Hummus

It all started when Valerie wanted hummus, but didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for her favorite brand.  The others just weren't "garlicky" enough for her, so I decided to make my own.  I figured it would be a simple process of pureeing chickpeas with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.  I was right, hummus is easy to make, and I was able to add as much garlic as Valerie could handle.

I like to use dried chickpeas when I make hummus, and I had to plan ahead before I made it since I had to soak the legumes overnight before cooking them.  I don't really have a recipe, I just referenced a few on the internet to get an idea of the ratios of tahini and olive oil.  When I am making it, I usually have Valerie come do a taste test for her final approval.

Much to my surprise, my hummus making became much easier after watching the "Pantry Raid XIII, Destination Chickpea" episode of Good Eats.  In the episode, Alton Brown cooked dry chickpeas in a slow cooker and they were ready in as little as four hours.  Intrigued, I tried preparing my chickpeas in this fashion, and they were perfect.  They had a creamy texture that I was never able to achieve in my cooking method.

So, not only did I find a better, quicker way to cook my chickpeas, they also taste better.  AB's hummus recipe still doesn't have enough garlic for Valerie, but I have adopted his preparation method because I think it yields a smoother end result.  One thing I wouldn't stray away from is cooking the chickpeas in a slow cooker. 

Slow Cooker Chickpeas
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
7 cups water
1 pound dried chickpeas, sorted and rinsed
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Place the water, chickpeas, and baking soda in a 2 1/2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for 4 hours, or low heat for 8 to 9 hours, or until tender. Drain and serve immediately, or use in desired dish.

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Hummus For Real
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
1 pound Slow Cooker Chickpeas, cooled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup tahini, stirred well
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
Powdered sumac, optional

Directions
Place the chickpeas, garlic, and kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 15 to 20 seconds. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and process for another 15 to 20 seconds. Add the lemon juice and water. Process for 20 seconds. Add the tahini. Process for 20 seconds, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil.

To serve, transfer the hummus to a bowl and drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle with sumac, to taste, if desired.

Bike to Work Week!

This is the fourth year I have been riding my bike to work and I still look forward to setting out every morning.  May is National Bike Month, and this year Bike to Work Week is May 16-20 and Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 20.  Ride on!

Grounded

We moved our young plants from the safety of the porch to the big world of the garden over the weekend.  I'm always nervous moving them outside because they look so small on fragile.  But, it needs to be done, and I'm sure they will thrive!

Tomato

(Wisconsin 55)

Cucumber

Lettuce

Pea

There are a few other plants in the garden that didn't really warrant pictures at this time, but I'm sure their time will come soon enough.

We got rid of the little wooden fence we had last year and opted for a white metal variety.  We did this to "Walter-proof" the garden since he essentially destroyed the fence we had last year.  It may not look as nice, but I hope it is effective.  I love to watch our modest little garden grow!

Princess Zelda Quilt Template

I have finished the design and purchased the fabric for Emilie's princess quilt.  I am stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit by adding some flower blocks to the front of the quilt.  The directions for constructing the flower blocks can be found here.  Otherwise, it is the standard square procedure I have used many times in the past.

For Zelda, I am using her likeness from the "Oracle of Ages" and "Oracle of Seasons" video games.  I did not stay true to her original colors as I wanted to have a bit of variation.  Overall, I really like the way the design turned out and I can't wait to see it come together in fabric.

As for the template itself, I want to show how I go about designing my quilts.  I use Microsoft Excel and just fill in the cells with the colors I want them to be.  Once the design is complete, I divide the size of the quilt by the number of squares in the row to see how big the squares need to be.  For this quilt, I want it to be 4 1/2 feet wide, or 54 inches.  So, I divide 54 by 24 and I get 2.25.  I add a half inch to account for the overlap from sewing the fabric together, and I know I need to cut 2.75 inch squares.  The length of the quilt will be 6 ft.

To determine the amount of each color of fabric, I first add up how many squares of each color I will need.  I then determine how many 2.75 inch squares I can expect to get out of a yard of fabric.  36 divided by 2.75 is 13.09, which I rounded down to 12 to account for cutting errors.  Most fabric widths are in the 40 to 44 inch range, so I then divide 40 by 2.75 just to be safe, and I get 14.  12 x 14 is 168, so I can expect to get 168 squares for each yard of fabric.

Finally, I divide the number of squares of each color by 168 to determine how much of each color to purchase.  As you can see from the picture above, I don't need very much of some of the colors, and luckily, I already have some white on hand from previous projects.

Phew, that's a lot of math.  I'm glad I wrote it out, though, so now I have a reference for if I forget how to do it in the future.  It really is easy, though, and the square patterns to design from Nintendo characters are practically endless.  Yay!  Plus, by using the method above, you can make the quilt any size you'd like.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress.

Preparing to Pea

One of the new additions to our garden this year is the pea; the Oregon Sugar Pod to be exact.  The little sprouts are quite distinguishable from the other plants in our starter box, and I think they are really fun to look at for some reason.

This variety of pea plants are said to produce large and reliable yields of classic stir fry snow peas.  Soon it will be time to bust out the wok!  They are also a bush type plant so I won't have to give them any type of support system or structure.  We'll have to have a pea party at my house when it's harvest time!

Still safe!

Remember this?  It's amazing how much things change in just over a year.  Although, one thing remains constant, she is still an angel!

Eggfest 2011

It's that time of year again!  The time has come to strip down the kids and color some eggs!  An event that used to be held on the kitchen floor has been moved to the dining room table.  Ari, Emilie, and Piper are a year older and a year wiser, and they colored those eggs like a well oiled machine.  They colored those eggs with such precision and efficiency, they may be able to keep their shirts on next year.  Although, with Thomas in the mix, who knows what will happen.  The kids had a blast and we ended up with some beautiful eggs.

BEFORE

AFTER

(I love the way Ari's hand looks in this picture)

Earth Day on Mars!

This is an image of Earth and the moon taken by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  From space, the Earth is seen to go through phases similar to those of the Moon.  In this picture, Earth looks so delicate and beautiful.  Let's view it and treat it the same way on the surface.

Happy Earth Day!

Falafel

I don't know exactly how it happened, but our family has become quite the fan of falafel over the years.  I think it all may have started when I worked at The Sunspot years ago, going to the natural food trade shows; a vendor gave me a free falafel mix.  With the mix, all I had to do was add water, leave it be for about fifteen minutes, portion, and fry.  It was easy and delicious, and it was a nice change of pace.

Fast forward a few years and I wanted to try to make my own falafel.  I found a recipe online and made a batch.  The falafel I made from scratch wasn't that much better than the mix I used, so I kept using the mix whenever a craving hit because it was easier. 

Fast forward another couple years, and imagine my delight when I saw that Alton Brown would be doing a chickpea episode of Good Eats.  Well, I was very delighted, and the episode did not disappoint.  Not only did AB give me a fantastic recipe for falafel, he also gave me a great new hummus technique, but that's another post.

After the episode aired, I knew I would be making the falafel on Friday night.  It came together very easily, and I was happy to have another use for my meat grinder.  I actually portioned the falafel on Thursday, so all I had to do was fry them of Friday.  I love low stress dinners, and this was about as low stress as it can get.  But the proof was in the tasting.

Unlike the previous falafel recipe I used, AB's recipe is much better than the mix.  It is definitely worth the effort.  The flavors are not muddled and the texture obtained by grinding the chickpeas is very nice.  The bit of heat from the cayenne pepper is also a nice touch.  Bye-bye mix, I have a new way to make falafel!


Falafel
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
•1 pound dried chickpeas, sorted and rinsed
•1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
•1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
•2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
•4 small scallions, trimmed and finely chopped
•2 teaspoons kosher salt
•1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
•1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
•2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
•2 quarts peanut oil
•Pita bread, warmed, for serving

Directions
Place the chickpeas in a medium bowl and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Soak overnight.

Place the cumin and coriander seeds in an 8-inch cast-iron skillet and set over medium high heat. Cook, shaking the pan frequently, until the seeds give off an aroma and just begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the toasted spices to a spice grinder and process until finely ground. Set aside.

Drain the chickpeas. Combine the soaked chickpeas, ground cumin and coriander, garlic and scallions, salt, black pepper, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and parsley leaves in a medium mixing bowl.

Pass this mixture through a meat grinder or stand mixer with the grinder attachment fitted with the smallest die. Alternatively, you can divide the mixture in half and process one half at a time in a food processor, pulsing 10 to 20 times.

Scoop the mixture into 1 1/2 to 2-ounce portions using a 2-inch diameter disher. Place on a half sheet pan lined with parchment. Can be held hold at room temperature for up to 2 hours before frying, or covered in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat the peanut oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F. Adjust the heat to maintain temperature. Gently place the falafel, 1 at a time, into the hot oil. Fry 4 at a time until deep golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove to a half sheet pan lined with a cooling rack and topped with a paper towel to drain. Repeat until all falafel have been cooked. Serve on warm pita.

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