Hummus a Quick and Healthy Snack

I am sad to say that you will not find any Thanksgiving recipes on The Noshery this year.  We are hitting the road and heading out to Arkansas this Thanksgiving to spend it with friends, which I am pretty stoked about.  Because we have a 6 hour drive to a foreign kitchen I will not be doing any cooking this year, which I will secretly admit is kind of sweet.  I get to just unplug and enjoy my holiday stress free.   I guess I could have done some experimentation this past week but Obed was out of town and I did not feel much motivation to do any “real” cooking for just one.   Instead I sustained myself with sandwiches and veggie spread like this hummus.   

I am in no way talking down on this hummus. In fact this recipe is one 0f my favorite snacks.  I will usually make a batch of it and keep it in the fridge to snack on with pita bread and fresh veggies through the week.  Sometimes I will use it as a sandwich spread for lunch. It is very simple and very good for you.

 In a food processor drop in 3 cloves of garlic;

and squeeze the juice from 1/2 a lemon.

 Pulse the food processor a few times to mince up the garlic, or you can do it yourself , but I was being lazy.

Add a 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans or chickpeas, whatever you want to call them;

and 1/2 a cup of plain fat-free yogurt.  

Now season to season add 1/2 tsp of cumin; 

 and 1/2 tsp of course salt.

Finally add 1/2 tbs of olive oil that is a wee-bit out of focus. 

Flip the switch and puree the beans.  You want to puree it will it is just starting to smooth but you still have chunks.  

Garnish with parsley and serve with pita bread or fresh veggies. 

I love this stuff and I think even a picky eater will love it, especially if they like garlic.  This hummus is pretty strong on the garlic so you can cut it down to just 2 cloves if you like, but I stick with my 3 cloves.  I figured I am married now so I can squeeze by with a little dragon breath, as long as it is temporary. 

The pitas were fresh made using my new cookbook “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day“.  I literally had fresh pita bread in no time, just by rolling out dough to 1/8 inch thick, from the master recipe and baking it for 5 – 7 minutes on a hot stone at 500 degrees.  I am telling you I am in love with this book. 

Print Recipe

Hummus

• 1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 tbs of olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of course salt
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• parsley to garnish

Combine everything into a food processor and blend until pureed but still a little chunky.

Garnish with parsley and serve with veggies or pita bread.  Can also be used as a sandwich bread.

Sofito and an Impromtu Chemical Peel

If you visit regularly or have been reading this blog for awhile you probably have seen the ingredient “sofrito” mentioned a few times in my Puerto Rican recipes.   This is a must have condiment to keep on hand for any Puerto Rican dish.  It is the entire island’s secret ingredient.  Don’t tell them I told you.

Although you can buy it at most grocery stores I figured I could also tell you how to make it at home.  Just in case you are a reader from the middle of nowhere’s land North Dakota or something. 

Besides it is incredibly easy and it’s always better when it is homemade.

All you need are the following vegetables.  The one thing that will probably be hardest to find is the culantro.  It is a long flat leaf that is kind of spiny on the edges.  I was excited to find it at my local Asian market and grabbed a bunch of it, probably more then I needed.  Another hard to find ingredient are “aji dulces” which are sweet chili peppers.  They actually look like really small habanero peppers or hot Jamaican peppers, so be careful not to confuse them.

Lazy Woman’s Dinner: Almost Carbonara

It’s a new work week, it’s stinking HOT and I am tired.  What do I make for dinner when I get home?   I wanted to make something effortless and quick, because I did not feel like hanging out in my poorly ventulated kitchen.

Also I had been nursing the headache from H-E-double hockey sticks and just was not in the mood to do anything that required any kind of real effort. In summation I was tired, sweaty and I had an 8 ton elephant sitting on my head.  Do you know what it’s like to have an 8 ton elephant on your head and a yappy dog that won’t shut up?  Not pointing any fingers. *nodding towards Buster*

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Sausage and Red Pepper Strata

Considering breakfast is my favorite meal of the day it is odd that I don’t really make it very often.  Especially during the week. I usually just pour myself some ceral and run out the door.  

Last night I though that it would be nice to have a yummy special breakfast so I prepared a strata.  The bases of a strata is eggs, bread and cheese, then you build it up from there.   This is a perfect dish to make if you need to feed a number of people breakfast. You just throw it together the night before and pop it in the oven first thing in the morning, it is incredibly easy.  Yes even you can do it Amber.

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Mofongo con Camarones (“Mashed” Plantains with Shrimp)

Wondering where I was going with my last post?  Probably not, but it wasn’t for no reason.  How to Peel Plantains helps us with this recipe. Last night I thought I would do some “down home cooking” and made Mofongo con Camarones (Mashed Plantains with Shrimp).  I love mofongo it is one of my favorite ways to eat plantains, but it isn’t exactly figure friendly.  Last night I decided I was going to make an effort to make it a little more figure friendly.  I do not really know if I managed to accomplish it but it turned out pretty darn good, except for the fact that I was a little heavy handed with the garlic, so I will be cutting it in the recipe.  If you want more garlic you can always add more.

Also, my initial plan on how to prepare the dish did not go over so well, so I had to make some adjustments to “save” it.  Because of this my visual step-by-step “tutorial” is going to be a little incomplete.

Mofongo is usually made by cutting plantains into slices and deep frying them until they are cooked through.  Then you transfer them into a mortar and pestle and mash with garlic and pork rinds.   I tried to make it a little more “friendly” by baking the plantains instead of frying them.

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Shrimp Scampi over Rice Tortitas

 

For my wedding I registered for a tapas cookbook.  If you are unfamiliar with what are tapas, they are Spanish appetizers and finger foods that are served in the bars and restaurants of Spain.  At  a tapas restaurant you will usually find a menu full of all kinds of delicious appetizers and finger foods to share at your table. 

Today I finally pulled out that cookbook and tried a dish from it.  I was going to just cook a quick dinner of yellow rice with some shrimp scampi but when I saw this recipe I thought this would be a great variation, since it was rice & potato “tortitas”. (“tortita” means pancake)  I make my shrimp “scampi” by saute-ing the shrimp with some olive oil, butter, chicken stock and 3 cloves of garlic, real easy.

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