2/1/11

Spinach Cheese Pie
The best part about being the only vegetarian in a household of 6 is that when I make something really yummy for myself, I get to be the only one who eats it. Case in point, my beloved spinach cheese pie. My mom heard me moaning in the kitchen as I was eating it, piping hot out of the oven, and asked, "What are you doing in there?" I was really nice because I shared a small portion with her. But I ate the rest by myself. Then I made another one yesterday. I ate it for lunch and dinner. What's left will be devoured by me before 1:00 this afternoon, no doubt about it. It's that good. I originally found the recipe from Mollie Katzen, but I've adapted it and made it a wee bit healthier. And if you're a vegan, let me tell you.... you're so missing out.

2 T olive oil
1 1/4 cups chopped green onion
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
Finely grated rind of one lemon
1/2 T parsley
4 ounces of reduced fat Feta cheese, crumbled
1 1/2 cups low fat or fat free cottage cheese (I've tried both and fat free works just as well)
1/2 cup finely grated Romano cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 pie crust (from scratch is best)

Heat oil in skillet or saucepan. Add onions and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Stir lemon rind, parsley, and feta cheese in to spinach mixture. Combine cottage cheese, egg, and Romano in a separate bowl. Add to spinach mixture. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir well. Scrape all this goodness into a pie plate. Cover with pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees until pie crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes.

And there you have it. Good luck making it last more than 18 hours. The original recipe calls for philo dough on top, but this seems to beg for pie crust. If you don't have any green onions on hand you can substitute a regular onion, but they turn brown while cooking. Green onions are best. Much lighter and a better flavor for this. 

My uncle recently spoiled us all and made homemade ravioli and marinara sauce for us. All I had to do was heat it up. Best. Dinner. Ever. Thanks, Uncle Jim!

It's -17 outside right now. We're incredibly thankful for a house, food, heat, water, and each other.


4 comments:

Christina said...

good heavens, this looks so good. care to share your pie crust recipe? i have some i could try, but i'm not sure i have the right kind for this type of pie.

cathy said...

I'm sure any basic pie crust would work on this. Mine is from (surprise) Mollie Katzen. 6 T cold butter, 1 and 1/2 cups flour (1/4 of that can be whole wheat), and about 4 T cold water or milk. Cut the butter into the flour then slowly add liquids. A little extra flour for rolling the dough and you're done. We live at altitude so baking for me is trial and error. Sometimes I need as much as 7 T of liquid but that shouldn't happen to you. Hope that helps.

Mama Papaya said...

Great minds, my friend. We had spinach quiche on the menu this week as well. Oh how I love that spinach, feta combination. This version looks don't share with the kids worthy.

Christina said...

Thanks Cathy! This will be on next week's menu. I love when my bloggy friends do the planning for me. :)