Hummus

I finally made hummus! Here's to many yummy hummus & veggie sandwiches, oh and, following recipes when you're making something for the first time.

I used the recipe that had 835 reviews, and 25.3k saves on allrecipes.com. It called for 2 c drained garbanzos, 0.33 c tahini, 0.25 c lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 tbsp olive oil. For the tanini, lemon juice, and garlic, use less to start; it's always easier to add than to subtract. I learned the hard way that tahini is bitter, and added up adding a pinch of sugar to fix things.

Victory! (Magic Summer Stew)

Did I not call it at the base of the stairs? I did, I did indeed. I declared that tonight would be a night of victory! Victory over the unknown of the Future, victory on extra veggies floating around the fridge...

And so it was. We'll call it Magic Summer Stew. It's very much like Stone Soup: it's a conglomerate of whatever you feel like using up. The only rule is that it must be colorful. Mine included onion, potato, carrot, red and yellow pepper, scallions, and garbanzos, but you're free to include whatever you'd like. I usually care so little for recipes I have no right to inflict them on others (except, of course, the Hershey's Holiday Chocolate Cake recipe, but that's a very different story).

To start, I sauteed minced garlic in a very generous amount of olive oil and then added a bit of cooking sherry and black pepper. My prayers were answered and the veggies cooked down a lot (I added 1.5-2 c of water to help them) - the silly people I live with don't have any big pots :(. I added bit of many spices; if I remember correctly these included about 1/4 tsp salt, about 10 tiny red pepper flakes, and 1/4-1/3 tsp oregano, and 1/3-1/2 tsp dried basil (I meant to put in fresh basil at the end but forgot). After there was enough room in the pot, around the time I added the spices, I added as many garbanzos as I felt like (maybe 2 cups? You can probably tell by now I don't keep track of stuff like this) so they had plenty of time to take in the flavors of the veggies and the spices. Let's hear it for impromptu cooking!!!

Served best over barley (not bulgar like I tried at first; bulgar is too nutty and in my opinion best suited for accompanying stir fry, which I like to do with cashews...). Also, since it's kind of stew-y, but the barley kind of soaks it up, I recommend serving in those dishes you never use, the ones that are a combination bowl and plate.

Yes, you should be jealous. Even the broth by itself is absolutely delicious. Lucky for you there's plenty left (if you hurry!).

Humble Pie

For some, the mediocrity of Friday Night Experiments would be enough to call off Saturday Afternoon Experiments, but life lived with that mindset isn't very interesting. For instance, making BIG mistakes teaches us things, like how nice nonstick cookie sheets are!

Recipe for humble pie: Great aspirations. Three zucchini sliced very, very thin. Put the slices in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, then bake at 450 for half an hour. Have fun scrubbing the carbon-covered cookie sheets!

Once again I am reminded that it is a gift when an idea or recipe comes out the way I want it to, not something to be taken for granted. The first big lesson of this was the three attempts at making kiwi gelato (I have since given up). The Poet Mraz reminds us all how blessed we are to even have food; the ThankfulFor blog reminds us how blessed we are to hear. Not to pretend like I own a soapbox, but I think that agriculture should be an integral part of everyone's formal education; I think gratitude should have a much larger role in our lives.

Question for readers: how does one fix tasteless hummus? Is the tahini really that necessary?

Guess who's not doing homework Thursday nights!

She said, "What do you do with dried garbanzos? Do they become normal garbanzos when you...soak them?" And then she made brownies, and we ate them with more extravagant homemade dark chocolate ice cream, and I forgave her. Stay tuned for hummus!!!

We Cubans wear our beans proudly on our shirts! Viva Fidel!