Easy Fennel and Spinach Spanakopita

 

I had just the right leftovers to make spanakopita.  Although I thought that it might be a difficult recipe having never made if before, mainly due to the rolling technique, I was wrong.  It is really easy.  If you like spanakopita, try this recipe!  And Fennel is coming into season right now in the pacific northwest.  It is peeking up out of my herb garden right now, teasing me...

Easy Fennel and Spinach Spanakopita

1 package of frozen spinach, unthawed and diced

1 large onion

1/4-1/2 pound feta cheese.  I used sheep feta, my favorite from Trader Joe's

1 egg, mix it well

hand full of fresh fennel, diced

1 stick of butter, melted for brushing on to the filo dough

1 package of fillo dough pastry.  You will only need about half of the package.  FYI: I found that there are at least 3 spellings for fillo: filo, fillo, and phyllo.  No worries, they are all the same product!

Start by caramelizing an onion.  Cut it into thin strips and fry, stirring, in a pan with olive oil until soft and brown, add diced and thawed out (previously frozen spinach), the full package.  Continue to cook for a couple more minutes.  Set aside.  When the mixture is cool, add the feta cheese, crumbling it into small pieces.  Stir in mixed egg and fresh diced fennel.  You will use this mixture for the inside of the spanakopita. 

Preheat oven to 350 F Bake.  Oil a cookie sheet to place the spanakopita on.  Melt a stick of butter and have a pastry brush on hand.

 

You can find the fillo pastry in the frozen section of many large grocery stores.  Unthaw the fillo dough ahead of time.  Once you have made the spinach mixture as described above, it will be time to cut the fillo dough.  Roll it out flat.  Cut a 3 inch by 11 inch strip.  Use pastry brush to spread a thin layer of butter over the strip.  The butter will help the folding process.  Place a spoonful of spinach mixture about 1 inch from the top of the strip.  Now you will fold the fillo into a triangle pastry.  Fold the end over the spinach to form a triangle.  The continue to fold it into triangles, much like you would fold a flag, all the way to the end.  Brush a little butter on the top of the pastry before putting in oven.  See diagram below:

picture courtesy of http://lldzines.com/spanakopita/folded.htm

  

Above: spinach, fennel, feta, egg, onion mixture

  

Above, melted butter for painting on the fillo

  

Spinach mixture on the fillo dough, pre-wrapping.  

Below: wrapping the fillo

  

  

Bon Appetite!

 

  

Spinach and Red Pepper Quiche with Sausage and a nutty Quinoa Crust (wheat free!)

I really think that quinoa makes a superior crust. Really. So if you have never tried it, now is the time! Quinoa is very high in protein, especially for a grain. For the crust I use quinoa flakes (a quick cereal) not the flour. I like the flakes because they give the crust a nuttier texture. Sometimes flour crusts taste, well, flour-y to me. Checkout the Quinoa corporation's website at: http://www.quinoa.net/145/index.html

Crust Recipe, for 1 crust:
1/2 package of Ancient Harvest Quinoa flakes (6 oz), see above picture
3/4 stick of butter-- if the crust isn't sticking together with this amount of butter, add a tsp at a time until it does.
1-2 TBS water, if needed to hold crust together

Cut butter into small pieces and mix into quinoa flakes, blend together in a food processor and add water one tablespoon at a time until the mixture forms into a ball, or can be pressed into a pie pan. You may need a little more or less butter than the recipe calls for.

Grease pie pan with butter then press quinoa mixture into the pie pan, starting from the middle and working out until you have a uniformly thick pie crust. I make mine quite thin, as I like it that way.

The Egg Mixture:
For one pie mix 3-4 eggs with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of milk (use the greater number if your pie pan is a deeper dish).

The Goodies: (Preheat oven to 375 F, for the quiche)
1 cup grated yellow cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 red pepper, chop into thin 1 inch size
1/2 bag baby spinach, or about 3 cups worth, chop small
1 package of Italian sausage (about 3/4 pound)
butter for stir fry

1. Heat pan to medium heat and add butter, red pepper, and sausage. Break sausage into small bite size pieces as it cooks. Remove from heat when meat is done. Below is picture of meat and red peppers; I was making 2 quiches, so there are more ingredients pictured than is called for in this recipe:
2. Place grated yellow cheese as the bottom layer on the quinoa crust, leave a 3-inch circle in the middle and crumble the feta cheese in it. Aim to cover the crust with a layer of cheese, this will provide a yummy moisture barrier.

3. Next place chopped spinach over the cheese

4. On top of the spinach put the sausage-red pepper stir fry, use a slotted spoon to avoid adding all the juices. Here is what it looks like now:
5. Lastly pour the egg-milk mixture slowly over the "Goodies". You should now have a full pie dish, ready to cook. Hopefully you preheated the oven to 375 F.

Cover quiche with aluminum foil or an oven proof lid. The lid keeps the quiche moist and cooks it more thoroughly and quickly. Cook the quiche on a middle rack at 375 F for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 F. Cook until the pie insides are not "jiggly" when you lightly shake the pie. In other words, the middle of the quiche should feel dry to your touch. Overall it will probably take about 30-40 minutes of baking, less time if you are using a lid.

Balsamic Spinach, Noodle, and Chicken Salad: Spring Recipe that Kids Love!

Chances are, if it has noodles, my kids will like to eat it. In an effort to incorporate healthy vegetables I combined spinach, carrots, celery, artichoke hearts and baked chicken with long spaghetti-style noodles, which you can chop into shorter pieces (makes the salad easier to toss). For vegetarians, substitute a good vegi-burger with the chicken, or marinate bite-size tofu in balsamic vinegar overnight (or for 2+ hours). I use my favorite balsamic homemade dressing with the salad. This meal satisfies all appetites as it combines a great protein source (chicken or tofu), carbs, and a great vegetable mix. I love making a salad as a dinner's main course, and this one is excellent. Even 1-year old Stella enjoyed the noodles and chicken, which we chopped small for her.

RECIPE: Balsamic Spinach, noodle, and Chicken (or Vegetarian) Salad, for a family or dinner party of 4-ish:

Pre-Preparation:
1. Use already baked chicken the equivalent of 2-4 chicken breasts, but any chicken will do, cut into bite-size pieces.
Or, for Vegetarians: marinate bite size (small squares) tofu in a pan of equal parts balsamic vinegar & olive oil, rolling the tofu in the marinate to cover all parts. I use the plain white firm tofu, for this recipe use a whole package.
2. Precook spaghetti noodles (a day or several hours ahead of time, you can even make them the day before for a different meal and use the leftovers for this recipe) . You can cut the noodles into smaller lengths if you desire, although we kept ours whole.

Vegetables:
6-8 cups of baby spinach washed and spinned in salad spinner
2 carrots, scrubbed and cut into small thin strips
2 celery, cut like the carrots
1/2 can of artichoke hearts, cut into bite size pieces

Mix the chicken, noodles, and vegetables in a nice big wooden bowl, toss with balsamic dressing, see recipe below. Start with less dressing (1-2 TBS) and add as needed. Because there is no lettuce, you can have this salad the next day and it will not be soggy. Yay!

Sweet Balsamic Dressing: this recipe makes enough for a long-term supply, for us it would last about a month. get the best quality balsamic vinegar you can afford (checkout: http://www.balsamicvinegar.com/uk/storia.asp) and mix:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
sugar to taste, I would use about 1 TBS for this amount.

Stir ingredients vigorously, or as I do it: put all ingredients in a salad dressing bottle with a sturdy lid and shake until sugar, oil and balsamic vinegar are mixed. You will need to shake or stir the dressing before you use it. It does not need to be refrigerated as vinegar keeps it fresh. If it is refrigerated the olive oil will harden, bummer.

Spinach-Feta and Italian Sausage Quiche with a Quinoa Crust (wheat-gluten free)

Quiche has a lot of things going for it this time of the year. I love to cook with ingredients that are in season and both eggs and spinach are becoming more available. They are becoming more available if you have your own chickens as they begin to lay more eggs as the days get longer. And this is the time of year you can plant spinach here in the northwest. Spinach likes the cool and wet qualities of spring. Although it is maybe a little early to plant the spinach, it just snowed today. It was only a half inch, if that, but it covered up spring so fast! By afternoon it was--poof--gone! Or should I say, drip, it was gone.

Also included in this recipe is my very favorite quinoa crust recipe, which I created during a frustrated rage at the disgusting wheat and gluten free all-purpose flour by Bob's Red Mill. Bob's has this flavor that is just gross, like bad garbanzo beans, and I love garbanzo beans. So here is a great alternative: Quinoa Flakes and butter.

Quiche Ingredients:
3 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 # Italian Sausage (ground)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup grated carrot
approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cup feta (I like the sheep feta)
several slices of yellow cheese
olive oil for cooking

Quinoa Flake Crust: makes 1 pie shell

1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes (2 cups for larger pie dish): Quinoa is a dry cereal flake form of quinoa, which is normally round and small. The flakes are just that-- flakes, very thin and powdery. If you live on Whidbey Island you can get them at Payless in the "health food isle" by the cereal and the chocolate/energy bars. I think they also have them at the Star Store. Be prepared, one box (about 3 1/2 +/- cups, or two pie shells) is about $7.

1/2 cup of butter, chopped into small squares

Put chopped butter and quinoa flakes in a blender and blend until it forms a wad of dough. Press into a regular sized pie dish. You can add a little more quinoa flakes for a thicker crust. I press the crust so it is thin but it covers the whole dish. Start from the middle and press toward the sides.Now place sliced yellow cheese around the edges of the crust and fill the whole bottom of the crust with feta, as shown in picture below. Place in preheated 375F oven for 5-10 minutes. You want to melt the cheese to form a moisture barrier. Make sure to not overcook the shell. Lightly browned quinoa shell is okay, but no more than that.

Melted yellow cheese and feta (above)

Now it is time to prepare the sausage. Cook on stove top with olive oil breaking into small-ish pieces as it cooks. cook until done and set aside.

Now for the "Insides" of the Quiche! Mix 4 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk until blended.

Above: Egg and Milk mixture (about to be blended, by hand)

Mix the blended egg/milk mixture with sausage and 3 cups chopped spinach. Pour into quinoa pie shell and place grated carrot on top for a nice color contrast. Place in a 350F oven for 30-40 minutes. Check periodically to see if egg mixture is firm. The middle is the last part of the pie to finish cooking, and you can touch it with our finger to see if it is firm. if it is you are done!

Quiche pie with spinach, eggs, milk and sausage, uncooked

carrots on top, uncooked

Freshly Picked From the Garden: Cool Loving Vegi & Rice Noodle Stir Fry

I have been using as much of the bounty from my garden as possible. Here I am including lots of spinach, a walla walla onion, and radishes in a stir fry with rice noodles, sardines, and feta cheese. I enjoyed that this meal was easy and quick to make, especially while I was taking care of my two children and other things (like 12 puppies)!

Here's what you need:

1 box of medium thickness rice noodles, precook and set aside to add to stir fry
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 walla walla onion, chopped
4 radishes, quarter
1 carrot, chopped in rounds or grated for color
1 tin of sardines in olive oil
sprinkling of feta for everyone's dish of noodles
tamari/soy sauce to taste
After you have prepared the vegetables and rice noodles, heat up a pan on medium, add 1-2 TBS olive oil and simmer all the vegetables until lightly/medium done, add rice noodles and 2 TBS tamari/soy sauce and cook until noodles are warm. Divide between bowls, place sardines on top of noodles and sprinkle top with feta and more tamari if needed.

Spinach Scramble Sandwich with Jack Cheese

We have 30 laying chickens so we make lots of scrambles. Especially this time of year when the eggs are coming abundantly. Here is a recipe that I cooked this morning with spinach from my garden and eggs from my chickens. Makes enough food for 2-3 people. This can be a breakfast or lunch meal.

6 eggs
1/4 cup grated jack cheese
1 cup cut small fresh spinach
salt and pepper to taste
2-4 piece of toast, depending on how many people are eating and butter to taste (we like the sprouted Ezekiel bread)

Scamble eggs in a dish or cup, preheat pan to med-low. Add 1-2 TBS olive oil. Pour scrambled eggs in and cover for 1-2 minutes. Add cut spinach, salt, pepper and stir until cooked to your desired softness. I like the eggs moist, but done. Add cheese on top, cover until cheese is melted.

Toast bread until lightly browned on both sides, butter and scoop eggs on top. Enjoy with a cup of hot tea.

Hearty Spinach & Two Lentil Soup

I baked chicken last night and I like to use the leftover bones to make soup the next day. So today I made lentil soup from the chicken stock I cooked up. I am calling it 'two' lentil soup because I love mixing the small pink lentils with the bigger brown ones. With all the good vegetables and protein-packed lentils in this soup, it is incredibly satisfying. I begin by cooking the bones in 2-4 quarts of water for 2 or more hours. Decide how much soup you want leftover and add the amount of water accordingly. I based the ingredient amounts off of using 3 quarts of water. The soup is a perfect balance between watery and thick, if you like it at either end of the spectrum, add more or less water (or beans!).

Strain the bones out of the soup water after a minimum of 2 hours on medium boil. Add these ingredients:

1 1/2 cup brown lentils
1 cup small pink lentils
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves

Now chop up these ingredients and add them after the lentils have cooked for 15-20 minutes:

5 stalks of celery, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, put through a garlic press
1 onion chopped

Cook above ingredients until done to your liking, make sure the lentils are fully cooked! It takes about 1 hour to cook after you add the lentils). Now add these ingredients: (The spinach gets added to the soup after you have turned off the heat. By the time you serve the soup and eat it, the spinach will be soft and will also retain its spectacular color)

2 TBS tamari or soy sauce
2-4 cups spinach, chopped

You can serve this soup as the one and only dish or have some crusty bread on the side to dip into the lentils. If you have guests, make a salad too.

Garlic Herbed Chicken in a Clay Pot & Spinach-Parmesan Salad

This is an easy dinner you can put in the oven a few hours early and then sit back with a good book and relax while the delicious aroma permeates the air. I like to make wild rice and a salad with it. Our spinach in the garden is really coming up and so I made a Parmesan-Spinach salad to pair with the chicken.

Chicken:
3 1/2 to 4 pound whole chicken, washed and patted dry
5 cloves of garlic, put through a garlic press
2 TBS fresh thyme
2 TBS fresh sage
3/4 cup milk, I used almond milk
1 TBS olive oil

Soak the clay pot in water for 5 to 10 minutes before putting it in the oven. After it has soaked pour milk in the bottom of the clay pot, put the whole chicken in the milk then push the diced herbs and garlic (put through a press) under the chicken skin, save some garlic and herbs to sprinkle on the top of the chicken. Pour 1 TBS olive oil over the chicken, cover with clay lid and put in oven. Turn oven on to 375F*, and cook for about 2 hours.
*I do not preheat the oven, as the clay pot should heat up slowly.
* You may also put carrots, potatoes, and other vegetables in with the chicken.
In the last 3-5 minutes of cooking, turn oven on broil and brown the top of the chicken. Keep an eye on the chicken though! It cooks fast on broil.

Garden Fresh Quiche with Tuna: Using Spinach and Chard from the Garden (with a wheat & gluten free crust)

We are getting a lot of eggs from our chickens this time of the year. They lay the most eggs during the lightest time of the year. Our garden is also beginning to offer us some beautiful bounty. I planted later than usual this year, as it has been rainy and cold and I have been busy enjoying my little Stella, who is now 4 months old. So here is a recipe that you can enjoy using in season ingredients. It's lots of fun to get the ingredients from your own garden and your own chickens or you can get them at the farmers market. This recipe is for one quiche pie and serves from 2 to 4 people, depending on the portion size. I like to make two pies and have leftovers.

Quiche filling:
2 cups chard, chop small
2 cups spinach, chop small
1/2 cup or 3 carrots chopped small
1 can of tuna
2 TBS mayo
1/2 pound sheep feta, or other high quality feta

Egg Mixture:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk and it was great!)

Pie Crust:
1/3 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cup flour, I use quinoa flakes, a quick cooking cereal, it is wheat and gluten free
pinch of salt
Up to 3 TBS water

Mix butter and quinoa flakes in a blender and then add salt and water as needed. Press crust into a buttered 9-inch pan. I slowly work the crust from the center of the pi dish to the sides and then up the sides.

Stir Fry the carrots, chard, spinach. Herat a pan on medium. Begin with some oliveoil and then add carrots, chopped small. Cook for 5 minutes then add chard and spinach. Cover and turn temperature to low. Cook for 2-4 minutes, just enought o soften the chard and spinach.
Set aside.

Put the Two Together: Preheat oven to 375F
Now you have the crust ready and the ingredients set aside and cut to the right size. Crumble the feta on the crust. Cheese is the first ingredient to go on the pie. It helps make a moisture barrier. Spread the feta evenly over the crust. Put the crust with feta in the preheated 375F oven for 5 minutes to melt cheese and harden the crust a little.










Remove from the oven and place the stir fried carrots, chard and spinach over the feta / cheese. Reserve a small handful of greens to put on the pie right before you place it in the oven.









Mix one can of tuna with 2 TBS mayo. Spread the tuna over the stir fry ingredients on the quiche.










Mix 4 eggs with 1 1/2 cups milk. Pour the egg & milk mixture in the quiche (on top of the greens and tuna. Sprinkle the top of the quiche with the leftover greens to make it look pretty.










Now put it in the preheated oven on 375F. Cook for 35-45 minutes or until the middle and sides of the quiche are firm, not watery. Here's the final product:

The 'Any Meat ' Burger with Fresh Spinach

I have been making a lot of turkey burgers lately. They are quick and easy. As it becomes lighter later in the evening, until 9:30 PM right now, I like to be outside working in the yard. Then all of a sudden I think, "It is time to eat, and what do I want to make?" This is where the quick and easy comes in. Sometimes I want to just eat and be done. So here it is, the fast and satisfying meal. I just serve the burger- nothing else- it is fulfilling by itself and if you add a lot of shredded romaine or spinach it feels pretty 'green' too. Serves 3

1 pound ground turkey or other ground meat
Enough cheese to cover three burgers
2 cups of shredded Romaine lettuce, or this time of the year, fresh spinach
1 onion cut small
Mayo/Vegannaise
Ketchup
6 pieces of bread, we like the sprouted wheat Ezekiel bread
Garlic powder and salt to taste
Splash of red wine

Cook the diced onion with olive oil in a cast iron pan on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add ground meat, right on top of the onions, flatten burgers to the appropriate size for you, 1 # makes from 2 1/2 to 3 burgers, depending on their size. Cover meat and cook for 5 minutes (or so). At this point you can sprinkle garlic powder and salt on the meat. Flip burgers, add a splash of red wine and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Top with sliced cheese, cover pan until cheese melts.

Meanwhile, toast the bread lightly, put ketchup on one side and mayo on the other. Place the lettuce or spinach on the mayo side, put the burger on top of the lettuce (cheese side up) and pile the onions on the cheese side of the burger. Put the other slice of bread on the meat, cut sandwich in half and place the extra lettuce on the side of your plate. Dinner served