In our quest to eat healthy, lose weight, maintain a healthy weight we try to eat more vegetables. Dark Leafy Green Vegetables are strongly advised. The nutritional and health benefits are well know and recommended, not only by DRS but by many dieticians, nutritionists, doctors and more..
Among this group is Spinach. Spinach, a leafy green vegetable that originated in Persia.It belongs to the amaranth family and is related to beets and quinoa.
What’s more, it’s considered very healthy (superfood), as it’s loaded with nutrients and antioxidants.
Eating spinach can benefit eye health, reduce oxidative stress, help prevent cancer, and reduce blood pressure levels. Eating spinach is beneficial for maintaining healthy skin, hair and strong bones, as well as helping with digestion, lowering the risk for heart disease and improving blood glucose control in diabetics.
There are many ways to prepare spinach. You can buy it canned or fresh and eat it cooked or raw. It’s delicious either on its own or in other dishes. One such dish is the spinach pie.
Spinach pie is rich, but not very heavy, which makes this an ideal dish for people concerned about losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight and those who want to eat healthy. Spinach Pie has a deliciously flakey crust, works as a savory breakfast, brunch, or just anytime meal.
The George Mateljan Foundation’s analysis of spinach’s nutritional properties placed it at the top of their nutrient-rich food list. “Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), manganese, folate copper, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin E, calcium … and vitamin C,”
WHAT IS SPINACH PIE?
It seems that spanakopita originated from Turkish cuisine more than 400 years ago. Indeed, the famous spinach pie was probably introduced during the Turkish occupation of Greece
The spinach pie, Greek spanakopita, is a savory pie made with phyllo dough, feta, and spinach.
To make your spinach pie a little easier, Try either frozen or fresh spinach and frozen puff pastry dough. And then to keep the price more manageable, you can use cottage cheese instead of feta, but feta is betta.
What is Puff Pastry?
Puff pastry is a light, buttery, flaky dough. It contains only three ingredients—flour, butter, and salt—yet it rises to a great height with no added leavening agent.
When puff pastry is baked, the layers begin to separate and “puff”. The remaining tiny pieces of butter help to make a pie crust flaky when cooked. The resulting pie crust, however, is much thicker and sturdier than a puff pastry (croissant for example).
This pie crust provides a more solid bite and thus foundation to hold pie fillings. Puff pastry makes a wonderful pie crust, especially for fruit pies
Where to find puffy pastry
Puff pastry dough, an important part of this recipe, can be purchased frozen near the frozen desserts and frozen pie crusts in most major grocery stores.
Store-bought puff pastry usually comes in a box of two sheets, with each sheet folded into thirds. You only need one sheet, so save the second one for the next time you want to make spinach pie!
You’ll need to fully thaw the puff pastry before you begin, so make sure to thaw at least an hour before making your spinach pie.
Additional Flavor enhancers
A good spinach pie recipe will provide options to enhance it’s flavor. Try some chopped sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and some additional apices like garlic poweder, Whatever your taste, starting with a superfood like spinach, your pie will be even more super.
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Making your Spinach Pie
Puff pastry makes this rich and delicious spinach pie a breeze to prepare. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, or anytime! This is also a great healthy snack.
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 3 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin for more flavor
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 bunch green onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 lbs spinach chopped
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Lightly oil baking pan. - Step 2
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft and lightly browned.
Stir in spinach and parsley, and continue to saute until spinach is limp, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. - Step 3
In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in spinach mixture Pour onto puff pasty sheet and tuck pastry sealing spinach mixture.
Step 4
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Cut into squares and serve while hot.
Conclusion
In the world of healthy eating, weight loss, healthy weight maintenance DRS is your place to be. Better Health, Better Fitness, Better Lifestyle