Traditional Hummus

I’ve made many varieties of hummus, but this recipe is definitely my favorite.

The texture is so smooth and creamy- the flavor so rich and slightly spicy.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chickpeas, 2 Tbsp. liquid reserved

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup tahini

shake of red pepper flakes

juice of 2 lemons

1 tsp. salt or to taste

drizzle of olive oil, for garnish

smoked paprika, for garnish

Method

1. Combine all ingredients (except for the olive oil and smoked paprika) in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth, adding more water or chickpea liquid to reach the desired consistency.
2. Place the hummus into a serving dish, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with smoked paprika.

Dip, drench, spread and lick.

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Vegetable Box May 6th

This week I received another exciting box of fresh, local, organic vegetables from my local CSA.

The originally planned box also included kohlrabi but I requested to go without this week. I had a hard time finding recipes for the 3 kohlrabi that came in an earlier box.

This week, the delivery contained:

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley

1 head of cauliflower

6 organic, free range farm eggs

1 pointed cabbage

In German, this cabbage is called spitzkohl, I’m not sure of the English translation since I only came to know this vegetable in Europe.

3 large carrots

3 lemons

Crimini mushrooms

1 gorgeous head of lettuce

2 zucchini

An enormous bag of baby spinach

I am most excited for the spinach since it is a difficult vegetable to come by. I can find full-grown spinach and frozen spinach, but the tender baby spinach is a rarity.

Although I really miss my mom this Mother’s day, talking to her this evening made my heart happy.

I love you so much mom and am incredibly thankful to have you for a mother, teacher, friend and example.

Enjoy the rest of your Mother’s Day!

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Fennel, Orange and Spelt Berry Salad

It really is a shame Easter is over.

This refreshing, crisp, spring salad would have been perfect on an Easter day buffet.

Oh well, better late than never, right?

In an attempt to use the fennel from last week’s vegetable box delivery, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks, Clean Food.

The recipe in the cookbook formed the perfect foundation to build upon- from a side salad to a dish that can stand alone as a meal.

The ingredients in this recipe are clean, wholesome, and revitalizing.

After photographing the ingredients and beginning to make the salad, I decided to double the fennel bulbs.

 The mint was freshly picked from my balcony.

Although I used spelt berries, I’m sure wheat berries or another firmer grain would be just as good.

 I’ve been  zesting like crazy since I bought a microplane.

Two large oranges make a lot of zest! 

Chopped fennel and mint piled atop the orange zest.

Add in the orange segments, cilantro and red onions.

Add the cooked and cooled spelt berries.

Give it all a good toss.

Mix up your dressing by shaking it until combined.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.

Lightly adapted from Clean Food

Ingredients

2 fennel bulbs, halved, cored and thinly sliced

4 oranges

1/2 small red onion, finely sliced

1/2 cup raw spelt berries (wheat berries would also work)

1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, torn

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, torn

Dressing

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Juice from 1/2 orange

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the spelt berries according to package instructions, rinse with cold water and set aside.
2. Steep the sliced red onions in boiling water for 30 seconds; strain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, zest two of the oranges. Remove the peels and pith of all 4 oranges and add the orange segments to the bowl along with the fennel, red onions, mint and cilantro.
4. In a tightly sealing container, such as a reused glass jar, shake together the dressing ingredients until well combined. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to evenly coat.

Enjoy in the sunshine with a tall glass of iced tea.

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Ginger Tofu with Pac Choi

Bok choy.

Pok choy.

Pak choi.

Pack choy.

I’m not sure which name is actually correct, but I do know that this recipe makes for a delicious lunch.

This gorgeous head of pak choi was delivered in my last organic vegetable box.

This recipe was a quick to put together.

First, cook up the pak choi with a bit of ginger.

Stir-fry the marinated tofu.

Once the tofu is cooked fully and the remaining marinade has reduced to a thick caramelizing sauce, just top the pak choi with the tofu.

Ginger Tofu with Pak Choi

Adapted from bbcgoodfood

Makes 2 servings

• 250g fresh firm tofu , drained

• 2 tbsp groundnut oil

• 1cm piece ginger, sliced

• 200g pak choi, leaves separated

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes

• cooked jasmine rice , to serve

For the Marinade

• 1 tbsp grated ginger

• 1 tsp tamarind paste

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

1. Gently prick a few holes in the tofu with a toothpick (this will help the marinade to soak into it, giving better flavour), then cut into bite-size cubes.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and toss in the tofu pieces. Set aside to marinate for 10-15 mins.
3. Heat a wok over high heat and add half the groundnut oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the ginger slices and stir-fry for a few secs. Add the pak choy leaves and stir-fry for 1-2 mins. Add a small splash of water to create some steam and cook for 2 mins more. When the leaves have wilted and the stems are cooked but still a little crunchy, season with salt and transfer to a serving dish.
4. Rinse the wok under cold water, then reheat it and add the remaining oil. When it starts to smoke, add the tofu pieces (retaining the marinade liquid) and stir-fry for 5-10 mins. Take care not to break up the tofu as you toss it to get it browned evenly on all sides. Season with the rice wine and rice vinegar. Add the remaining marinade liquid, bring to the bubble and let the liquid reduce. Sprinkle over the chilli flakes and toss well. Spoon onto the pak choy and serve immediately with jasmine rice, if you like.

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Italian Bread

I’ve really been getting into bread baking lately.

I’m pretty sure fresh yeast has been the reason for this change.

Previously, I hated bread baking. After hours of work, I always ended up with a brick hard block of tasteless bread that could barely be cut, let alone eaten.

Fresh yeast.

Fresh yeast has saved me from the yeasty beasty of ruined breads.

My most recent bread baking adventure turned out really well.

I followed this recipe for Italian bread.

I subbed 1 block of fresh yeast for the active dry yeast which was called for in the recipe. I also used all-purpose flour rather than bread flour since I didn’t have any on hand.

Although the recipe creator called for using a stand mixer, my hand-held mixer did the job.

The vital wheat gluten really made the dough tough.

I did as I was told, and kneaded the bread for 15 minutes.

After rolling the dough in a bit of olive oil, I set it aside to rise…

and rise it did!

After punching the dough down, I split it into two parts to be rolled into logs.

One loaf was rolled in freshly chopped rosemary.

The second loaf I left as is. Plain and simple.

The loaves were set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper that had been dusted with cornmeal.

Covered with a damp towel and set aside to rise, this is how the loaves looked after the second rise.

I love fresh yeast.

Each loaf got a few diagonal slices.

Pretty little rosemary flecks. Unphotographed, the loaves received an egg wash before being stuck in the oven to bake.

It’s hard to see here, but there’s a dish with hot water under the baking sheet.

Fresh out of the oven!

Hollow sounding when tapped and golden on the outside.

Chewy and soft on the inside.

Every time I have success, it chisels away at my bread baking insecurities.

If you’ve not tried baking with fresh yeast, I highly recommend it.

Fresh yeast might just change your life.

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Help

I’m not technically gifted.

My blog is simple.

Simple I can do.

I’ve been wanting to re-do my recipes page for ages.

The last time I even updated the page was in October.

October was 6 whole months ago.

I’ve made a lot of recipes in 6 months.

Yesterday, I finally sat down, determined that updating my recipe page was going to be the big project I would finish before going back to work tomorrow.

I spent 12 hours recreating the recipe page in Window’s Live Writer yesterday.

Every couple of minutes, I saved the draft.

The program was running really slow due to the number of photos on the page, so I decided to create a new page for each food category which would be linked to the main recipes page.

When I went to create the first new page, even though I’d just saved the updated recipe page, the recipe page draft disappeared.

I’ve looked everywhere on the computer.

Sebastian, the computer genius, couldn’t even retrieve it.

My carbonite back up only had the very first save I made, not the additional saves with the changes.

12+ hours of work… gone.

Crap.

Can anyone help me?

I’ve sent help requests to both Window’s Live Writer and Carbonite but have not heard anything back yet.

Any blogger tricks that I don’t know?

On a lighter note, my Grandma sent an old newspaper clipping from 1995 along with my Easter card.

I’m the pudgy tall girl with her acid-washed jeans just below her armpits in the left. At least I look excited to be in the group.

The photo was from a music and theatre enrichment class I was in in 3rd grade. I was always one of the biggest kids. Even with boys and girls 2 years older than me in the photo, I was still the tallest.

I’m going to bring the clipping into school tomorrow to show my 3rd grade students what I looked like when I was their age.

While working on my recipe page, I found lots of great recipes that I’d long forgotten about. Lunch today was inspired by one of my favorite meals from last spring.

Ravioli with Asparagus and Arugula

I didn’t have ravioli so used whole wheat penne instead. The dish was still delicious!

The tomatoes and arugula are from my CSA box this week but the asparagus is from the store.

Alright, I have school tomorrow so better get off to bed.

Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to recover my lost/ deleted page draft in Live Writer.

Thanks and good night!

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