from heat then add the spinach, feta, nutmeg, pepper, and the juice from 1 lemon. Combine all the ingredients and then divide into 4 equal portions.
- Cut large pockets into the chicken breasts. Put 1/4 of the spinach mixture into each open chicken breast. Close the chicken breasts as much as possible and place in the casserole dish. Add the lemon wedges to the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees).
Ready for Spring-Edamame Salad
Spring is confused in Boston. For one thing it is just about constantly raining. I’m ready for the rain to stop so I can get out in the yard and fix everything that the rain screwed up and prepare things for planting. But instead we have a sunny day in the 70’s, then it drops to the 50’s and is cloudy, then rains for 3 more day and just when you think you can’t take it anymore is snows, but before you drink yourself stupid it’s back in the 70’s 2 days later. That’s New England for you.
Well hoping to get things going in the right direction I made an edamame salad with dinner recently. Price and I live off salads like this in the summer. We mainly eat Horiatiki Salata throughout the summer but this might need to be added into the rotation. We used a 10oz package from Trader Joes, which was very convenient. I’d imagine that the frozen kind would work too, but I would let it thaw naturally or let cool before adding everything else.
The dressing is done to taste. Adjust the quantities to taste. For example I love lemon and lime juice, which might be too much for someone else. The point is to have a starting point to create something that you will enjoy.
Edamame Salad
serves 4 as a side
Ingredients
- 10 oz of shelled edamame
- 8 oz of grape tomatoes, halved
- half of an orange pepper, diced
- 1 small red ion, diced
- 2 oz of feta
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
- 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
- 2-4 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
Process
- In a large bowl, combine the chopped ingredients with the shelled edamame. Crumble the feta block into the vegetables.
- In a bowl, make the dressing by wisking the mustard and garlic with the vinegar and juice. Once the solids are completely incorporated add the oil.
- Gently mix together the salad with the dressing, and salt & pepper to taste.