Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Sixty One (Popeye Strikes Again!!)

Baked Farro with Fresh Ricotta and Mozzarella - Popeye Style - with Spinach

This weekend I visited one of my favorite stores in one of my favorite neighborhoods in one of my favorite cities....Teitels in Little Italy in the Bronx.  It was nice to have a new friend along - Tania - as we shared stories of parenting and the art of feeding our offspring.

As always, I loaded up on fresh made mozzarella (once you've had this stuff it is really hard to be satisfied by the mass produced supermarket variety), fresh ricotta, fresh parmesan and farro pasta.

I decided to make a new old time favorite - baked penne - but this time with a little influence from an old old time favorite - Popeye.   Baked pennette with spinach!

Ingredients:

One organic onion (finely chopped)


8-10 crimini mushrooms (thinly sliced)

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).  Soon you will be able to buy this on our website.

1-2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt (also soon to be available on our website)

Ground pepper to taste


1 TBL Organic sugar (optional)

1/2 bunch fresh spinach, carefully cleaned and rinsed with water and vinegar.  Coarsley chopped. 

One packages of FARRO pasta which you can now purchase at the Spelt Right store. 

1/2 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 mushrooms 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 Farro 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. Fold in the ricotta.  Fold in the spinach. Then sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake until bubbling on top. 

This meal was DEVOURED.  Can you imagine if we had Popeye to dinner?

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Sixty (Popeye Knew Best - Spinach As the Cure All)

Headache cure? Mom’s home cookin’!

Poor little Olivia never experienced anything like this in her 10 years.  A searing headache.  “It hurts so bad! I am going to get sick to my stomach!” 

Dad and mom inquired, “Olivia, what did you eat today?  Did you have any water?” 

These Spelt Right Doughs are READY to use

Breakfast=last night’s left over Mexican from local dive.

Lunch=mystery food from PS 123.

Snack from Aftercare = Candy?!?

Wednesday = CRAPPY FOOD DAY. 

CRAPPY FOOD DAY= Severe Headache. 

Mom needs to get back involved. 

Fast forward.  Mom made a bunch of Spelt Right Pizza dough today, brought some home and pondered an easy solution.  Spinach, onion and goat cheese fitayers! 

Ingredients:

Would Some PLEASE Send Me Some Decent Pans??

2 Spelt Right Pizza Doughs, fully thawed and risen

2 bunches of fresh spinach, rinsed with water (and vinegar for cleanliness), and spun

1 large onion

2 fresh lemons

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

Sea Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

4 ounce log of chèvre (goat cheese)

Directions:

Chop onions into fours, place in food processor and chop.  Place chopped onions in medium sized bowl.

Shaping the Dough Into Triangles

Make sure the spinach is destemmed, rinsed, and dried well.  Chop as much as you can in food processor until all is chopped.  Place in bowl with onions.

Squeeze lemons (remove seeds). Add to bowl.  Add in EVOO, salt and pepper.  Toss altogether.

Cut each dough ball into 8-10 even size pieces, shape into rounds about 1/8 inch thick.  Place rounds on well oiled stainless steel baking sheet, preferably with edges.  Spread about two teaspoons of chevre on each round.  Squeeze a small handful of spinach mixture in hand (about 2 TBLS) (this is to squeeze out some of the liquid - do this over the bowl), and place in center of dough ball.  Make triangle with dough ball.   Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes or until brown on the bottom.

THE CURE ALL

As a side, I put the remaining spinach “juice”, strained and rinsed chick peas, and about 3 cups of left over rice in pan on the stovetop, and tossed together until warm.

End Result?  An Un-Whining of a Whiney Kid.  Good-bye to a headache that we hope will be a thing of the past – as long as mom continues to cook and wards off the outside assault of bad food.


We should have listened to POPEYE. all along.  This spinach pie definitely served as a our cure all.


"He's Popeye the Sailor Man. He's Popeye the Sailor Man. He's strong to the finich cause he eats his spinach, he's Popeye the sailor man."  


Can you imagine what Popeye would have thought of these spinach pies?

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight (Test Question: To Diet or Not To Diet?)

Oye! Dieting. I haven't dieted in years. And here I am dieting. Little Ms. Thin has gained weight. Could it be the dreaded middle-age or too much imbibing or too many treats or perhaps, just not enough exercise? Or maybe, as they say in multiple choice tests, "All of the above." Despite my multiple choice test status, I still manage to make the family some pretty tasty meals that for now are in my category of eats as "None of the above."

Tonight's dinner choices?

a) Spelt Right Right Pizza made with Spelt Right dough on a perforated pan and topped with EVOO, blended with fresh garlic mashed with salt (with a mortar and pestle), topped with sauteed onions, steamed broccoli, fresh hand made mozzarella, and fresh sliced tomatoes. Soo good, but soo not the right choice for this dieting mom.

b) The side adornment is green salad with EVOO, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

c) None of the above

d) All of the above

Guess, I could modify my test answer to selecting, "b" rather than "c" and still pass the diet test. Let's see how long this lasts.

As for the directions, pre-heat oven to 450F, oil pan, gently stretch dough on pan, bake dough for about 5-7 minutes, remove dough from oven and top with all of the toppings. Bake at 450 for 15-20. Serve to your family and shut your eyes as they take their first luscious bite, and block your ears as they quietly say "yumm!"

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred Thirty-Nine (Spelt Pizza So Good: It Must Be Censored)

Here are two incredible recipes for Spelt Right Pizza - split in half made on one special dough.  

One half was made with the tomato meat sauce recipe provided in Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hunderd Thirty-Eight and topped with fresh mozzarella balls and shredded mozzarella/provolone mix.

The other half was adorned with fresh basil and fresh tomatoes from our neighbor and friends, Kendra (of Whimsy fame) and Will's phenomenal sprawling garden, plus garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh mozzarella balls.

This stuff was so crazy good that Will, also known as Billy Sweet the Chimney Sweep, described the pleasure of eating it in a term that must be censored from this blog.

But, I totally get it.  Sometimes, really good food, especially that made with your own hands (the pizza dough), and grown with your sweat (the veggies), and created by your own soul (the pizza), engenders such a sense of euphoria that the rest of the world melts away, and just for a moment, you are one with that culinary pleasure.

Quick Recipe - Thaw and Rise Spelt Right Pizza, Pre-heat oven to 450.  Lightly oil pan with EVOO.  Gently stretch dough on to stainless steel baking pan.  Top half with meat sauce and mozzarella.  Top other half with olive oil infused with crushed garlic and sea salt, sliced fresh mozzarella, slice fresh tomatoes, and cut leaves of fresh basil.  Bake until crust is crispy.

Eat slowly and enjoy every passing moment.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Thirteen: Guest Chronicler

Here's a recipe from a friend who allowed us to post it in our Lunch Box Chronicles.

"It's a recipe I've been using for years, and was originally designed for use with refrigerated crescent rolls. When I made it, I used one ball of dough... It's a little breadier than the original, but a whole lot healthier, too!"

Salmon/Tuna Turnovers

1 stalk celery
2 green onions
1 T butter or EVOO
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
3 T snipped parsley
freshly ground pepper
2 cans 6-8 oz tuna or salmon (wild or sustainably caught)
1 pkg Spelt Right pizza dough, risen as directed
milk
1 tsp poppy or sesame seed

Preheat oven to 425. In a small skillet cook celery and onion in butter or EVOO until celery is crisp-tender.

In a small bowl stir together celery mixture, cream cheese, parsley and pepper until smooth. Fold in salmon or tuna.

Make the triangles with the dough, approximately five of them. Divide the filling mixture among the triangles, fold up and seal the edges. Place on greased baking sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle with seeds if desired. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Substitution: I have chopped up mushrooms and used them raw in place of the fish for vegetarians. They are delicious either way! Would love to hear from the "thumbs" in your house...

Thanks to Diana for this great idea! We can't wait to try it ourselves.

- Spelt Right

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Twelve (Spelt Right Pita Rounds and Mediterranean Salad)

Pita Rounds (with a Mediterranean Salad)

The spelt pita is a great way to add something special to a meal or to use as a "pocket" for a cold sandwich.

Take one package of Spelt Right pizza dough. Let double in size in the bag. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Make 6-7 rounds, roll to 1/8 to 1/4 inch on board with finely ground corn meal (to keep it from sticking). Slide onto lightly oiled pan.

Bake until puffed and lightly browned! Here's how it looks through the oven window:

The beginning

Starting to puff

Puffed!


We made a Mediterranean Salad to go with the bread. This would be good in a small container in a lunch box or as a refreshing summer side salad. Yum!

Mediterranean Salad Recipe
Chop 3 small cucumbers, 2 fresh tomatoes (we used Backyard Farms), 1/4 c. Calamata olives. Combine.
Add juice from 2 fresh lemons, 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley, salt & pepper to taste. Mix. Eat it up!

Mediterranean Salad with Spelt Pita