Last night was meatless Monday and not only did I have to ferry both kids to and from dance class a half an hour away I needed to make a nice festive VEGAN meal plus a fun meal for the kids (four girls all together!) Normally I don't make a separate meal for kids and adults, but it was little W's birthday, she turned 4 years old! So of course a FUN dinner is your right on your birthday. For the grown ups I made a very fast meal and here is how I did it.
When you are in a super hurry, boxes of stuff are your friend.
Box of falafel mix + hot water + oil for frying = crispy, crunchy falafel balls
Box of organic mixed greens + sliced cucumbers, + sliced carrots and sliced tomato = fresh, crisp salad
Box of tabbouleh salad mix + hot water + olive oil + chopped cukes and tomatoes = zesty tabbouleh
Box of riso + hot water + ten minutes + olive oil = pasta dish
Jar of roasted asparagus spears packed in oil + jar of sun dried tomatoes + jar of roasted red peppers + package of kalamata olives = relish plate or antipasto
Premade Sabra brand hummus = DONE!
Package of pita breads = delicious "scoops" for salads and dips
If I'd had more time to let the flavors sit and marry I'd have made tzatziki sauce from Greek yogurt mixed with minced garlic, salt, chopped dill and shredded and squeezed dry cucumber, but as it was we had plenty of yummy and delicious food with plenty for leftovers lunch today.
Showing posts with label hummus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hummus. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, February 21, 2011
Meatless Monday: Homemade Hummus
I have been wanting to make homemade hummus ever since I realized how much my addiction to Sabra brand hummus was costing me! Today I read a whole bunch of recipes (as is my wont) and gathered the info together and made my own hummus recipe.
I cooked a 1 pound bag of garbanzo beans in my pressure cooker (35 minutes on high pressure, then allowed to come to natural pressure release). I put the beans in the pot with 6 C of water, 1 large carrot (cut into chunks) and 2 large pieces of celery. I also added several very small cloves of garlic. Once the lid was on the cooker and gathering steam I put 5 heads of garlic inside some heavy duty foil and drizzled them with olive oil (regular, not extra virgin or anything) and put the foil packet on a heavy duty baking tray. Then I roasted the heads at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, as I walked out the door for basketball practice tonight I turned the heat down to 200 degrees. When we returned from basketball practice I pulled the garlic out and took the lid off the pressure cooker. My beans looked beeeeeee-yoo-ti-full! I could practically have made soup right then and there. I took 2 C of garbanzos from the pot and put them in my blender. I added 2/3 C of the water they were cooking in to the blender and turned it on. The beans got pretty mushy and then I added about 3 TBs of the tahini (sesame paste). A word on tahini, this was my first time working with it, it is sort of like all natural peanut butter, the oil separates from nut paste. It was very hard to mix the oil back into the ground sesame, so my measurement is not exact by any means. I also added about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, the juice of half a lemon, 2 cloves of the roasted garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin. I started the blender again (after scraping down the sides) and while it was running I added about 2-3 TB of olive oil (regular not extra virgin). I added it slowly, as one would add it to a vinaigrette or for mayonnaise. When the hummus was lovely and fluffy and light I tasted it, you could adjust seasonings at that point. I liked it, and so did my kids.
I served the hummus with warm pita bread, red globe grapes, olives, pickled okra, alouette herbed cheese (for the kids), carrot sticks, brie cheese (for the hubby), goat cheese (for me!) and roasted garlic. The kids dipped their carrot sticks in their herbed cheese. I ate my pita spread with goat cheese and then topped with roasted garlic and alternated it with bites of hummus. It was all delicious. I didn't serve the kids the roasted garlic at first, I kept it on my plate and my husband's plate. Sure enough the oldest child wandered over and inquired, "What's that?" and by the end of dinner was squeezing out her own roasted garlic from individual cloves. *SO PROUD* Of course now we are all going to fight over the roasted garlic, but small price to pay for having another good eater in the family. :)
I cooked a 1 pound bag of garbanzo beans in my pressure cooker (35 minutes on high pressure, then allowed to come to natural pressure release). I put the beans in the pot with 6 C of water, 1 large carrot (cut into chunks) and 2 large pieces of celery. I also added several very small cloves of garlic. Once the lid was on the cooker and gathering steam I put 5 heads of garlic inside some heavy duty foil and drizzled them with olive oil (regular, not extra virgin or anything) and put the foil packet on a heavy duty baking tray. Then I roasted the heads at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, as I walked out the door for basketball practice tonight I turned the heat down to 200 degrees. When we returned from basketball practice I pulled the garlic out and took the lid off the pressure cooker. My beans looked beeeeeee-yoo-ti-full! I could practically have made soup right then and there. I took 2 C of garbanzos from the pot and put them in my blender. I added 2/3 C of the water they were cooking in to the blender and turned it on. The beans got pretty mushy and then I added about 3 TBs of the tahini (sesame paste). A word on tahini, this was my first time working with it, it is sort of like all natural peanut butter, the oil separates from nut paste. It was very hard to mix the oil back into the ground sesame, so my measurement is not exact by any means. I also added about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, the juice of half a lemon, 2 cloves of the roasted garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin. I started the blender again (after scraping down the sides) and while it was running I added about 2-3 TB of olive oil (regular not extra virgin). I added it slowly, as one would add it to a vinaigrette or for mayonnaise. When the hummus was lovely and fluffy and light I tasted it, you could adjust seasonings at that point. I liked it, and so did my kids.
I served the hummus with warm pita bread, red globe grapes, olives, pickled okra, alouette herbed cheese (for the kids), carrot sticks, brie cheese (for the hubby), goat cheese (for me!) and roasted garlic. The kids dipped their carrot sticks in their herbed cheese. I ate my pita spread with goat cheese and then topped with roasted garlic and alternated it with bites of hummus. It was all delicious. I didn't serve the kids the roasted garlic at first, I kept it on my plate and my husband's plate. Sure enough the oldest child wandered over and inquired, "What's that?" and by the end of dinner was squeezing out her own roasted garlic from individual cloves. *SO PROUD* Of course now we are all going to fight over the roasted garlic, but small price to pay for having another good eater in the family. :)
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