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!)

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred Five: New Year's Resolution: "Give PEACE-ZA LaChance"

It's been a month since I have posted on Lunch Box Chronicles.  So goes my attempt to post a recipe a day.   The reality is that LIFE is just too busy; sometimes self imposed craziness; sometimes just random craziness.  But the beauty of this blog is that I make up the rules!  So, I am still going to post 365 Recipes or Rants, but it is definitely going to take more than a year.  Be patient!  Some great recipes and recipe ideas are yet to come.

Speaking of which....holidays are always a fun time to try something new and celebrating New Year's with friends is a good time to explore some great food combinations.....like mixing spelt pizza making with fondue creating.   My favorite of the evening was a chocolate strawberry raspberry fondue cheese cinnamon and hot pepper flakes fitaya pizza thing.  OMG!  The flavors were amazing.

Steve's face says it all.  Our New Year's Resolution?  "Give Peace-za LaChance"

Ingredients:
Spelt Right Pizza Dough - fully thawed and risen.  A dough ball can make 8 fitaya triangles or flat pizzas
Freshly cut strawberries
A few fresh raspberries
Milk chocolate Guittard all natural chips (with REAL...as opposed to FAKE vanilla)
Ground Cinnamon
Red Hot Pepper Flakes
Fondue Cheese (Swiss and Gruyere) - buy it premixed


Instructions:


Divide the dough into 8 equal sized balls. Stretch or roll out pizza dough to about 1/4 inch thick on a lightly oiled baking sheet, place about 8-10 chocolate chips on dough, about two sliced strawberries, two or three raspberries, sprinkle with cinnamon and hot pepper, and add a small amount of cheese.  Form into a triangle.  Here's a link for specific triangle making instructions.  Repeat until all doughs are filled.   Place on lightly oiled stainless steal baking pan.  Bake at 400-450 until golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Let cool a little before eating!!  Enjoy the bursts of flavor!!!  And, GIVE PEACE-ZA LACHANCE.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Eighty-Three (Another Maine Ten Mile Trio)

The other day I indulged in another Maine Ten Mile Trio - made from ingredients all sourced within 10 miles of the Spelt Right Bake House.

Recipe/Ingredients:  Spelt Right Pizzettas with Olivia's Garden Pesto and Pineland Farms Feta Cheese

Directions:  Thaw and Fully Rise One Spelt Right Pizza Dough.   Preheat oven to 450 F.  If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven on the upper shelf.  Divide Spelt Right Pizza Dough into six to eight even balls.   Stretch or roll out.  I placed these on a pizza peel generously sprinkled with corn meal, but you can put this on a lightly oiled stainless steel baking pan.  Top with Olivia's Garden Pesto, and Pineland Farms Feta.   If using a peel, tip the peel toward the pizza stone, and gently persuade the pizzettas with a spatula onto the pizza stone.   If using a pan, place in the oven on upper shelf.   Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until done. 

The Tripartite Response for the Second Ten Mile Trio?  Yum, Yum, Yum.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Twenty-Two (Turkey Pot Pie!)

I am so lucky to have my mom. Today, I had more on my figurative plate than I could handle. So, what to do? Call mom! 84 and 1/2 and still there when I need her. We had a very large frozen Kosher turkey thawing in the extra fridge for days, but it just wouldn't thaw! We needed dinner and I had no time. Her directions to me: "soak that damn bird in a salt water bath in a clean sink, leave me directions on how to use your new stove, leave out the roasting pan." Result: came home after a frustrating day (did I mention my disdain for flood maps and banks?) to a house filled with the aromas of Thanksgiving! Roasted turkey, potatoes, carrots, the fixins' I'm blessed. Thanksgiving in May! After dinner, we rushed off to Olivia's concert to hear the K-2 kids singing and jazzing.

And after all that, I had a perfect idea for a Lunch Box delight - Turkey Pot Pie - Spelt Right style.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (fully thawed). Left over turkey, carrots, potatoes, peas, Vita Spelt flour, butter, gravy from left over turkey. Make a rue on the stove top with 2 TBL butter and 2-3TBL Vita Spelt flour, set aside. Chop 2-3 carrots and potatoes in small chunks, boil soft, add some turkey on the bone for flavor, salt and pepper to taste, remove bones, but keep in turkey, cut into chunks. Add rue and any left over gravy you might have (if your mom cooked a turkey for you), let broth become thick, add peas. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400-450F.

Cut dough into 6 even sized balls, stretch or roll to about 1/4 inch thick. I used a pizza peel this time covered with finely ground organic corn meal. Shape fitayas on pizza peel. Place two-three TBL of turkey mixture on dough ball. Make triangle shape (or any shape you can to close) Then gently slide on to hot pizza stone. I brushed these with butter when they were in the oven, but that is optional.

Bake until golden brown.

I was SO STUFFED from the turkey dinner that my mom made that I could not eat another bite. Solution? Ask Tim. His response, "if you want me to keep doing this, don't complain about my girth." Next solution? Ask the kids. Their ability to eat never ceases to amaze me. Response from the kids: "Yum, two thumbs up we want more." Answer from mom, "Enough for tonight, turkey pot pie fitayas for breakfast tomorrow!"

Good night.

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.