Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

My kids just came home from camp.

It was our first break in 17 years, if you can believe it, though there weren’t that many full-days-off.

There’s a hippie sleep-away camp two valleys North of here, in Lama, and both children attended for the first time.

(Theo was a counselor, and had borrowed his grandpa’s truck, so we saw him quite a bit.)

Still, there were days at a time when we had no kids, and while I was hoping for fun and adventure, the body has its own wisdom.

I got sick for the first two weeks of the month, and then Jessie was under the weather. 

Our pre-move, house renovation ran long, (no surprise,) so we had workmen here the whole time too.

Not a joyous break, by any means, but we did decompress and rest up for our impending pre-move, scouting trip/vacation to SoCal.





I built the energy reserve, such as it is, because I definitely had to cook and food-shop less when the kids were away.

(A tween and a teen, athletes both, they eat A LOT.)

Once they got home this past weekend, I went on a cooking tear.

Saturday night was Japanese fajitas, in which I adapted the recipe I previously shared by substituting skirt steak, and a soy based marinade. (Served with brown rice.)

Sunday was chicken parmesan with “thick spaghetti,” (a distinct product from spaghetti,) which I did in a traditional style. 

Breaded, pan-fried cutlets, a layer of spinach, fresh mozzarella, shaved parmesan cheese, in a kalamata olive/fresh tomato marinara.

Yesterday was the biggest day of all, though, as I created a new recipe that had been on my mind for a week:

Fresh, homemade flatbread. 






Jessie picks up hummus for the kids regularly, and we’d been discussing adding more chickpeas to our diet. 

Buying flatbread in the store, though, is no fun.

It’s expensive, (here in Taos,) and normally comes with tons of preservatives, which are potential forever chemicals. 

Other brands, which try to skate by with less preservatives, sell products which are often spoiled when you buy them.

Just last week, I was about to bite into a mini-naan that Jessie had purchased that day, and my photographer’s eye spotted some mold just before I ate it.

(Better than after.)

Given that flatbread goes well with so many types of food, (Middleastern, Indian, Greek, to name a few,) I was frustrated at my options.

I had an idea in my mind of how to do it, (my pancakes, waffles, bread and pizza are strong,) but decided to hit up the internet to look over a few recipes, just to see if I was close.

I’d been planning to use the pizza stone in the oven, but learned it’s easier, (and probably better,) in a skillet with a little oil.

Armed with that technical wisdom, I went for it yesterday, to big success. 

How do you do it?

Surprisingly easy, so I highly recommend you try it out.

My recipe was: 

About 3/4 cup warm water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t sugar
3 T whole greek yogurt
2 T extra virgin olive oil


Mix all the ingredients together, (starting with the flour and water,) until it becomes a slightly dry dough.

Meaning, it shouldn’t be tacky, but don’t make it too dry/dense either.

Reserve the dough, covered with a tea towel, for 30 minutes.

After proofing, lightly knead the dough out on your cutting board, with a bit more flour, and then cut into equal sized pieces, which you roll into a balls.

(I made 10-12 total, but didn’t think to count.)

Heat a skillet, roll out each ball with a bit more flour on the cutting board, add some olive oil spray to the pan, and chuck in your flat bread.

Cook until you see some color on the first side, then flip it.

(Each bread takes 2-3 minutes total.)

Stack them on a plate, cover with a towel to keep warm, and eat them your favorite way, when they’re hot.







I had some with humus and olives for breakfast, (piping hot,) then made chana masala for dinner, and we ate them as naan.

(Boil your chickpeas in a pressure cooker, then make an onion based, Indian-spiced tomato curry, and add the cooked chickpeas to make a stew.)

All told, fresh flatbread and then homemade Indian food in one day was a lot.

But cooking is art, and everything tasted great, so I came out of the experience inspired and proud. 

(Well fed too.)

Hope you enjoy some cooking!