spinach | One Mind, Two Coasts

I LOVE spanakopita. It is by far my favorite thing to order at a Greek diner, even though I’m sure the way they make it includes about seven sticks of butter and five thousand calories. Enter homemade healthified spanakopita. And quick! This took maybe an hour start to finish!

Elle’s Healthified Spanakopita

1 bag frozen chopped spinach
1 bag frozen chopped kale
1/2 package phyllo dough (or however much you think you need), thawed
1 package reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled
2 small onions, chopped
2 eggs plus 1 white, beaten
2 heaping tablespoons chia seeds
Olive oil spray
Salt and pepper to taste
(I purchased all of the above from Trader Joe’s.)

Thaw your spinach and kale, then squeeze all the liquid from it. Chop it up a little smaller if there are larger stems of kale. (I’m lazy and didn’t want to dirty a cutting board, so I did this with shears.) Let that stuff hang out on the side and preheat your oven to 350 F.

Sauté your onion in some olive oil. Once it is soft, translucent, and starting to brown, add the spinach and kale to the pan. Sauté all that together until the leaves are dry and heated through. Dump that into a bowl and let it hang out.

Spritz your 8″x8″ or 9″x9″ square pan with some olive oil. Lay down a sheet of phyllo, fitting it to the corners of the pan. Spritz lightly with olive oil. Repeat this process with about four or five more sheets of phyllo. (While you’re working with your phyllo you should cover it with some plastics wrap and a towel so it doesn’t dry out.)

Now, go back to your bowl o’ leaves. Stir the feta in and then check for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Now stir in the eggs and chia seeds. Dump the whole pile into your phyllo lined pan and smooth it out.

Now you’re going to top the whole thing with about 6-8 sheets of phyllo, spritzing with olive oil in between each layer. In all honesty, I do this very haphazardly.

Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, covering halfway through. Once the top is golden brown remove from oven and let cool. This really tastes best at room temperature or refrigerated.

Enjoy!

xo,
Elle

My mom found this recipe, made some changes, and it is one of my favorites! The original version wasn’t veggie-ish enough for us, so that is where most of the change lies. We love us insane amounts of veggies.

I encourage you to use organic veggies for this recipe (and others) if possible. In addition to being better for you and the earth, they just taste better. Everyone wins!

Start out by sautéing the onion and pepper in a little olive oil.

When softened, add the carrots and sweet potatoes. Let them cook for about five minutes.

Add the ginger, cloves, salt, and pepper. Let this cook for about a minute, then add 4 cups of broth. Once that comes up to a simmer, stir in the peanut butter. Let this cook uncovered on low until the sweet potatoes are soft (about 45 minutes). If it starts to get too thick, add more broth. I wind up using about 6 cups.