Italian Pie...or rather Meat Pie

The only thing that makes this recipe resemble a pie is the pie crust that you put over it and even that doesn't hold it together very well. This is yet another Publix Apron Simple Meals recipe, but far from simple. I never trust the estimated cooking time because it always takes longer that what the recipe states. I changed this recipe a bit and it took longer for me to prepare it because I didn't have ready-made bruschetta spread. Why buy bruschetta spread when you can make it? I looked up what bruschetta spread was and there's a bunch of different kinds, so I went with tomato bruschetta. Basically, I added some diced tomatoes, butter, fresh chopped basil and parsley, sliced onion, and sliced mushrooms. All this slicing, dicing, and chopping took some time. Overall, this recipe was overwhelmingly meaty but very filling.  This recipe also called for a ton of ingredients; I looked back into my fridge once I was done cooking and realized how empty it was after making this. Now I know how I ended up spending ~$90 last week at the grocery store.

Next time, I have to remember that tomatoes hold a lot of water and I should evaporate out this excess water, drain it, or add extra egg. Also, I forgot to drain the jar of pimientos. Oh, and next time I need to put in some minced garlic. I keep saying next time, but do I really have the intention of cooking something like this (Some thing that required so many ingredients and so much prep and so much time) again?

Without the pie crust this would have been just loose meat.

Here you can see the pool of liquid.

I wonder if I can figure out a vegetarian version of this recipe.  I foresee a lot of tofu and tempeh with some nutritional yeast.

Italian Pie (meat pie) adapted from Publix Apron recipe
Ingredients
1 (10 oz) box frozen chopped spinach
6 slices salami (~1 1/2 oz)
1 1/4 lb ground beef (85/15)
dried basil and oregano to taste (~ 1/2 tsp each)
1/4 cup diced pimientos, drained
1/4 cup turkey (or regular) pepperoni (1oz)
1 large tomato, diced
~4 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
half a small yellow onion, sliced
1 1/2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
garlic salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter
2 eggs
2 cups shredded Italian-blend cheese
1 ready-to-bake pie crust

Prep
1. Slice, dice, and chop the ingredients that need to be sliced, diced, or chopped.
2. Thaw the spinach and drain the excess liquid from it.
3. Preheat oven to 425F
4. Cut salami and pepperoni into bite-size pieces

Steps
1. Melt the butter in a large pan and cook onions and mushrooms. 1-2 minutes
2. Add ground beef, tomato, dried basil and oregano, salt and pepper. Cook until beef is no longer pink.
3. Stir in the pepperoni, salami, fresh basil and parsley, and spinach. Cook until everything is thoroughly heated.
4. Turn off burner and stir in cheese and tomato. If the pan doesn't fit all the ingredients, transfer ingredients into a large pot.
5. Transfer the well-mixed pie filling into a baking pan. Cover the baking pan with the pie crust; trim and seal or crimp edges.  Make sure you ventilate the crust by poking holes in it or putting a cut in the center.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.