Variations on a Theme

Spring has officially sprung in the great northwest and in my home that means it's hummus time!  Last year around this time I spent a little time every weekend making hummus and homemade pita.  (How did I never post about that?)  With my schedule lately, pita is a bit ambitious, especially with getting my organic garden off (or for a better word IN) the ground, so here's a quick post with a quick recipe for some fresh, homemade awesomeness.

Below is my simple, tried and true hummus recipe; put everything in the food processor and hit go.  What you do with it is up to you, I urge everyone to be creative, be thoughtful and be adventurous!

  • 16 oz cooked garbanzo beans with half the liquid

NOTE: I use 1 can of S&W Organic garbanzo beans for my hummus and hold all the liquid to add a bit at a time at the end to get the right consistency.  Sometimes it needs a lot, sometimes it doesn't need any.

  • 4 TBSP lemon juice
  • 2 TBSP sesame tahini
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • salt & pepper


Whir it up in a blender or food processor.  I usually do the garlic, tahini and lemon juice first and then add everything else because I like a little texture left in my beans.  Also, from experience I recommend NOT using a Bullet.  It does not like hummus.

Here are a couple variations I put together today for my inaugural Spring Hummus:

Organic Roasted Red Pepper


Roast one whole red bell pepper, rubbed with a little olive oil, at 375 for about 30-40 minutes.  Allow it to cool and remove the stem.  Add the whole thing, seeds, pulp and all, to the hummus.  Adjust the original recipe by:

  • Adding on extra garlic clove
  • Omitting any of the reserved garbanzo bean liquid
  • Reducing olive oil to 1/2 TBSP

Organic Cilantro, Onion & Lime

Adjust the original recipe by
  • Adding a handful of chopped cilantro
  • Adding about 1/4 cup of chopped white and/or green onion
  • Adding 1-2 TBSP lime juice to the lemon juice
  • Omitting any of the reserved garbanzo bean liquid

I recommend trying your hand at homemade pita, but in a pinch Stacy's Pita Chips will do!  Happy eating!



Easier Than It Looks

Last weekend I was feeling ambitious and craving brunch.  Having no desire to leave the house on a cozy Sunday morning I decided to make my own English muffins.

I typically tend to shy away from making bread because it's so involved.  I used to make homemade pita bread every weekend and, although it was cheap and delicious, it takes more time and energy than I usually have on a wintery weekend.  So, knowing my curiosity in creating a bread product to be a fluke, I took advantage of my fleeting ambition and my old bread maker I found for two dollars at a garage sale.


It's not great for baking, but it certainly takes the elbow grease out of mixing!  I'm sure if you look at your local Goodwill, St. VdeP or other thrift store you're bound to find something affordable, if you have the counter space (or cupboard space to hide it's hideousness) for when it isn't in use.

I researched a few recipes online and settled on the one from King Arthur Flour.  It felt low impact, had instructions for a machine mixed dough and I had all the ingredients on hand.  Also, I love King Arthur Flour.

I'm not the biggest fan of English muffins, I only really like them when I get the craving, or with Eggs Benedict (Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!)  So I didn't know much about how they are made.  For example, did you know they aren't baked?  They're cooked on a cornmeal covered griddle.  I didn't know that before last weekend.


Making English muffins is like a combo of biscuits and pancakes; you have to roll them and cut them without a lot of muss and you have to flip them at just the right time to get them nicely colored on both sides with just the right amount of bubbling within to help them rise.


The recipe was very simple to follow (I credit the ol' Toastmaster) and cooking was a snap.  Ultimately they were much cheaper and FAR MORE DELICIOUS than store bought and they had nice, soft nooks and crannies, perfect for toasting.


So... about those Eggs Benedict...

Celebrating New Year

I love learning new recipes and cooking food that requires me to go to stores I don't typically frequent.  I also love to cook things that curb cravings that usually drive people to go out to eat.  And one thing I learned when I lived in the Bay Area working with so many amazing Pinay ladies is that some food is ALWAYS better homemade than take-out.

This New Year's Day I rang in the new year with some Filipino flair and made three delicious staples.  Unfortunately I didn't have the battery power to give everything it's deserving Paparazzi.  Maybe next time.

I timed things just right to get it all done at the same time to have a fabulous dinner (plus leftovers).  I started with Chicken Adobo.  It's hard to find a trustworthy recipe since everyone I've ever known who made Adobo used different cuts of meat, different lengths of time to marinade and different spices.  But the constants I saw were vinegar, soy sauce, peppercorns and garlic.  This is the recipe I decided to use to adapt to the two chicken leg quarters I had on hand.  I let the chicken marinate for about 9 hours before starting to cook.  And it was beautiful when it was done.


I also made Pancit Canton, what one might consider the Filipino version of Chow Mein.  Only more delicious.  I used a recipe from Food Network as my guide, although I made a much smaller amount, omitted the pork, mushrooms (I love 'em, but was not in the mood) and fish sauce.  Also, if anyone knows were I can get calamansi, please let me know.

The noodles were pretty incredible; I picked up a bag at Pal Do world and expected them to be somewhat like Ramen because they're stiff and hold their shape in the packaging.  But once they hit the hot broth they softened quickly and absorbed the liquid easily without getting mushy.  Luckily they're the last step to the dish so the chicken and shrimp and veggies were all ready to go before adding broth and noodles.


Last but not least was Lumpia!!!  If you like eggrolls you'll love Lumpia.  They're very similar, but Lumpia are a bit thinner and the wraps don't end up with big bubbles in them and are nice and smooth like a spring roll (and perfect for making flautas instead of using tortillas, but that's another post).

I just checked my archives and I can't believe I've never posted about flautas... note to self...


This one didn't have a recipe, it just came by feel.  I've made them so many times, and eggrolls, too, that I just go with it.  But here's a guide recipe that looks like a pretty good one to try out.  I used chicken thigh meat instead of pork in mine.  The blog post that goes along with that recipe is also a good read.

So Happy New Year!  Here's to a wonderful 2012, hopefully full of new experiences and kitchen experiments, growth in skill and lots of tasty new things to share.  So a toast to anyone following, champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends...  Cheers!

Quickie on Holiday Baking

With the holidays I found little time to take pictures and even less time to post.  So here are a few links and pics of my holiday baking!

I wanted to try new things, so my first effort was a spin on sugar cookies; a vanilla bean and saffron drop cookie.


I used just a pinch of saffron and the insides of two whole vanilla beans in addition to the recipe found here.

The dough was a lovely yellow color, with flecks of aromatic vanilla bean.  It was a lot more coarse than I expected, but that seemed to be the theme of this year's Christmas cookies.  Possibly because my kitchen is so cold.


I rolled the balls pretty small, and they didn't spread much, surprisingly.  But the results were very tasty and a big hit at work.


I also took my first crack at biscotti with a recipe I adapted from one I got from a Real Simple daily email.


Instead of just cherries I used a dried fruit blend of cherries, blueberries and pomegranate.


Also, after they were nice and cool I dipped them in white chocolate and drizzled with semi-sweet.  Needless to say, after that they didn't last long enough to get a picture of.

I also made flour-less peanut butter cookies that were just delectable!


These also didn't spread much, however, they were extremely delicate when they came out of the oven.  Luckily, them were so delicious I didn't mind eating the broken pieces.


I also tried out:


  • This shortbread recipe to make Kalikimakas; a shortbread thumbprint filled with strawberry-guava jam.  
  • This recipe that we called Doodlebugs because they're tiny cookies that taste like Snickerdoodles
  • And of course, our family's tradition, what we call Butterballs.  Because it's just not Christmas without them.  And always the BHG recipe!

So, I'm dying to know, what did YOU make?!