Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred Thirty-Six (Vegan Eggplant-Chick Pea Stew, Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice)

This is one of my favorite VEGAN recipes.  It is adapted from “A Taste of Lebanon” by Mary Salloum. 

While there is not an ounce of spelt in this recipe, the Middle Eastern treat of combining cinnamon and olive oil surfaces not only in this delicious recipe but also in our Cinnamon Raisin Royale Spelt Right Bagels.

Eggplant-Chick Pea Stew (Bitinjan mah Hommous)

Ingredients:

1 large onion (finely to coarsely chopped)

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

1 16 ounce can of organic chic peas (garbanzo beans)(rinsed and drained)

3 1/2 cups of water

1 large eggplant

1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4  cup of tomato paste

Place onions and oil in saucepan.  Cook until onions are golden brown.  Add drained chick peas and water.  Cook for approximately 5 minutes.

Peel eggplant and cut into 1 inch cubes.  Add to chick pea mixture.  Add seasonings and tomato paste.  Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally until eggplant is tender.  May be served hot or cold.  Serve with brown rice.

I make my brown rice, by sautéing 2-3 gloves of garlic (mashed with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt) in about 3 TBL of olive oil, added 1 cup of brown rice and continuing sautéing until rice is slightly crisp.  Then add 2 cups of hot to boiling water.  Bring rice to boil, then lower heat and let simmer until done (about 1/2 hour).  Watch carefully because it might need more water.

This was a perfect easy dish after a busy Sunday doing a demo of Spelt Right Pizza at the Whole Foods in Portland.

It is possible, yet sometimes challenging, to make great meals for your kids despite a busy schedule.  While this may not look like a meal enjoyed by kids, my 9 year old devoured it with the request for a second helping.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.  PS, the wine is for me, not the kid.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred and Fifteen (Zucchini, Yellow Squash Vegan Pizza!)

Garlic - It makes the world go round.   Not only does this beautiful allium make just about every savory food taste better, but it also has some incredible healthful benefits - helping alleviate arthritis symptoms being one of them.

Here is a perfect garlicky vegan pizza.   Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough fully thawed and risen in its bag, one onion thinly sliced, 3-6 cloves of garlic (depending upon your taste and who wants to smell your breath), EVOO, 1-2 zucchini, 1-2 yellow squash, 5-6 mushrooms, sliced   On stove top, caramelize onions by sauteing them in about 1 TBL of EVOO until caramelized (sounds a little circuitous).  Set aside onions on plate.  In same pan, add more EVOO, sliced vegetables, and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 450.  Roll out or stretch pizza dough to full size.  Place on lightly oiled stainless steel pan.  Top with sauteed toppings.  Bake for 10-20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Ninety-Six (Vegan Tales by Jeffrey Remick and Steff DesChenes)

Here is a beautiful Spelt Right vegan pizza pictorial recipe by Guest Bloggers, talented photographer Jeffrey Remick and talented author Steff Deschenes.  Vegan Tales - A Pictorial Recipe of a Spelt Right Pizza Enjoy the recipe and if you ever need a great photographer, you know where to turn. Remick Photography

For the vegans out there....ENJOY!!!

Spelt Right Chronicles: Day Seventy-Six (Smiling Spelt Right Bagels by Steff D.)

Well, I typically do not post faces on this blog (have you noticed?).  Just hands and fingers and food, but I am making an exception here for Steff Deschenes, who posts her face on FACE BOOK nightly, opening her nightly dinner feats to her readers.  Steff is also the author of "The Ice Cream Theory," The reviewer in the Portland Press Herald is endeared to this book, calling it "a cozy, upbeat book that tells us a lot about people -- vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, even pistachio -- and how we often interact. Most of all, it offers fresh, insightful looks at ourselves. Seldom has a book with ice cream as its central metaphor been so endearingly warm."  AND, the book has won at least 10 indie book awards.   I haven't YET had time to read it, but it is at the top of my list. 

Steff is full of good energy, positive karma, and incredible drive for one who is 25 years young.   Imagine writing a book by 25 years young? 

Also, Steff is doing a little fund raising to help market her book.   Check out her site and, if you are so inclined, send her a buck or two or twenty.  Such good energy deserves support. http://steffdeschenes.blogspot.com/

Here's her Spelt Right Recipe for the night.

Cucumber and tomato sandwich with Vegenaise on a Sesame Spelt Right bagel.

PS:  Kind of curious that a vegan, or almost vegan, wrote a book about ice cream....more reason to check out the book.

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 Chronicles: Day Forty-Seven (VEGAN GLUTEN FREE KIBBEE, AN OXYMORON)

This recipe is undoing everything that is.  It is one mass substitution and I'm not sure it worked.  It is making Kibbee (which is a Middle Eastern Raw Lamb Dish) vegetarian, substituting red lentils for lamb.  And it is making Kibbee, which is traditionally made with bulgar wheat, gluten free by making it with quinoa.

The RED LENTILS work, the QUINOA really doesn't in this recipe.  I recommend if you can eat wheat to stick with the bulgar wheat, but if you can't, go for the quinoa.  The last time I made this recipe was about 6 years ago before I knew that Spencer had wheat sensitivities.  I haven't made it since, and I decided to make it today wheat free only to get the response from Spencer that the texture was really weird and he just couldn't eat it.

I'm not even sure what to call this, but the bulgar version has been called PARVE KEBBE NEYE by a group of woman in Brooklyn.  The quinoa version needs its own name.   IF YOU ARE VEGAN, you may really enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups red lentils
3 cups bulgar wheat or quinoa (prepared according to directions on product)
3 onions, chopped finely (can use food processor)
1/2 bunch curly parsley
4 scallions
1 large red pepper
1 large green pepper
3 fresh tomatoes
Crushed dry red pepper
1 can tomato paste
1/2-3/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste

Directions: Rinse lentils, place in pan covered by water.  Add in chopped onions.  Steam until soft.  Squeeze out any remaining water.   Prepare quinoa according to instructions (boil until they spring open).  Drain off and squeeze out excess water.   If using bulgar, soak until soft and then squeeze out excess water.  Chop all of the vegetables.   In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients, the lentils should still be hot.  Shape into torpedos and cool in fridge.  Serve with tahini sauce or cucumber yogurt dressing.lRecipe for Tahini Dressing and Yogurt Cucumber Dressing

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Thirty-Five (Vegan Spiced Turnip Wraps)

This recipe was pieced together from a handful of random recipes by Tim. It has a pretty distinctive Indian/African flavor and it is a little more involved than most of our recipes, but it's not really that hard. It needs a little work on the flavors (I think I overdid the turmeric) and I'll bet someone would have a suggestion on how to give it just the right twist to be really delicious.

I made this for my kids as a kind of thick stew over rice and used the leftovers (no rice) in the spelt wraps.

Ingredients:
3 small turnips, cut into small cubes
3 medium leeks, use the white part, cut into small rounds
3 medium carrots, cut into small cubes
1 small eggplant, cut into small cubes
1 medium onion
1 tsp ginger root, minced
1 can chickpeas (rinsed) - I didn't have time to soak dried beans
4 - 5 cups, vegetable broth
1 Tbs ground cardamom
1 Tbs ground coriander
1 Tbs ground allspice
1 Tbs ground cloves
1 Tbs fenugreek
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs cinnamon
1 Tbs black pepper
1 Tsp cayenne
1 Tbs sea salt
1/2 cup plain soy milk

Notes: I took all the peels from the vegetables and added to about 5 cups of water and boiled to make the vegetable broth. Pretty good!

Also, I didn't have all these spices, so I just picked up small amounts at the bulk section of our local natural foods store. Looks like alot, but it was pretty easy. Just blend them together in a small bowl with the salt and pepper.

How to prepare: Sautee the onions in olive oil until golden brown. Added ginger root and the spice mix. Then throw in all the other ingredients, except the soy milk. Cook for about 30 minutes on a medium heat - you want the turnips to cook all the way through. I had to add a little bit more veggy stock to keep it from drying out. Once everything is tender, take out about half the mixture and blend in a food processor. Throw it back in the pan with the soy milk.

This makes quite a bit, so have this as a meal with a spelt pita bread (see last post) or try it in a spelt pouch.

Stay tuned for a special treat from Emma and Adam, coming up soon!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Thirty-Two (Cinnamon rolls) Vegetarian Day 5

Thank you Emma and Nate for being the thumb models!

Here's is an easy recipe sure to please those with a sweet tooth. Do I hear Olivia?

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (fully thawed and risen in bag), organic cane sugar, organic Ceylon cinnamon (amazing type of cinnamon, but you can use any type), butter or natural vegetable oil.

Cut dough into 6 even balls. Roll each ball really really thin on corn meal or floured board. Lightly spread with melted butter or vegetable oil (if you want to go vegan), sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix. Roll tightly. Place on baking pan with edges (butter or oil will drip).

Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes or until looks ready. Let cool slightly. Cut into pieces. I tried to get a picture of these, but the kids ate them too quickly. Here's a photo of the empty plate!

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html

BTW, cinnamon is an amazing food. Eat as much as you can! TIDBIT FOR TODAY: Cinnamon has many health benefits. One quality is as an anti-bacterial...that's why cinnamon is swirled in bread and bagels and not mixed in. It will counter-act the yeast!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Twenty-Eight (ok this it, we are going to try to go VEGAN for the next 7 recipes)

I have heard much from our readers and have read so much about the benefits of a vegetarian diet (if done right) and I have never taken the time to make it really work for my family. The next seven days are going to be vegan recipes - no eggs, no milk, no meat, no processed sugar. I received a vegetarian cookbook for Mother's Day and just looked at the Vegetarian Times website which provides a primer for becoming vegetarian. Let's see how it goes! http://www.vegetariantimes.com/2007/pdf/vegetarian_starter_kit.pdf Recipe will be posted later today. I will be going to the So.Me.Vegan blog for ideas. Here we go!

Oh my goodness, I am arguing with myself! I'm just NOT ready to go vegan. I'll do lacto ovo vegetarian, meaning I will make recipes with eggs and cheese, but no meat.

OK, that has taken some of the stress out of it....I can now look at the chevre without too much guilt. Give me a few months, I might ease my way to veganism.....

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixteen (Walnut, Red Pepper Pies)

Before I post this recipe, I have to mention what a topsy turvy day this has been. > met some great people who have been very helpful along the way. Today has restored my faith in people - or at least some people. I will be posting some of my recommendations for doctors, engineers, bankers, etc., when I get through all of this....Will keep you posted. Will tell only the good, not the bad or the ugly.

As for the recipe, this is GOOD. An old time favorite. VERY VEGAN, except has a surprisingly meaty taste! and I believe Kosher too, PS, check out the article in today's Portland Press Herald on Kosher food, spelt right baked goods are mentioned as one of the few products http://www.pressherald.com/life/foodanddining/kosher-certification-can-open-up-new-markets_2010-04-28.html?searchterm=kosher

THERE IS AN ARABIC NAME for these, but I never learned it, so if anyone out there knows, please let us know. I call them Walnut, Red Pepper Pies.

Two Spelt Right Pizza Doughs, fully thawed, double in size (we'll give you a picture this time)
Two cups walnuts (measure and then chop finely)
Two medium red peppers
One onion finely chopped
Juice from two whole lemons
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix all ingredients (except dough) in medium bowl
Cut 12-16 even dough balls (from two doughs)
Stretch or roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick (more or less) rounds, place on oiled baking sheet
Place about 2 TBL of pepper, walnut mixture on rounds
Bake at 40-450 for 15-20 minutes or until dough is golden brown.

These are great hot or cold for breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, or after dinner. Yum, yum, and yum. Always a two thumbs up.

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!"