Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred and Sixteen (Saturday Night Boredom Fever)

The snow is unending this winter.  I can't believe I complained about the hot weather this summer....if only I could turn back the clock!

Venturing outside, unless you are a polar bear, simply isn't fun.  The kids have been going a little stir crazy so we have been trying to entertain them.  Unfortunately, the cheap craft from Target didn't work ..... and a ride to LLBean can take you only so far....and t.v. is getting boring....

The kids were mulling over some ideas...."What can we DO???? We are SOOOO Bored!!"  Well, I wasn't feeling particularly creative as I have been in the throws of planning my whirlwind trip to NYC, praying that there will not be flight delays.

I have been promising my friend Frank that I would make him fitayers, but have broken my many promises to ship some, so I said I would make them for the trip.  The problem is that it is Sunday night,  the trip is Monday morning, and there not a fitayer was in sight.  I decided to get to work. 

As I started to prep for the culinary quest, Spencer and Olivia both chimed in "Can we help?"  Wow, I thought, how awesome is that?  I've trained these kids right.  They think cooking is fun!  The 8 year old Olivia got to work chopping onions with only a tear or two shed, and Spencer de-stemmed and chopped the spinach.  Olivia then went to work on squeezing the fresh lemons and Spencer to crushing the fresh garlic.

Not sure if it was the good will and love flowing through the preparation, but we made the best tasting fitayers yet.  Tim's response, "Wow, these are so light and tasty."

Recipes: Spinach, Onion, and Feta Cheese Fitayers and Grass Fed Beef, Onion, and Mint Fitayers.

Ingredients for Spinach Fitayers: One Fully Thawed and Risen (in bag) Spelt Right Pizza Dough, one package fresh spinach, one onion, 2 large lemons, 2-4 TBL Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1-2 TBL dried mint, salt and pepper to taste.

Ingredients for Beef Fitayers: One Fully Thawed and Risen Spelt Right Pizza Dough, one pound grass fed ground beef from Cold Spring Ranch one onion, 3-4 cloves garlic, 2-3 TBL extra virgin olive oil, 1-2 TBL dried mint, salt and pepper to taste.

If you don't have an 8 year old and a 13 year old on hand to help, you will need to do the following:

SPINACH FITAYERS:  rinse, spin, de-stem, and chop spinach, chop onions very finely, place in bowl with squeezed lemon, olive oil, and spices, toss together.  Shape 8-10 rounds on lightly oiled stainless steel baking pan (preferably with edges), place dollop of spinach mix in center, add crumbled feta cheese if desired, shape into triangles.  Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes until bottoms are golden brown.

GROUND BEEF FITAYERS: chop onions and garlic finely, saute in EVOO over medium heat until onions are soft, add ground beef, add spices to taste (the mint adds a really nice flavor).  Cook until meat is done.  Set aside.  Shape 8-10 rounds on lightly oiled stainless steel baking pan (preferably with edges), place dollop of meat in center, shape into triangles.  Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes until bottoms are golden brown.

I'm not sure why these tasted extra special, but I think it had to do with the extra special help I received in preparing them.

Try cooking with your kids....it's more rewarding than you might think, and it provides lessons that they will be able to use for a life time.

bil-hanā' wa ash-shifā' (Bon Appetit!)