Baked Veggie Pockets

Making this vegan spanakopita recipe transformed how I view my own at-home cooking. Kicked my butt, in a way. I have much longer post about that whole situation in the queue for tomorrow. It's a continuation on my why food blogging is weird series.

First, the deliciousness!

I'm not going to pretend it turned out like traditional spanakopita. Foremost, my spotlight veggie was kale, baby kale, specifically, and not spinach. Halfway through the recipe, I decided I had changed so much, it had transformed into something else entirely.

The turning point? I tried making phyllo dough and failed pretty miserably.

It doesn't look half bad, though.


BAKED VEGGIE POCKETS 
an attempt at creating a healthier grab-and-go lunch
based off this fantastic + legit vegan spanakopita recipe

What you'll need . . . 

•  1-1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil (for brushing)
• A large tub of baby kale or spinach*
• 1 can of black or white beans, drained + rinsed 
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• squeeze lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• seasonings, for which I used 
• smoked paprika
• thyme
• salt + pepper

* I don't remember exactly the measurement, but it's one of those large plastic tubs of greens. It cooked down to about 3/4 cup of kale when all was said and done. Feel free to sub in other greens as well.

Method . . .

1. Follow the instructions in the original recipe for how to mix together the dough. Then refrigerate it for about 2 hours and made the veggie mixture.
2. Boil 1 cup of water with baby kale and let cook -- covered -- until it wilts. Then let that cook until cool enough handle to squeeze out the excess moisture, chop up a bit, and place in a large bowl.
3. Saute an onion in some olive oil and then add to the bowl as well as the beans, nutritional yeast, almond meal, and other seasonings. Give mixture a good tossing to ensure it is all coated.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F + roll out the dough, again, just like in the instructions. 
5. Then I deviated to turn these into pockets versus a pie. Lay two pieces of the dough atop one another, brushing a layer of olive oil in between, and then cut into diamonds or rectangles, however you choose to look at it. (Around 5 inches long by 3-4 inches wide.) 
6. Fill half of each with a heaping tablespoon of the veggie mixture, fold over and use the tines of a fork to press and seal. 
7. Continue this process with the remaining ingredients, placing each unbaked veggie pocket onto a rimmed baking sheet. Poke holes with tines of fork into each to let steam escape. Brush each with a bit of olive oil.
8. Bake for between 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool before serving.

And after all that, I I snapped one good finished photo and then accidentally deleted it when I was taking photos of Ada. You'll just have to trust that what's inside stays nice and green and the outside gets crisp and delicious.

Trust me? Still, it's a far cry from spanakopita. So stay tuned for tomorrow's food blogger rant #2.

Like what you just read? Browse more of our posts + recipes on Pinterest. You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!