Hummus with Green Goo

Hummus with Green Goo...Yum!

This hummus keeps nicely, refrigerated, for a few days, but is best served at room temperature. As Heidi notes in her recipe, the hummus might thicken in the refrigerator. If this happens, you can simply thin it with a splash of water. Adjust with salt and lemon juice if needed as well. If you are sensitive to heat, you can deseed and devein the jalepeno.





Hummus:

1 pound / 453 g dried chickpeas, soaked in water for at least 4 hours, drained

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup water

scant 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt

1/3 cup / 80ml tahini

Green Goo

1/4 cup Italian parsley

1 jalapeño, destemmed

1 large clove garlic

scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

2/3 cup / 160 ml extra virgin olive oil

In a large pot cover the chickpeas with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the baking soda, and reduce the heat. Simmer, skimming any foam from the surface, until the chickpeas are soft but still structured, roughly an hour. Drain.

Place 4 cups / 1.5 pounds / 650 g of the cooked chickpeas in a food processor. You can set aside any remaining chickpeas and have them as a snack or use them in a stew or soup. To the food processor add the water, lemon juice, and salt. Process for three minutes or until completely smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice along the way. If you like your hummus thinner add more water a small splash at a time. Add the tahini, process one more time. Taste and adjust the seasoning, add more salt or lemon juice if needed. Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl.

To make the "green goo" rinse out the food processor bowl, and use it again, and if you don't have a food processor, you can certainly do a hand-chopped version. Pulse the parsley, jalapeño, garlic, and salt in the food processor. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture while the processor is running, until an green emulsion is created. Transfer to a jar, taste, and adjust the seasoning.

Drizzle the hummus generously with the green goo. I realize now, I didn't use nearly enough in the photo up above.

Serve with pita chips, crackers, flatbread, or toasted lavash.

Makes 4 cups of hummus.

Stolen from one of my favorite sites, or link directly to it: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/hummus-with-green-goo-recipe.html

Thick, Chewy Granola Bars

We've dubbed these as "crack". Seriously -- The Best!!

1 2/3 C Quick rolled oats
1/2 to 3/4 cup grandulated sugar (use more or less)
1/3 cup oat floar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinammon
2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (just about anything you want to add)
1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup
2 Tbsp light corn syrup (otherwise substitute with one of the above)
1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 8x8x2 pan with parchment paper, allowing it to go up on opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with non stick cooking spray.

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweetners and water. Toss the wet ingred. with the dry (and p butter, if you're using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread out in prepared pan, pressing firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan.

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they're brown around the edges -- don't be afraid to get a little color on them. They'll seem soft and almost underbaked in the center when y ou take them out but do not worry, they'll set completely once they cool.

Cool the bars in their pan.

Beetroot Risotto

Aussies and their beetroot! I have never eaten so much beet in my life, as I did the years I lived here. It's just not as much a part of 'our' diet at home as it seems to be here. I grew a love for them especially beetroot dip.

I ran across this recipe that I recently tested out on my friends, Jay & Helen, and it received 3 thumbs up! Whether homegrown beets (Mom, now you have something to cook w/ all the beets I planted!) or beets from the supermarket, hope you give this one a try. Super good!



Beetroot Risotto

2 Beetroot (about 450 gram) (I bought a can from the grocery store)
1 liter vegetable stock
2 Tbsp Butter
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 cup arborio rice (I used simple brown rice)
70 g parmesan, grated
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
olive oil to drizzle
green salad to serve, optional

Wearing latex gloves, peel beetroot with a small, sharp knife, then grate into a bowl. Place vegetable stock in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Heat butter in a large, heavy based saucepan over a medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until onion is soft, then add beetroot and stir for 1 minute. Add rice and stir for a further minute until grains are well coated and glossy. Add 1 cup of stock and simmer, stirring, until absorbed. Repeat until all the stock has been absorbed and ric e is al dente and coated in a creamy sauce. Fold parmesan through risotto. Remove risotto from heat, spoon into 4 warmed serving bowls and scatter with parsley. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with green salad if desired. Serves 4.

Fantastic Recipe

So much better than rice pudding!

Baked Couscous Pudding with Raisins
Serves 6

1/2 c couscous
1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 c whole milk (I used soy)
1 1/4 c  heavy cream
1/3 c raisins
pinch of salt (I omitted)
freshly ground nutmeg (I used cinnamon and cloves)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place the couscous, sugar and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cream, raisins and salt. Return to boil and then transfer to the casserole dish. Grate plenty of nutmeg over the surface. Bake for 35 minutes, uncovered, until the pudding is thick and creamy underneath its golden skin. It is at its bets about 15 minutes out of the oven and it is still good cold, although it firms up as it cools.

Manuka Honey: My New Favorite Super Food

Gosh, I love this stuff. No really, I mean I really love this stuff. I don't think I can ever go back to eating ordinary honey and being satisfied with it.

Thanks to my old New Zealand roomie, Rebecca, I was already aware that this honey was great, but now that I'm back in Australia where you can easily buy the stuff, I've done my own personal research and become a huge fan.

Manuka Honey is a special type of mono-floral honey which is produced from bees that gather nectar from flowers that grow on the Manuka bush, indigenous only in NZ and certain parts of Australia. Studies have found that Manuka Honey contains very powerful antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties, making it extremely effective in treating a wide variety of health conditions.

Manuka Honey vs. Regular Honey

Manuka Honey is significantly different than regular honey that you would find at your local supermarket. Even though standard honey contains hydrogen peroxide which is a known antiseptic, it looses most of its healing properties when it comes in contact with certain conditions such as light, heat or dilution. Only Active Manuka Honey has additional antibacterial properties that have the ability to destroy the infectious bacteria that cause most health complications. Unlike standard honey, Manuka Honey is also stable so there is no concern of it losing its potency or healing properties.

There are a few major differences between ordinary honey and Manuka Honey.

1. Only Manuka Honey provides non-hydrogen peroxide antibacterial components.
2. Manuka Honey's antibacterial factor is unaffected by enzymes in the body that destroy hydrogen peroxide components.
3. Manuka Honey is highly effective against antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.
4. Manuka Manuka Honey contains active healing properties not found in other types of honey.

Who couldn't love this stuff?
Don't know where you could easily find it in the US...maybe a super duper natural grocer's. If you're really nice, maybe I could ship some from here.
Till then, read more from the Honey Researchers themselves. amazing stuff.
And for those of you still not convinced, check out this article.

Fruity Bread

A little birdie dropped the seed into my head this weekend of breakfast bread. I quite literally am in love with toasted bread with a good coffee in the mornings. Yesterday, I was on a roll (and quite obsessive) with baking two different types to see which I liked the best. The following is the winner. I totally recommend a strong cup 'o joe to bring out the "flavors".

I mainly love that this recipe allows me to use my bread machine (to make the dough) but required me to get my hands dirty and complete the bread with kneading, rising and cooking in the oven. Basically, I had to put some of 'me' in the process instead of relying totally on the machine. Sometimes I find that it is all too easy to rely on the ease of the bread maker. Isn't that considered cheating to hard-core bread aficionados? And for the people that will enjoy some of my bread, does it mean they will be eating a piece of me? I'm beginning to think like Tita in Like Water for Chocolate.

(thanks to www.whatscookingamerica.net)

Breakfast Fruit Bread

1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F.)
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon oil (olive oil, canola oil or vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon diastatic barley malt (optional)* - I use.
4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
2 to 2 1/2 cups of mixed chopped nuts and chopped dried fruit (such as raisins, dates, apricots, apples, cherries, etc.)** - I mix mine with flour.

* Also called gluten flour, instant gluten flour, pure gluten flour, and vital wheat gluten depending on vendor and manufacturer. This is flour with the starch and bran removed. Gluten is the natural protein in the wheat endosperm which, when combined with water, forms a taffy-like dough. This retains the gas and steam from baking.

** To keep dried fruit and nuts from sticking together, put them in a small bowl with approximately 2 teaspoons flour; stir to thoroughly combine.

Place all ingredients except nuts and dried fruit in bread pan of your bread machine. Select dough setting and press start. Check the dough (don't be afraid to open the lid). It should form a nice elastic ball. If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same is true if the dough is looking dry and gnarly. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time)

After approximately 15 minutes of the dough cycle, add nuts and dried fruit, and continue dough cycle. NOTE: If the addition of dried fruits causes your dough to get too sticky, don't worry. Add additional flour now or add it when you do the kneading process. When dough cycle has finished, remove dough from pan and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into an oval, cover with a cotton towel or plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.






After resting, turn dough bottom side up and press to flatten. Shape dough into a loaf and place on a baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray or on a silpad. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise for approximately 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled (time can vary depending on room temperature). After rising, slash the bread with a very sharp knife making three 1/2-inch deep diagonal slashes.

Oven Rising: Sometimes I use my oven for the rising. Turn the oven on for a minute or so, then turn it off again. This will warm the oven and make it a great environment for rising bread. If you can't comfortably press your hand against the inside of the oven door, the oven is too hot. Let it stand open to cool a bit. Sourdough rises more slowly than yeast bread; Always remember, the longer the rise time, the more sourdough flavor.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Remove from oven and cool on a bread rack. Let baked loaf cool for 30 minutes before cutting (this is because the bread is still cooking while it is cooling).

Who cut the cheese? I proudly did.

Cheese making is really not that hard to do. Don't be intimidated. It's actually kind of fun. I get asked often how I make my cheese, so this is a rough sketch of the process. *Anyone that wants to come to Mississippi to Cheese Making 101 in person is welcome anytime.*

Please do not plan on making cheese following these instructions. This is only meant to just give anyone interested the confidence that it can easily be done. Here is where I bought my first kit.
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I like making cheese. I don't know if this is because it falls in-line with a self-sufficient mindset or simply because I hate to spend $$$ on something I can easily do myself - without all the preservatives, not to mention a fresher version...

Two of my favorites are Ricotta & Mozzarella. They are very versatile cheeses and can be kept in the fridge for awhile -- or even frozen. It's nice when I luck up on bookoodles of cheap clearance milk and I can make what I will need for awhile and simply store it. Plus, I feel super spendthrifty when I do this, which is a double bonus. Compare prices and see which would be most cost effective.

So, here goes:

SJ's Latest Ricotta Cheese Making Session
Start out with time and milk.

Mozzarella & Ricotta are by far the easiest to make, which makes them great starter cheeses. (Ricotta being the simplest of the two.) They are essentially the same with a little tweaking. This is the process for Ricotta...

Start off with a stainless steel pan, clean utensils and a warm stove.

After the milk is poured into the pot, the very next step is to add the 'goods' to make it curdle. You more than likely will be following a cheese recipe when you make yours, so roughly -- rennet, citric acid and cheese salt are what you add, in varying amounts, to make different types of cheese.

Milk burns super quick so warming the milk should be done very slowly. Roughly around 200 degrees F is the goal. (every recipe will be different) Stir constantly. One word on the milk: It MUST NOT be ultra-pasteurized milk.

Once the cheese has reached the right temperature (you'll know b/c you'll be standing a the pot constantly stirring and watching the thermometer), you remove it from the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

At this point is when you can begin to see the whey separate from the cheese curds. Do not touch it during this time...just let it do its magic.


I usually go ahead and get my cheese cloth ready over another pot while the curdling is taking place.

After about 10 minutes or so, the whey will be very obviously separated from the curds.

With fresh cheese cloth lining a colander, slowly pour the whey/curds mixture...


**Whey is an awesome by-product of cheese. I attempt to substitute it in all sorts of recipes--especially baking. Definitely do not throw it out. Use it in the place of water or buttermilk in muffins, breads, pancakes, etc... The great thing is that it can even be frozen! If you have farm animals, consider feeding it to them or pour it on your vegetables in the garden. I've done both and it never goes to waste. Check this out. **














I slowly lift up the cheesecloth and tie it above the pan to finish draining. Depending on how 'dense' you want your ricotta, the time for draining will vary. I like mine fairly dense, so I let it drain for roughly an hour or so.



Take the cheese cloth down and voila--ricotta cheese. I then transfer it to my little cheese tub and throw it in the fridge. It's so much fun! -- and even more fun to eat.
















This picture is a finished product! of Mozzarella. I ate all the Ricotta before I remembered to take a pic.

I have a thing with food. I think about it, dream about it, talk about it, obsess over new recipes, menus, flavors and literally cannot bear the thought of anything going to waste. I like to eat whole and natural, full of flavor and fresh. This isn't so easy for me lots of times, given that I'm on the road without a kitchen to call my own. However, when I am ever still, even for a day, the first thing I do is pull out all my old stand-by cookbooks and head to the kitchen. Aside from print, some of my favorite online sites are this and this ---and the old favorite: this. I check them daily and read them like a book. One day when I have my own quaint B&B on my own quaint farm, this blog might morph into a quaint foodie porn site...until then, I will sporadically include my tops. Let me know what you think! (and send me your favs. too)

Crunchy Cabbage and Ramen Slaw

Ingredients

1 (2 1/2-pound) head green cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 bunch green onions, green parts only, thinly sliced
2 (3-ounce) packages ramen noodle soup mix (any flavor)
1/2 cup expeller pressed canola or sunflower oil
3 tablespoons seasoned brown rice vinegar
2 tablespoons mild honey
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper to taste

Method

Combine the cabbage, almonds, sesame seeds and green onions in a large serving bowl. Remove the seasoning packet from both ramen soup mixes and reserve for another use. Crumble the ramen noodles into small pieces and add to the cabbage mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, brown rice vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Add to salad and toss to coat well.

This is one of those recipes that I obsess over and crave constantly. I make a huge batch and eat it morning, noon and night! I lots of times add carrots too.

Strawberry and Avocado Salsa

3 pt strawberries, hulled and sliced 1 bunch of cilantro
4 avocados 1 lg. jalapeno, minced
1 red onion, diced juice of 2 limes
1 tsp salt

In a lg. bowl combine sliced strawberries, chopped avocados, diced red onion, minced jalapenos, chopped cilantro. Add lime juice and salt. If you want a little more spice add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Serve.

The night before I left for the SAS, I had a big cookout at my house and made lots of yummy, healthy dishes, this being one of them. It was my favorite and if there was anything specific that I craved all summer, it was this dish. Awesome! I served with pita chips. Recipe could easily be halved.

Basil-Blackberry Crumble

2-3 apples, chopped
2 pints blackberries
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 lg. handful of basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup honey - or more depending on tartness of your berries
Preheat oven to 400. Combine all in an oven-proof casserole dish, mix and set aside.

5 tbsp flour
3 heaping tbsp brown sugar
1 stick cold butter
Cut butter into flour and sugar, then rub with your fingers to make a chunky, crumbly mixture (not too uniform). Sprinkle it over the top of the fruit, bake 30 min. until golden and bubbly.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is so dear to my heart (read it!) and this recipe came from there. It sounds like an odd combination, but oh so good. Serve with cream or ice cream. Strapping this hot dish to my bike rack and biking across town to a friend's dinner party in Portland makes this dish all the more memorable to me.