Three meals, one spanakopita recipe. Start with this recipe from Spruce Eats. It’s my favorite because it’s very herb forward. Since the sun hasn’t come out in Ohio in about 18 years, the fresh herbs make you think that it will come out tomorrow. It won’t.

You will need to squeeze all the excess water out of your spinach. I do this by staring aimlessly out the window, placing a small amount of spinach in my palm, and squeezing until my nails *almost* break through my skin. You could get around this latter issue by simply cutting your nails, but then how would you know that you’re alive?

Once you read through the recipe, forget the specifics and just throw what you have into the skillet. I used 2 boxes of frozen chopped spinach, 3 onions, all my dill, all my parsley, and threw in some toasted pine nuts. This mixture will need to cool before you mix it with the ricotta, feta, and eggs. Plan accordingly. We didn’t. Instead, we put the whole skillet outside in the cold spring air and turned the mixture occasionally to let steam escape.

Author’s note: this action prompted our backyard neighbor to welcome us to the neighborhood. If you do not want to risk this type of neighborly interaction, stay inside.

Once you mix your cheese mixture with the spinach mixture, do your whole thing with the phyllo. We didn’t make a pie like the recipe indicates because it isn’t enough phyllo : filling ratio. We made triangles to increase said ratio and so we could freeze the leftovers. But not all our filling fit into the triangles…

Introducing Spanakopita a Trois.

1. Spanakopita Triangles
2. Spinach Fritters
3. Spinach Brioche

To make Spinach Fritters, form spinach mixture, flatten a palm-sized amount in your hands and then plop it in flour / cornmeal. Pan fry them. Bonus points if your corn meal comes from the grist mill near your parents’ house. Weird flex, but true.

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To make Spinach Brioche, you must already have some crappy brioche from a couple days ago that you don’t want to eat. Split it open. Insert filling. Bake until you are concerned the brioche is getting too crispy.

If you still have leftover spinach mixture, it’s time to make an omlet.

The sun may never come out again in Ohio, but at least your house will smell good.