Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty-Six (You've Got to Try Spelt Right Dough Grilled - The possibilities are endless!!) (VEGETARIAN!!! with the potential to be vegan)

Tonight's dinner was fun.  Tim and I were busy doing business stuff (what's new).  Spencer (almost 13) came upstairs and asked what he could do to help.  "Start slicing the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and other veggies for grilling, wouldja. And marinate them in garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper"  "OK, mom"   How cool is that having your 13 year old start dinner?  Then Emma (18) showed up with her two friends Emily and Shannon (Wow, unexpected playmates for Olivia (age 8)).  We somehow got all of the kids, guests included, involved in making dinner.   And, we gained a new hand model too (thanks, Emily, we dig the black nail polish).
Menu:  Gourmet Sandwiches made with grilled vegetables, goat cheese, baby spinach, hummus (thank you Emma)-recipe for another day, on grilled bread made with Spelt Right dough (thank you Charlie at Portland Whole Foods for explaining how this is made with our wonderful dough). Salad from the garden with homemade balsamic olive oil dressing.Check out Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Fifty-One for Salad Dressing Recipe

We are so psyched to have discovered a new way to use Spelt Right dough.....ohhh, the possibilities!

Ingredients:
1 Eggplant - sliced in rounds
1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash - sliced in lengths
1 -2 onion cut in quarters
1 large red pepper - sliced in rounds
3-4 TBL extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1/2 lemon (optional)
2-3 gloves of fresh garlic mashed with about 1 teaspoon salt in mortar and pestle
pepper to taste
1-2 Spelt Right Pizza Doughs (each dough cut in fours, made into rounds about 1/4-1/2 inch thick (not rolled out like pizza dough).  Let rise again.  Place on grill, both sides until done.  May need to finish bake in the toaster over.
Marinate all vegetables in olive oil mixture.  Place on grill until done.  Make sandwich with herb goat cheese, vegetables, hummus (I put this on the side).   Enjoy!!!

The kids loved the food.  Emily was psyched because she became vegetarian after seeing Food, Inc.  Shannon was not even hungry after just having dinner at home, but we convinced her to indulge in a half of sandwich.  Our kids, perfectly happy and satisfied.  Parents....relaxed.   The evening and dinner?  Two Thumbs up.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty-Five (Chipotle chicken Shish-Kabobers)

Tonight Beth was doing a full-tilt demo at Bow Street Market in Freeport (ME) and Emma was hard at work doing a demo at the Hingham (MA) Whole Foods, so I got down to work on the evening meal for the other two.  The kids were packing the makings for s'mores (all-natural marshmellows, organic Swiss chocolate and gluten-free graham crackers) and were anxious to eat dinner and get on with the backyard fire.  Here's what we made:

Ingredients:
3/4 lb boneless chicken breast cut to bite-size
3-4 all natural chipotle chorizo chicken sausages, cut to bite-size
8 oz of giant steak-cut mushrooms cut in half
1 large green pepper cut to bite-size
1 large Vidalia onion cut to bite-size
handfull of fresh parsley, chopped
juice of 2 limes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
Sea Salt
Pepper

Cut up the chicken breast and marinate in lime, EVOO, parsley, salt & pepper.
Skewer the marinated chicken, sausages, green pepper, mushrooms and onions.
Throw onto hot grill until done.  It was a beautiful night and we ate on the back deck.

Note: I grilled several of the steak mushrooms and onions separately and sprinkled over the top of the plate. I also kept the chicken breast separate from the sausages.  You, of course, can do it anyway you like, add other great ingredients to the mix and/or season with your favorite sauce.

Serve over jasmine rice and garnish with fresh cucumbers and local tomatoes. If I had been on the ball, I would have made some easy pita bread with Spelt Right pizza dough.  This meal is easy to store and reheat.

 P.S. When Beth got home (we managed to save her some), she was surprised that I served what she thought were hotdog shiskabobs.  Maybe she wasn't too far off, but chipotle chorizo chicken sausages sure sound cooler.  I added a side salad of our very own garden lettuce and the remaining tomato and cucumber.  On to the s'mores!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty-Four (NE Clam Chowder and Spelt Right Flat Bread)

I should have learned 15 years ago that I am a semi-ok "at home" mom.   I remember when I first met my friend Christina from Yarmouth 15 years ago at the Yarmouth library.  We both had our 3 year olds in tow as we were participating in pre-school reading hour.   Both of us had this uneasy, not-so-cheery expressions on our faces.  Somehow, we didn't quite fit in with the other cheerful moms.  We made some introduction and "so are you from away?  do you work?  how old is your beautiful child?"  Well, it turns out, we both are "from away."  It doesn't matter if you have lived in Maine for 100 years, if you weren't born and raised here, you are "from away".   We both lived in Mass, NYC, NH, and now Maine.  How cool was that?  And, then came the part of work. "Well....I am taking a little break from my profession, I am a lawyer, but I moved, took the bar and decided to take a break to spend time with my daughter....but, I dunno, I feel like maybe I should go back to work."  Christina's response, "You, too?  I am also trying to take a break from work, but I think I need a break from home."   Needless to say, we both eventually went back to the balancing act and have raised some pretty nice kids.

Fast forward 15 years.  Emma is off to college.  Billy too (the other three year old in the story).   I have an 8 year old (Christina chose not to have the third child).  So, I decided maybe this summer would be a good time to take off a little time (let others help with the bakery), stay home with the eight year old, do "fun stuff".   Well, umm, I realize "fun stuff" can be more easily found at summer camp rather than home where mom is pretending not to work, but where it just keeps sneaking in.   Is it me or is it the work?  We all know, it is me.

After a full day of camp searching with some work thrown in, we finally did some "fun stuff".  We headed down to the beach around 6:30 p.m., tossed a frisbee, played in the pleasantly not so cold Maine waters and didn't get home until 8:30pm.   And realized upon entering the house that we had no dinner.   Thank goodness for the cod in the freezer and the Spelt Right pizza dough thawing in the fridge.

Recipe - New England Clam Chowder
1 1b cod fish or haddock (fresh or frozen)
3 potatoes
1 onion
4-5 carrots
2 cloves of garlic
2-4 TBL extra virgin olive oil
16 ounces frozen organic corn
1 cup of water
4-6 cups of milk (more or less)
2TBL vita spelt flour
4TBL butter
salt, pepper, dried basil, dried tarragon to taste

Finely chop onions and garlic place in large stainless pot on stove top on medium heat with 2-3 TBL of olive oil.  Saute until brown.  Add chopped carrots and potatoes.   Keep sauteing.  Add cubes of fish.  Continue to saute.   Add about a cup of water.  Continue to cook.  As vegetables start to soften, add milk.   Continue to cook.   Add salt, pepper basil and tarragon to taste.   Make a rue in a separate pan with flour and butter (in a separate pan melt butter and flour together, mix to make a paste).  Add rue to mix to thicken.   Add corn all at once.   Continue to cook until done.

Quickly make Spelt Right pita bread or flat bread.  See recipe from Spelt Right pita dough directions Lunch Box Chronicle Day Thirty-Four (Note you can also make these in a 450 oven if you don't want to fire up the grill)

Serve to kids at 10pm in front of one of our favorite movies - "Horton Hears A Who"    Fall asleep on the couch.  Wake up when dad arrives home after an extra long day at work.  Go to sleep satisfied that I still have the ability in me to do some "fun stuff".

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty-Three (Red Lentil and Carrot Soup)

This little recipe is from my archives, because it was much too hot today to make soup.  I'm a little short on words as I am soooo tired.....This is a good recipe, though, so please enjoy!

2 cups red lentils
8 cups water
3-4 cloves of garlic (crush with mortal and pestle with a little salt).
1 teaspoon coriander
1-2 teaspoons sea salt
4Tablespoon EVOO
Cumin and crushed red pepper to taste
2TBL VITA spelt flour
4-5 carrots boiled until soft and then blended in a food processor

Clean lentils by rinsing to make sure to remove any stones.  Add to water and boil over low heat until cream.  Stirring occasionally so it does not burn.  Make a paste of the garlic, salt and coriander and saute in oil until golden brown.  Add to lentil mixture.  Add cooked and blended carrots.  Simmer for 1 hour, watching so not to burn.  You can thicken the soup with a little spelt flour and water paste.  Keep simmering until blended.  Serve with cumin and pepper to taste.   We had this with a mixed green salad and homemade balsamic and EVOO dressing. See Lunch Box Chronicle Day 51 for Balsamic EVOO dressing recipe

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty-Two (Spelt Right Focaccia topped with all the fixins')

A picture of these lovely creations will be posted once Cousin Lisa sends the photo.  So, we had our Shogry family reunion.  It was pretty amazing.  Seeing cousins after more than 20 years.  My mom was the oldest surviving relative, the matriarch who is quite able, but a little hearing challenged.  We had the first part of the reunion at the Pittsfield MA State Forest.  We topped it off by visiting my Cousin Donna's house.  I brought a big tray of focaccia.  You can always count on a Lebanese family having black olives, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, the works. 

Ingredients and directions: A sheet of Spelt Right rosemary focaccia, cut in half and sliced down the middle.  Black pitted olives (not from a can!), sliced onions, sliced fresh tomatoes, EVOO, sea salt, feta cheese.  Place all the fixins' on top of the focaccia, drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle lightly with salt.  Bake at 375 until hot.  Slice in pieces.  Serve to the throng of cousins.  Comments, especially from the Southern Cousins.  "Cousin Beth, this is sooooo good.  When can we get it down South?"   Now, that's a good question y'all.  We are working on it!

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty-One (Breakfast Made the Night Before)

OK,  I am slightly overwhelmed, but I'm not going into details.   Though, I have to admit I had a nice day relaxing at the beach with my neighbors and kids.   Here is a power breakfast made the night before for those mornings that you know will be overwhelming - like making a 5 hour plus trek with 6 in the Honda Pilot to a family reunion in Western Mass.  

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough fully thawed and risen.   Scramble eggs to your liking (I used 5 eggs, milk, salt and pepper), grate cheese (your choice, I used orange cheddar from Wisconsin).   Make the eggs and cheese the way you like them (I like them fluffy and scrambled with cheese).  Make about 6-10 rounds out of the pizza dough.   Fill dough with egg mixture.  Make triangles.  Bake at 375-400 until golden brown.  Put in fridge until the next day (can be frozen).  Heat in toaster oven or microwave.  It's a great tasting power booster.

You can make a bunch of these and freeze them and take them out for those crazy mornings.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Sixty (S'Mores Spelt Right)

Spencer and Olivia had been asking for Spelt Right S'Mores for s'me time.  Well, s'mores are made with graham crackers (quite a surprising history behind graham crackers - go ahead research it.  I'm too bashful to fill in the details here), chocolate and marshmallow.  The problem is that our household has some significant food sensitivities (no common wheat here....I actually did make graham crackers with whole spelt once and they came out great).  Also, often the campfire marshmallows are usually loaded with artificial junk, so here we go improvising again.

Ingredients: One Spelt Right Pizza Dough (fully thawed and risen), one cup of Ghiradelli chocolate chips (we mixed milk and semi sweet chocolate bits) melted, and Natural Tiny Trapeze Marshmello Creme.

Instructions: Melt the chocolate on the stove top on low heat.  You can add a smidge of milk to the chocolate to loosen it a bit, but only a smidge.  Set aside.  Separate dough into 6 even balls (we used only two balls and used the remaining dough for some quick pizza).  Roll out dough until very thin, but not transparent.  Spread chocolate and marshmallow on the dough.  Roll (See photo).  Place on baking dish, bake at 350 until browned.  

These would have been good IF all of the goo inside did not ooze out.  You need to be sure to seal the edges and ends very carefully.   Proceed with caution.  Despite the mess, the kids enjoyed them.   I, on the other had, was a little grossed out....could it have been the little sticky fingers making the them or the oozing marshmallow and chocolate?  PS: We tried to seal the gaps with Cereal Os.