Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Sixty Six (Turkey Loaf: In Honor of the Bird)

So, the ground turkey from the Farmers’ Market lived on for another day. (Well ain’t that an oxymoron? How can a poor slaughtered and ground up bird live on?). Now, I’m making this very appetizing meal not so appetizing by thinking and articulating too much about the state of the deceased fowl.

In any event, all this rambling has gotten me off course for providing you a really good recipe for nothing else, but, tada! TURKEY LOAF.

Ingredients:

• One pound ground turkey breast (I bought the locally raised variety)
• 3 carrots finely grated
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1/2 - 1 whole bunch curly parsley, de-stemmed and finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, mashed with salt with a mortar and pestle
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Spelt Right breadcrumbs

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Mix together bread crumbs, grated carrots, chopped onions and mashed garlic. Add in eggs, blend well. Add in turkey meat (poor bird! I just can’t let go of it…maybe I should try vegetarianism instead of stressing every time I make a meat based meal). Blend well.

Place on well greased (with EVOO) 8 x 8 baking dish, or whatever combination you have. (see pics)

Bake for 45 min – 1 hour until fully baked. Enjoy, and please take a moment to the honor the bird that made this meal possible.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Forty One (Back-to-School One Day Special: Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies with Splash of Kahlua)

BACK-TO-SCHOOL creates an urgency to buy new clothes, sharpen pencils, and make cookies!

Yet, this back-to-school mode was of the “one day only” variety, kind of like a quick sale.  

"One Day Sale – Get A Pair of 50 Dollar Jeans for Only 10 Dollars – but ONE DAY ONLY!  Hurry in quickly, before you lose your chance!"

That was our back-to-school event.  One day only.  

Hurry in quickly, or nothing will get done around the house, including making those cookies for school lunches. But why worry about school lunches?  We won’t need them for another 4 days, because the kids are on vacation again.

Not only is this schedule throwing off my equilibrium, it just ain’t fair!

Although Hurricane Irene did not pack a hard punch in our town, her impact is nonetheless being felt.  School opening was delayed for a day, which meant that the elementary schoolers were back to school for a day on Thursday until vacation started again Friday.  No school again until Tuesday.

This Labor Day schedule is causing more labor for me.  What’s the point, really? Please?  Why the false start?

No time to complain; just make the cookies before the kids get home and vacation starts - again.  

Here’s a delicious recipe made with100% whole grain – my guess is that they will be devoured just in time for school to start – again.

Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Splash of Kahlua

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter - REAL BUTTER softened

1 and 1/2 cups organic cane sugar (this stuff has sooo much flavor)

2 TBL pure molasses

1/2 teaspoon baking SODA

2 eggs

1 teaspoon REAL VANILLA – (I used 1 TBL Kaluha because I was out of vanilla)

2 1/2 cups organic whole spelt flour

12 ounces all natural chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth.  Add sugar and  molasses.  Keep beating until smooth, add in eggs and vanilla.  Keep mixing.  In separate smaller bowl, mix together spelt flours and baking soda.    Beat flour mixture into butter mixture, slowly adding in the flour.  Stir in chocolate pieces.

Whole Grain Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in 375 oven for about 10 minutes.  Because these are spelt, they tend to flatten out.  Done when edges are slightly brown.  Transfer to a wire rack for cooling.   YUM!!

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-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 One Hundred Thirty-Eight (On Being Blunt - One Stunning Sauce on Spelt Pasta)

Blunt: adjective

3. (of a person or remark) Uncompromisingly forthright

Synonyms:

candid, forthright, frank….

Once in a while, everyone needs someone who is blunt…

Candid, Forthright, Frank….

I have the tendency to think that I can “do it all”:  build a business, manage a family, drive six hours at a clip, meet customers with a smile, hang out with friends, practice law, save the world…

But, there are the details I often forget – the details that I preach to others, but fail to practice myself – like getting enough rest, eating the right foods, taking iron and vitamins, slowing down just enough to get a glance in the mirror to gauge whether I am about to pass out or if I am ready to sprint.

I would like to think that I am Wonder Woman, but fiction is just fiction.  I lack super-human strength, the ability to fly, super-speed, and super agility, though sometimes, I do have super-stamina….until I crash….

And, when the crash happens, I am lucky to have a frank person in my life who becomes very blunt….

“You need to rest kid; the car runs only if it has gas in the tank.”

I heeded the frank advice, gave myself a few days to rest, and made a delicious recipe offered by one blunt ally in order to put a little gas in the tank.

RECIPE  - Homemade Grass Fed Ground Beef and Tomato Sauce Over Spelt Pasta

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 (from Maine)

1-2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt

Ground pepper to taste

6-10 leaves of Fresh Basil (chopped finely) (compliments of my neighbor Kendra)

One Package Vita Spelt Pasta

Put 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. 


Make pasta according to instructions.  Drain.  Put back in pan with 1 cup meet sauce.  Lightly toss.  Put pasta on platter.  Cover with delicious sauce.  Garnish with fresh basil.  Tonight, we will be putting the sauce over some Spelt Right Pizza Dough...blogpost to follow.


Response on the pasta dish from the five children roaming my not-so-quiet house?  "YUMMMM!!"

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred Thirty-Five (Spelt Right Pizza - The Perfect Time Traveler for Any Generation)

This is a collaborative piece from Gen Y’er (or millennial) and recent college grad, aspiring musician – Edward Sturtevant, Bates ’10, and Baby-Boomer – food entrepreneur, non musician, Beth George, Bates ‘85

         "The creation of a meal with new found ingredients is like composing a piece of music with new tones, notes, and tempo.

         You see, as a songwriter and band member for the Time Travelers, I am constantly pursuing what new, fresh, and effective elements to incorporate into my music.  Artists, whether in the recording studio, a painters loft, or family kitchen are constantly striving to find  “the next big thing” - the new captivating sound, the unique hue, or that subtle yet powerful taste that offers the audience a divine moment of perfection

         This creative spirit flows to all of our senses – including –our sense of taste.  When dancing with new (and healthful) ingredients, we are playing a song for our taste buds and harmonizing with needs of our bodies.

         On a mission to create art with food, I took the most basic element of the much-celebrated pizza: the dough, and replaced it with a new alternative: Spelt Right pizza dough, hoping (with a little trepidation) to open my eyes to more creative food choices, and my palette to a more nutritious, delicious dinnertime.

         This was a bit of challenge for my roommates and me.  The folks at Spelt Right Baking requested us to be to be mindful of the food we were consuming AND to create it ourselves.  In essence, were asked to be the composers of a symphony for Spelt Right dough – treating each topping as a member of an orchestra.

         Like a conductor with his baton, I started directing the ensemble – each ingredient an instrument in its own right – My roommates soon became the musicians playing the instruments.  Each new combination of toppings became a new song –

-       Goat cheese, tomato, red onion, and mozzarella (Gotta Get Your Goat)

-       Cheddar cheese, ham, broccoli, and mozzarella with tomato sauce (No Vegan For Me)

-       Mozzarella, red peppers, red onion, and bacon, with tomato sauce (Girl Put Your Pepper On)

As each pizza was carefully composed, and soulfully performed, we became more focused on the food and less on the process.   My roommates and I soon lost our roles as conductors and orchestra as we became distracted by the melodic aroma of baking spelt dough, melting cheese, savory onions, and sizzling bacon. We became focused on one thing only: devouring the pizza.

The results of the finished piece were delectable.  Dare I say, music to our taste buds?.  With each bite, I savored the  textured softness and wholesome sweetness of the spelt dough. 

Despite our original trepidation, the making of these pizzas was SO EASY. We simply switched the bland wheat dough for this incredible spelt dough. 

Great taste and good for you? How could the choice be any easier? 

My recommendation?  Indulge yourself, with the sumptuous symphony starting with Spelt Right Pizza."

- Edward Sturtevant

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred and Twenty-Three (A NY Bagel, Really??)

OK, this one is not a recipe, but rather an observation, or perhaps, a rant, about the state of what we call food in the U.S.  On a recent trip to NYC to introduce our healthful SPELT RIGHT bagels, breads, and pizza dough to people in the BIG APPLE with health challenges (diabetes, insulin resistance, inflammatory diseases, etc.) and to spread the word about good nutrition (ok, I am a bit of a proselytiser here), I happened upon a very curious object.

Please see the picture.

The colors drew me in and I felt compelled to buy it.  I just had to show this to my son Spencer, whose health and behavior were so adversely impacted by foods with common wheat (the typical NY bagel), and other foods with wild food colors (the not-so-typical NY bagel).  Once we cleared his diet of anything that eked of this bagel (including foods with common wheat and foods with artificial additives)  this dear child transformed from being uncomfortable and out of control, to healthy, happy, and easy going.  Food is IT!!!  It's one thing we all share in common....the desire to be fed well.

This THING is representative of the sad state of affairs we call a health crisis in the country.   Hey folks, it's a nutrition crisis!!!   A little sense goes a long way.

BTW, this colorful monstrosity is now like a museum piece!  Without any shellac whatsoever, this braid of artificial color and bleached/bromated flour is now like a stone.  It also contains bromates which are really bad for you!!!

Imagine what you would have felt like if this colorful sphere ended up in your stomach??   Perhaps the quintessential lead weight?   You might even say, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing...or, even took a bite."

My solution....eat spelt, your body will thank you.....You will have no regrets!!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred and Twenty-One (Green and White Spelt Right Pizza - in honor of the coming of spring)

I was very lucky to be invited by my good friend Kitty to a performance by Jazz/Blues Great Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters at One Longfellow Square in Portland.   The music transformative...the pre-show dinner, divine!

We made a green and white pizza on Spelt Right dough.  This Spelt Right dough is absolutely the best savory dough on the market....I might be a bit biased because I created the recipe, BUT, seriously it is so darn good that once you have it, you will not want to go back to the boring pasty wheaty dough.  I promise!

Green and white in honor of a winter that won't quit and a spring that is fighting furiously to break through.  This is what we see as we peek out our windows in Southern Maine: green and white.

And, so we made a pizza in honor of the season of purgatory - neither here nor there, neither spring nor winter, just some white and green, or green and white, depending upon your perspective.

Ingredients: GREEN chard, mushrooms, fresh garlic, salt and pepper to taste, EVOO, WHITE mozzarella and provolone grated cheese.  One SPELT RIGHT pizza dough.

Instructions: Fully thaw and rise Spelt Right pizza dough in its bag.  Chop chard, mushrooms, garlic.  Saute in EVOO until slightly limp, but not soft.  Lightly oil a stainless steel baking pan.  Stretch dough on pan until it full covers pan.  Sprinkle cheese over dough, top with veggies.  Bake at 450F oven for 15 minutes or until done.

RESULT:  A divine moment in purgatory.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred and Twenty (Spelt Coffee Cake the Answer to an April Fool's Snowstorm):

It just AIN'T fair.  Finally, we saw a glimpse of spring.  The brown beaten wet grass in our front lawn and the last remnants of polluted snow banks littered with tar and sand all sang the notes of spring to us.  We could hear it!  The kids even got to take out their bikes for a day or two.  The cats started choosing the out-of-doors, rather than their litter box, to deposit their cat duties.  It was glorious!

But, that all changed.  April 1, 2011, the day that makes us all FOOLS, brought us a whopper of a snowstorm.  School was cancelled, roads were too slick to drive anywhere, and Olivia - now almost 9 - was BORED out of her mind.

"Ahh, honey, please let me get just a little more shut eye...we can rest, stay in, keep on  our jammies."  No doing for this kid.  She was BORED, is BORED, and will forever be BORED, unless we figure something for her to do.

Well, I was NOT going outside.  I've had it.  I am not built for cold, but for some reason, I was born into a 4 season climate with long winters, and moved to 4 season climate with longer winters.  What's the matter with me?  I need to go south.  It is in my blood.

So, what to do?  Well, this almost 9 year old is an excellent reader, and an even better speller.  Just ask her?  How to you spell...PHENOMENAL...well, she'll tell you, and then tell you some more.

I said, let's make cookies...She suggested something better.  COFFEE CAKE...."O.K., Olivia, you get out the cookbook, follow the directions, and get to work."  And, that is what she did.   We modified the recipe just a bit to use spelt instead of wheat, and to make our own sour milk with milk and fresh squeezed lemon.  The result was an absolutely decadent coffee cake - phenomenal in fact.  The problem is our family of 5 ate the entire cake (with a few pieces to spare for some special friends) in less than a day.  Great cake, but we'll make this baby only once a year.  Too much sugar and fat for our daily intake...but once in a while, especially on such a FOOLISHLY snowy April's day, it is the perfect treat.

 Ingredients:
1 and 1/2  cups VITA SPELT organic white spelt flour
1 cup organic VITA SPELT whole spelt flour
1 and 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2/3 cup BUTTER
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon all spice
2 beaten eggs
1 and 1/3 cups of milk with 1-2TBL freshly squeezed lemon juice (let sit for at least 5 minutes)
1 cup chopped nuts (we used a mix of pecans and walnuts)
1-2 TBL organic molasses (optional)

Butter a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Set aside.
In a medium bowl. combine flour and brown sugar.  Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.  Set aside 3/4 of a cup for topping.
Stir in baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and all spice into remaining crumb mixture.
In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and lemon.  Add wet mixture to dry and mix together.  Pour batter into prepared baking dish.  Combine nuts with reserved crumb mixture, drizzle in molasses.  Mix together in crumb form and then sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

ENJOY!!!  Eat as you watch the snow gently coat the escaping vestige of spring.