Hope you all had had a great Passover and Easter, I know I did.  I ate and drank all day.  I was so full by the time I got to bed.  The food was great; I made some vegan options that everyone loved.  Yippy!

Unfortunately, today is not as fun of a day.  It’s my last day of vacation so I’m stuck making up for all the work I put off last week.  Not fun at all.  I have been balancing between the loads of laundry that need to be done and writing my thesis.  Stress isn’t even the word!

In times of stress I like to eat. Not a good habit.  Anyway, I really needed a break form all the work so I headed into the kitchen and got cooking.  I wanted something fresh and not too heavy.  I looked around my kitchen to see what I had to work with.  Luckily I had fresh vegetables leftover form yesterday.  In the freezer I had phyllo dough.  Visions of flaky phyllo danced in my head.

And then I had an idea- a napoleon made of pesto and tomatoes.  Sounds good right?  It was.  The phyllo was crisp and buttery; the pesto was fresh and full of flavor.  Love at first bite.  Even better- I had leftover pesto, lunch tomorrow!

Spinach Pesto and Tomato Napoleon

Makes one large napoleon

  • 4-6 sheets phyllo dough, defrosted and cut into large rectangles, you will need at least 15 strips
  • Olive oil cooking spray
  • A handful basil leaves
  • A handful baby spinach
  • 2 scallions, end trims
  • 1 tbls lime juice (lemon would probably work too)
  • 3 tbls  pine nuts
  • ¾ tbls olive oil
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 tomato, sliced

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

Working quickly with phyllo, make three even stacks of phyllo, spraying each layer with olive oil spray before placing another piece on top.  Be sure to leave enough space in between each stack.  Bake until lightly browned, just a matter of minutes. Remove and let cool.

Meanwhile, mix remaining ingredients (except tomato) in a food processor until smooth.

Place first stack of phyllo on a plate, smooth a thin layer of pesto and top with a few slices of tomato.  Add next phyllo stack and repeat process.  Top with final phyllo stack.

A nice lunch outside on a Spring afternoon, just what I needed.

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