Homemade pizza lunchables

My kids are fascinated by Lunchables. I cannot stand them and refuse to buy them but I do like the concept. So I set out to make my own version of a pizza “lunchable”. We use Laptop lunchboxes which inherently lend themselves to the lunchable concept by providing multiple containers to attractively package this. Most of it is easy – shredded cheese, homemade or store-bought pizza sauce, olives and other toppings, and of course, a treat. It was the crust for the pizza that presented a challenge.

I experimented with my basic pizza crust recipe – rolled it out, cut in it about 3” circles using a steel bowl, and baked them. The result however wasn’t satisfactory. Pizza crust baked without any topping on it came out too hard, and tough to bite into. Little pita breads might have worked but I haven’t found them in local stores where I usually shop. Then a friend suggested I use the flat bread served in Olga’s Kitchen restaurents and provided the recipe. I made a batch - some large ones for dinner, and many little ones for my lunchable experiment. This worked wonderfully! The crust had a soft, chewy texture. Kids loved it, and have been taking “pizza lunchables” to school once a week. I made about 30 little crusts, and froze them. Along with homemade pizza sauce that I freeze in cubes in ice cube trays, lunch is very easily put together.

I will make a few adjustments to the bread recipe the next time around. For one, I will omit the honey because I found the sweetness out of place in a pizza crust. Secondly, I will probably replace some of the white flour with a combination of soy and teff flours.

Personal responsibility

So I was talking to a relative who is on her first-ever visit to the US. She was amazed by the cleanliness. "There are neat little garden in front of every house and they are all so well-maintained. All houses have identical roofs and even the roofs are so clean!" she gushed. "The government must either be really good at maintaining everything or the laws about keeping things clean must be really strict, no?" She added.

I didn't say anything because I was not in a mood to lecture, but no, it is not the government. There is no "cleanliness police" going around cuffing people the instant they litter. Things are clean because littering, and people who litter, are frowned upon. It is the culture of the place - people like to keep their houses, their yards, their streets and their neighborhood clean, and do it themselves rather than waiting for the government to do it.

I had met another family member in India on my recent trip, and mentioned that my daughter was playing soccer in a league. She remarked "see that is why they have America is so good in sports, the government has such good sports programs." I had to point out that the government has nothing to do with it. The soccer league is organized by parents and for most part is managed by parents. The coaches are all parents that volunteer for the job and coach in their spare time.

That is when it struck me. The reason why India hasn't developed, (it hasn't, you ask. I can go into that in another blog or a book!) and still looks like a 3rd world country is exactly because of that mind-set. Complete ignorance of personal and civic responsibility and the expectation that the government will and should take care of everything. If we had more people such as my friend V, India might be a different place. When she sees a luxury car throwing litter out of its windows in the street of New Delhi, she chases down the car and tells the occupants what they just did. Unfortunately, many don't take her seriously, or say "what difference will another water bottle make" and never once feel a need to change their habits. You know, government is supposed to keep the streets clean!