Lunch Box Chronicles, Day One-Hundred Seventy One (On Being a Flexitarian - Vegetables with Chicken)

flex·i·tar·i·an noun \ˌflek-sə-ˈter-ē-ən\

Definition of FLEXITARIAN  (
source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flexitarian )

: one whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish

— flexitarian adjective

Origin of FLEXITARIAN

flexible + vegetarian

First Known Use: 1998

This recipe is dedicated to my formerly vegetarian, now flexitarian friend.   We both aspire to be completely meat free in our diets, but sometimes we just need a little comfort food – both for our bodies and our souls.

Baked Chicken with Vegetables, or in Flexitarain Lingo: Baked Vegetables Accented by Chicken. (adapted from A Taste of Lebanon by Mary Salloum)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 green peppers, de-seeded and sliced in rounds

2 large tomatoes sliced in rounds (field tomatoes are great for this)

2 large onions sliced in rounds
2 large zucchini sliced in rounds

1 large leek sliced in rounds

4 potatoes sliced in rounds

1 chicken cut up, or two-three bone-in breast of chicken

1-2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 tsp dried basil

4-5 cloves of garlic (crushed with salt)

1/2 bunch of fresh parsley (destemmed and chopped)

Set oven at 400F.  Wash and dry chicken (I do this by cleaning with salt and then rinsing – taught to me by my mother and grandmother).  Place all vegetables and chicken in roasting pan.  Add oil and all remaining ingredients.  Coat vegetables and chicken with oil, herbs, and spices.  Cover roasting pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until chicken is tender.

This is an easy comfort meal.  Perfect with Spelt Right rosemary bread - toasted with EVOO.  The kind of food to enjoy after weathering a storm.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Ninety-Two (Goat Cheese, Fresh Basil and Tomato Fitayer)

What's with the Eight Ball?  Well, late August and early September have been record breakers for heat in Maine and we simply could not stand eating in our kitchen.  It was too darn hot!  So, after making some lovely fitayers and heating up the kitchen a bit with the oven, we headed down to the basement and had dinner on our pool table.   Much cooler down there.

Preheat oven to 450 F

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (fully thawed and risen inside of bag), fresh basil, 1-2 fresh tomatoes, soft goat cheese.



Divide dough, make 6-8s, stretch or roll to 1/4 inch thick, place on lightly oiled baking pan. About 4-6 will fit on pan. Spread about 2 teaspoons of goat cheese in center of dough, add chopped tomatoes and basil, make triangle with dough. Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.