Our favorite Hummus Recipe

A pint of garbanzos/kabuli chana/chickpeas (all different names for the same thing)

Cumin (I love this stuff and use like 2 TBS, but you can adjust to personal taste)

Salt to taste

A couple glugs of lemon juice (You're loving my technicality here, right?!)

A couple glugs of olive oil

A small splash of tahini...more if you like a real nutty flavor (this is ground sesame/sim sim...usually found in the ethnic or peanut butter aisle)

Take one pint jar of garbanzos and rinse, soak for a couple hours. Drain. Add to crockpot with a little salt and fill the rest of the way full with water. Put on low (or high if you are in a hurry). I usually put these on low right before bed and they are perfect in the morning. 

In the morning/when the beans are soft:

Drain garbanzos (reserving a cup or so of the liquid for later). 

I then cool them in the fridge or freezer for just a bit. Then add them to the food processor/blender. Add in the other ingredients. Blend. Then slowly add the reserved liquid from the crockpot until the hummus is the right consistency for you. 

I then add mine to a mason jar and stick in the fridge. Usually this yields about a quart mason jar full (and a teeny bit leftover that never makes to the fridge bc the kids have been patiently awaiting hummus since they saw me start soaking the beans.)

Serve hot on nachos or in burritos, or serve cold in a wrap or with crackers/fresh veggies. We can't get enough of it here and make probably 2 batches a week. I don't suggest doubling the recipe though unless you have a really big crockpot and giant food processor bc 1 pint of beans seems to be the perfect size batch to fit both of my appliances. And while I could probably fit more in the crockpot, I would end up needing to add more water throughout the night for a bigger batch. 

Zucchini Enchilada Bake

I have been trying to use up our garden veggies and so I have been experimenting a lot lately with meals. This was one of said experiments. 

Zucchini Enchilada Bake

1-2 zucchinis (depending on sz...you want about 2/3 of a saucepan full), shredded

Cumin, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Paprika, Garlic Powder and Salt to taste

About 5 tomatoes (washed, stems and blossom end cut out and pulsed in blender or food processer for a bit)

about 4 cups of water

4 oz of cheese, shredded (We used Mozz bc it was on hand)

About a dozen whole wheat tortillas 

about 2 cups of cooked brown rice

Combine spices, tomatoes, shredded zucchini and water in saucepan. Simmer on stove until the tomatoes, water and spices have created a thin sauce and zucchini is soft. Ladle some of the sauce on to the bottom of a couple of square cake pans, cover with a tortilla in each. Then add some of the zucchini mix, cover with a tortilla, ladle on some of the sauce, etc etc until both pans are full or you run out of tortillas. On the top layer, top with sauce and cheese only (hopefully you have used up all of the zucchini mix by then.) Then in the corners, you should have lots of sauce from the run off of the tortillas. Fill each corner with cooked brown rice (we used what was leftover from last night's dinner). Press each corner down so that the sauce goes over the rice a bit. (When this bakes, the rice will soak up the sauce and become sort of a spanish rice.)

Bake for 35-45 mins at 400 degrees or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. 

The reviews in our house on this were split. Some loved it and some said it was too salty. Either way, no complaints about the zucchini whatsoever so I am calling it a success (and next time I will add a tad less salt.)

Apple Pie Muffins

With the kids back in school, lunches to be packed every morning, and the addition of my 16-year-old nephew to the mix, I have decided to start trying out muffin recipes that I can freeze which can be quickly microwaved for school morning breakfasts (or to stick in their lunches). This was today's recipe:

Apple Pie Muffins

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 stick real unsalted butter, melted
4 apples, chopped small
1/2 cup local honey
2 TBS baking powder
4 eggs
Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger ( I don't measure these...I use alot of cinnamon and a little less nutmeg and ginger)
100% Pure Maple Syrup

I mixed these all together, rubbed a little coconut oil on my silicone cupcake liners, and filled them up about 3/4 of the way. I baked at 400 degrees for 20 mins. Then once they were baked, I poked small holes in about half of them in the middles about 1/2 inch down and poured in a little pure maple syrup to sweeten them a bit. It soaked all up so these weren't messy or sticky at all. The littles were fine eating them unsweetened, but the bigs loved the extra little bit of sweet. This recipe made exactly 3 dozen muffins. (2 dozen of which were eaten this morning and 1 dozen which actually made it to the freezer.)