spinach pie

There are just times when you want a spinach pie that is a little different than spanakópita, one where there is less salt (from the feta), where you don’t have to fool with phyllo, and where you can spice it up a notch with a few non-traditional ingredients. The recipe below is my attempt toward reducing the caloric/carb/salt content a little, while still making an extremely tasty spinach pie.

• 1 cup egg substitute (X)
• 1 cup fat-free half and half cream
• 1 tsp <salt>
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cayenne chile
• 1 packet Butter Buds®
• 2 tsp fresh dill weed, or 1 tsp dried
• 1 large onion, diced fine
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ lb bacon, cooked crisp † and crumbled
• ½ lb 2% fat Swiss cheese, coarsely grated
• 16 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 2 large lower G. I. flour tortillas^*

Combine egg, half and half, <salt>, cayenne, Butter Buds®, dill weed, and bacon in a large mixing bowl and stir until <salt> is dissolved. Sauté the onion and garlic until limp. Drain and press the liquid from the spinach. Add in the pan with the onion, and heat while turning with a rubber or silicone spatula until the water has mostly evaporated. Combine the onion-garlic-spinach with, and incorporate it into, the egg-cream mixture.

Grease a 9” square glass pie plate, dampen the tortillas, and lay one tortilla into the plate to form a crust. Cut the other tortilla to form the sides of the crust, and press into the dish.

Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down and bake at 350°F for another 15-20 minutes, until the pie passes the toothpick test. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.