Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Sixty Two (Eggplant Whateva' Text Style)

This is called a text recipe. 


It is from a friend from whom I often request quick recipes.  I have modified it to make it slightly less criptic.  Hope you enjoy.


Message:  Any ideas for quick recipes with leftover fresh mozzarella and fresh ricotta?


Reply: peel slice eggplant....flour [with Vita Spelt] and egg the slices...fry lightly in olive oil...drain...place pomi [homemade tomato sauce] in pan....layer in cheeses [fresh mozzarella, fresh ricotta from Teitel!]...eggplant...top off with pomi,grated cheese and mozzarella...cover and cook slowly or put bake pan in oven (at 350F for about 20-30 minutes)....bon apitito.

Reply:  TY Wz Gd, CU later.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred Forty (On the Edge: Food for A Crowd)

We have had so many kids around the house this weekend that I have lost count - maybe 5 or 6 or 7.

The number keeps fluctuating.  We have two young overnight guests due to their parents being on vacation, and sundry other tykes who roam through the neighborhood and weave in and out of our house.

The big topic for the overnight guests is will they ever get to go home again given all the anxiety around Hurricane Irene.

Regardless of the uncertainty of the hurricane, one thing that I know for sure is that I need to keep feeding them.

In all this making and baking, I forgot what we had for yesterday's lunch, but for dinner I made homemade pizza and grilled chicken with rice, sliced cucumbers with rice vinegar, and salad with homemade balsamic dressing.  Breakfast this morning was spelt waffles (with a little rum, because I ran out of vanilla).  For lunch, I made an incredible vegan dish and forced the most skeptical of the younger crew to "just TRY it!"  For the most part, they liked it, though I did witness a few selective fork maneuvers in which certain "green things" were strategically left at the edge of the dish.

Tonight was a potpourri of leftovers as I was tapped out energy.   The "green stuff again?" one desperate 9 year old pleaded.  "Yep, kid, along with the left over grilled chicken and Spelt Right pizza from last night."  I did manage to find a few scraps of greens for a new salad.

As for the Green Stuff, it really is a marvelous recipe:

Eggplant, Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Chick Pea Stew

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 cups of water

1 large eggplant

1 medium sized zucchini

1 medium sized summer squash

10-12 cherry tomatoes, sliced in fours

1 1/2- 2 teaspoons of sea salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

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.  Cut up summer squash and zucchini.  Cut up tomatoes. Add vegetables to chick pea mixture.  Add seasonings.  Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally until eggplant and vegetables are tender.  May be served hot or cold.  

Serve with rice and try to hide the green stuff.

Delicious Dish Despite the Green Stuff

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 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-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 Twenty (Dinner Fare)

We did a 5 hour one way trip (with a quick overnight) with two travel weary children, a quiet Grandma, and car packed with luggage and Spelt Right bagels.

We journeyed to Bennington, Vermont in order to attend a celebration to top all others honoring our friends the Goodriches, who lost their son, Peter, in 9/11, and took this horrific event as an opportunity to change the world working toward peace. They are inspiring beyond words as they work to educate the world on the roots of misunderstanding and hatred and personally "adopt" children from Afghanistan in an effort to create a peaceful world. http://www.goodrichfoundation.org/ (If you are able, this organization is worth a donation. Real people! Real results!)

I am one of the lucky beneficiaries of the Goodriches' passion and compassion long before the tragic events of 9/11 revealed to the world Don and Sal's beauty and benevolence. They were my guardian angels who encouraged me to go to college and then to law school. With my own parents very unfamiliar with the college application process, Don and Sally guided me along as they drove me through New England, with their young sons Peter and Foster in tow, visiting college after college, until I landed at Bates, where Peter also eventually attended. Bates now is also a beneficiary of their good works.

Arrived home Sunday with no plan for dinner, an unthawed turkey, little ambition, and a hungry family. Although I was quite touched by the weekend, I was quite exhausted by the trip and dinner was not what I would have chosen as my first deed. But, the kids were hungry....

Thank goodness I learned how to sweat vegetables the other day.

Dinner: Brown rice (first sauteed the rice with garlic and EVOO and then added the water), eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms (sweated -see earlier post for details on "how to", and then topped with EVOO mixed with garlic and salt paste), potatoes diced into small cubes and roasted in oven with EVOO, salt and pepper, homemade yogurt from Live Well Cafe in Kennebunk, salad made with chopped tomatoes, a rinsed can of organic garbanzo beans, chopped parsley, mint (optiona;), fresh lemon, EVOO, salt and pepper to taste. Fried eggs.

Lots of EVOO today.

See picture for way to serve. It worked, family went to bed satisfied. My plans tomorrow? Grocery shopping. My creativity for near empty cupboards and fridge is waning.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Eighteen (Eggplant, Zucchini, Goat Cheese, Tomato Triangles)

Tonight we created a complete feast with varieties of pizzettes and fitayas. Recipe for tonight: Eggplant, zucchini, mushroom, tomato, mozzarella, herbed goat cheese fitaya.

Well, I learned something new today. Sweating vegetables. A friend from England visited and showed me how to sweat eggplant, zucchini (known as Courgette in England), and mushrooms. (Thank you, Natalie, or Nellie as they say in some parts)

Directions for sweating vegetables: slice eggplant, zucchini, and mushroom (all separately), place in dry hot pan on stove top, brown on one side and on the other until soft, drizzle with olive oil (not too much), add garlic, salt, spices to taste. (Set aside)

Ingredients: Two Spelt Right pizza doughs, double in size (you know the drill, one egg plant, two small zucchinis, 5-6 mushrooms, goat cheese, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes.

Sweat vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms), one type at a time. Set aside. Cut tomato into small chunks, set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 F

Divide dough, make 12-16 rounds, stretch or roll to 1/4 inch thick, place on lightly oiled baking pan. About 4-6 will fit on pan. Place veggies of choice (I recommend 1-3 varieties of sweated veggies plus a little bit of tomato for moisture) in center of dough, add desired cheese, make triangle with dough. Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

All guests gave this a two thumbs up. Olivia wouldn't try it (she went for the plain pizza), Spencer liked it, especially the eggplant. Still my favorite are the pepper pies (earlier post).

Definitely for a dinner party, not lunch because needs to be reheated.