Dips and Flatbread Make Lunches a Cinch

Dips and Flatbread Make Lunches a Cinch
11 November 2014

Each Tuesday Lunch Lady will be bringing you simple recipes and ideas for your kids lunch boxes.

This week we are starting with something I find one of the GREATEST lunchbox ideas ever, dips and flatbread. The reason I love both of these so much is you can use them together in a wrap, in a salad, or cut up the wraps with some dipping veggies (carrots, celery or anything else dippable) and have a combo of the dips for your kids to enjoy. The dips also last in the fridge for a while and you can make a big batch of the flatbreads and pop them in the freezer (I am always doubling ingredients to make life easier).

Let’s start with the flatbreads.

I have used a sourdough flatbread recipe, as I LOVE the taste and texture. But if you don’t have a sourdough starter, there are plenty of other flatbread recipes around on the internet. (I will try and dig one up and test it out in the coming weeks).

Sourdough Flatbread

What You Need

• 2/3 cup sourdough starter
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sunflower oil (or whatever oil you like to use in your house)
• 1/2 cup hot water

What You Need To Do

1. Put your starter, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until combined.
2. With machine running, slowly pour in oil first, then hot water until dough is formed and elastic. If you are using a stand mixer, you will need to switch to the dough hook once the water is incorporated. You may need a few extra tablespoons of hot water to loosen the dough up a bit.
3. Cover the dough and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
4. Cut the dough into about 12 balls, I am terrible at getting them the same size. Lightly flour your work surface and roll each ball with a rolling pin (starting in center and rolling outwards, turning often) to about half a centimetre thick.
5. Place each flatbread on a dry medium-high hot cast iron pan or skillet. Cook for about 45 to 60 seconds on each side, or until the flatbread doesn’t look doughy anymore.
6. Done!

Broadbean, Pea and Cheddar Dip

What You Need

• 250g fresh broad beans
• 250g fresh peas
• 125g yummy cheddar
• a glug of olive oil
• a pinch of salt (generous)
• juice of half a lemon

What You Need To Do

1. Get a pot of water to the boil and cook podded broadbeans for about 2 minutes. Drain and pop beans in cold water. Wait for beans to cool and if they are large broadbeans pod them again. The smaller ones don’t usually need to be double podded.
2. Refill your pot and bring water to the boil again. Pop in your fresh peas and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and pop in cold water.
3. Chop your cheddar in to 1cm cubes (they don’t have to be exact, just small enough to pop in the blender).
4. Pop your beans, peas, lemon juice and salt in to the blender and mix.
5. Add olive oil as the blender is going to loosen up the ingredients.
6. Add cheddar to the blender and blend until all combined and dip like. Give your dip a taste test, if you need a little more lemon or salt feel free to add it in.
7. Put your dip in a container to keep in the fridge ready for school lunch making time. Or eat it straight away.

The Ugly, Yet Delicious Cannellini, Rosemary and Lemon Dip

What You Need

• 1 x 425g can of cannellini beans
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste

What You Need To Do

1. Drain cannellini beans and pop in to food processor.
2. Place lemon juice, chopped rosemary and a pinch of salt in with the beans, mix until just combined. It is nice to have a little chunk to your bean.
3. Taste you dip and add any extra salt, lemon or rosemary to your desired taste (we are all different).
4. Loosen up your dip with a little extra olive oil, if needed.
5. Put your dip in a container to keep in the fridge ready for school lunch making time. Or eat it straight away.

Carrot, Cumin, Garlic and Yoghurt Dip

What You Need

• 8 carrots, grated
• Olive oil
• 1 tbspn cumin
• 200 g Greek yoghurt
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• Pinch of salt

What You Need

1. Cook the grated carrots in a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until softened. Remove from the pan and leave to cool.
2. Once cooled place in the blender with yoghurt, garlic, cumin and salt. Mix well.
3. Put your dip in a container to keep in the fridge ready for school lunch making time. Or eat it straight away. I really do struggle to not eat this one all at once. I saved my favourite dip to last!

I hope these dips and flatbread recipe give you some inspiration for your kids lunchboxes this week. They are a great thing to combine with veggies and other salady things. And you can always have some for your own lunch too!

Hope the rest of the week is great for you guys. I am pretty sure it is.

Lots of love. x