Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Fifty-Four (The Five Star Alfredo Sauce Recipe Scratched on a Paper Bag)

You never know what you will find scratched on a paper bag.

My son, Spencer, and I were lucky to be the beneficiaries of a FIVE STAR alfredo recipe inked on said receptacle.

Spencer has been lobbying for fettuccine alfredo for several weeks. The problem is that he can't eat regular wheat without feeling really lousy, so going to an Italian restaurant is not an option.

Fortunately, we now live in NYC, one of the most gastronomically diverse cities in the world. And, we live close to one of the best neighborhoods for Italian provisions, Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

Shall I admit that I have become slightly addicted to the seemingly infinite supply of homemade pastas, fresh mozzarella and ricotta, imported cheeses, locally cured meats, and sinful desserts? Not to mention the wine, cappuccino, and friendly conversation?

On this President's Day, the family set out on an excursion to buy Italian groceries to make the coveted alfredo sauce. Destination? Teitel Bros. on Arthur Avenue.

We were headed there not only for the cheeses and imported butter, but for the farro (emmer variety) pasta. Farro is a concept "deeply rooted in Italian tradition." The term "farro" is reserved for three cultivated hulled ancient wheat species, including einkorn (farro piccolo), emmer (farro medio), and spelt (farro grande). The beauty is that we know that Spencer can eat each of these varieties without getting the modern wheat blues.

As I was searching for the farro pasta hidden behind other tempting provisions, the owner Ed, asked what I was looking for. I reminded him that I'm the spelt lady, who was in the week before, and was looking for the farro we purchased the other day. "Ohhh, the lawyer, I remember," he said. He moved aside the bottles of olive oil, and opened the gateway to the Farro Pasta. I felt like a hoarder as I stacked 6 boxes in my arms. "The kid wants fettucine alfredo," I said as I tried to clarify that I was not chowing down all the pasta myself.

"Would you like a recipe?" Ed inquired. "Mike here is an expert. He owned a five star Italian restaurant in NJ. He has the best alfredo recipe." Spencer beamed at me as if we had just hit the jackpot. "Absolutely," I said. As I tried to scratch down the recipe, however, Ed, Mike, and now John saw that my attempts to keep up with the recitation of the recipe was becoming futile. Mike took over, got a paper bag, and a pen, and unlocked the key to the secret of a divine alfredo sauce (see photo above).

Good thing Spencer was around as a second set of ears. I did not quite get all of the directions straight and the writing on the paper bag was slightly cryptic. Between the two of us, mom and son, we were able to decipher the alfredo recipe. The result was close to divine. For fear that I might not recite the recipe as it should be, I will reveal only the secret ingredients (fresh ground nutmeg, Italian butter, and an egg yolk) and you will have to go to Teitel's yourself for the recipe and the magic.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Fifty-Three (On Being Prepared)

Sundays are my days to prepare the

meals for the week.

Regardless of what I have penciled in my calendar, the week inevitably takes twists and turns and morphs into something completely unrecognizable from that which appeared on my calendar.

Is it just me? Or, does this happen to everyone?

Sundays are kind of like my emergency preparedness day – my kitchen looks like we are anticipating an ice storm or nor' easter or worse, but really I am just preparing for another predictably unpredictable week, two very hungry kids after long days at school, and two very tired parents after grueling work days.

Usually Sunday’s pickings can be rationed through Wednesday, sometimes they last through Thursday.

By Friday, we start foraging for berries, insects, and roots – luckily Sunday is not too far around the corner.

Making these meals is an adventure because NY offers a complete tapestry of food choices.Above, I am shopping on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the other "Little Italy" at Teitel's Italian Shop. I got some incredible cheeses and farro-emmer pasta (there are three types of farro - emmer, einkorn and spelt) there and cut a few deals on prices buying in bulk.

So on that particular Sunday, I made Chicken Parmesan, Farro Pie (which was essentially baked ziti, but I varied the recipe with fresh mozzarella and farro pasta), and Walnut Pepper Pies made with Spelt Right Pizza Dough. I just threw together the chicken parmesan so have no recipe to share, but the Farro Pie, and Walnut Pepper Pies are worth replicating. Here is the linked recipe for the Walnut Pepper Pies. And the recipe for the Baked Farro Pie.

Ingredients:

One organic onion (finely chopped)

4-5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped or minced with salt)

1/4 – 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Pomi – crushed tomatoes – all natural, no citric acid – in a carton (no BPA in packaging)

One Pound Grass Fed Ground Beef (optional)

1-2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt

Ground pepper to taste

6-10 leaves of Fresh Basil (chopped finely). Can use dried basil

Two packages of FARRO pasta (from Zeitel's). I used ziti and spaghetti because I did not have enough ziti (if you do this, note the different cook times)

One small container of whole milk ricotta

One half to one pound of natural mozzarella (shredded or pulled apart)

Instructions:

Place chopped onion and garlic in olive oil in large stainless steel pan. Saute until onions are brown. Add ground beef. Saute until browned. Add Pomi tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Add one teaspoon of organic sugar if desired. Stir all ingredients. Cook on medium low for 20-25 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Add chopped basil.

In the meantime, boil and drain pasta according to instructions on panel. Rinse, and then toss with extra virgin olive oil to keep from sticking.

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a 9 inch glass baking dish, spread a little of the sauce on the bottom to keep the pasta from sticking. In the sauce pan, toss the pasta sauce and pasta. When thoroughly tossed, place the pasta in the baking dish. Spread ricotta on top. Then sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake until bubbling on top. Guaranteed to be a hit with the kids.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty (S'Mores Spelt Right)

Spencer and Olivia had been asking for Spelt Right S'Mores for s'me time.  Well, s'mores are made with graham crackers (quite a surprising history behind graham crackers - go ahead research it.  I'm too bashful to fill in the details here), chocolate and marshmallow.  The problem is that our household has some significant food sensitivities (no common wheat here....I actually did make graham crackers with whole spelt once and they came out great).  Also, often the campfire marshmallows are usually loaded with artificial junk, so here we go improvising again.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (fully thawed and risen), one cup of Ghiradelli chocolate chips (we mixed milk and semi sweet chocolate bits) melted, and Natural Tiny Trapeze Marshmello Creme.

Instructions: Melt the chocolate on the stove top on low heat.  You can add a smidge of milk to the chocolate to loosen it a bit, but only a smidge.  Set aside.  Separate dough into 6 even balls (we used only two balls and used the remaining dough for some quick pizza).  Roll out dough until very thin, but not transparent.  Spread chocolate and marshmallow on the dough.  Roll (See photo).  Place on baking dish, bake at 350 until browned.  

These would have been good IF all of the goo inside did not ooze out.  You need to be sure to seal the edges and ends very carefully.   Proceed with caution.  Despite the mess, the kids enjoyed them.   I, on the other had, was a little grossed out....could it have been the little sticky fingers making the them or the oozing marshmallow and chocolate?  PS: We tried to seal the gaps with Cereal Os. 

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Fifty-Nine Spelt Right Shrimp Patty (Guest Chronicler Daniel M.)

This recipe offers a great southern twist to Spelt Right dough.  Daniel, who hails from southern Georgia, brought us this treat in corn bread several years ago.  It has an amazing bite.   He decided to give the recipe a try with Spelt Right dough.  It was wonderful!

The slight problem is that Daniel provided us the ingredients without clear instructions as to how to actually make it.   You have to understand that Daniel is an incredibly talented artist and his hands just magically create wonders without needing a clear set of directions to follow. Most of us, on the other hand, are slightly creatively challenged and need a little more guidance. Here's a link to Daniel's website.  http://www.danielminter.com/Welcome.html Do yourself a treat and browse through it.  You will feel inspired.

Ingredients:  One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (fully thawed and risen).  And, Daniel's art inspired recipe "cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers, red palm oil, and shrimp."  In an effort to try to 'frame' this work of art, our assumptions are that you chop and combine all of the ingredients (use reasonable amounts to taste) and saute in red palm oil.  Then place enough of the filling on a rolled out round of Spelt Right Pizza Dough and fold over, pinching the edges to prevent dripping.   Bake at 375-400 on baking sheet until browned.

REMEMBER, this recipe came from an intuitive artist with magical hands.  You may have to work in some of your own magic to reach the result you desire.

VOTE: DELICIOUS - two thumbs up.  Probably a recipe that best fits adults as the hot pepper gives it quite a kick.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Fifty (Dinner Out at the Pepper Club!)

I had every intention of making some great meal today for my family with Spelt Right Pizza dough.   Only there were a few stumbling blocks - or perhaps, a few thousand stumbling blocks (or bagels that is) that needed to be made and packaged (thank you Kip and crew).  Also, it didn't help that I forgot to thaw out a pizza dough.

My bi-weekly delivery of Everything Emma bagels to the Pepper Club in Portland, Maine gave me a novel idea.  Eat at the Pepper Club and give yourself a break.  What a great place, incredible food, and a wonderful deal. $21 price fixed for appetizer, salad, entree and dessert.  Everything at the Pepper Club is made with the best ingredients and with such care under the supervision of the owners Mary and Eddie.

Appetizer: Carrot and almond (??) soup.  Can't remember the details, but it was DELICIOUS. 

Entree: Almond encrusted salmon, brown rice, mesclun greens, and house made dressing (EXCELLENT, and I was even kind enough to save some for the kids whom we left at home :)!)




Dessert: House Made Key Lime Pie (Need I say more??)  This fine dessert was devoured on site and none made it home to the kids.


My review?  Five Stars.

Tomorrow night back home to the dough.

Kids are responsible for the recipe though as Mom will be back to her stumbling blocks.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty-Eight (Cranberries, Apples, Walnuts, Oh My! And, TOTALLY VEGAN)

Today we had a nice surprise with a visit from our friend Ana and her daughter Sophia.   Anna, Sophia, Anna's mom, and a friend from Sweden all visited the bakery while Tim, the kids and I endeavored to a get jump start on a busy week.  Lucky for Olivia, Anna brought her to the beach for the day while the rest of us toiled away.  I have to say both Emma and Spencer were incredibly helpful, though Tim reminded me I might have been a bit too grumpy with them.

After several hours, Anna brought the beach weary children back to our house and we had a feast of various pizzas and fitayers.   We made enough for a few days of posts.

We start with dessert first.   I was searching around in the depths of the fridge, freezer, and pantry for something interesting.  What emerged seemed promising.

Ingredients: 
1 Spelt Right Pizza Dough, thawed and fully risen
1 and 1/2 cups frozen cranberries
1 and 1/2 cups walnuts
5 Tablespoons Fig Paste (I love fig paste!)
1 apple chopped in several pieces

Directions:
Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until chopped, but not mushy.   Cut pizza dough into 12 even dough balls.   Stretch out dough in even rounds.   Place a heaping amount (2 TBLs? at least) of mix on dough.  Form triangles.   Bake at 400-450 F degrees until lightly brown.


Result:  YUMM.  Two thumbs up.  Both Anna and I thought the flavors and texture were reminiscent of haroset served at Passover (absent the bread of course).

Lunch Box Chronicle: Day Forty-Five (Falafel, tahini sauce, libani)(vegetarian)

I like to believe that I can replicate any dish I have tasted anywhere.   Unfortunately my wishes and reality don't always coincide.

On two trips to West Hartford, CT, I visited Tangier International Store and Middle Eastern Deli.  The falafel wrap is beyond worldliness  It represents the blending of best of the cultures of the City of Tangier, the store and deli's namesake.  The flavors are incredibly powerful and bold, yet subtle and light.

Back in March, my mom and I were the first to stumble upon Tangier on our way home from West Hartford.  It is an unassuming store in the corner of a flat building, but what lurks inside is almost magical.   The aisles are lined with packaged foods from the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Fertile Crescent and off to the side is a small lunch counter with a myriad of homemade Middle Eastern foods.  There were fitayers of all types, but none quite as creative as the ones in the Lunch Box Chronicles  I am sure they would have thought of it as blasphemous to stuff a fitayer with peanut butter and jelly.  Peanut Butter and Jelly Fitayer Post

I ordered the falafel.  My mom said she wanted only "a little bit" claiming she was much too full after all our day of sampling and noshing at Whole Foods.  After one bite, the "little bit" simply couldn't satisfy her.  And, being a nice, but not overly generous daughter, I did not intend on parting with another bite.   We just had to order another.  Our conversation on the four hour ride home inevitably turned to the falafel.  "Can you believe the taste?" "Does it bring you back to childhood?" "What were those incredible flavors?  "Did you taste the nana (mint)?" "Do you think we can make this at home?"

On a repeat visit to West Hartford in May, I insisted to my daughter Emma that she had to experience the falafel from Tangier.  "Oh mom," she protested, "I am still so full from the food at the Afghanistan Cafe and Hookah Bar."  She still thinks it is wild that I unwittingly brought her to a hookah bar.

I persuaded her to have just a bite of the falafel..."This is the BEST," she proclaimed.   I had already experienced the "only a little bite" from her grandmother a few months before and knew that my best bet was to wolf down the falafel before Emma had any ideas to ask for more.

It must be our cellular memories for food of our ancestors, but something about the combination of blended chickpeas, tahini and lemon dressing, yogurt and mint, sent us into complete food heaven.

My goal was to replicate this Falafel Utopia at home.  The result was not quite Utopic.

Ingredients: Spelt Right Pizza Dough, Premade Falafel or Falafel Mix, Tahini, Fresh Lemon, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Greek or Lebanese Yogurt (Liban), dried mint, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce.

Prepare Spelt Right Pizza Dough into pita bread on the grill Spelt Right Pita Bread Instructions

Prepare falafel mix according to instructions.  We used a wheat free version.  I think next time I will
l try to make it on my own.

Tahini Dressing.  Blend the following ingredient in a blender:

• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 3 gloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• enough water to loosen dressing
• dash of cumin (optional)

Yogurt Dressing: 8 ounces of Greek or Lebanese yogurt, finally chopped cucumber, 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of dried or finely chopped fresh spearmint, 1 garlic clove finely chopped and mashed.

Assemble all ingredients in a pita pocket made with Spelt Right dough.

Result: Not bad, the bread was better than that at Tangier, but the body of the sandwich couldn't compare.   Tangier's was so much more flavorful.  I am on a mission to recreate Falafel Utopia.  This isn't the last you will hear of my attempts.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty Four (Mediterranean Salsa, Goat Cheese, Heaven!)

Today's post is a result of yesterday's foraging trip at Whole Foods - Portland. In addition to running into Rosario sampling his pesto (see yesterday's post), I ran into one of the always friendly and helpful employees of Whole Foods, Shannon, who helped me locate another "topper" for the Spelt Right Pizza - the In-House Made Mediterranean Salsa. Thanks, Shannon! Great choice.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough - fully thawed and risen, Whole Foods In-House Made Mediterranean Salsa (cow's milk feta, olive oil, kalamata onions, sundried tomatoes, scallions, Italian parsley, dill weed, black pepper, and ????), goat cheese, caramelized onions, wilted spinach, grape tomatoes sliced.

Preheat oven to 450. Use pizza stone if you have one. If not, use a baking pan. Shape pizza (you can make six small or 2 good size or 1 large with the dough), spread on the Mediterranean Salsa, then layer on goat cheese, onions, spinach and tomatoes. Bake until done.

YUM!!!! This should be considered an AWESOME FACE pizza.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Thirty Eight (Guest Chronicler Emily- My Sore Feet Are So Thankful for Guest Chroniclers!)

Thank goodness for Guest Chroniclers. This recipe is from Emily B. who stopped by the bakery last week with her college pal, Samantha. Both are recent grads from Clark U. I loved speaking with these two young women: idealistic, passionate, smart. And, they helped console me (and mop up) as the sink pump was backing up!

Tonight there was a mill wide open house, music, art, food, drink, games, fun. The weather was smashing! The River spectacular! We saw so many new and interesting faces, and hopefully gained a few more Spelt Right fans.

My feet, though, have seen better days. Boy, are they complaining for having to work all day. Stood up for at least 14 hours today. Those little toes are tingling!

And, this is where my feet thank today's Guest Chronicler, Emily, because now all I need to do is sit and type, rather than stand and create.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough, thawed, fully risen.

As for the rest, you need to know how to shape and bake a pizza. Here is Emily's quote "We made the spelt dough with another friend for dinner on Wednesday evening and it was SO GOOD. I used garlic, scallions, blanched swiss chard & beet greens, parmesan & mozzarella, salt & pepper and an egg on top. See attached photo."

Although the instructions aren't very specific. You get the drift. And, an EGG, yes an EGG, cracked over the top of all of the ingredients and then baked. According to Samantha, Emily's friend, "The egg thing is awesome on pizzas!"

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Thirty-Seven (Goat Cheese Pizetta)

Well yesterday was much too hectic to post a recipe. Oh, I tried, but there was never a free moment. And then, there was the couch and a movie (with Olivia) and those options were just much more enticing. I actually lounged on the couch for an hour and a half. One rare moment.

Before I post the recipe, here is a bit of a public service announcement. There is a great article in the Portland Press Herald this morning on Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership, a Portland, Maine based non profit that has been doing relief work in Haiti for decades. This is a worthy organization and the needs are still many. (This is a link to their Facebook page)

Here is another recipe from the Scarborough High School Chroniclers - Emma and Adam.

Ingredients:

BASE: 1 Spelt Right Pizza Dough - fully thawed and risen - cut into eight even balls

SPREAD: 5 or 6 garlic gloves, 2 pinches of ground mustard (now, Adam's secret ingredient has been revealed), 1 Tbls dry basil, salt and pepper. If you know how to use a mortar and pestle put about 1/2 salt, 1/4 teas pepper and cut up cloves in and smash the heck out of them making a paste.). If you don't have one, I recommend buying one. It's a great tool!! (See picture)

TOPPING: 1 Red Bell Pepper - sliced in thin sticks (seeds removed)
1/2 large onion - sliced thinly in circles, cut in half
Silver Goat Chevre, garlic and herb (though I'm sure a LOCAL variety would be better!!)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
(With hands, mix the above ingredients and squeeze lemon juice on top of it. Be sure to not let goat cheese blob together (this is a technical term) and instead spread it evenly with the vegetables.)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400F.
Cut the pizza dough into 8 even sized balls. On a pizza peel or cutting board dusted with finely ground cornmeal or spelt flour, shape the dough balls to about 1/4 inch thickness (this is the kids' recipe, but mama would make it a little thinner).
Lightly spread the "Spread" on each pizetta. Place topping on spread/dough base. Bake at 400 on pizza stone or lightly oiled baking sheet until lightly brown on the bottom.
Let cool and enjoy!

Two thumbs up!

Check out the cornucopia created by these two teens! Impressive. Too bad we can't commission them to cook every night.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Thirty-Six (Berry Struesel - the SPELT RIGHT WAY)

This is one of the best recipes coming out of the Lunch Box Chronicles so far.

It is the brainchild of two Scarborough High School Seniors, Emma and Adam, no doubt destined for great things. They hatched the idea for trying their hand at the Lunch Box Chronicles a few weeks earlier. On Sunday morning, the two teens bounded off to Hannaford with a few bucks in their pockets and a mission to make something that would knock our socks off. They succeeded and several recipes emerged!

Olivia and Spencer looked on in anticipation of great treats to come, only to be gravely disappointed, when Emma and Adam decided to abscond with the feast they created and surprise a group of friends with some culinary delights. Luckily, they did leave a few morsels behind or chaos would have ensued!

Here is the first of three recipes to be posted by the newly anointed Lunch Box Chroniclers:

BERRY STREUSEL - SCARBOROUGH HIGH STYLE

INGREDIENTS

One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (Fully thawed and risen). See earlier pictures for details.

Struesel mixture
* 1/3 cup light brown sugar
* 1 and 1/3 VITA SPELT spelt flour
* 1/4 cup organic sugar
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 cup of old fashioned oats
* 1 stick butter.

Melt butter and then pour in a mixing bowl. Mix together all the other ingredients with the butter. Use hands to make a crumble struesel.

Fruit Mixture
* 1 quart of strawberries (slice into quarters)
* 1 pint blueberries
* 4 TBL organic sugar

Wash fruit and mix well with sugar. Let sit.

Cut the pizza dough into 8 even sized balls. On a pizza peel or cutting board dusted with finely ground cornmeal or spelt flour, shape the dough balls to about 1/4 inch thickness (this is the kids' recipe, but mama would make it a little thinner). Make a thick edge around the thin base to hold in the juices (almost like a pie)

Place fruit mixture into a pizetta and sprinkle a good amount of the struesel mixture over the fruit.

Place on well oiled baking pan. Bake in 375 pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until looks done.

Let cool and enjoy!!!

Lunch Box Chronicle Day Thirty-Three Perfect Pleasant St. Pizza!!! (Vegetarian Day 6):Guest Chronicler Elaine

This is the BEST recipe EVER, compliments of my sister Elaine (Warning!! It is very rich and I would recommend having just one piece, though you might be tempted, like I did, to have three)

1 pkg of spelt right dough fully thawed and doubled in size

Lightly olive oil a large cookie sheet

Spread dough out on cookie sheet - very thin (see picture)

Place in pre heated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes to pre-cook the crust (Elaine likes crusty crust)

While it's pre-baking slice up 4 large tomatoes (back yard beauties)

Slice 6 portabella mushrooms

Slice 6 white button mushrooms

Slice one large white organic onion

In a large frying pan caramelize onions, then add mushrooms

Wilt 5 0z of fresh organic spinach by placing it in the microwave for 1 minute

Throw the spinach in with the caramelized vegetables granulated garlic and sea salt

After removing the pre-cooked crust from the oven lie the sliced tomato's down so they cover the crust

Sprinkle the caramelized vegetables on top of the tomatoes

Then add 6 oz of crumbled feta

Then add 6 oz of crumbled goat cheese

Sprinkle Romano cheese on top

Then add 8 oz of Cabot mozzarella cheese on top

Pre heated oven to 500 degrees

Cook for 10-15 minutes!

Let sit for five minutes before serving!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Twenty-One (Basil, Tomato and Mozzarella Triangles)

I was supposed to have a quiet day, sending out samples, gearing up for the week, but no...it just can't be that way. Still battling bureaucracy and not happy about it. Had to put my lawyer hat on today to argue about the interpretation of maps and contracts and such. I'd rather have the baker's cap on, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

After putting together my airtight argument (so I think), I decided to leave the computer behind and hang out with Spencer for a bit today. What a nice kid! We went to Yosaku, one of our favorite Japanese restaurants and headed off to Whole Foods to shop. He was thrilled to see that our pizza doughs had sold out in the freezer and were almost gone in the fresh shelf. I told him I needed some ideas for a fitaya, so we went foraging.

He had a hankering for fresh basil (we used Olivia's Garden's from New Gloucester), fresh mozzarella (we went for the Whole Foods brand, though he was really pushing for the brand from Bennington, Vermont - next time), and Backyard Beauty Tomatoes.

Good thing we had Spelt Right pizza dough at home because by the time we left Whole Foods, they were cleared out....

Ingredients: One bag of Spelt Right pizza dough, fully thawed, 1 ripe tomato, a few leaves of Olivia's Garden Fresh Basil, Mini Mozzarella balls. Make 12 small rounds and roll or stretch until thin, but not too thin. Place on lightly oiled baking pan. Place one small mozzarella ball in center add finely chopped basil and tomatoes if desired. Make triangles. Bake at 400-450 for 8-12 minutes until done. These were delicious, but I was too stuffed from dinner out to take more than a bite. Perfect for breakfast tomorrow.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Fourteen-Guest Chronicler

Here are some recipes by a loyal and creative follower, who is offering some ideas with VEGAN INGREDIENTS. "I was inspired by your blog post on making
pocket sandwiches with your dough. I made a couple different styles,
both vegan. One contains broccoli, red onion, and Daiya cheddar
cheese (Vegan, vegan!). The other is with baby bella mushrooms, baked marinated
(local) Lalibela Farm tempeh, also with Daiya cheddar (vegan, again).
...... Thanks so much for what you do. I'm an avid consumer
of the pizza dough as well as the bagels. Yum!"

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One (Sloppy Joe Spelt Right Fitayas)

Let the project begin! Here is the first day of the Lunch Box Chronicles. No, we are not trying to be Julie in Julia and Julie - though the idea did give us a little boost.

We are trying to help parents and kids climb out of the doldrums of boring homemade school/home lunches and the disgusting highly processed school provided lunches. We are a family with a strict eating code: No artificial anything, no way, no how!







We are turning lunches into a slight geometry lesson. You need to know how to make a triangle out of dough (we prefer Spelt Right dough). We will use only ALL NATURAL ingredients and will endeavor to create 365 different lunch TRIANGLES for your sweet little ones! Sometimes, these lunch triangles may morph into a dinner triangle or a dessert triangle.

Our rating system is evolving, but we will start with two thumbs up for really good, one thumb up for pretty good, one thumb sideways for ok, but not worth the effort, and one thumb down for totally don't try this one.

DAY ONE: Sloppy Joe Fitayers. Ingredients: Every recipe starts out with two thawed one pound Spelt Right pizza doughs (you can use your own dough, but this is a little self promotion here). See the picture on how the dough should be thawed. Each recipe varies by what is stuffed inside. The stuffing for this recipe is 4-8 ounces grass fed ground beef (we like local), 1/2 onion chopped finely, 2 TBL extra virgin olive oil, a few tablespoons of your favorite pasta or pizza sauce (we used Enrico's this time), grated mozzarella cheese.

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil, add ground beef until fully cooked, mix in tomato sauce. Set aside. The dough balls can be cut into 6 good size or 12 small size balls. Lightly oil a cookie sheet or other flat cooking pan. Stretch out or roll dough balls to about 1/4 inch thick. Scoop 2 teaspoonfuls (more or less) of meat mixture on to dough ball, sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese. Shape into triangles (see pictures). (We are tricking you here because the photo is with stuffed spinach...that's the only picture we had at the moment, but wanted to show you the process)

Bake on cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 450 F. Done when brown. Can be refrigerated or frozen and reheated in toaster oven or microwave.

Judges today: Spencer - age 12, two thumbs up; Olivia -age 8, two thumbs up; Tim age - 49, one thumb sideways.....Simply not juicy enough for Tim, but the kids loved them! PS We made these for dinner, but think they would work great in a lunch box, especially if they have a chance to heat them up!

PS: We love suggestions....especially as we go along.