Greek Greens and Sweet Onion Pie

 A couple of weeks ago, my 10 year old son could not stop saying "I like Pie!".  He said it after almost every sentence. He sang it.  He yelled it.  He repeated it over and over.    He said a couple of friends at school had decided that was their new catch phrase.   The only problem was, he didn't really like pie.  Or at least he thought he didn't like pie.    


After hearing "I like Pie!" a million times at least, I decided that he was going to learn to love pie.  I declared that we would be having Pie Week, where we would eat all sorts of different pies.  Pie for breakfast.  Pie for lunch.  Pie for dinner.  Sweet pie, savory pie.  Any and every kind of pie we could come up with.  I started researching pie recipes and set the menu for the week.  He wasn't too excited to begin with.

This was the first pie we had for dinner.  It has a phyllo dough crust and a filling of swiss chard, spinach, and onion.  It was reminiscent of spanakopita, but mostly greens with a little bit of crust.  We eat swiss chard and spinach all the time, so I didn't have a hard time convincing anyone to eat this for dinner.  It was good and a fun way to start out our pie adventure. 




Greek Greens and Sweet Onion Pie from Cooking Light

• 2 quarts water
• 12 cups torn Swiss chard (about 3/4 pound)
• 8 cups torn spinach (about 1/2 pound)
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add the chard and spinach; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Place chard mixture on several layers of paper towels; squeeze until barely moist.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add chard mixture, dill, and parsley, stirring well to combine. Cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat. Combine chard mixture, cheese, eggs, and egg whites, tossing well to combine. Stir in pepper and salt.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to prevent drying); lightly coat phyllo sheet with cooking spray. Place phyllo sheet in a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray, allowing edges to overlap plate rim. Repeat the procedure with 6 additional phyllo sheets, placing sheets in a crisscross design. Spoon the spinach mixture over phyllo. Lightly coat each of remaining 3 phyllo sheets with cooking spray, and place sheets over spinach mixture in a crisscross design. Roll excess phyllo into the dish to create a decorative edge; press lightly to hold. Cut 4 (2-inch) slits in top of pie; cover with foil. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden.

Cut pie into 8 wedges.

Greek Night- 2 dips, soup, salad, appetizer, main dish, drink and dessert

A couple of weeks ago my son studied Ancient Greece at school. He had multiple options for his final project and we decided to have a "Greek Cafe" as part of the experience.

When I was a kid, I used to love to do restaurants to surprise my dad when he would come home from work, so I knew this would be really fun for all of us.
The kids dressed up and placed all the appropriate signs annoucing our cafe. The cutest part was how they thought that someone driving down our street might just be hungry and stop in to join us.
My son made the signs and came up with the name for our cafe. I asked for his input on the menu and spent the afternoon getting all the dishes ready for our Greek Night.

We started with a drink called "The Greek Lantern". I have absolutely no idea if it is really a Greek drink, but it sounded really interesting, combining a large amount of fresh parsley leaves, lime juice, lime zest, club soda, water and ice. It actually was quite refreshing and surprisingly yummy.
Next we had a Roasted Red Pepper with Feta dip and Lemony-Garlic Hummus with homemade pita chips. Both of these were really good, although the red pepper one was deemed "spicy" by my youngest child.

Then we had mini spanakopita, which were really delicious and not as time consuming as I thought they would be.
The soup was everybody's favorite. I have had it at Greek restaurants before and it was very simple to recreate at home. It is called Avgolemono Soup- which just means Egg, Lemon and Rice soup. You have to temper eggs to make it, but boy was it delicious. My kids loved it.
I made a light version of Baklava that I found from Cooking Light. It was also much easier than I thought it was going to be to make. It turned out good, but was quite sweet, so could only be enjoyed in small portions. I actually had some leftover baklava mixed into this lemon ice cream a few days later and that was an amazing dessert.

What Greek menu would be complete without some sort of Greek salad? I actually made 2 versions of this salad since we have two people in our house who don't like tomatoes. The second version I made with chopped red pepper to replace the tomato. These leftovers were delicious on a green salad and also in a pita sandwich.
We had Chicken Souvlaki skewers, which my son loved. The Tzatziki sauce that went along with this was my youngest child's favorite thing. She was eating it plain and dipping all sorts of veggies in it.

Here's a closer look at the Baklava. We had lots of fun on Greek Night!

The Greek Lantern

Ingredients

• 1 cup (packed) Parsley Sprigs
• ½ tsp Lime Zest, grated
• 1 cup Cold Water
• ½ cup Fresh Lime Juice
• ½ cup Sugar
• 1 (10 ounce) bottle Club Soda

Instructions

• Blend all the ingredients, except club soda, in a blender, for about one minute.
• Take a large glass measure and strain the preparation through a fine-mesh sieve.
• Put ice into tall glasses and pour the prepared drink.
• Top with club soda and serve

Lemony-Garlic Hummus

Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

2 16 oz cans of chickpeas (Bush’s is my canned bean of choice!)
1/2 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
juice and zest from 3 lemons
3 TB tahini
4 cloves garlic, crushed
big pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
5 TB olive oil

Combine first 6 ingredients into bowl of food processor. Blend for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Slowly stream in olive oil until combined and smooth. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Serve with fresh cut veggies, crackers, chips, pita chips or crostini for a nice appetizer platter.

Note: this recipe makes a large batch. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe for Roasted Red Pepper with Feta Dip


Recipe for Greek Salad
* I drastically reduced the amount of olive oil and feta cheese that this recipe called for. I just drizzled the mixture with a little olive oil and then used more lemon juice. I only added a couple of oz of feta cheese.


Recipe for Mini-Spanakopitas
* the egg white/olive oil mixture they said to brush the phyllo dough with, didn't work for me.
I used cooking spray instead.

Recipe for Avgolemono Soupo (Egg, Lemon, and Rice Soup)

Recipe for Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce
* I used greek yogurt

Recipe for Baklava with Wildflower Honey
* I used orange blossom honey

Farmland Vegetable Pie with Phyllo Crust

Are you tired of hearing about my twitter recipe ideas? Well, I hope not. Because here is another one.

This recipe was also an idea that was "tweeted" to me when I posed the problem of the bag of fresh okra.
Nancy told me about a vegetable pie that she made last year that contained okra, alongside a bunch of other fresh veggies. She tweeted me a link to her post about the pie and that was really all it took.
I decided it would be our meal before church on Sunday (we go to church at 1 pm). That gave me Sunday morning to put it together.
The original recipe calls for summer squash, yellow tomatoes, okra, and corn. Nancy added green beans. I decided to use zucchini along with the summer squash, eggplant instead of the tomatoes (my hubby hates them) and a red bell pepper instead of the corn.

I also decided that I would top my pies with a light phyllo crust instead of making the pie-like crust originally called for. I did this to reduce the prep and cook time and also to save some calories.
The pie also contains hard boiled eggs and cheese. Here is a shot of my sauteed veggies with the chopped eggs.
For my crust, I thawed out my phyllo dough and layered 4 sheets, spraying heavily with cooking spray between each layer. I then cut the pieces to fit over my individual pies. (I halved the recipe). It only took about 15 minutes for the phyllo crust to be brown and crispy.

I absolutely loved this! My hubby and kids had to be bribed a little bit (they like veggies, but this was asking a little much), so I also made some mini meatballs to round out this meal, which were super delicious, that I will share at another time.

The veggies still had a little bit of crispness, thanks to the short saute and small amount of time that they spent in the oven. The cheese and eggs added nice texture and flavor.
I am so glad I have found a few other ways to eat okra!
I also wanted to share this trick for getting your hard boiled eggs perfect. I am sure you know that if the yolk has a greenish tint around it, that means they are overboiled. If the yolk is mushy and dark yellow, then they are underboiled.
I found this method from Martha Stewart a couple of years ago when I first made Open "Face" Egg Sandwiches.
I actually boiled extra eggs so we could make those sandwiches later on in the week- it is one of my son's absolute favorite dinners- you can check out my post about it HERE
Hard Boiled Eggs from Martha Stewart
In a medium saucepan, cover 7 eggs (in a single layer) with water, 1 inch above eggs. Bring to a boil; cook, uncovered, 2 minutes. Cover and remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Place eggs in bowl under cold running water until cool. Peel eggs.
Recipe for Farmland Vegetable Pie

Nancy's post about Farmland Vegetable Pie

One Year Ago-Baked Fish with Roasted Mixed Vegetables

Chocolate-Key Lime Cupcake Pies, Phyllo Mini Tarts 3- ways, and Gale Gand's Butterballs

My husband knows how much I like to bake. In the past he has asked me to make dessert for his work functions. This happens every couple of months and usually everyone requests Cheesecake Pops and I make them. This time his boss called him and asked him to ask me to make some desserts for a small lunch and then the next week for a larger event. I am getting paid! Anyway, I told him I didn't want to make Cheesecake Pops again (I like trying out new recipes) and he didn't have any suggestions, so that left me to decide what I would try.

I remember seeing these Chocolate-Key Lime Cupcake Pies in Southern Living (I still get my subscription even though we moved to Utah) and at the time thought they looked a little too fancy for everyday, so I thought this was the perfect time to try them. I just made them in a normal muffin tin, with normal size aluminum liners and made two small pies in ramekins, so we could try some too. I made them the night before and kept them in the fridge overnight. They required about 5-10 more minutes to set then the recipe suggests and the centers fell a little. Everyone loved them though. I thought they tasted more like cheesecake than pie, which isn't really a bad thing. I got the last bag of key limes at my grocery store and garnished them with raspberries and sweetened whipped cream.

The ButterBalls, (isn't that a great name) are the cookie featured on the cover of Gale Gand's Chocolate and Vanilla Cookbook (well, the vanilla side cover) and I thought they looked cute, so I made them. I made the dough and the vanilla sugar the day before and these were the favorite item with the tasters here. I couldn't keep the hands away. They were grabbing them right out of the oven, with the chocolate and then with the sugar. I finally had to hide them!

The mini phyllo shells are just so versatile and I tried a couple of different fillings. Everything was a hit. Next week for my hubby's workplace, I am going to make Bakerella's Cupcake Pops and Red Velvet Cake Balls, more Butterballs, and a few other things, so make sure you come and check them out!

Chocolate-Key Lime Cupcake Pies from Southern Living Magazine

Prep: 30 min., Bake: 20 min., Cool: 30 min., Chill: 4 hr.

12 jumbo-size aluminum foil baking cups

Vegetable cooking spray

1 (9-oz.) package chocolate wafer cookies

1/2 cup butter, melted

3 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons key lime zest

1/3 cup fresh key lime juice

3 large eggs

Garnishes: sweetened whipped cream, fresh cherries and blackberries, fresh mint leaves

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Place 12 jumbo-size aluminum foil baking cups in lightly greased muffin pans, and coat with cooking spray.
2. Pulse chocolate wafer cookies in a food processor 8 to 10 times or until finely crushed. Stir together cookie crumbs and butter; firmly press on bottom and two-thirds up sides of each baking cup (about 3 Tbsp. crumbs per cup).
3. Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add lime zest and lime juice, beating at low speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Spoon mixture into prepared cups, filling completely full.
4. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until set. Cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and let cool 15 minutes or until completely cool. Cover and chill 4 hours. Garnish, if desired.

Mary's Butterballs from Gale Gand's Chocolate and Vanilla
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam or ganache*
2 cups vanilla sugar **, for rolling

In a mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it's light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in the granulated sugar and when the mixture is well blended add the flour and mix until it forms a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours to make it easier to handle. This also helps prevent the balls from flattening out too much when they're baked.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Taking off pieces of dough with your hands, roll small (3/4-inch) balls of dough (about the size of a hazelnut in the shell). Chill them for 30 minutes in the freezerm then place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheets to allow for some spreading. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or just until the cookies are firm but not browned. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pans.
Spread the flat surface of half of the cooled cookies with the jam of ganache and top with a second cookie to form a little sandwiched ball. The filling will not show very much. Once you've sandwiched them all together, bury them in the vanilla sugar to coat the entire outside.
*Ganache (Gale Gand)
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream

In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring constantly. When melted, pour in the cream and whisk until combined. Remove from heat.

**Vanilla Sugar from Alton Brown
1 vanilla bean, whole or scraped
2 cups granulated sugar

If vanilla bean is whole, slice down side of bean with back of knife and scrape seeds into airtight container with the sugar. Cut bean into 3 pieces and bury down in sugar and seal tightly with lid. Let sit for 1 to 2 weeks. Use as regular, granulated sugar.

PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCOLATE KISS from Athens Fillo recipes
Ingredients
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup marshmallow creme
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
15 Athens® Mini Fillo Shells (1 box)
15 Hershey's® Kisses

In a small bowl, place peanut butter, marshmallow and vanilla. Blend well. Spoon 1 rounded teaspoon of filling into each Fillo Shell. Top with Hershey's® Kiss. Serve immediately.

Lemon Cream Phyllo Tarts by Mary Ann
1/3 cup lemon curd
1/2 cup Cool Whip
Athens mini fillo shells

place lemon curd in a bowl. Stir until color changes and well mixed. Add in Cool Whip and stir until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate or if ready to serve, fill phyllo shells. Garnish with whipped cream, Cool Whip, blueberries or other fruit.

Pumpkin Phyllo Tarts by Mary Ann
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup Cool Whip
2-5 Tbls brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger and nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp allspice
Athens mini fillo shells

Combine pumpkin, Cool Whip, brown sugar and spices in a bowl. Stir until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use. Right before serving, fill shells and garnish with whipped cream or Cool Whip.

Coming Tomorrow- A Simple, Family Favorite-Cashew Chicken and Chow Mein Cookies

Red Lentil Soup, 2 ways, and Bundles of Joy with Homemade Ginger Cardamom Pear Butter

I have two really delicious red lentil soups that I like to make and I couldn't decide which one to have, so I made them both. The one pictured above has carrots, tomatoes, and spinach added and you can see all the lovely colors. The other red lentil soup is pureed, so you can just see the orange color of the soup. The pureed soup usually has a spiced oil that you drizzle on top, but since I made both the soups and a yummy phyllo side, I decided to skip the spiced oil. It does add an extra zip that is so delicious.


The Bundles of Joy were in a recent issue of Rachael Ray's magazine and reminded me of a samosa. I love phyllo and whenever I work with it, I use cooking spray to moisten the sheets, rather than melted butter. I was making the little appetizers when I realized that I could save time and energy and just make one, long strudel. So, I layered 5 sheet of phyllo and put the filling down the middle and enclosed it. That was after I had already done 2 rounds of the little ones. It suggested serving them with apple butter, but we had so many pears and had decided earlier to make pear butter. Now that smelled amazing and tasted so good, that we went ahead and made another batch. It was a great combination. And yes, my daughter could not keep her finger out of the pear butter!


This was a great dinner that we enjoyed outside- I am not sure how many more of those we will get, since the cold is coming. Yummy! If you are wondering about the Weekly Lunchbox, it will be posted tomorrow- I was just too excited about this dinner!










Red Lentil Soup with Spiced Oil from Celia Mason, I am unsure of the author or source

for the soup:

1 cup red lentils

2 onions, chopped

1 1/2 Tbls vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

5 garlic cloves, minced

4 tsp grated peeled fresh gingerroot

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander seeds

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup drained canned tomatoes

for the spiced oil:

2 Tbls vegetable oil

1/4 tsp dried hot red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cuminseed

1/4 tsp turmeric

To make the soup: In a large bowl wash the lentils in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear and drain them in a fine sieve. In a large heavy saucepan, cook the onions in the oil over medium heat, stirring, until they are softened. Add the garlic and gingerroot, and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the cumin and the ground coriander seeds and cook for 1 minute, stirring all the while.

Add the lentils, broth, 1 1/2 cups water, and the tomatoes, and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. In a blender puree the mixture in batches, transferring to a bowl, until it is all pureed and return to the clean soup pan. Season with salt and pepper.

To make the spiced oil: In a small skillet or saucepan, heat the oil over moderately high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Add the red pepper flakes, cuminseed, and turmeric, and fry the spices, stirring, for 10 to 15 seconds, or until the sizzling begins to subside. Remove from the heat. Drizzle the spiced oil with a spoon over the soup to serve.

Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup from Good Housekeeping Magazine

1 Tablespoon olive oil

4 medium carrots, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 can (14 1/2-ounce) diced tomatoes

1 can (14- to 14 1/2-ounce) vegetable broth

1 cup dried red lentils

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 6-oz bag baby spinach

In 4-quart saucepan, heat oil on medium until hot. Add carrots and onion, and cook 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned and tender. Stir in cumin; cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, broth, lentils, 2 cups water, salt, and pepper; cover and heat to boiling on high. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 8 to 10 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in spinach. Makes about 7 1/2 cups.

Bundles of Joy From Every Day with Rachael Ray August 2008
3/4 pound red potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed (I used canned Le Sueur early peas)
3/4 cup frozen carrots, thawed (I used fresh chopped carrots and cooked them along with the onion)
10 frozen phyllo sheets, thawed and covered with a moist kitchen towel
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (I used cooking spray instead)
1 cup apple butter ( I used pear butter)

1. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes, lower the heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash.

2. Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet, toast the cumin and turmeric over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the oil, onion, garlic and salt and cook, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the peas and carrots. Remove from the heat and stir in the mashed potatoes.

3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush 1 phyllo sheet with melted butter. Top with another phyllo sheet; brush lightly with butter. Cut lengthwise into five 2 1/2-inch-wide strips. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the vegetable mixture at the end of each strip. Working with 1 strip at a time, fold the corner over the filling to enclose, forming a triangle; continue folding the strip like a flag, keeping the triangle shape. Place the resulting bundles seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining phyllo sheets and filling. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, stir the apple butter with 3/4 cup water. Serve warm or at room temperature with the bundles.

Ginger Cardamom Pear Butter from Cooking Light

4 cups coarsely chopped peeled Bartlett pear (about 2 1/2 pounds)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Place pears in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Combine pear puree, sugar, and remaining ingredients in a medium sauté pan over medium heat; bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook 3 hours or until mixture is thick.

Cheese-Stuffed Chicken in Phyllo

I don't really have too much to say about this except that everyone loved it and I added more phyllo to the outside (4-5 sheets each) so it would have a little more crunch. Everyone loved it and I got to use some of my arugula from the farmers market in the salad.
Cheese-Stuffed Chicken in Phyllo from Southern Living
8 skinned and boned chicken breast halves

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 cups chopped fresh spinach

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

1/2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened and cut up

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

16 frozen phyllo pastry sheets, thawed

Melted butter or margarine

Mixed salad greens

Place chicken between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and flatten to 1/8-inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper, and set aside.
Sauté spinach and onion in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in cream cheese until blended. Stir in mozzarella cheese and next 6 ingredients.
Spoon 1/4 cup spinach mixture on center of each chicken breast half, and roll up, jellyroll fashion.
Unfold phyllo sheets on a lightly floured surface. Stack 2 phyllo sheets, brushing with melted butter between sheets. (Keep remaining phyllo sheets covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.) Place 1 chicken roll on short side of phyllo stack; gently roll up, folding in long side. Repeat procedure with remaining pastry, melted butter, and chicken. Place rolls in a shallow pan, and brush with melted butter.
Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Serve on a bed of mixed greens, if desired.

Lime and Lemon Tartlets

What to do when you have a little leftover lime or lemon curd or both? Buy little phyllo tart shells, whip some cream and you have a simple dessert!
Lime and Lemon Tartlets
lime or lemon curd, or both
1 pkg. mini phyllo tart shells, (15 in pkg)
1/2 cream whipped, with 3 Tbls powdered sugar folded in

Defrost shells according to pkg directions. Stir lemon or lime curd until smooth. Drop spoonful of curd in shell. Dollop whipped cream on top. Serve or refrigerate until later.