I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

spinach

Chickpea and Spinach Soup

Chickpea and Spinach Soup is a healthy, hearty soup that will satisfy your belly and your soul. I swear taking a big bite will just make you so happy.

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Before we discuss this awesome Chickpea and Spinach Soup, can we please discuss how my 5 year old is driving me bonkers?!?! Like for real, she is lucky I love her because dayum…

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World’s Best Cheesy Spinach Dip

Cheesy Spinach Dip

This is my favorite party food. F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E.

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I remember my mom serving this for parties when I was growing up. Tucked inside her copy of The Joy of Cooking was this photocopied magazine ad from Velveeta. It was well warn and dirty from many years of use. It was the perfect family party staple.

And now that tattered, loved xerox’ed copy of “Cheesy Spinach Party Loaf” has been passed down to me. It is a simple cherished piece of paper that holds many tasty memories from my childhood. As well,  it is the key to a great party.

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This was something I could help my mom make when I was younger once she prepped the veggies for me. Then it was my job to sautee the veggies and melt the cheese and mix in the spinach. It was fun being part of the party prep.

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And now I get to make this all on my own! Ah bliss.

I might have to admit that I’ve whipped up the dip to divide into little batches, which then might have been eaten as dinner… what? Don’t judge. There’s spinach in there… totally healthy. ha!

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This dip is wonderful to serve at a large party, but in the case that it would hang out for a while, I would actually put the dip in a mini slow cooker to keep warm. Instead of cutting the boule into the bowl, just cut the bread into 1″ cubes.

As well, this is easy to double and triple depending on the size of your party. I swear people will just go head over heels for it!

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World’s Best Cheesy Spinach Dip

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 – 1 1/2-lb boule bread, such as sour dough
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 cup diced red pepper
  • 1/2 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 lb package Velveeta Cheese, cubed
  • 1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, drained
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • Serve with veggies, such as pepper strips, and bread from the boule

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Slice off from top of bread and then remove center leaving 1-inch shell. Cut the removed bread into bite-size pieces.
  3. Place the bread bowl and cubes on a rimmed cookie sheet. Toss the bite-sized pieces throughout the 20 minute baking process.
  4. Saute pepper, celery, and onion in remaining margarine until tender.
  5. Add the Velveeta cheese and stir over low heat until  the cheese is melted.
  6. Stir in remaining ingredients; heating thoroughly while stirring constantly.
  7. Pour into the bread shell; serve with the reserved bread and assorted vegetables.

Adapted from Velveeta, circa 1988

Skillet Spinach Pie

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.

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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!

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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

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. In a 10-inch non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat.  Once melted, reserve 2 tablespoons in a small bowl.
  3. Add the onion to the skillet and stir while cooking until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat and let cool slightly.
  4. Stir in the spinach, ricotta, eggs, feta, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper.

  5. 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.

  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and heated through.

Slightly adapted from Everyday Food, Oct 2013

Easy Greek Spinach Quiche

Inspired by spanakopita, this Easy Greek Spinach Quiche is loaded with spinach and feta. It’s like your taste buds traveled to Greece!

Quiche makes for a wonderful meal you can eat all day long. Enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s a versatile meal that is is yummy and adaptable.

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Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake

This Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake is a delicious vegetarian pasta casserole that will have you begging for seconds. The artichokes and spinach pack a flavor punch and the buttery crumb topping is the perfect finishing touch. 

 

I do this every year to myself. 

I think this process is like giving birth. Or at least I am going to compare it to that for this analogy. Just go along…

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Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken

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.

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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. There are so many great recipes in there that I’ve flagged. The book is so full of post-it’s now it’s a bit crazy.

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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

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 3 quart casserole dish by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees).

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit with Citrus Vinaigrette

I love salads so much. I really hate that we have the tendency to skip over salads in the winter or automatically go for ones that have cranberries in them or whatever to make them ‘wintery’. They are perfectly fine salads but I wanted to make one that was not something that you would expect to see in winter, but that is in season now.

 

 

Citrus is in season in the winter. As much as we enjoy our lemonades and margaritas in the summer the best season for domestic citrus is the winter. The citrus vinaigrette is light since it is mixed with a light vinegar and some water. I felt that the lime and vinegar combination could result with a tart dressing so I cut it will some water to dilute it. If you prefer a more intense vinegar then don’t add water, but you may like to add a pinch of sugar to balance it out.

 

 

According to Produce Pete Florida avocados are in season now. They are in season from late June to February. Why use a Florida avocado? The texture us much different from a Hass-variety so it can stand up well to being mixed into a salad. They are much firmer compared to Hass avocados, which are great for guacamole.

 

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit with Citrus Vinaigrette 

*serves 2 as a main, serves 4 as a starter*

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit

Ingredients

  • 8 oz of baby spinach
  • 1/2 a Florida avocado
  • 1 large ruby red grapefruit
  • 1/2 pound of shrimp, 36-40’s
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Process

  1. Wash and pat dry the spinach, plate.
  2. Halve the avocado. Remove the peel and then slice thin wedges from the avocado. Layer on the salad evenly.
  3. Peel the grapefruit and then carefully peel the membranes away from the segments. Evenly distribute the segments on the salad.
  4. Rinse and remove the tails from the shrimp. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the shrimp.
  5. Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large skillet. Cook the shrimp, flipping after 2 minutes, cook until evenly pink.
  6. Add the warm shrimp to the salad and then top with some of the citrus vinaigrette.

Citrus Vinaigrette 

Ingredients

  • 2 limes
  • 1 orange
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 2 oz rice vinegar
  • 2 oz water
  • 2 oz extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Process

  1. Squeeze the limes and orange.
  2. Add the garlic, vinegar, water, oil, and salt and pepper.
  3. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.

Pasta with Sauteed Spinach and a Yolk on Top

A simple pasta dish that combines the bright fresh flavors of spinach with the richness of a runny yolk, topped with toasted breadcrumbs for the perfect bite!

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post from 1/15/11, pictures updated 11/4/16

I have a big thing for eggs.

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I love them in just about every way they are prepared. They make a base or even addition to a meal. I often have breakfast for dinner.

My friend makes the best yellow rice with pigeon peas and whenever she shares it with me, I top my plate of rice off with fried egg(s) and a lot of hot sauce. I love egg drop soup. Bacon Egg and Cheese Sandwiches give me life. I could go on and on…

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One of my favorite ways to eat eggs is in pasta.

I have seen simple versions carbonara with raw eggs on top which just look so gorgeous. So I gave it a try and I have been hooked on it since.

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While pasta with carbonara sauce is great, I find that the way I like it best is with spinach and eggs. I sure do love my bacon but I love freshly sauteed spinach with pasta. Plus, this makes this a lighter dish.

But when you have an egg yolk sitting on top of a bed pasta things entirely transform. You gently pierce this egg yolk, allowing it to slip its way through the fine strands of pasta. The egg yolk graciously coats the hot pasta changing it from a simple pasta with spinach to a really good, simple dinner.

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I tend to make this when I am eating dinner solo since it is a quick and cheap dish to whip up. Pasta is a great dish when you want to make something quick, but you should make is extra beautiful and the egg on top does that. Trust me.

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Now, eating raw eggs should be done with care as there always is a risk of eating meat and eggs that are not fully cooked. I tend to prefer my burgers medium-rare so I am unphased with topping off my pasta with a raw egg since I always approach this with care.  I use really fresh eggs from brands I trust and respect. But, even then using pasteurized eggs is the best approach.

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Give this a try and you’ll be asking for seconds in no time!

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Pasta with Sauteed Spinach and a Yolk on Top

Make 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 Pound of spaghetti pasta
  • 1/4 Cup of olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flake
  • 1 Pound of baby spinach
  • 4 Tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 Cup seasoned bread crumbs
  • 6 eggs yolks
  • grated Parmesan cheese

Process

  1. Cook pasta until it is al dente.
  2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in garlic and crushed red pepper flake. Heat until garlic is golden and perfumes the air.
  3. Add in spinach, salt, and pepper, and remove from heat. The heat from the pan will wilt the spinach down enough.
  4. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup water.
  5. Add the water, pasta water, and 2 Tablespoons butter to the spinach, place back on heat for a minute.
  6. While the pasta is finishing, in another skillet over medium heat, combine the breadcrumbs and remaining butter. Mix well while toasting the breadcrumbs.
  7. Divide pasta into 6 bowls. Sprinkle with the toasted breadcrumbs.
  8. Separate the yolks from the whites for all eggs. Place 1 egg yolk onto each serving and then top with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

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