Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred Forty-Two (Special Person Day: Banana, Applesauce, Orange Juice Spelt Cake)

This special recipe is for special person day.  

Last week we had special person day for the 4^th graders at Olivia’s school.

She had a hard time choosing between her dad and me, but finally came to the conclusion that we both warranted a “special person” title.   I felt privileged!  As special people, we were treated to a personalized reading session, a tour of the classroom, and being served treats by our daughter.  I was moved that the feature in Olivia’s Newspaper was about Spelt Right Baking Company.  Despite her protestations about the time I spend on the company, there seems to be a special place in her heart for this  family endeavor. 

 All in all it was a pretty special day.

Here is the cake we made for special person’s day. 

Banana, applesauce, orange juice spelt cake.  So moist!

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup brown sugar (we use organic)

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups whole grain VITA SPELT flour
1 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda

1/4 cup orange juice

1-2 ripe bananas

1/2-3/4 cup applesauce (we used this because we ran out of bananas and it turned out to be a fantastic modification to the recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs.  Add dry ingredients, and then mix in mashed bananas, applesauce and orange juice.   Mix well.  Bake in 9 x 12 well butter glass pan, or in loaf pan.  Bake for 30-40 minutes in glass pan or 45 min-1hr in loaf pan.  Enjoy!   This is really really moist, and surprisingly light for a whole grain cake.

A Day To Remember: A Friend, A Nation, A Cause

As with a year ago, I have a little to say about cooking or baking, but rather I reflect upon a day that will forever be engraved in the US History books as a day that 21st Century Americans lost their sense of invincibility.  It is also a day in which the absolute good and the absolute evil of humankind collided.  And, finally, as a day in which I lost a friend, one whom I had not seen for years, but whose family made a lasting impact on my life.

I was but one beneficiary of many of the generosity of the Goodrich Family of Bennington, VT.   Parents Don and Sally, and siblings Foster and Kim, lost their child/brother, Peter, to the events of 9/11.  Before and since that time, however, the world has benefited from the Goodriches' generosity, sense of humanity, and kindness.  The world, yet, was hit another blow with loss of Sally in December 2010.  She led a strong fight, but cancer eventually took her body.  Her soul remains in the many whom she has nurtured and guided.  I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones who has had this angel touch my life.

To read more about this remarkable family, please see The Peter M. Goodrich Foundation website.

Peace to All.

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-Seven (On The Need To Metamorphose)

Metamorphose (v. to change the form or nature of; transform)

That’s want I want to do. Metamorphose.  Not like the salesman in Kafka’s Metamorphosis that turned into a cockroach. But rather, sometimes, I wish I could just turn into my cat.  I get so grumble-y at this fur-ball.  No worries, no cares.  He comfortably nests into the clean basket of laundry without a modicum of consciousness that he just created another 2 hours of laundry.  No sense of parenting, work, cleaning, business development, dinner making, nothing, nothing. He just exists for the sake of existing.  Day, night?  Nothing matters.  Three a.m., saunter in through the bedroom porch slider, meow for the sake of meowing, scratch at the bedroom door to get out, scratch and cry again to get in.  Eat, sip on water, play with a mouse or two. Not a care. Not a worry. 

I am through!  I said to my husband tonight, I want the cats out.  His response?  “You want to get rid of this?”

Uggh, ok, I'm not that heartless, but I am tired.  Instead of doing away with the fur ball, perhaps I can just metamorphose.