Avacado Hummus

Remember my last attempt at hummus?  When I decided that it was easier to just buy the good stuff at the store?

I take back everything I said.  I can make hummus.  Here's the proof:

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed
2. 1 avocado, cubed
3. juice from 1/2 of a lime
4. 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of olive oil (a lower fat option: substitute oil for juice from the beans)
5. 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6. 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

Mix together well (in a blender or food processor).  Serve.


VERDICT

Delicious.  I'm so glad that I'm completely ADD sometimes (I like to call it creative inattention) because it leads to recipes like this.  It is 10am on a week day morning and I'm actually at home working.  But this recipe I printed off pinterest caught my eye and I knew I had an avacado that needed to be used up.  Five minutes later I'm back on e-mail and the hummus is in the fridge, just waiting to be devoured tonight.  Success!

CSA Summer Challenge: Spaghetti with Clams

Here's this week's haul from our CSA Share:

Cabbage
Raddicio
Italian parsley
Green Beans
Beets/Raddishes
Onions

I'm kind of cheating on the recipe this week.  Although I am using one of these ingredients, does parsley really count?  It has no flavor and isn't really anything.  To be fair it's about the only thing I felt like experimenting with this week.  Green beans?  We ate them all raw soon after this picture was taken.  Onions?  Meh.  Raddicio?  Yuck.  That's the red stuff most people push off of their salad when they buy the big bag from the grocery store.  With good reason!  My husband wants to try to make cole slaw with it... but it will likely end up rotting down in my vegetable drawer.

On to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS


1 lb. pasta
3 TBS olive oil
3 TBS minced garlic, or 3 cloves, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
red chili flakes- to taste
2 cans (6.5 oz) chopped clams
2 dozen fresh little neck clams
1/2 cup fresh parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Just a note on fresh clams- you can do this recipe without them if you choose.  If you are using fresh clams, you'll want to soak them in cold water for at least an hour before you need them.  This will help get some of the sand out.  You'll also want to scrub them since you'll be using the shells and all in your sauce.

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Season generously with salt.  Ad the pasta, and cook until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, work on the sauce.  Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes.  Add the wine and reduce by half.  Add the broth from the clams into the pan, setting aside the clams for later.  Add in the chili flakes and all of the little neck clams.  Cover and steam clams until they open.  Discard any clams that do not open.

Add in the reserved clams as well as the parsley.  Add the pasta to the skillet and mix well.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

VERDICT

This was so easy... and to tasty!  I altered the original recipe to add the fresh clams, so I'm pretty sure you can skip them if you're trying to make this on the cheap. 

Adapted from:  Gallo Family Vineyards (I'm pretty sure this was another magazine ad to promote wine!)

Arugula Mozzarella Pizza on Naan Bread

This week as I was pulling into the driveway after 6pm I talked to a friend who was also just getting home.  They were ordering pizza because "I can't get home this late and make dinner!  Who has time for that?"

Friend, meet grilled naan pizza.  You can make it in less time than it takes for the Domino's driver in the busted up 1996 Honda Accord to deliver fake pizza to your door step.

INGREDIENTS

2 naan breads (garlic flavor is great!)
pizza sauce (or regular tomato sauce and fresh tomato chunks)
fresh mozzzarella (or the shredded bag kind)
dash of oregano
Italian seasoning- to taste
Arugula- optional

DIRECTIONS

So you can see that my ingredients are pretty loosey-goosey.  Same for the instructions.  Make the pizza, throw it on the grill (around 300 degrees is good- keep it low and slow) for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts.

VERDICT

Use whatever you have in your cabinets.  You honestly can't get this wrong.  As long as you have some kind of tomato product, some kind of cheese, you're golden.  So put the phone down.  Dinner is on the grill.

If arugula and fresh mozzarella are too exotic (or you don't have them on hand... because, you know... I wouldn't normally if I didn't have my week's meals planned out), try one of these quick pizza recipes instead:

Grilled Pesto Pizza
Grilled Pizza

Quinoa Caprese Salad

I can't pronounce it, but quinoa can be found in the pasta aisle or in the bulk natural food area of your supermarket.  It's high in protein and has a great pasta/rice taste to it and makes a great base for a lot of healthy recipes.  This was my first attempt to use it.

INGREDIENTS


-1/2 cup quinoa
-8 oz fresh mozerella
-1 carton grape tomatoes, halved
-fresh basil
-2T olive oil
-salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium sized pan, bring 1 cup water and 1/2 cup quinoa to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and simmer on LOW until all of the water is absorbed. This should take anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. Keep it low and slow to not turn quinoa gooey.

2. Cool the cooked quinoa in the refrigerator for at least an hour before preparing the salad.

3. To prepare the salad, slice grape tomatoes in half and cut the block of fresh mozzarella into bite size pieces. Mix together. Then, add the chopped basil and cooked quinoa and give the salad a toss. Next, drizzle on the olive oil and season with a little salt/pepper. Give your salad a final toss and serve  cool or at room temperature.  

VERDICT

I whipped this up to take on our picnic after the 4th of July parade this year (I realize I'm only posting it a month later... where is my summer going??)

I have to say... I loved it.  I was the only one, but I still loved it.  My husband would barely touch it, my mother grudgingly ate it (but mostly knocked the quinoa off the tomatoes and mozzarella that she was really after) and none one else at the picnic even tried it.

More for me to love.

Source:

CSA Summer Challange: Buffalo Chicken Salad

My husband gets all the credit for this quick dinner.

But first, here's our haul from the CSA this week:
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
More Lettuce
Onions
1 garlic bulb
Red cabbage
green beans
Kale
Beets/Raddishes (no, I still don't know what they are.  I just pass them along to the others I share the CSA with each week)

And out of all that, I literally only know what do do with the lettuce and green beans.  Sure, the onions and garlic too, but red cabbage?  And when will the raddish/beet invasion end?  They're the vegetable that won't end... like zucchini!

But on to the dinner... this one is all my husband's brainchild.  And it used up all of our lettuce, yeah!

INGREDIENTS

Breaded boneless chicken fingers
Chicken wing sauce (Red Hot, store brand, anything will work here)
Lettuce
Ranch dressing (have I told you how in love I am with Wegman's Yogurt ranch? It's only 60 calories!)

DIRECTIONS


Cook the chicken according to directions.  With kids we always have a bag of chicken fingers in the house, these were Tyson and they worked great.  When they're cooked through, throw them into a big bowl and coat with sauce.

Put on top of salad.  Add-ins like cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded cheese and bell peppers are all great too!
VERDICT

Delicious.  The man's a genius. 

Homemade Hummus

Hummus is my new favorite snack this summer.  It's relatively low in calories and is great to dip fresh veggies in.  The store-bought kind can be pricey ($4 even at Aldi's), so I thought I'd try to make it on my own.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 15 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans, drained (save liquid)
• 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini, or low fat peanut butter if you prefer (optional, but if you do not use, increase yogurt by 1 TBSP)
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

In a food processor combine beans, tahini (if desired), yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice. Blend well. Add salt and cumin and blend to a smooth and creamy dip.

If your hummus is too thick, add a little bit of the liquid from the chickpeas - about a teaspoon at a time. Other ways to thin out hummus is by using warm water or olive oil. 

VERDICT

Umm.... I think I may have found something that is better store bought and processed that made at home.  This was not good.  It was really thick (even with the addition of olive oil) and had chunks of chickpeas still.  And the taste wasn't too flavorful at all.

But I have hope!  It wasn't difficult to make and there are a LOT of recipes out there to try.  So let's call this one a work in progress.