Easy Spinach Pie or Spanakopita

One of my Mom’s favorite dishes is Spinach Pie. This Mediterranean inspired dish is easy to make and super tasty. It not only works great as a meal, but makes a good side dish or appetizer. To change it into an appetizer I use the Phyllo dough to wrap the filling in small triangles. It takes some time, but it looks great and is easy to serve.

To start out, you need two bags of frozen chopped spinach, thawed. It is okay if it cooks a little when you thaw it, mine always does! Try to squeeze out as much of the water as you can before you add any other ingredients.

Once the spinach is ready, place it in a large bowl and add about half of an onion, finely chopped.

Next add two eggs, two tablespoons of garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.

Last, crumble up the Feta cheese and add it to the bowl as well.

Using your hands, mix everything together until well combined. Set aside.

In a large greased casserole dish, lay out your first sheet of Phyllo dough. Be careful as the sheets are usually very thin and brittle. If you can, try to leave your Phyllo dough out for about an hour before starting to work with it. Cover it with a damp towel to keep it flexible.

Lay down the sheets one by one, brushing each well with a thin layer of melted butter. I use between five to eight layers for the bottom crust and the same for the top crust. Once your bottom crust is sufficiently thick, pour the filling in and spread out until smooth. Then get to work on your top crust.

Once it is all assembled, place in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until the crust turns golden brown.

Let sit for ten minutes and then cut and serve. This is also very good reheated in the oven the next day.

 

Easy Spinach Pie

Ingredients:

2 pounds frozen chopped spinach (2 bags)

½ cup finely chopped onion (about half an onion)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

8 ounces Feta cheese

1 package Phyllo dough

4 tablespoons (half a stick) butter, melted

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Thaw spinach and drain well.
3. In a large bowl, mix together spinach and chopped onion.
4. Add eggs, garlic and salt and pepper.
5. Crumble in Feta cheese and mix until well combined.
6. Grease a large casserole dish.
7. In the casserole dish, lay out layers of Phyllo dough one at a time, buttering each layer well.
8. When the bottom crust is complete, pour in the filling.
9. Spread out the filling and flatten.
10. Layer more Phyllo dough and butter until top crust is complete.
11. Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust turns golden brown.
12. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

 

Serves 6-8

One Pot Italian Soup

I’m not a big soup maker. Really I grew up with canned soup and the occasional Vegetable Soup. However I like that soup is filling and usually easy to make. This Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup caught my eye because it reminded me of the soup you get at Olive Garden, but better. I, of course, made it even easier. I mean, really, can you see me making all those mini meat balls? No.

So, my easy version is made in twenty minutes or less in one big pot. It all starts out with the Italian sausage. Get the loose stuff, not the sausage looking stuff. I added a bit of olive oil to keep it from sticking to the heavy soup pot I was using and then browned it.

While it browned I cut up an onion and a red bell pepper. I had half a green one left so I chopped that up as well. Into the pot they went to cook along with the meat. They take a while so it is a good idea to get them in before the meat is done.

When the meat looks mostly done you can add the minced garlic and let it cook for a minute on medium. Then I added the thawed frozen chopped spinach and let it warm as well.

Next came two cans of diced tomatoes. I didn’t drain them because I love that tomato flavor.

To that I added the spices. Salt and pepper, basil, some Italian seasoning, and a tiny bit of crushed red pepper flakes. Not too hot, mind you, or my picky eaters wouldn’t touch it.

I mixed it all up and then added the chicken broth. I like thicker soups, so I only added one box. It was perfect.

Last but not least is the pasta. You are supposed to use tortellini and let it all boil together until they are cooked. However I had a ton of leftover cheese ravioli from another meal so I decided to use that. Anyway, add the pasta and cook until everything is nice and hot.

Serve with some French bread for a super tasty meal everyone will love. This meal makes a lot, so it is great for company too and looks super fancy and hard even though it’s not.

 

One Pot Italian Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound loose Italian sausage

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups chopped frozen spinach, thawed

½ teaspoon basil

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups cheese tortellini

Directions:

1. In a large heavy pot, brown Italian sausage in the oil.
2. While sausage cooks, add diced onion and bell peppers.
3. Cook until all ingredients are almost done then add garlic and cook for one minute on medium.
4. Add thawed chopped spinach and cook until warm.
5. Add tomatoes, without draining.
6. Stir together and then add spices.
7. Add chicken broth and stir.
8. Add tortellini and cook until heated through.

Serves 8-10

Chicken Florentine Casserole

I love casseroles. Just think about it: your whole meal in one spot, ready to pop in the oven and eat. If you love to make meals ahead of time or need to feed a bunch, casseroles are definitely the way to go.

This casserole I found in a recipe here. I changed it up a bit to fit what I could find in the grocery store and what my family would actually eat. It is a bit more involved than some casseroles as you need to make the sauce before you toss it all together, but nothing major. Everyone loved it which is a huge plus because we will be eating the leftover from it tonight! It makes a ton!

To start out you make the pasta. I couldn’t find any smaller sized pasta or any fun shapes so I just stick with rotini. Spirals are small enough, cook fast, and hold sauce like none other.

While the pasta is cooking make your chicken. This would be an ideal dish for leftover chicken, but of you don’t have any leftover take a few chicken breasts and boil them until they are cooked. Cutting them up first really speeds up this process. I used three large chicken breasts cut in half and boiled them for about fifteen to twenty minutes until cooked through. Then I cut them into bite sized pieces.

Once those are ready, you can get to the sauce. Start out by cutting a cup of onion and cooking it in some olive oil in a heavy pan. Then when the onion is cooked toss in a tablespoon of minced garlic and some spinach. You can use fresh, but I just used thawed frozen so I didn’t have to worry about it going bad on me. About six ounces is enough to give flavor without overpowering the casserole.

When the garlic is done and the spinach is hot, dump it all in with the pasta and chicken in a large mixing bowl. Believe me, this is the easiest way to not make an even bigger mess.

Take the heavy pan you used for the spinach and onion and make your sauce in it. Over medium heat, melt a package of cream cheese in a cup of heavy cream.

When the cream cheese is melted and you can stir it all smoothly, add half a cup of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Let that cheese melt too and then add a small can of tomato paste. The original recipe called for oil packed sun dried tomatoes but those were way too expensive! The tomato paste adds the same flavor for way cheaper.

Once the sauce is all hot and well mixed pour it over the chicken, pasta and spinach in the large mixing bowl.

Mix well and then pour into a large greased casserole dish.

Sprinkle with two cups of mozzarella cheese and some extra Parmesan.

Bake at 350 degrees for ten to fifteen minutes or until hot. Then turn on the broiler for a few minutes to get the cheese brown and bubbly.

Serve with a salad and garlic bread for a great meal!

If you want to prepare this ahead of time just stop after you add the mozzarella and cover it tightly. Store it in the refrigerator overnight or freeze for up to a week. Then heat and serve!

Chicken Florentine Casserole

Ingredients:

3 large (1.5 pounds) boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 pound pasta (rotini)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

6 ounces fresh or thawed frozen spinach, chopped

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 small can tomato paste

2 cups shredded mozzarella

Extra Parmesan if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions.
3. Boil chicken until cooked. Cut into bite sized pieces.
4. In a medium heavy pot, cook chopped onion in olive oil.
5. When onion is cooked, add garlic and spinach to oil on medium heat. Cook until heated through.
6. Pour pasta, chicken and spinach mix into large mixing bowl.
7. In the same heavy pot you used for the spinach, pour in heavy cream and softened cream cheese.
8. Cook and stir on medium until smooth.
9. Add salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Stir and melt until smooth.
10. Add tomato paste. Stir until combined.
11. Pour cheese mixture over pasta, chicken and spinach.
12. Mix well to coat.
13. Pour into greased large casserole dish.
14. Top with mozzarella cheese and extra Parmesan if desired.
15. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot.
16. Turn on broiler and brown cheese until hot and bubbly.
17. Serve with salad and garlic bread if desired.

Serves 8-10

Quick Ham Quiche Two Ways

I like quiche because it is fast to put together, it is easy to personalize, and it just bakes while I get other stuff done. I keep it simple by using pre made pie crusts and a few ingredients.

To start out making two quiches, I combined 6 eggs and 1 cup of milk. Whip them up with a fork, add salt and pepper to taste, and then start with the fillings.

For the simplest quiche I took a ham steak and cut it into bite sized chunks. 2/3 of it went into one of the crusts. Add a cup of shredded cheddar cheese, half a tablespoon of minced garlic and half a teaspoon of onion powder and you’re done.

Stir together and then pour half the egg mixture over the top and set aside.

For the more complex quiche, I put the remaining 1/3 ham chunks, 4 ounces of crumbled Feta cheese, a small can of mushrooms, drained, and about 6 ounces of thawed chopped spinach. Add the same garlic and onion combo as before and you’re done. Pour over the rest of the egg mixture.

Bake at 375 for about an hour or until all but the very center is set. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Like I said: simple, adjustable, and a great meal for busy days.