Another reason I'll keep eating whole wheat

Squidoo.com's whole wheat pie crust

What would the world be like without pie? Certainly pie is good for desert, but as far as I am concerned, there are some kinds of pies that are good for you! Especially if you make a whole wheat pie crust. I really like this linked crust published by squidoo.com. It also uses butter, which makes it roll out more easily than one with shortening.

Squidoo.com recommends it for quiches, but I've done one better. I make my own recipe called "Greens Pie" with this crust. I have made it twice. The first time, Don had just had outpatient surgery, and his doctor was recommending he lay off meat for a week but highly increase his fiber intake. (Well, she was actually recommending vegan for a week, as would have his niece, but this pie violates that on several fronts.) Both whole wheat and dark greens are good sources of fiber, and this pie makes a hearty meal.

To make my Greens Pie, follow squidoo.com's recipe for the pie crust, even putting the mustard in at the bottom. If you are going to make a 9" pie, you may wish to double the recipe, because having tried it both ways, we find Greens Pie is better with two crusts. However, my pie tins at this time are a whole bunch from Marie Callender's and a local establishment called Polly's Pies (in Norco). These are 8" pies, and the squidoo.com recipe will make enough crust for top and bottom.

For the filling, you have many choices. As long as they are green, leafy vegetables that hold up cooking for an hour, and as long as you chop them into very small pieces. My latest version used collard greens, my earlier version used a more mixed variety. Other good choices are Swiss chard, spinach, endive and parsley. Whatever you have, chop it up and throw it in! Green onions, cinnamon, mint and dry parsley (or fresh if you didn't just throw your entire supply into the mix) are good seasonings.

Add to this about 1/2 cup of cheese. Feta is recommended in a recipe I have adapted this from, but other choices it recommends are both Swiss and Romano. I made my more recent one with Parmesan, the earlier one with Swiss.

Coat all of this mixture with oil generously and pile into your pie crust. Bake pie in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I love this with a whole wheat pie crust, but this is adapted from an old Sunset magazine recipe that calls for fila dough. If you'd like to try the pie that way, Sunset recommends four sheets on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, each brushed with oil. Add the filling, fold the edges of the fila dough up, and put four more layers (each brushed with oil) to the top. Bake the same.