A Bowl Full of Green (And this green bowl of pasta and veggies was awesome!)

If I told you I found a recipe that was super easy, yummy and healthy (also vegan and with the potential to be even gluten free -- if that's your jam--) who would call this girl a liar? Yeah, I would too. So I was super psyched when I tried a recipe buried in Chloe Coscarelli's cookbook. She is pretty much a kick a$$ vegan chef whose food is always amazing but not always clean.

I found this recipe and was shocked I never paid it much attention -- probably because it didn't have a picture, let's be honest here. I tend to cook things that have nice pictures. It's what I do (don't judge me.) Recipes sans picture tend to get overlooked and never cooked. But as I was flipping through Chloe's Kitchen looking something easy I could have prepped and ready to go for my dear friend who offered to stay at my house and watch my child and my dogs for a weekend, I stumbled upon this recipe.

So I bought a giant tub of baby spinach, busted out my food processor and made three goes of the sauce (and froze two of them for later.) All she had to do was boil noodles and add some veggies to the same pot for the last few minutes of cooking and add the pre-made spinach pesto. I also just had her use a whole bag of frozen green beans that were already cut into small pieces and the entire bag of frozen lima beans. I figured the more veggies the better. Bulking up a pasta dish with veggies is a super easy calorie saver.

And the entire thing takes maybe 20 minutes. Quicker if your pesto is pre-made. Easy-peasy.

So here is the actual recipe:

1 lb of whole wheat pasta*
4 oz frozen green beans, cut into bite size pieces (about 1 inch)
10 oz frozen lima beans

5 oz fresh baby spinach
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions but with 5-3 minutes left on cook time add green beans and lima beans to the water. (Vary based on how crunch you like your veggies. I lean toward less time in the water and crunch veggies.) Let cook until veggies are tender and pasta is ready. Drain.

For the sauce, combine spinach, garlic, olive oil, water, lemon juice, salt and pepper. (I skipped the salt and pepper in the sauce just because I tend to like to add it to taste. After having it once I would go ahead and add both right into the sauce.) Pulse until combined.

Put the cooked pasta and veggies into a bowl and toss with the sauce.

And you have your bowl of amazing green goodness.


*the original recipe called for oreccheitte pasta -- I used spirals because I like how they grip the pesto.

**If you aren't looking to make this vegan, a little bit of fresh grated parmesan on top is yummy! I have to watch my dairy intake so depending on how my week has been, I skip this or add it. 

Enjoy!

Eggplant and Tomato Soup (more comfort food for fall....)

The theme with all of my recipe posts seems to be that I am trying to use up the veggies that come pouring in from my CSA. In this case it was eggplant --and one can only eat so much eggplant. I mean I love it fried and smothered in cheese and sauce but since my body no longer agrees with that dinner (my digestive system is all that was your gall bladders job girlfriend, if you try to make us do that we will make you pay!) I need to find another way to use eggplant. Much to my chagrin, I don't really like it minus the fried cheesy saucy goodness.

What I have found that I love about making soup is that it is hard to screw up and you can pretty much just dump stuff in a pot (aka cleaning out my fridge). It also freezes well, so I am not stuck with all the freezer burned veggies in January that  I lovingly tried to freeze correctly during the summer. Plus it is something I can throw in the crock pot, let reheat all day and come home to dinner. A dinner my toddler likes because it allows her to dunk things. Boom. It makes me feel awesome all around.

I originally saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen. (Which is a pretty awesome blog for really cool and
different recipes, although reader be warned most of them, while super delicious are not health recipes. Seriously the pictures alone will make your mouth water. So pin the super awesome dessert or grilled cheese ones for one of your cheat meals for sure!)  You can link to the original recipe here -- but this is what I did (my version involves much less measuring and more dumping and of course no dairy. Since I have found that processing diary was also part of my gall bladder's job description.)

Ingredients --

2 medium sized eggplants

tomatoes (in this case I used 2 large tomatoes and a handful of grape tomatoes I had on hand)

1 sweet onion

Garlic (in this case I used 2 heads of garlic but I love garlic so you can adujust this based on your personal relationship with garlic)

Olive oil

Balsamic Vinegar

32 ounces of vegetable broth

Turmeric

Salt to taste


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Chop eggplants onion and tomatoes in half  and place them on a large cookie sheet or two. (Or if using grape tomatoes just toss them on the cookie sheet.) Also add the garlic.

Drizzle veggies with olive oil (I used a Misto to spray my veggies with olive oil) and I splashed them with balsamic vinegar.

Place in the oven and let roast 40 minutes to an hour (they should be slightly browned and tender.) I did add my garlic 20-30 minutes in so it wouldn't burn. With that said, I have also forgotten to roast the garlic and just add it to the pot later. Either way it turns out fine.

Allow the roasted veggies to cool enough to touch. Skin the eggplant -- the skin should peel right off.

Toss everything in a large soup pot.

Add the veggie broth and any spices you want to use. (I think the beauty of this soup is that you can add whatever spices you love. I have been obsessed with turmeric lately so I just dumped some in.)

Bring the soup to a boil. Turn down and let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

Allow it to cool slightly and puree. (You can do this in batches in a food processor or use an immersion blender. Side note -- I love my immersion blender and use it daily.) This is where I usually taste test and add salt or any other spices I feel it needs.

Super easy and really yummy. It is one of those soups that is perfect for a fall or winter night with some really good bread. (I mean what is soup without good bread?)

I had a big bowl and packed the rest away in the freezer for later.

I have actually made this recipe twice and have varied the amount of tomatoes each time (based on what I had to use up. The only difference being it just tasted more like a yummy tomato soup the more tomatoes I put in -- makes sense. But you still get the benefits of the eggplant. (For more info on why eggplants rock check this out.)

What To Do With All This Sweet Corn (you know you live in Western PA when this is a problem!)

So maybe it has to do with the fact that I am getting over some sinus and respiratory stuff but I have been craving soup like crazy. It is all I have wanted to eat (with some yummy bread to sop it up, of course! Who eats soup without bread?)

I have also been overloaded with corn from my CSA (community supported agriculture - you should
totally look one up and join. It's awesome.) My fridge is completely full of sweet corn and it is getting out of control. I have no where to put any other food and when I move something it all rolls around and it is getting silk everywhere (you know it's summer in Western PA when your floor is covered in corn silk ALL the time.)

In order to address my soup addiction and get this corn out of my fridge, I decided to goole some corn soup. I mean it has to exist, right? Somewhere people eat this? The idea of a creamy bowl of pureed sweet corn sounded amazing to my aching sinuses. (Maybe I will find something to fill the void that Panera's Broccoli and Cheese soup left in my life -- and yes with a bread bowl. Hello this girl, in love with bread. It's kind of an addiction.)

*Google*

And yes, it does exist! There are actually a lot of recipes for sweet corn soup, much to my suprise. But I didn't anticipate how much of a pain it was going to be to make. In my head I was going to cut it off the cob. Cook it up. Add some broth and whatever else it called for and then use my fancy immersion blender to make it all smooth and awesome.

Generally, things don't seem to turn out the way I picture them in my head. Ever. (You would think I would have learned that by now.)

Almost all of the recipes I found wanted me to grate the corn off the cob to make a mushy mess of corn puree. Well I knew what kind of mess that would be. Corn juice all over my kitchen and a starchy mess all over my hands (plus the possibility of some scraped fingers.) I don't think so. This was the perfect instance to use my immersion blender for something other than my daily Shakeology. Look at me being versatile in the kitchen and making good use of my appliances. (And apparently so much smarter than the 400 people that have probably made this before.)

So I cut and sauteed and cooked and added broth and coconut milk. My house smelled awesome. And I blended, dodging flying hot lava soup when the blender got too close to the surface of the pot.

Then I tasted. And the taste was awesome. What was not awesome....the corn skin left in the pot even after I blended forever. So I blended more. Still corn skin. And I tried to convince myself it wasn't a problem. That it made it more authentic and corny to have the skins in there. That it gave it a more palatable texture. And it was all lies! All of it. I could not justify leaving the corn skins in the soup and I was not happy with what I knew had to happen next. (Why didn't I listen to all the people who grated their corn. Messy hands are so much easier to deal with than the straining of the corn skins.)

So I busted out a strainer and put it over a large pyrex measuring cup and ladled. Ladle-full by ladle-full I strained, using the back of a spoon to work the liquid through the strainer. Ugh. Talk about boring and time consuming but it was well worth the effort. The result was creamy and yummy corn goodness. If you are a corn on the cob lover (borderline obsessed) then this is a masterpiece in a bowl.

I froze two jars of my liquid corn gold and promptly enjoyed the rest for dinners (with some really good toasted sunflower whole wheat bread! yum!) while my sinus yuckyness cleared up.

The original recipe I found here and adapted it to meet my non-dairy preferences.

So this is what I did:

1 or 2 TBS of olive oil
10-12 ears of sweet corn - kernels removed*
1 medium sweet onion
3 small shallots
32 ounces veggie broth
2 cans coconut milk
3 TBS water
2 TBS arrowroot
Salt (to taste - I used Himalayan salt)
White pepper (to taste)

In a large pot saute the olive oil and onion and shallots.

When they are almost translucent, add the corn and cook for five more minutes or so.

Add the veggie broth and let it all come to a boil.

Turn down the heat and let simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, stir and allow to simmer for 15 more minutes

Whisk the arrowroot with the water and add to the pot along with salt and pepper.

Strain *

Serve

* Many of the recipes I found called for grating the corn off the cob with a grater so it turns into a puree rather than starting with kernels cut off the cob. After the frustration I experienced with straining I recommend this method. Maybe 90% of the people posting recipes for this online knew what they were talking about or maybe I had a really sad strainer that kept getting clogged. Either way - totally your call.

Happy Eats!

Happy Grilling Weekend (a recipe for those of us who might be grill-less, want to go meat-less or both)

Tis the season to fire up the grill! But seeing as we are in the land of it is June and I wake up and still have to put a hoodie on to go outside (and I still might be cold) chilling grill-side isn't really something we look forward to doing. That combined with an upstairs apartment makes you get a little creative around here if you want to grill.

My other major problem when it comes to grilling is finding a meatless patty concoction that holds it's
shape and won't fall apart while cooking (resulting in huge mess on a grill, not that much of a mess in a pan.)

Now I found this recipe on Skinnytaste.com. I dig this website. (When I was eating meat I found a recipe on there for herbed pork chops. They were O-M-geee amazing. Every once in a while the thought of eating that recipe makes me want to cook up Wilbur again. My apologies buddy.) This time I found spinach and quinoa patties. I am always trying to find more ways to get greens into my dinner and into my toddler's mouth. So in burger form with sweet potato fries this was a win-win twinkle in this mama's eye.

A word about quinoa. If you haven't heard about this rockstar grain yet you need to get it into your pantry! It is a complete protein source (which is a huge deal for those of us that don't eat creatures for whatever reason) and super easy to cook. As easy to cook as rice. It make a great rice substitute too (my hubby likes to make quinoa and shove it in his burritos.) Technically, this superstar is a seed and super easy to flavor. Think being able to douse it with cinnamon for breakfast but cooking it in veggie stock for dinner. It is one of my favorite things to eat. And we tell B that they are seeds like birdies eat. So many a times we sit around the table tweeting as we eat (and not the kind you do from your smartphone. Welcome to the crazy house.)

So as my quinoa spinach patties cooked up they got all crispy crunchy on the outside and were still pretty gooey on the inside (a combo that makes my taste receptors go all it's a party.) These babies were great but I don't know how they would fare on a grill. They stayed together pretty well in a pan and once all crunchy on both sides. I was also thinking how it would work if you made them ahead of time and refrigerated so they were a little more chilled together (and if you wouldn't be all quinoa sticky hands in the middle of your grill-fest party.) It was just me cooking for our little family out here so I wasn't too concerned about the sticky hands mess but since I like to have hoards of people around me when I am home (ask John how many time I thwarted his chance to propose because I had to invite everyone I knew to go with us everywhere. The more the merrier - unless you want to get engaged.) I always try to come up with way to make it work in a party or small get together or anywhere I would rather be drinking a beer and hanging out with friends than locked in the kitchen making a mess.

While the texture of the patties was great, the flavor was kind of underwhelming. Since I was tasting as I was mushing my quinoa and spinach and (flax) eggs together I just started dumping in spices. I added (in addition to the traditional salt and pepper) some cumin and extra garlic as well as some basil. I think in making these again I would cook the quinoa in veggie stock instead of water to give it some more flavor. So I highly recommend flavoring these to your liking.

I would also like to try it with more spinach. The spinach was more of an accent in this burger. I wanted it to be the main event. I know there would be a risk that the patties wouldn't stick together as well but I intend to play with adding more spinach next time. You can view the original recipe here.

This is how I cooked them up:

1 cup uncooked quinoa (I used Bob's Red Mill brand.)

2 cups of water (or veggie stock)

4 flax eggs (or regular eggs)

1 onion minced

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

1 cup steamed spinach

minced garlic

salt & pepper to taste

basil to taste

cumin to taste

olive oil (I used my Mistoto spray olive oil in the pan)

Directions:

Rinse the quinoa and bring the 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the quinoa and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until the quinoa is tender and has absorbed the liquid -- about 15-20 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the quinoa (you may want to let it cool a bit first) the spinach, the onion, eggs, salt, pepper and any other spices you want to throw in there. Mix it all up and let it sit a few minutes to absorb the liquid and get gooey. Make into patties.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Cook each patty about 8-10 minutes on each side or until they are golden crunchy and delicious looking.

Serve with or without buns.

Let's talk about Tofu...my favorite crave-worthy to-feta

I thought tofu was weird stuff but when I dove face first into trying the vegan thing last summer, I needed to figure it out. And most of the time it was a disaster. I didn't know the difference between Silken and non silken or why it had to be firm or extra firm. Poor John had to choke down many a dinners (with plenty of hot sauce!) I knew there had to be a way to do it right. After about 8 months of trial and error I found an amazing crave-worthy tofu recipe.

I was searching for a feta cheese substitute. Now the consistency is different. The flavor is a bit different. The key is not to expect feta. The flavors marry well with anything feta would go with but it isn't a feta replacement. But it is easy and yummy and I am in love with it. (And if I can get my meat craving husband to eat it and really like it, I am convinced that anyone can.)

This stuff is good on tossed salads, on pasta salads, in hot pasta dishes, and I am even going to try stuffing it into a portobello cap tonight. I have yet to find a way I don't like this tofu.

I found the recipe on food.com which is a recipe site I tend to have a lot of luck finding yummy food stuff on. I did lessen the oil quite a bit and up the vinegar (I like stuff to have a lot of bite.) I felt like the 1/4 of olive oil made it very greasy the first time I made it. Start with less, you can always add more is a pretty successful mantra I have found in the kitchen (especially for a girl who can sometimes be too lazy to get out the measuring cups and measure things.) I have also subbed out the herbs in the recipe when I was out of basil or oregano and it still turned out great, just with a little different flavor. I think this marinade is awesome, adaptable and quite frankly when I buried it in pasta salad over the holidays this past year, I found it to be as success (and something I could eat--which can be really hard at holiday get togethers and parties. I usually end up starving or eating bread.)

The other super important part is to press the tofu. Drain the package and set the tofu on a giant wad of paper towels on top of a plate or cutting board. Add another giant wad of paper towels on top of the tofu. Stack some big heavy books on top. Check back in about 15-20 minutes. Change the paper towel (or kitchen towel if you are a better person than I am) and press it again. The more water you get out, the more flavor the tofu can absorb. This was a huge, giant, aha lightbulb in my adventures of trying to cook tofu. It is worth the time and the (minimal) effort needed to allow the tofu to absorb all of your marinade awesomeness.

My favorite way to use the to-feta....

Take whole wheat noodles boiled drained and hot. Drizzle with olive oil.

Mix them over a bunch of fresh baby spinach (this makes the spinach kind of wilty and warm. Ah-mazing!)

Add some chopped up sundried tomatoes, chickpeas, yellow raisins, the to-feta and some garlic.

Toss and eat.

Love it. Super easy. It is yummy warm or cold. My favorite though is room temperature.


And here is the recipe for the to-feta as it appears on food.com:

My to-feta on a big old yummy salad. *tummy growls* 

Ingredients:

Serves: 16
Yield:1 pound 
Units: US | Metric


1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 lb firm tofu, herb flavored, cubed or crumbled


Directions:

1. Place everything but the tofu in the bowl and whisk together.
2. Add tofu, stir, and let sit for at least an hour.

Full is Equal to Happy (Meat and Dairy free Veggie Lasagna Yummy-ness)

Sometimes I crave a big plate of heavy food that is going to leave me feeling full, fat and happy. Gross, right? But really sometimes I just want a giant sandwich or something that has some major substance to shove in my pie hole. Yesterday was on of those days for me. Beans and greens just weren't cutting it. Typically I am really happy with a nice big plate of greens, a grain and some mushrooms or beans, but not yesterday. Maybe because I have been pushing myself extra hard to end this Insanity journey with a bang or maybe because I might be a little homesick. I knew I needed to address this craving before it got worse, I got angrier and picked a fight with everyone around me.

And boy was I craving some good old Italian food like it was my job. So I decided to try some vegan stuffed shells. I took this recipe from Oh She Glows and modified it a bit to look like the stuffed shells my Mom used to make. She used to add in carrots and broccoli and other veggies to make it crunch, give it tons of kick ass texture and overall make them pretty awesome. And it gets all those vital veggies in there the doctors are always talking about. Yay veggies!

But to thwart my plan, the grocery store out here didn't have giant shell pasta (seriously, they have bee pollen but not shell pasta. I can't even handle it.) So I did some creative swapping and switched it up with lasagna. And they had whole wheat no bake noodles so the decision was made.  (And really what is the difference besides the pasta shape?)

So I took the tofu ricotta recipe, added a ton of fresh basil and garlic and it was awesome. I skipped cooking it since I pressed it forever. I also skipped the onion since it was in my veggie layer and the celery. (The idea of celery in something that is supposed to sub ricotta kind of made me gag.) It's not ricotta but it is some good stuff. I would also double it for sure next time. I couldn't get enough of it.

I cooked up some broccoli, carrots, onion and I had some zucchini I forgot to throw in (oops!) But I used this as what would traditionally be the "meat" layer. Although I think I could have thrown the veggies in with the tofu and they could have all had a party. It would have been easier than trying to spread out the tofu onto the noodles/pasta sauce. I also think I might skip using sauce next time too. God knows I don't have an Italian bone in my body and clean jarred sauce is so hard to find. I think some ripe chunky tomatoes and spices would be delish!

Plus this is another great meal that feels like a treat (or cheat) meal. How often can you eat lasagna that is awesome and doesn't have a bajillion calories? Paired with a big old salad, this dinner is a-ma-zing. (Even my carnivorous husband thought it rocked. After he came home and asked if there was anything weird going on in this dinner. I may have lied and told him after he ate three plates worth.)

Here is the recipe from Oh She Glows (it's a great site. Check it out.) And a pic of my awesome creation. (My food photography skills are growing. Go me!)

Tofu Ricotta:

• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, minced
• 1/2 cup packed fresh parsley, minced
• 1 (14oz) package extra-firm or firm tofu, pressed
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 3/4-1 tsp fine grain sea salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Rinse block of tofu and wrap with paper towels followed by 2-3 tea towels. Place it on a cutting board or plate and add several heavy cookbooks on top. Press tofu for about 20-25 minutes to drain out the water. Alternatively, you can use a tofu press.

2. Grease a very large casserole dish. I used about 30 shells, but you’ll need to cook more than that as some shells will break during the cooking process. Cook shells in a pot of boiling water until al dente, about 8-11 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Drain shells and set aside to cool.

3. Preheat oven to 400F. For the tofu ricotta: In a large skillet, sauté the garlic and onion in the oil for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the chopped celery, basil, and parsley and sauté for another 5 minutes or so. Feel free to throw in some spinach for extra greens.

4. For the tofu, you can either crumble it into the skillet with your hands or you can give it a whirl in the food processor and then stir it into the skillet. If you use the processor, the texture will be very creamy like ricotta cheese and if you crumble it with your hands it will be more chunky/crumbly. It’s up to you how you want to make it. I usually opt to crumble it by hand so I don’t dirty the processor. Stir in the nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, lemon, and cayenne all to taste. Over medium heat, cook for about 8-10 minutes or until most of the water cooks off.

5. Spoon about 1 cup of marinara sauce into the casserole dish and spread around. Add about 2 tbsp of tofu ricotta into each stuffed shell and place shells on top of marinara sauce. Cover shells with the remaining 2-2.5 cups marinara sauce and any leftover tofu ricotta. You can add vegan cheese on top, but I don’t bother. Cover dish with tin foil and poke several air holes. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or until heated throughout. Serve with a basic green salad and garlic bread, if desired.

Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2013/03/13/jumbo-stuffed-shells/#ixzz2TrheI8u4

Let them eat...Greek! Clean Spanakopita Deliciousness

I wish I was Greek. The food. The culture. The food. I don't get cravings for Italian food or any other heritage-y food (I don't know anyone who craves German food except maybe my Grandpa. Beer, absolutely. Pretzels, yes please. Food, not really.) But do I ever get a hankering for all things Greek. Give me some feta and some olives and I am a happy girl. Grape leaves. Mmmmm.

But one of my all time favorites is spanakopita. The spinach. The flaky crust. Yum yum yum. So when I saw a recipe for spanakopita casserole on Clean Eating Magazine's website, (it's a pretty awesome site!) I pinned it immediatly. Because this is something I could eat. All. The. Time. And it's clean? whoot! I love meals that are healthy but still feel like I am being a little bit bad. Sure this isn't the greasy, yummy spanakopita from the street cart at the Art Festival downtown in the summer. Washed down with a giant ($10) beer from the cart next to it. But it rocks. The spinach is yummy and mixed with some creamy feta. The sweet pepper, mint and dill gives it lots of flavor.

Yes it breaks my no animal products rule by adding feta cheese. And I did use feta this time. I didn't have time to make some vegan "feta." For me it is all things in moderation. If I am watching my animal product intake and I have a little cheat (like some feta) it is still so much better than where I was a year ago. (Seriously, I had no idea how much dairy I actually ate until I tried to cut it out of my diet. Crazy business.)

But, oh, the spanakopita goodness - Mine wasn't as "clean" as it could be. I could only find one type of phyllo and it wasn't whole wheat.  (Small town, limited grocery options.) I also couldn't find fresh mint so I used dried and didn't really measure it. I just dumped some in the spinach mixture till it smelled amazing. No fresh dill either but dried worked just fine for the dill too.  I also didn't mist everything with (clean) cooking spray or cut the phyllo into strips. I just layered it in the pan and it turned out just fine.

I would actually really like to try this with some tofu "feta" which is super yummy and I am also obsessed with on my salads.

And I clearly need to work on my food photo taking skills as my flaky phyllo crust looks kind of like cheesy chicken. Oh well. Here is to improvement all around and cheers to Meatless Mondays!

Here is the recipe and what it was supposed to look like....

By Diane Welland MS RD

Serves: 6
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sweet red pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
• 3 large bags fresh spinach (9 oz each) or 36 cups loosely packed spinach
• 1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 4 sheets whole-wheat phyllo dough (13 x 18 inches each; Try: The Fillo Factory)
• Olive oil cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add pepper and onion and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add spinach in batches, waiting 2 or 3 minutes between intervals; cover tightly and cook, tossing frequently, for about 15 minutes.
2. Drain spinach mixture in a colander, removing any excess liquid, before placing it in a large bowl; set aside. When spinach mixture is cool, mix in dill, mint and egg white. Then fold in feta until well blended. Set aside.
3. Working quickly, roll phyllo out onto a clean work surface. Carefully cut each sheet lengthwise into approximately 4 3-inch-wide pieces. (TIP: Or cut each sheet in half lengthwise, then half each of the 2 sections again to create 4 equal pieces.) Place 3 or 4 strips across the center of a 1 1/2-qt or 9 x 9-inch casserole dish misted with cooking spray, leaving about 3 to 4 inches of excess hanging over on both ends. The strips should be overlapping slightly. Mist strips with cooking spray. Turn the casserole dish clockwise and place 3 or 4 strips across the original layer, at a 90-degree angle. Mist strips with cooking spray. Continue turning and layering until all strips have been used, about 4 layers in total, misting with cooking spray after each layer.
4. Spoon spinach mixture into center of phyllo-covered dish. Fold phyllo hanging over edges into the center of spinach mixture, covering the top (no spinach should be visible). Mist with cooking spray.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly brown and crispy. Let casserole sit for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Cut into 6 pieces and serve. TIP: Phyllo can be cut with a knife, kitchen scissors or a pizza cutter.