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recipe: a mellow hummus made with almonds and perfect for experimentation

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I don’t have anything against tahini. I love it. It’s just that I never seem to have any around when I need it. Then, if I buy a jar, it seems to sit in the refrigerator unused forever. So the other day when I had a craving for hummus, I decided to improvise. I may have discovered something awesome: a basic hummus recipe with a window full of opportunites.

Almond Hummus

1 can of chickpeas, drained reserving some of the liquid
1/4 cup almonds
1 small clove of garlic
1 T olive oil
splash of lemon juice
salt
hungarian paprika, optional

The first thing you’ll want to do is remove the almond skins. You could skip this step, but the color and texture might be weird. Drop the almonds in some boiling water (I just microwaved some water in a mug) for about a minute. Drain and cool to the touch. Pinch the almond and the skins should pop right off.

Drop the garlic clove in a food processor and chop it into bitty pieces before adding the other ingredients. The flavor will blend better. Then add the chickpeas, almonds, olive oil, a splash or two of lemon juice and a couple pinches of salt. Process and slowly add some of the reserved chickpea water until you get a nice consistency.

I like to sprinkle a little bit of paprika on top, but the sky’s the limit. This hummus has a nice, mellow taste that can blend well with so many different flavors. I already have a few ideas: lime juice with cilantro and jalepeño, mixing in fresh mint or basil leaves, trying cashews or walnuts.

Tahini definitely gives hummus a distinctive taste and I do love it so. However, I’m looking forward to experimenting with variations of this recipe. Let me know if you try it and discover a special combination of your own.

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thanksgiving thumbkin pumpkins

It never fails. Whenever I make pumpkin pie, I always have a little bit of squash and pie crust dough left over. I save the squash for muffins, but there’s not much I can do with the dough.

This year my daughter suggested we make thumbkin pumpkins with the leftover ingredients. She made them in school earlier this week and thinks they’re the perfect excuse for eating lots of whipped cream.

We rolled up the leftover dough and divided it into several 1-inch-sized balls. Then she took her thumb and made a little well in the middle.

thumpkin pumpkin recipe

Since I start with plain pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling, I had to add some sugar and spice to my squash:

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
2 1/2 T brown sugar
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
small pinch of ground cloves

thumpkin pumpkin recipe

We spooned a small amount of squash into the thumb imprints. Then we baked these on a foil-lined cookie sheet along with the pie.

thumpkin pumpkin recipe

They turned out great. Personally, I’d add more pumpkin, but I’ve got a whole pie. These are really for my daughter, so as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. She ate them with a very generous dollop of whipped cream.

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our late bloomers

cucumber

For awhile I thought we were only going to get one tomato and one cucumber from our plants. Remember when I told you I was trying to manually pollinate them? Well, we’ve got almost 20 tomatoes and 6-7 cucumbers now. Just in time for the cold weather!

tomato

I was hoping we could harvest some more before the first frost, but the weatherman said next week we’ll have winter-like temperatures. Whaa? Cross your fingers for us! In the meantime, we’ve got some yummies to eat.

tomato

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blueberry buckle cake

If this post makes you hungry, you can blame Sarah. The other day we were up by Russ’s Market and I remembered her blogging about blueberries on sale. Bella and I bought some and then came home and made this:

blueberry coffee cake

It took me awhile to find a recipe that didn’t include a whole stick of butter. I settled on this one for a few reasons: it made two small loaves instead of one big cake and it said “freezes well.” Awesome way to spread out those calories! We cut into the frozen loaf today and it’s just as tasty as the first.

modifications: I used Light Smart Balance instead of butter. I also used a half whole wheat/half unbleached flour mixture instead of all white bleached.

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new on julie-k: twinkle, twinkle little chromium star

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dad’s photos

Right before my parents leave after a visit, my dad lets me download all of the photos from his camera to my computer. I love going through them. Here are three of my favorites from last week.

july 4th parade in seward

4th of july parade in seward, ne

chasing bubbles

chasing bubbles in the backyard

having fun at lost in fun

having fun at “lost in fun”

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new on julie-k: two new tote bags!

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loving the open road

drive to hastings nebraska

I love driving in the Midwest. It started with a trip T and I took across country while we were dating. Our country is so beautiful. There is so much to discover here and driving is the best way to find it. I especially love how each state has its own beauty: rocky and hilly, lush green grasses, golden fields. The latter really helps you understand the line “amber waves of grain.” Watching the wind blow through them is really wonderful.

When we headed out to Hastings last week, I got that same giddy feeling. The drive was less than two hours, but it filled me such happiness. I could feel the stress of daily life just melt away. The sky out here is so big and blue. You can see so far! I know there are places that have bigger skies and longer horizons, but this was enough for me. I feel so lucky that this is practically in my backyard. I also feel lucky to have the peace and quiet to soak it in. Road trips during nap time are especially nice.

bella napping

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new on julie-k: coffee sleeve of the month giveaway: spring flowers

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a healthier amish friendship bread recipe

mini loaves

A few months ago, a friend gave me some Amish Friendship Bread starter with this recipe. I made a few loaves for us, then I kept the next batch of starter and made a bunch of loaves as Christmas presents for friends. I really like this bread and have been storing the extra starter in the freezer so I can make more. Now it’s becoming an every day snack instead of a treat, so I had to adjust the recipe to make it a little bit healthier. The result is definitely not as sinful as the original, but it’s still pretty darn tasty!

1 cup amish friendship bread starter
3/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp (kosher) salt
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped craisins
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Spray 2 medium loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans with light olive oil.
• Combine ingredients.
• Pour the batter evenly into the pans.
• Bake for 45-60 minutes until wooden toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 minutes and turn onto a backing rack to finish cooling.

What I changed: Swapped real eggs with egg substitute to cut out some cholesterol. Swapped oil for pumpkin puree (pumpkin is a super food!) Used skim milk and swapped 1 cup of white flour for whole wheat. Skipped the instant pudding. My original recipe had you dust the greased pan with sugar. Skipped that step, as well. I also ignored the “Don’t use anything metal” warning in the recipe and threw all of these ingredients in my big blender. It really speeds up the whole process, plus it’s easy to pour and clean up.

Some other starter tips: If you are using a ziploc bag, it’s ok to let the air out after a few days to avoid a starter explosion. (Yes, this really happened to a friend of mine!) It’s not the end of the world if you can’t mix ingredients or bake on the exact day. I’ve kept starter in the refrigerator after day 10 for a few weeks and it turned out fine. I’ve even put it in the freezer for future use. As long as it doesn’t turn weird colors, it will be fine. And speaking of the freezer, the bread freezes very well. I usually make the mini loaves and freeze the extra ones as soon as they have cooled.

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a million little pieces

Ok. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration. I’m talking about all of the Christmas toys that come with too many pieces and nothing in which to store them. I have to give a thumbs up to the folks who designed M’s drum. They put a handle on it, so you can turn it upside down and store the drumsticks and other instruments inside. Brilliant!

Her awesome eco-friendly tea set could have used an awesome eco-friendly tote or basket, though. And it would have been great if her cute wooden “paper” doll set came with a cute wooden lid. Plus, there is the growing collection of matchbox cars and Thomas trains. I needed to get control over all these bits and pieces, so I sewed up a bunch of drawstring bags last weekend.

These were super easy and economical. I bought the set of fat quarters from Michael’s with my 50% off coupon, the ribbon came from a thrift store and the muslin lining came from one of my amazing garage sale fabric scores last summer. Total for all of the bags: about $4. I love these so much, I’m thinking of making some for my knitting projects. M thinks they’re pretty cool, too.