I’m often amazed at the speed with which different foods become popular once they are introduced to the public. Growing up we always had homemade Greek yogurt available in our refrigerator for snacks, desserts, or general cooking. (This was before it was sold commercially). A cup of fine demitasse and a little dish of yogurt topped with a spoonful of homemade peach or cherry preserves was a typical dessert at our house. Often we had crumbled Feta cheese in our scrambled eggs for breakfast, and almost daily sprinkled it on our salad. None of my friends had it at their homes. Back then it literally was “foreign” to them. Today it’s very common. You can seldom make your way through a homemaker’s magazine without finding Feta cheese sprinkled somewhere on something! Here is a dish using both Feta cheese and yogurt that was once considered out of the ordinary and is now a familiar favorite of many. This is Spanakopita, Greek spinach pie… a healthy, flavorful, easy to make meatless meal.
Spanakopita (spinach pie)
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Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)
SERVINGS15servings
|
COOK TIME25 - 30mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Wash spinach, cut off stems, dry and chop.
- Brown scallions in 1/2 cup olive oil until tender.
- Combine spinach, mint, parsley, cheese, yogurt, lemon peel, lemon juice and add beaten eggs.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan and begin by layering one phyllo sheet, brush with butter/olive oil mixture.
- Continue for 10 layers then spread with the spinach mixture.
- Top with remaining sheets each brushed with the butter/olive oil mixture.
- Score the top into diamonds.
- Bake 25-30 minutes until golden on top.
Just the other morning I took a walk down to the garden to see how all the vegetables were doing. Its a nice walk of five minutes or so, and a great chance to get in a little prayer time to start the day.There is nothing like a garden to put things in the proper perspective. We have been getting tubs and tubs of the most beautiful tomatoes — big beefsteak ones, with hardly any blemish, so I was looking for lush beautiful plants laden with lovely red fruit. Not so! This year everything is dying back earlier than normal because of how hot late spring and early summer were, so the tomato vines were far from lovely, but loaded with fruit! There is an interesting lesson here. I think that these plants are producing the most beautiful fruit, even as the plant itself dies. I hope I can do as well when I’m in my declining years!
A few years back one of the sisters’ mother, who emigrated from Italy shared a simple recipe for tomato salad. Such an easy, but perfect way to feature your late summer tomatoes.Tomato Salad
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Tomato Salad
SERVINGS
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COOK TIME |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Mix all of the above together, and enjoy.
The weather turned dry and cool today. It reminds me of those golden days we will soon see in October, so it’s a promise of things to come: apples and pumpkins, butternut squash. We have a while to go before that, so bear with me the next few weeks as we tour through the garden sampling the last of summer’s offerings! I think of how much fun God must have had creating all of the different edible plants — not only making them taste good, but also making them beautiful to look at. There is nothing quite like an eggplant. The flowers are lovely, and the eggplants are like huge purple jewels hanging on the plant. I think they are my most favorite plant in the garden. This week the eggplant is coming in by the tubful, and of course so are the tomatoes. One of my favorite lunches is roasted eggplant, tomato and cheese sandwiches in pita bread pockets. YUM! So simple to make:
Roasted Eggplant, Tomato, Cheese Sandwiches in Pita bread with Herbed Mayonnaise
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Roasted Eggplant, Tomato, Cheese Sandwiches In Pita Bread With Herbed Mayonnaise
SERVINGS
|
COOK TIME20mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN15mins. |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Slice eggplant crosswise into 1/2 inch slices, place in a colander lined with paper towel, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 15 minutes.
- Mix chopped herbs into mayonnaise, season to taste with salt and pepper, set aside.
- Blot eggplant with paper towels to remove moisture.
- Transfer to sheet pan that has been oiled or sprayed with cooking spray.
- Brush on olive oil generously.
- Roast for about 20 minutes, or until eggplant is tender.
- Cool to room temp.
- To assemble sandwiches, spread herb mayo mixture inside pita pockets, and then fill with eggplant, tomatoes, and cheese.
- Enjoy!!
