If I Was a Stay-At-Home Wife + Spinach Pinwheels

If I was a stay-at-home wife, our apartment would be clean.

If I was a stay-at-home wife, our laundry would be done.

If I was a stay-at-home wife, our closets would be organized, our bed would be made and our walls would be painted.

If I was a stay-at-home wife, Shaun could pick whatever he wanted to eat that night for dinner...and I’d make it!

Or, I’d simply find anything I could in my pantry and refrigerator and try creative ways to use up what we have.

The latter would probably be the case.

Last week, I had a few days off from work between Christmas and New Year’s. With that whole snow storm thing, I was trapped in the apartment for a solid 2 days, which kind of made me feel like a stay-at-home wife. So you know I got my cooking and baking on. When I realized I had a sheet of puff pastry still in my freezer, left from my Christmas Eve vegetable tart, I simply had to find a way to use it. And then when I found a simple recipe on the back of the package, I knew it was primed for some changes to make it even more delish.

Shaun claimed it was one of my best creations ever. So I guess he won't mind if I just come up with dinner on my own after all :)

Spinach & Onion Pinwheels
*Adapted from Pepperidge Farms
1 sheet puff pastry (1/2 of a box)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp water
1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 C Parmesean cheese, grated
1 onion, sliced
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
kosher salt
flour, for dusting the pastry
butter & olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a skillet, cook the sliced onions in a bit of butter and olive oil on very low heat until they soften and start to brown. Mix them frequently so they don't burn. We are starting the carmelization process here, but I don't think mine got quite that far. Roll out the pastry with a bit of flour. Brush some of the egg over the entire pastry. Stack the spinach and onion on top.

 

Add the cheeses and roll it on up. Carefully.

Slice off the edges so you're starting with clean, sharp ends. Slice up the pinwheels.

 

Lay them on a foil-lined baking sheet, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Brush the tops with the egg mixture. Bake for 15 minutes, until browned and bubbly.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Though this is a great party food (and will probably make an appearance at our green-themed Jets party this Saturday night), we had it for dinner along with some butternut squash puree (another bystander of my use-everything-in-kitchen-raid).

 

So there you have it. A yummy, easy dinner that took almost no time to prepare. We both loved the sauteed onions in these pinwheels since it gave them an extra, subtle boost of flavor - completely worth the extra time to let them brown on the stovetop. Though I suppose with a dinner this easy, there's no reason to become a stay-at-home wife.

So what do you think? Do you ever go on a kitchen raid to use up what you have? What's the craziest concoction you've ever come up with?