Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty-Eight (Cranberries, Apples, Walnuts, Oh My! And, TOTALLY VEGAN)

Today we had a nice surprise with a visit from our friend Ana and her daughter Sophia.   Anna, Sophia, Anna's mom, and a friend from Sweden all visited the bakery while Tim, the kids and I endeavored to a get jump start on a busy week.  Lucky for Olivia, Anna brought her to the beach for the day while the rest of us toiled away.  I have to say both Emma and Spencer were incredibly helpful, though Tim reminded me I might have been a bit too grumpy with them.

After several hours, Anna brought the beach weary children back to our house and we had a feast of various pizzas and fitayers.   We made enough for a few days of posts.

We start with dessert first.   I was searching around in the depths of the fridge, freezer, and pantry for something interesting.  What emerged seemed promising.

Ingredients: 
1 Spelt Right Pizza Dough, thawed and fully risen
1 and 1/2 cups frozen cranberries
1 and 1/2 cups walnuts
5 Tablespoons Fig Paste (I love fig paste!)
1 apple chopped in several pieces

Directions:
Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until chopped, but not mushy.   Cut pizza dough into 12 even dough balls.   Stretch out dough in even rounds.   Place a heaping amount (2 TBLs? at least) of mix on dough.  Form triangles.   Bake at 400-450 F degrees until lightly brown.


Result:  YUMM.  Two thumbs up.  Both Anna and I thought the flavors and texture were reminiscent of haroset served at Passover (absent the bread of course).

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty-Seven (VEGAN GLUTEN FREE KIBBEE, AN OXYMORON)

This recipe is undoing everything that is.  It is one mass substitution and I'm not sure it worked.  It is making Kibbee (which is a Middle Eastern Raw Lamb Dish) vegetarian, substituting red lentils for lamb.  And it is making Kibbee, which is traditionally made with bulgar wheat, gluten free by making it with quinoa.

The RED LENTILS work, the QUINOA really doesn't in this recipe.  I recommend if you can eat wheat to stick with the bulgar wheat, but if you can't, go for the quinoa.  The last time I made this recipe was about 6 years ago before I knew that Spencer had wheat sensitivities.  I haven't made it since, and I decided to make it today wheat free only to get the response from Spencer that the texture was really weird and he just couldn't eat it.

I'm not even sure what to call this, but the bulgar version has been called PARVE KEBBE NEYE by a group of woman in Brooklyn.  The quinoa version needs its own name.   IF YOU ARE VEGAN, you may really enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups red lentils
3 cups bulgar wheat or quinoa (prepared according to directions on product)
3 onions, chopped finely (can use food processor)
1/2 bunch curly parsley
4 scallions
1 large red pepper
1 large green pepper
3 fresh tomatoes
Crushed dry red pepper
1 can tomato paste
1/2-3/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste

Directions: Rinse lentils, place in pan covered by water.  Add in chopped onions.  Steam until soft.  Squeeze out any remaining water.   Prepare quinoa according to instructions (boil until they spring open).  Drain off and squeeze out excess water.   If using bulgar, soak until soft and then squeeze out excess water.  Chop all of the vegetables.   In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients, the lentils should still be hot.  Shape into torpedos and cool in fridge.  Serve with tahini sauce or cucumber yogurt dressing.lRecipe for Tahini Dressing and Yogurt Cucumber Dressing

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty-Six (Spelt Waffles - Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner!)

The Best-Ever Spelt Waffles

1 cup VITA SPELT white spelt flour
3/4 cup VITA SPELT whole spelt flour
2 TBL organic cane sugar
1 TBL baking powder
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon real vanilla

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder.  Make a well in the center and set aside

In a separate bowl,mix together the milk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla.  Make sure that the butter is melted, but not hot because you don't want it to cook the eggs.

Put the liquid mixture in the well of the dry mixture and mix until it all moistened.  Don't over mix.

Put 1/2 cup of mixture onto waffle iron.

You can double the recipe and freeze left over made waffles.  The left over waffles can be toasted for an easy breakfast.

Lunch Box Chronicle: Day Forty-Five (Falafel, tahini sauce, libani)(vegetarian)

I like to believe that I can replicate any dish I have tasted anywhere.   Unfortunately my wishes and reality don't always coincide.

On two trips to West Hartford, CT, I visited Tangier International Store and Middle Eastern Deli.  The falafel wrap is beyond worldliness  It represents the blending of best of the cultures of the City of Tangier, the store and deli's namesake.  The flavors are incredibly powerful and bold, yet subtle and light.

Back in March, my mom and I were the first to stumble upon Tangier on our way home from West Hartford.  It is an unassuming store in the corner of a flat building, but what lurks inside is almost magical.   The aisles are lined with packaged foods from the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Fertile Crescent and off to the side is a small lunch counter with a myriad of homemade Middle Eastern foods.  There were fitayers of all types, but none quite as creative as the ones in the Lunch Box Chronicles  I am sure they would have thought of it as blasphemous to stuff a fitayer with peanut butter and jelly.  Peanut Butter and Jelly Fitayer Post

I ordered the falafel.  My mom said she wanted only "a little bit" claiming she was much too full after all our day of sampling and noshing at Whole Foods.  After one bite, the "little bit" simply couldn't satisfy her.  And, being a nice, but not overly generous daughter, I did not intend on parting with another bite.   We just had to order another.  Our conversation on the four hour ride home inevitably turned to the falafel.  "Can you believe the taste?" "Does it bring you back to childhood?" "What were those incredible flavors?  "Did you taste the nana (mint)?" "Do you think we can make this at home?"

On a repeat visit to West Hartford in May, I insisted to my daughter Emma that she had to experience the falafel from Tangier.  "Oh mom," she protested, "I am still so full from the food at the Afghanistan Cafe and Hookah Bar."  She still thinks it is wild that I unwittingly brought her to a hookah bar.

I persuaded her to have just a bite of the falafel..."This is the BEST," she proclaimed.   I had already experienced the "only a little bite" from her grandmother a few months before and knew that my best bet was to wolf down the falafel before Emma had any ideas to ask for more.

It must be our cellular memories for food of our ancestors, but something about the combination of blended chickpeas, tahini and lemon dressing, yogurt and mint, sent us into complete food heaven.

My goal was to replicate this Falafel Utopia at home.  The result was not quite Utopic.

Ingredients: Spelt Right Pizza Dough, Premade Falafel or Falafel Mix, Tahini, Fresh Lemon, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Greek or Lebanese Yogurt (Liban), dried mint, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce.

Prepare Spelt Right Pizza Dough into pita bread on the grill Spelt Right Pita Bread Instructions

Prepare falafel mix according to instructions.  We used a wheat free version.  I think next time I will
l try to make it on my own.

Tahini Dressing.  Blend the following ingredient in a blender:

• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 3 gloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• enough water to loosen dressing
• dash of cumin (optional)

Yogurt Dressing: 8 ounces of Greek or Lebanese yogurt, finally chopped cucumber, 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of dried or finely chopped fresh spearmint, 1 garlic clove finely chopped and mashed.

Assemble all ingredients in a pita pocket made with Spelt Right dough.

Result: Not bad, the bread was better than that at Tangier, but the body of the sandwich couldn't compare.   Tangier's was so much more flavorful.  I am on a mission to recreate Falafel Utopia.  This isn't the last you will hear of my attempts.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty Four (Mediterranean Salsa, Goat Cheese, Heaven!)

Today's post is a result of yesterday's foraging trip at Whole Foods - Portland. In addition to running into Rosario sampling his pesto (see yesterday's post), I ran into one of the always friendly and helpful employees of Whole Foods, Shannon, who helped me locate another "topper" for the Spelt Right Pizza - the In-House Made Mediterranean Salsa. Thanks, Shannon! Great choice.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough - fully thawed and risen, Whole Foods In-House Made Mediterranean Salsa (cow's milk feta, olive oil, kalamata onions, sundried tomatoes, scallions, Italian parsley, dill weed, black pepper, and ????), goat cheese, caramelized onions, wilted spinach, grape tomatoes sliced.

Preheat oven to 450. Use pizza stone if you have one. If not, use a baking pan. Shape pizza (you can make six small or 2 good size or 1 large with the dough), spread on the Mediterranean Salsa, then layer on goat cheese, onions, spinach and tomatoes. Bake until done.

YUM!!!! This should be considered an AWESOME FACE pizza.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty-Three (Rosario's Pesto and Spelt Right Pizza Dough)

I was foraging in Whole Foods - Portland, MAINE trying to drum up some ideas for the Lunch Box Chronicles. Lucky for me, I ran into Rosario (I have no idea his last name) who who was sampling his wheat pizza dough and pesto sauce that he sells at Whole Foods and stores from Damariscotta, Maine to Portland, Maine. I asked Rosario if it was alright if I tested some of his pesto on Spelt Right dough and he was willing. I purchased some pesto along with some other ingredients to test on other recipes (Fig Paste (see Day Forty-Two Post) and Whole Foods In-House Made Mediterranean Salsa (will be posted tomorrow).

The result with Rosario's Pesto? Delicious! It made the crust crispy and flavorful.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (thawed and fully risen), Rosario's Pesto Sauce.

Preheat oven to 400-450. I used a pizza stone, but you can use a baking pan. Stretch or roll out pizza dough, spread Rosario's Pesto Sauce. Bake until done. Yum!! Two thumbs up!!

As a variation, I also added goat cheese, sliced grape tomatoes, and caramelized onions to one of the pies.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Forty-Two (Bananas and Pizza Dough??)

Thanks to Olivia, we have a very unique Lunch Box Chronicle for Day Forty-Two (though posted a day late). Olivia was on the computer and we were trying to persuade her to get off, which usually results in some sort of fit or another. Her response to divert our attention from her computer pursuits? "Just use a banana." "A banana?" I said, "Let me think, we need something else too, maybe date paste." Well the date paste was some sort of strange trigger. We convinced her to get off the computer, but she started hurling epithets at dates. "I hate date paste. It's the worse. It's like onions, in everything!! Everything always has dates in it! I hate dates! This isn't fair!!" "Really???" So not to be bullied by an 8 year old, I sent her outside so I could make the banana date dough wrap, only to later learn that it was really FIG PASTE, not date paste that I used. She calmed down, but a frightening scene followed. Olivia somehow convinced 84.5 year old grandma to get in her red wagon so she could pull her around and down a slight incline. All is well that ends well. We have spared you the photos.

RECIPE: Baked bananas with fig paste (not to be confused with date paste) (wrapped in Spelt Right Pizza Dough).

INGREDIENTS: Spelt Right Pizza Dough, fully thawed and risen. (We used only a few pieces for this experimental recipe and the rest for pizzas). One not too ripe banana. Fig paste (you can get it from Whole Foods or international food stores).

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut a small piece of dough, roll out until very thin, spread fig paste on dough, place a half a banana on the dough, roll, bake either on pan or on pizza stone at 400F for about 10 minutes.

RESPONSE: Olivia wouldn't try the one with figs (because she thought it had dates), but she did try the one sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Yes, I capitulated a bit by making one of the recipes with cinnamon and sugar rather than fig (date) paste. Spencer inhaled one that was so hot that he could barely taste it, but definitely gave it a thumbs up. Emma thought it was pretty good. Grandma, up from her wagon journey, thought the wrapped baked bananas were quite good. Grandma's quote, "I never would have thought of it, but it's not bad."