Opening Thoughts and Hummus

Opening Thoughts

I want to be honest. I'm new to blogging. I'm new to fancy cooking. Fancy cooking to some would imply words like French, Foam, Ganache, Rémoulade, and Aioli… To me, fancy is not from a can, freezer, or package. For some this may scream amateur and that's exactly what I am. 

I've spent many many years of my life in school for engineering and some subsequent masters degrees, extracurricular sports and activities, social life, and my cats. In my spare time (note: there hasn't been a lot of it until now) I would take the time to relax or would rather spend time with my beau out at a restaurant where they do all the work instead of me "slaving" in the kitchen. With my recent career transition I've found one good benefit to unemployment: TIME. I finally have time to do those things that I said I would do when I had time, and what do I do? Spend my day at the gym, watching lots of tv on Bravo and the Food Network, and being overactive on Pinterest. This has motivated me to make and bake foods that I never had the time for (such as a fantastic slow cooker beer chicken, chocolate valentines cookies, and a spicy tortilla soup that I have made recently). 

My husband, let's call him Mr. D, isn't as obsessed with trying new foods as I am. I get bored. Oh chicken again? ok, it's easy so I'll make it. Every day he takes the same thing for lunch: salad with veggies and some sort of meat or cheese, side of fruit, soda (it's his nasty habit), and some protein snack. This snack has recently been hummus and pita chips. Every week, like clockwork, we would spend $3-5 on pre-made hummus at the store. I've always been somewhat of a frugal bargain hunter at the grocery store so when a friend commented that I could make that and I was excited.  Excited over hummus?!  Oh boy... 

I admit I was intimidated. Hummus, sounds scary and hard. (See, I said I wasn't an experienced cook). Guess what?! Super EASY, he loves it, and it makes so much more than you get in those little plastic containers. The hardest thing about the whole process was finding Tahini Paste. I tried my local Trader Joes and Stew Leonards without luck but Big Y had it (by the way it's located in the peanut butter aisle). 

After going through my cookbooks, Pinterest, and google… I put together some of my "basics of hummus". Some bloggers would boil or steam the chickpeas while others didn't (less steps the better for me!). Tahini paste varied between 1 TBSP to 1/2 cup, how much sesame do I really need? Everyone claimed theirs was the best. Mine might not be the best, it might not be super traditional, but Mr. D loves it and that's good enough for me. 

The ingredients (minus the lemon... but I swear it's around here somewhere).

Dem beans dem beans...

Look at that Siracha swirl, heavenly. 

HUMMUS

Special Tools: 

Food Processor (mine has 9 cups)


Ingredients: 


2 cans of garbanzo beans - drained and rinsed 
4 cloves of garlic 
2 tbsp olive oil 
2 tbsp Tahini Paste (make sure you stir it up good!)
Juice of 2 lemons - approx 2-3 tbsp per lemon 
Squirt of Siracha hot sauce (optional) 
Salt and Pepper to taste 

Directions: 

1. Place garlic, lemon juice, and tahini in food processor and get it pretty smooth. I like to process the garlic first to make sure it doesn't get caught up in the garbanzo beans. 
2. Add garbanzo beans and process until smooth. 
3. Add olive oil until consistency is what you like. Some have suggested setting aside some of the bean juice to add at this point if the mixture is too thick. 

At this point you have a basic hummus recipe, ta da! From here I add a good squirt of Siracha because Mr D. likes it with a kick. In other variations I've also added sun dried tomatoes (4-6 depending on taste). Keep in mind if they are jarred in oil you will need less added oil since they will bring some tasty oil with them. 

Serve with pita chips, veggies, pretzels, or eat with a spoon :) 

NOM!