Monday, September 12, 2016

Spinach, Feta and Olive Pinwheels

Spinach, Feta and Olive Pinwheels 1

This is truly a recipe that I just threw together. There was no thought out plan to make these. I didn't purchase any special ingredients. I just pulled all the ingredients together and baked them.

Cooking and Baking is therapeutic for me. I suppose some people with much more talent than me paint, or draw or create something beautiful, but I cook and bake. It's what I do.

Saturday morning my friend Eva called me and told me that her sister had died. Kathy was 52, the same age as me. She had a husband and 2 kids, just like me. She got cancer, just like me. She died. I lived. I don't mean to sound crude or harsh, those are the facts. I got to live and she died and it makes me so angry inside and reaches a place of such deep sadness in me that I can feel it in my bones. You know when people say to count your blessing every day? I do. I really do that. I am grateful for every moment I get to be here. I don't think anyone who hasn't lived through a life threatening ordeal can truly feel that in their soul. I could have died but I didn't. I am here and she isn't and it breaks my heart for her family and everyone whose life she touched.

We were out yard sale-ling when I got the call and just like that I was a puddle of tears and John knew that it was time to go home. So I kind of wandered around the house and tried to occupy my mind and it just naturally went to the kitchen.

It's therapeutic for me. The chopping, the measuring, the rolling of the dough, all of it. It let me escape the sadness my heart felt if only for a bit.

This one is hitting me so close to home. I'm struggling with this. I felt like this when Joey Feek passed away. I feel like this again and I'm so angry that cancer has taken someone that was so loved and cherished from their family. So it might seem strange to post a recipe in the middle of this deep sadness I'm feeling, but it's just what I do. It's how I cope.

I had a box of puff pastry in the fridge and I literally just looked around to see what I could throw together and this happened.A little pesto, spinach, fresh feta and a sprinkling of olives. I doubled this batch. There was plenty left of all the ingredients to make two.

Spinach, Feta and Olive Pinwheels 2


Baking always makes me feel better. I'm happy to know that Kathy tasted quite a few of the things I baked over the years. I want to always remember her smiling face biting into a piece of whatever I made.

She was so loved.

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Spinach, Feta and Olive Pinwheels
recipe from Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary
PRINTABLE RECIPE
Yield 20 appetizers
I doubled the batch and got 28, this recipe is for 1 batch
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 tablespoon pesto
1- 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
Fresh Feta
Chopped Black olives

Pre-heat the oven to 400. Unfold the puff pastry and roll it out just a bit on a floured surface. Spread the pesto thinly over the pasty leaving a ½ inch border. Pesto is powerful, so keep it very thin. Sprinkle with spinach, feta and olives, covering the surface within a 1/2 inch of the border. Roll up one side to the middle of the dough: roll up the other side to the middle so the two rolls meet in the center.  Pinch the seam together a bit, gently flip it over and put it in the fridge for a bit, at least a 1/2 hour to firm up before cutting. Using a serrated knife cut into ½ inch slices.

Place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake for 15 – 18 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.

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