I Heart Hummus

I couldn’t bring myself to only give this post the title “Hummus” for two reasons. First, because I love hummus so much. Second, because I really love this recipe. It is easy, fast, and tastes delicious! Hummus is fairly cheap to make except for the tahini. Remember when you buy the jar that it will last for at least a couple of recipes. That is how I make myself feel better for spending so much money on one item. When you make this DO NOT USE YOUR MAGIC BULLET!! The bullet does not have the power you need to fully blend the garbanzo beans/chickpeas. If you try to use your bullet you will subsequently want to throw out all of your almost made hummus and your entire magic bullet. Been there almost did that. Pull out your more powerful blender for this recipe. 

Hummus

3 tbsp. juice from 1-2 lemons

1/4 cup water

6 tbsp. tahini, stirred well

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1/2 tsp.)

1/2tsp. table salt

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro or parsley

Directions:

Combine lemon juice and water in a small bowl or measuring cup.  Whisk together tahini and 2 tablespoons oil in second small bowl or measuring cup.  Set aside 2 tablespoons chickpeas for garnish.

Process remaining chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne in food processor until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds.  Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running, add lemon juice-water mixture in steady stream through food tube.  Scrape down bowl and continue to process for 1 minute.  With machine running, add oil-tahini mixture in steady stream through food tube, continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.

Transfer hummus to serving bowl, sprinkle reserved chickpeas and cilantro over surface, cover with plastic wrap and let stand until flavors meld, at least 30 minutes.  Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

My mouth is watering just thinking about this. I am making some tonight. Here are my three favorite things to do with hummus.

1)    Eat with fresh veggies or cut up pita bread

2)    Greek Seven-Layer Dip. I had this at a Christmas party last year. Let’s just say I parked myself next to it and ate at least a fourth of it. It’s really good. Here’s a link for one recipe. I know this is breaking the rules because I haven’t tried this recipe but the dip I had was just like this except the bottom cream cheese layer. And lets face it who doesn’t like cream cheese?

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/12/7-layer-greek-dip/

3)    Last but not least I love hummus in a healthy wrap for lunch or light dinner. Simply get a spinach tortilla, spread with humus, and layer some veggies. I like to do spinach, tomatoes,  cucumber, shredded carrots, and banana peppers. The banana peppers are a must have in this wrap because they add a sweetness that is to die for.  Drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the top and wrap it up. To make it a little more filling add a layer of quinoa and top with some crumbled feta cheese. (More to come about quinoa so just wait!)

Enjoy!!!

Photographing Food

Okay.....I am in no way saying you have to photograph your food when you put a recipe on this blog.  But I thought this article was really good on tips of how to take pictures of food.  

As we all agree recipes are just better and more appealing when you can see a picture of the food item.  So....if by chance you do ever want to take a picture of your food and sell us on how great it tastes, here are some tips on how to make it look extra appealing  :)  

http://www.lemonpoppycake.com/2012/03/how-to-photograph-food-for-dummies.html

Fiesta Pasta Salad

So for those of you who went to Ashley and Emily's bridal shower at Michael Davis' home you may remember eating a yummy pasta salad as the main dish.  Soon afterwards I got the recipe from Michael and have made it since then.  I think it's quite delicious and is a great summer dinner because it's a cold pasta dish and it's super easy.   Or it's a great dish to take to a potluck dinner!


Fiesta Pasta Salad            
1 Packet Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch mix
(can be difficult to find- she's had the most luck at Wal-mart). 
2 cups mayonnaise
2 cups buttermilk

Mix well and chill in refrigerator.  Or you can buy Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Dressing. 

1 ½ pkg. bowtie pasta                   1 can sliced olives
1 red pepper                                  1 can corn
1 green pepper                              1 can artichoke hearts – cut in pieces
1 bunch green onions                    Chicken (opt.)
1 can black beans                          2-3 cups grated cheese       
1 can kidney beans                        Tortilla chips

Cook and drain pasta.  Mix together pasta, all remaining ingredients (except for cheese and tortilla chips), and dressing and refrigerate over night.  Just before serving add cheese and tortilla chips.

Chocolate Frosting

I have always wanted a better chocolate frosting than your typical "butter cream frosting with added cocoa powder".  I found this one day and decided to try it out.  I really like it and it is super easy to make.  If anyone has a better recipe than this please do share!

1 Minute Chocolate Frosting
CDKitchen http://www.cdkitchen.com
Serves/Makes: 1.5 cups    |   Difficulty Level: 2    |   Ready In: < 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Mix together. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Add vanilla. Cool partially, then beat with a mixer for 3 minutes or until spreadable consistency. 

Nutrition:
per tablespoon: 53 calories, 2g fat, 9g carbohydrates, 0g protein.

How To Cook Brown Rice

I found this cooking tip from 

http://www.lemonpoppycake.com/2012/01/day-5-secret-to-cooking-brown-rice-plus.html

and it really does work!  Takes the same amount of time as white rice and so much more healthy!

"Brown rice is seems to be a little more temperamental to cook than white rice...... but over the last few years I have perfected my method (well at least I think so).

There are 2 VERY IMPORTANT RULES when cooking brown rice:

1- NEVER USE SALT (trust me... this helps the rice soften quicker)

2-Use FRESH brown rice (well "fresh" as in..... bought from the store within the last 6 months-1 year....brown rice does not have a 30 year shelf life like "white rice" and if it's TOO OLD it doesn't cook well and is often tough and chewy)

I know it seems simple.... but these two rules will help you cook perfect brown rice (long grain or short grain) just like P.F. Chang's brown rice!!

Now there are as many methods to cooking brown rice as there are varieties of rice (7,000 varieties if you can believe that) but if I  use FRESH RICE and NO SALT   I can cook short grain or long grain rice on the stove with a 2:1 ratio (2 cups water to 1 cup rice). Simply bring rice and water to a rolling boil for 2 minutes, cover and turn the heat to low. Allow to simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Check rice after 15 minutes...if the water seems too low just add a little (don't stress).  When your rice is done you can season it with salt......"

Labels

(Just in case you didn't see my comment to the first post) 

LABELS. 

So very important. The key to organization.  

For example if you were to post a recipe about Chicken Enchiladas there is a spot called "Labels" (on the right hand side of the post).  Here you would put every word you can think of to categorize Chicken Enchiladas.  (For Example: Chicken, Mexican, Main Dish, Freezer Meal). These labels will be really helpful.  You will then find the labels on the left hand sidebar of the blog (once we start adding recipes and labeling them). Then you could click on one of those labels, like the Dessert label, and find ideas if you had to take a dessert somewhere and need ideas. 

Make sense??

Welcome!

Welcome to our lovely site girls!  So to get us started let me tell you about some of the features on the site :).  Some of you (probably Ashley mostly) are better at knowing blogger's features than I am so if something doesn't seem right and you know how to fix it...go for it!  So here goes:

1)  Name....is it alright?!  Too cheesy?

2) Blog Archive:  This will be the way that you can go back through all of our posts to see all that has been posted.  

3) Popular Posts:  This will show our site's most visited posts so you can see what we like!

4) Search this Blog:   Pretty self-explanatory.  I'm sure it will come in handy.

5) Favorite Sites:  So go ahead and add any favorite food websites/blogs that you use often so we know where to go to find some good ideas.

6) "You Might Also Like":  I downloaded this widget and it will bring up pictures and titles of past posts for suggestions of what else you might like.  We'll see how this works...it could be cool if it works well! 

7) Posts:  So those of you who are new to blogger to create a new post you will want to click on "New Post" in the top right hand corner.  For our posts you will want to create a title (probably just the name of the recipe), have a link to the recipe or actually type it in the post, a picture if you've got one (I love pics), and any comments you have about the recipe.

8) Email:  So I think I got it set up that whenever someone posts something on here it will email you.  If you do not want to get those emails than go into settings and delete your name in the "mobile & email" section.  I just thought it might be nice to know when things get posted so you are aware of what is on here.

9) So at this point it is a "public" blog...meaning anybody can see it.  If you would like it changed to "private" so we are the only ones who can view it that is fine with me.  I just thought that it might be nice to have it public so that if someone else wanted a recipe that was on the blog you could just direct them to it.  Thoughts?  

10) Anything else you would like to see?