Prayer packages

Recipe: Spanakopita

Heather Wolfe has an Advent tradition with her family of folding food and faith together into spanakopita “prayer packages.” — Heather Wolfe

Oh, dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day

Each December, during the Advent season, this song (“Day by Day” from Godspell) fills our kitchen as we gather as a family to fold spanakopita, each wrapped up with a spoken, specific prayer. I’ve been making these spinach-feta-phyllo appetizers for the holidays by myself for a long time; the tradition of coming together for communal folding and praying, however, began just six years ago. 

In November 2019 my children lost their beloved preschool Sunday School teacher, Virginia Schlabach, unexpectedly to cancer. As part of processing our grief related to her passing and preparing for the potluck that followed her memorial service during the first week of Advent, we folded lots of spanakopita. In the kitchen, we set up a photo of her with my children’s preschool class. We brought down pillows she’d sewed for them. We put on the Godspell soundtrack that she’d introduced us to a few years earlier. Prayer happened organically with each spanakopita we folded, as we spoke a word — a name, a place, a being, an issue — that honored her life, love and loss. Members of her family were named, then the names of each child at church who loved her and were missing her. Other words flowed as did the tears. The words would remind us of stories, and the shared memories brought smiles to our faces. 

This embodied form of prayer, where mind, body and soul came together, was a balm for the healing of our broken hearts. It was also very meaningful to share these “prayer packages,” as we had come to call them, with Virginia’s family and others in the community who were gathering together in shared grief. 

For the five years that have followed, we as a family have continued to come together to fold spanakopita “prayer packages.” We bring anything on our hearts, infusing love and care with each fold into the food that will be part of our Advent season celebrations and Christmas festivities over the coming month. This year’s prayers included names of loved ones lost, people and places in conflict, distressed creation, gratitude and blessing for those in service of peace and love, along with naming times that brought us hope and joy.

After folding our prayer packages, we nestle them in a single layer into freezer bags. Frozen prayer packages can go directly into the oven for various occasions. We will bake a batch to share after caroling through the neighborhood surrounding the church, a welcome savory counterbalance to the sweet cookies and cocoa. We’ll cook more to have after the Christmas Eve service (typically more cookies served here). This year we have a new dairy allergy in the household, so we experimented with making homemade vegan “feta” from soaked cashew nuts and were very pleased with the results. May the sharing of this Advent tradition within our family be a blessing from our household to yours this holiday.

Spanakopita triangles make a festive holiday appetizer. — Heather Wolfe

RECIPE

Spanakopita “Prayer Package”

A classic Greek dish, spanakopita uses very thin pastry phyllo (also called filo) found in the freezer section of grocery stores.

Makes about 60 appetizer-sized triangles

Ingredients

  • 2 (10-oz) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
  • 2 cups crumbled feta, traditional or vegan substitution
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper
  • 1 pound package of frozen phyllo sheets, thawed
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil and/or melted butter, dairy or plant-based

Instructions

  1. Squeeze out as much moisture as you can from the thawed spinach. Place spinach in a medium bowl. 
  2. Mix in feta, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
  3. Work with one phyllo sheet at a time. Keep the remaining sheets covered between two clean, damp towels, as the phyllo will dry out quickly. Place one phyllo sheet lengthwise (landscape orientation) on a large cutting board in front of you. 
  4. Brush lightly with oil or melted butter. Place a second sheet directly on top and brush with more oil/butter. Cut into six vertical strips.
  5. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on the bottom. Fold a bottom corner up and over to cover the filling and form a triangle. Continue folding the strip up and over, like a flag, keeping the triangle shape.
  6. Place triangles on a baking sheet. Brush tops with oil/butter. Make as many triangles as you have filling for. (If there are any phyllo sheet strips left over, we like to brush them with butter, sprinkle on cinnamon, spread with honey and then use chopped walnuts as a filling to fold in making a baklava style treat.)
  7. Place in a cold oven. Turn heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and set the timer for about 25 minutes, baking until golden brown. Cool slightly and serve soon. Enjoy!

Heather Wolfe

Heather Wolfe is deeply rooted in Vermont, USA, is in the Mennonite faith tradition and is part of a family Read More

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