lunch box: spanakopita

contents:

spanakopita
baked chick peas
olives

This was my first time making anything with filo dough and it was definitely a learning experience. Despite the very simple instructions on the box, I didn't believe that it actually had to defrost for a full 2 hours before you could unroll it. Well as it turns out, the defrost time is not a suggestion. If you try to unwrap the dough too soon the thin layers will break apart and crumble. In the end I was able to cobble together a workable (and tasty) crust, but the finished pan didn't look as pretty as it could have. Also I clearly need a pastry brush, because trying to brush on olive oil with a paper towel/my hands is way more complicated then necessary.

Interesting fact: gmail spell check does not recognize the word spanakopita. It recommends replacing it with spanking, Spanglish, Spaniard, or spandrels.

ingredients:

3 leeks
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 boxes of frozen spinach
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
frozen filo dough (cough fully defrosted cough)

Cut off very bottom and top dark leaves of leeks. Chop and rise well. The inside of leeks are like some kind of sand and dirt sponge.

In a large frying pan cook garlic and leeks in olive oil until leeks are soft. Mix in defrosted and drained spinach.

Turn off heat and let cool. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Beat eggs in large mixing bowl. Mix in cooled spinach mixture, feta, salt, pepper, dill, and mint.

Brush bottom and sides of 9 X 13 in baking pan with olive oil. Now if I had done this correctly, I would have been able to lay down the filo dough 1 sheet at a time to fit the pan until half of the filo dough was used up. You will hopefully learn from my mistake and be more patient.

Spread spinach mixture evenly over dough.

Cover with remaining filo dough. Brush with more olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes or until top crush turns a deep golden brown.

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This chickpea recipie was first recommended to me as an idea for party snacks. It seemed like a good compliment to my spanakopita and a way to add some extra protein to my lunch.

In a large mixing bowl toss two cans of chickpeas (drained of course) with olive oil, cilantro, chili powder, cumin, and paprika. Bake on a covered baking sheet for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

baking party 2: the return of baking party

John hosted another wonderful baking party this past weekend. I'm going to go ahead and start calling this a Bake Club, since we are all committed to keeping this up on a regular basis. There were some more savory items this time around. John made lasagna and Gigi tried this interesting muffin recipe I found online with some very delicious substitutions. Instead of photographing each batch individually, I just have one plate for you with examples. I'm pretty sure you won't have any trouble figuring out which is which.

Me: Chocolate Earl Grey Cookies. I've been a little obsessed with the Chocolate + Earl Grey flavor combination after I had an ice cream version a couple years ago. Since then I've been settling for occasionally putting half a hot coco mix in with my tea (which is really not that bad), so I was pretty excited to find this recipe online.

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Gigi: Savory Muffins. I know the idea of a savory muffin sounds weird, but they really are delicious. You're just going to have to trust me. Gigi substituted broccoli and sharp cheddar for the green beans and parmesan in the original recipe. They would be the perfect accompaniment to soup or as part of a brunch.

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Christopher: Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake. Christopher can't remember the name of the book this recipe came from. Considering the taste, it may have been handed to him directly by roman gods. At the risk of angering them, I'll post it out for you here.

(Makes two 9” round cakes)

3 large navel oranges
3 large eggs
2 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups olive oil
1 ½ cups milk
2 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350

Grate the zest from the oranges and place in a large mixing bowl.

Add the eggs and whisk well. Whisk in 1 cup of the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture lightens, about 1 minute. Whisk in the oil followed by the milk.

In another bowl, stir together the remaining 1 ½ cups of sugar with the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the dry mixture into the egg mixture in three separate additions, whisking smooth after each addition.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 prepared pans (Two 9 inch round pans, 2 inches deep, well oiled, and the bottoms lined with parchment paper cut to fit.)

Bake the cakes until they are well risen, deep golden, and firm in the center when pressed with a fingertip, 50 to 55 minutes.

Cool the cakes on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold, turn right side up again, and cool completely on racks.

*You'll also see on the plate some very simple and tasty tea cookies Christopher's friend Sarah made. If I can get the recipe from here, I'll post it for you later in the comments.



John: Spinach Lasagna. This is a combination of John's mother's recipe and one he found online. I was very skeptical of these no boil noodles, but they totally worked. It's magic!

Ingredients

1lb of "no boil" lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (try artichoke hearts, squash, or zucchini if you aren't a mushroom fan)
1 cup chopped onion (same as one medium onion)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (same as 2 or 3 cloves)
Two 10 oz. chopped frozen spinach packages (Just pop them in the microwave and drain them before mixing them in)
3 cups ricotta cheese (part skim if you prefer)
2/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (part skim if you prefer)
3 cups tomato pasta sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

If you do not have the "no boil" lasagna noodles bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook mushrooms, onions, and garlic in olive oil until onions are tender. Drain excess liquid and cool.

Microwave spinach for 12 minutes. Drain, then squeeze out excess liquid.

Combine ricotta cheese, Romano cheese, spinach, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, and egg in a bowl. Add cooled mushroom mixture. Mix well.

Lay 5 lasagna noodles in bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread one third of the cheese/spinach mixture over noodles. Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese on top. Spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce over cheese. Repeat layering 2 times.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

moroccan butternut squash and carrot stew

Is it me, or has the world jumped into an even earlier then usual Christmas frenzy this year? I hate to be a Grinch, I want to listen to my Peanuts Christmas record as much as the next (half Jewish) person, but I would like to remind everyone that it is still technically fall. Soon enough it actually will be December, and we will have nothing but cold miserable winter for months and months. In the meantime let's take a moment to recognize that we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, and focus on some fall food to celebrate the actual season we are in.

Looking around for butternut squash recipes, I'd say about 90% of the results were for soup or risotto, which was not what I was in the mood for. I found this one on Epicurious and made a few changes to accommodate dinner party portions and the contents of my spice shelf (I didn't have saffron or turmeric). The altered recipie made about 5 medium sized servings. For a larger group or more famished eaters, I would double it.

Ingredients:

Stew--
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsps Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup water
1 small can diced tomatoes (drained)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
large butternut squash (I think mine was about 2 lbs) peeled and cubed
5 chopped carrots

Quinoa--
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 tbs olive oil
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped carrot
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cups water
salt, pepper, chopped fresh mint and cilantro to taste

In a large stew pot, fry onion and garlic on medium to low heat until clear

Add spices. Be careful to keep stirring so you don't burn them/have a sticky mess at the bottom of your pan.

Add water, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Bring liquids to boil.

Mix in squash and carrots

Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until vegetables are soft. You will need to stir it a few times to make sure the veggies get cooked evenly.

In separate pot fry onion, garlic, and carrot portions for quinoa until slightly brown. Stir in quinoa and let cook for another minute.

Add water. When water starts to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Once quinoa has absorbed all the water, stir in your cilantro and mint. Add salt or pepper to taste. I think I under-spiced since the stew was so flavorful

Serve with a little extra mint and cilantro sprinkled on top.

lunch box: wheel primavera

I had a lot of leftover ingredients from my soup, so i decided to make a sort of pasta primavera for lunch this week. I know that this isn't the most sophisticated looking meal. The only thing holding it back from a full on elementary school lunch box impersonation is a small carton of chocolate milk. To the haters I say-- did you not get a sudden craving for celery sticks with peanut butter? That's what I thought.

contents:
wheel primavera
peanut butter celery sticks
grapes

For the pasta I fried 3 cloves of chopped garlic, a large leek, one zucchini, two medium tomatoes, 2 roasted red peppers (from a jar), and the remainder of my cannolini beans from the soup in a large frying pan. Then I tossed the veggies in with pasta and added olive oil, parmesan, pepper, dried basil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar

minestrone soup

James got a cold this week, which called for some made to order soup. I used to dislike celery in soup and always replaced it with zucchini, but I think I'm starting to come around to it as a flavor. There is something really nice about a simple ingredient comfort food soup. Especially in this weather. We had enough for about two nights of leftovers, but I did need to add some extra stock later in the week. You can see on the side we also had corn muffins (with butter and maple syrup).

ingredients:

1 small onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 carrots chopped
2 celery sticks chopped
1 potato cubed
1 can stewed tomatoes with juice
3/4 cup cannellini beans
1 cup mini wheels
3 cups veggie stock (I prefer bouillon cubes to pre-made stock)
fresh dill and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot fry chopped onion and garlic in olive oil until clear.

Add carrot, celery, and potato. Keep stirring to avoid burning the veggies

You will probably want to chop the stewed tomatoes a bit before you add them into the soup. The brand I buy always seems to have very large slices. Pour in your tomato juice first and then you can easily get the tomatoes out with a fork. I know that seems like it would be the obvious thing to do, but I've spent lots of time fishing around trying to find the last tomato at the bottom of the sauce.

Stir in cannolini and dill. Add veggie stock. Cover and reduce heat to low.

Once your potatoes are almost cooked through, add pasta and boil again for 8 minutes (or whatever is recommended for your pasta).

Taste your soup and see if it wants more spices. I don't add any extra salt since the bouillon cubes I buy are salty enough, but pepper and more dill can be nice (especially for a cold).

Serve with grated Parmesan.

basil pesto

Making fresh pesto is one of the quickest post-work dinners I've found. I almost always use walnuts instead of the traditional pine nuts to save on money (who do pine nuts think they are anyway?). I've also had some good experiments with almonds, or an almond walnut combo. Most recipes will call for 2 cloves of garlic, but I like to use at least 3 depending on the size. Garlic is great for you, delicious, and I say anyone who won't kiss you with garlic breath is not worth kissing at all.

ingredients:

1 bunch of basil (about 2 cups of leaves)
3 cloves garlic chopped
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese

Remove leaves and rinse well. Depending on the freshness of your produce store they can have lots of dirt/sand on them.

I pre-chop my garlic even though its all going in the food processor, just to make sure.

Blend ingredients in food processor. I prefer to leave a little walnut texture and not have totally smooth pesto, but that's up to you of course.

Serve on pasta, sandwiches, dressing for veggies...

lunch box: egg fried tofu and carrot rice

contents:

egg fried tofu
carrot rice
red cabbage and apple slaw
cucumber kimchi (bought pre-made)


My lunch only looked exactly like this for one day last week, because I discovered the pre-made kimchi had fish oil in the seasoning. After 18 years how do my taste buds know what fish even tastes like? Who knows, but I took a bite and knew instantly that something in there tasted alien to all the foods I eat. I stopped eating it right away (I always follow possible meat-in-food leads seriously because I get really sick if I do accidentally eat something) and sure enough when I asked the lady at the produce place where I bought it, she told me they use fish oil in the brine. So-- no more pre-made cucumber kimchi for me (or at least not from there and without asking ingredients first). I've been trying to talk James into eating it since it's basically a spicier version of pickles, but so far I'm not winning the argument.

The rest of lunch was successfully delicious and lasted me well through the week. This was sort of a "clean out the refrigerator" lunch since I had some leftover carrots, red cabbage, and a bag of apples from my visit home to NJ.

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The egg batter for the tofu was 1 egg plus 2 tbs flour whisked together. Make sure to drain the tofu before you batter and fry it since the water makes it crumble.

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The rice I made by adding 1 shredded carrot in the last few minutes of cooking my brown rice then recovering the pot to let it soften. For seasoning I mixed in some sesame seeds, sesame oil, and a little curry powder.

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The red cabbage is actually equally good hot or cold. I had maybe 3/4 of a head of red cabbage leftover, but most recipes call for a full head. Cook the chopped cabbage with a little olive oil in a thick sauce pot. Once the Cabbage softens and starts to turn that amazing bright purple color, add 1 shredded apple, 2 tbs water, then cover and simmer for a half hour. Once its cooked you can add brown sugar and vinegar to taste. Apple cider vinegar would have been ideal, but I didn't have any at home so I had to use white wine vinegar.