Not your average hummus

Last week at work, Melanie was eating spinach and artichoke hummus.

That sounded delicious to me, so guess what I did?

I searched until I found a recipe that appealed to me. My search wasn't as easy as I had expected it to be. A lot of Spinach and Artichoke dips popped up. I had to weed through them to find the hummus version. A hummus version that didn't require baking or cooking.

I want to throw everything into the food processor and pulse it 'till it's right.

Which can only mean one thing. If I'm writing about it, I made it.

The recipe I found was on a blog. And the writer actually did suggest cooking the spinach. But, "ain't nobody got time for 'dat" so that was when I searched again and randomly picked another recipe which did not require cooking.

Back to the original recipe/blog. She suggested "popping" all of the garbanzo beans out of their shells. She said it would make for a creamier hummus.

Now I haven't made hummus since we lived in Savannah (I think) and I burned out the motor on our poor little small capacity mini food processor.

The hummus I remember making wasn't as creamy as I had hoped. This blogger said that by removing the shells your result would be a creamier hummus.

Bingo!

So I grabbed a bowl, the empty garbanzo bean can, and the strainer full of rinsed garbanzo beans and plopped myself in front of the tv. I watched an hour long show on the DVR in the time I shelled all the beans (two cans worth). Which means I spent forty-five minutes working on those beans.

It really wasn't that difficult to do, just a little time consuming. Actually, I found it to be slightly therapeutic; popping each bean out of the shell.

Then, I got to work making the hummus. I tried it that night and it was good. The blog suggested I let it sit overnight to let all the flavors meld. When I tried it the next day, it was even better.

I have a few friends who lovingly tease me about all the homemade things I make. Like homemade syrup (I don't tap a tree, I just use brown sugar), or homemade peanut butter.

This reminded me of the peanut butter. I shelled every single peanut. I think it took me around two hours (I wasn't paying attention, all I remember is I was watching the Olympics, I think it took around two hours though). But in that case, the results were minimal. The peanut butter was good, but the pound or two of peanuts I had shelled resulted in a teeny tiny dish of peanut butter. I'd rather pay for the natural stuff at the store.

For hummus, it's the opposite. The price of a can of beans (or for this recipe two cans) far outweighs the cost of ready-made hummus. It's the tahini that gets you at the beginning. But that too eventually pays for itself because I used all of two tablespoons for this recipe. The tahini comes in a 16oz. jar. That means I can make hummus fifteen more times.

As I think about all the additions, I start to wonder which is actually cheaper, but since I keep the other ingredients on-hand (olive oil, garlic, spinach, artichokes, salt & pepper), I'm calling it a moot point.

Then, add in all the work it takes. Shelling the beans; time-consuming but definitely made for a creamier hummus. The food processor did the rest of the work.

I think the hummus speaks for itself and I will continue making it from scratch. Which means I'll have the money to buy orange juice. But that's another post for another time.

from scratch

I made this today.

I am in trouble.

It looks delicious.

It smells delicious.

I managed to wait until after dinner to cut a small piece and try it.

It is unbelievable.

It tastes just like cinnamon rolls.

And now I want to make cinnamon rolls. I don't know why. For now, I have the entire cake to eat.

Just kidding. I'm going to take it in to work tomorrow and share it. I hope to have a few pieces to bring home though.

I'm very thankful for cinnamon roll cake today.

peanut butter

I made peanut butter today.

How difficult could it be? The natural stuff you buy in a jar is just peanuts, right?

I looked up how to make it online. It sounded as simple as I thought.

Start with peanuts, I chose roasted.


Then I shelled them and put them in my food processor.

I turned it on and let the peanuts and machine work their magic.

Ta da! Peanut butter!
Now, was it worth the hour it took me to shell the peanuts verses the cost of a jar of natural peanut butter? Probably not. But I was watching the Olympics, so it's not like I should have been doing something else...

I'm going to keep trying this with different types of peanuts. I'll try to remember to let you know how each batch turns out!

the homemade biscuits

Last night I went to Tricia's and we made homemade pasta. It's definitely a technique that is learned through experience. Watching how she added the flour into the egg is definitely a "feel" technique. No cookbook or tv show can explain how the dough should feel. But standing there asking Tricia if my dough was "ready" and her pulling on it, telling me no, was the best way I could learn.

We turned it into raviolis. They were delicious. And they were served in a homemade Alfredo sauce which was also delicious.

I dreamed of making pasta.

Then, tonight for dinner, I made biscuits and sausage gravy.

I have enjoyed biscuits and sausage gravy since I first had it at camp. Yes, even though we had a nutritionist we still had the best biscuits and gravy.

Then, when we lived in Southgate after we were first married and I worked at the Hallmark store, I learned how easy sausage gravy was.

Would you like to know? I'll share because I like sharing. Cook the pork sausage until you can't see anymore pink. Add flour and milk slowly until you get enough gravy and it's as thick as you want. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When I found out it was that easy I couldn't believe it.

My next challenge was the biscuits. Sure, you can buy a package of refrigerated biscuits, pop it open and pop them in the oven. But those are missing something. The best biscuits I've ever had were in Savannah. Even McDonald's biscuits were divine (rumor has it that they still make theirs from scratch, with lard, I cannot verify that, but I believe it).

I've tried to make biscuits half as good. From scratch. With buttermilk. With whole milk. With whole wheat. None have really turned out.

Today, on a whim I decided to try cake flour. Why? Because I had some in the cupboard. It seemed like the right thing to do. When the right thing to do pops into your mind, you should not ignore it. Especially when it comes to cooking. Follow the right thing.

Then, when I added the buttermilk, I mixed it in like we mixed the pasta dough last night.

I kneaded it just a couple of times (it was super sticky) like the cookbook instructed me to, rolled it out nice and thick, and cut out my biscuits. They went in the oven for twelve minutes.

They came out perfect.

They are flaky.

They are light.

They are golden.

They are delicious.

I jumped up and down.

I made Bill get the camera and take pictures. I conquered biscuits!

another ornament

You may remember I cross-stitched some ornaments and gave them to the Quota Board Members, in case you don't, click here to see one. When I was finished, I started another ornament. This time it was a gift for our friends Dave and Greg. We stayed with them this last weekend while in Detroit. (you can go back and read about that on your own!) I sort of started a tradition with them, the first year Bill was living with them, I found a snowflake ornament (I thought it was Crate & Barrel, but now that I think about it, it may have been Restoration Hardware) and that was our gift to them. (They gave Bill this awesome tool for his grill, it's a fork and you stab the meat and the built-in thermometer tells you the temp of the food you're grilling, pretty handy.)

Last year I painted a ceramic snowflake at the paint-your-own-pottery store and gave that to them.

This year, I was tempted to go with the snowflake theme I had started, but when I searched for a cross-stitch ornament I got a virus and my computer crashed. Sort of. I knew something was wrong right away so I quick shut it down. I restarted it and ran a systems check (or whatever the technical jargon is, I kept asking Bill what to do and in his most patient tone, walked me through the process). Needless to say, I did not find a snowflake ornament. However, I did have the pattern for this one, and I've made it before. I think it's cute, so I made this one for them. And so continues the ornament tradition.

last night's dinner

That's actually the name of another blog I follow, check it out here. I found it when I was trying to make a cast iron skillet pizza, which you can see here.

However, I am blogging about our actual dinner last night. I found a pot pie recipe which uses a food processor for the crust. Hey, I just happen to have one of those fancy machines, thanks to Bill!

I cannot describe the delicious-ness of these pot pies. They blew the pot pie memory of our childhood out the window. It was the perfect winter time meal.

Not only did I get a chance to use my fancy new food processor, but also the pot pie dishes that Shannon gave to me several years ago for my birthday! I've made pizza pot pies in them, and apple crisp. But last night I used them for their true purpose (I guess it really doesn't matter what you use something for, as long as you're using it, but I have a sense of fulfillment having used them for actual pot pies) and we had the best homemade pot pies ever.