Sweet Date Hummus & Hats

Ok, so I've only made my own hummus once before, so I'm in no way an expert, and some might say that I should get comfortable with that before I start f*&%ing with it, but I don't care. I'm going to do it, and I'm going to tell you about it. (Please, jebus, let this work!) I'm also making just regular kind at the same time, so, really, all I'm doing is adding dates to a portioned off section of hummus. The measurements I'm using are for the total of both, FYI.

All righty, so I'm essentially live typing here, and just adding more as I complete the steps, so here goes:

Morning: I've measured out 2 cups of dried chick peas, rinsed 'em, and put them in a pot to low simmer all day. Now, it's probably not a proper substitute for soaking them, but this is faster, and as long as the 'peas are smooshy enough to blend in the food processor, that's really all I care about. I've added water a few time to keep it from boiling dry, so if you're doing it this way, keep an eye on that b*tch.

Evening: I've also put about 6 or 7 dates in a bowl and poured boiling water over them (just enough to cover) to soften them up in preparation for the processing later.

Roasting some garlic. I like the mellower taste it has, and I think that'll be a better match for my dates. #pullingtheoriesouttamy...

Drain the 'peas, keep the water, because you might need it to smooth out the consistency of the hummus. Throw them in the food processor and puree those suckers.

Add the tahini. Now, it's roughly a 2 parts chickpeas to 1 part tahini deal. Although, my cooked 'peas are way more than 2 cups now, I only put in around 1 1/4 cup o' tahini. i'm also a big believer in taste, and I eat everything as I cook, and my tastebuds say it seems like enough.

Add the juice of a lemon or lime. I used a lime because that's what was in the kitchen.

Cumin: If you like it, put it in. If you like it a lot, put a lot in. If you don't like it, don't use it. Do what your tongue tells you!

Cayenne/Chili Pepper: ditto.

Putting in my freshly roasted garlic. I'm using an entire bulb because a)the flavour is more mild, and b)I freaking love garlic. I'm kind of smooshing it up a little before tossing it in the processor.

Process that shiz.

Taste test... Yum! Now I'm taking a goodly portion of the hummus out of the processor and putting it into a container and putting it in the fridge for future eating... steel myself for adding dates to the remainder. And honey, I've decided. Well, maybe I'll see how it tastes with just the dates first.

Success! Ok, so I threw in the dates AND the soaking water, and I found that it just took the bitter edge out of the tahini a lil' bit, so I added about 2 tablespoons of honey, and now it's just delicious! A hint of sweet, but I can still tell that I'm eating hummus.

Oh, yeah! The hat. So, I made this hat for my best-friend-from-high-school who's living in Halifax. That means this baby's going in the mail sometime very soon! I used this pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sideways-grande-cloche , but I modified it a bit because I didn't want to just twist the side detail together, I wanted to cable it, goddammit! So I stole the brim pattern from this guy: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTcoronet.html .

I also decided I wanted the cable detail to have a little something extra, so I used some gold lamé thread with the yarn, because I'm drawn to the shiny like a magpie.

veggie weekend!

so, it's a long weekend here in Toronto, and, thusly, everyone decided that big dinners/potlucks would be a good idea. (SPOILER ALERT: too good. ate way too much with one dinner left to go. i also forgot to take pictures.)

Saturday night was at my house. the menu: red peppers stuffed with quinoa and cremini mushrooms with asparagus braised in butter and lemon juice. a vegetarian night! note: if you're going to pair these together, make the asparagus second while the peppers are in the oven, or you'll risk over-cooking it.

Sunday night was a potluck, and i brought vegan sweet and sour meatballs. (the meatball recipe is stolen: i will provide the link! but the sauce is mine.)

Stuffed Peppers

ingreeds:

4 well-sized red peppers

1 cup of quinoa

1 small onion, diced

1/2 bulb of roasted garlic

5-6 cremini mushrooms, diced

1/4 cup butter

cumin to taste

roast yer garlic. ( http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_garlic/ ) start the quinoa next: one cup dried to two cups of water in a pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. while that's boiling away, heat up the butter in a pan and throw in the diced onions, and cook 'em until they're translucent. add the diced mushrooms to the pan. once the quinoa is finished (ie. all water absorbed), throw in the garlic, and onion/mushroom mix, add cumin, stir it up! now slice the tops off the peppers and rip out the seedy parts. dice up the tops you just removed (not the green part, obvi) and toss that into your quinoa mix. stuff the mixture into the peppers... it's ok to have some over-flow! place them on a baking sheet and throw into the oven at about 300 until the peppers start to roast a little. i take less time because i don't like my peppers to soften too much, but that can also make them super delicious. i feel it's a personal issue. if you feel like adding a lil' something extra grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top... or get creative! bread crumbs! pecans! whatevertheheckyouwant!

note: stuffed peppers also work really nicely on the bbq; just wrap them in foil and throw them on the grill, yo.

Braised Asparagus

the asparagus is ridiculously easy: trim off the bottoms (as they can get hard sometimes and i like my fronds to be supple tender), and fill a deep sauce pan or a pot with enough water to cover the asparagus. simmer until asparagus is easily pierced with a fork, then drain the suckers. keep them in the pan, but add enough butter to coat them. once the butter is melted, squeeze some lemon juice all over them, toss them around in the pan a bit, and serve!

Vegan Meatballs

stolen from this awesome website: http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/homemade-meatless-meatballs-made-with.html

super tasty, although i need to try something next time to get them bind together better... they were a titch crumbly this time.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

basically i was playing a game of "what do i already have in the house" and this is what i came up with:

two table-spoonish scoops of apple jelly

a few squirts of chili sauce (careful vegans because a lot of them contain fish paste. check ingreeds!)

a splash of cider vinegar

apple cider (enough to create the volume needed to cover the balls)

flour to thicken. (probably 2-4 table spoons, max.)

throw is all in a little pot, stir it together with a whisk, and pour it on your balls. totally tasty!

update: tonight, although i did not create it, was spinach lasagna. so effing tasty i went back for seconds. because i need more food in my face.

Plaid. Really.

so, there's this project i started before christmas. it was intended to be a gift... a scarf, that's all. simple, right? well, see, it's for my dad, and i wanted it to be awesome enough to be a dad-worthy gift. solution: knit a Cape Breton tartan scarf.

now, i didn't really realize what would be involved in this when i embarked on this little knit-venture. i mean, scarves take no time! i've got a couple of weeks - i'll be done with time to spare! *sound of sealing my own fate*

turns out i had to knit all of the lengthwise stripes of the pattern first, then darn in the horizontal ones. i should maybe mention that i don't work with any particular speed. i'm working on that, but, well....

so, i make my individual vertical strips. 15 of them, in varying widths according to my (made up) pattern. that's about as far as i got by the time christmas day rolled around. and i TRIED. i was knitting everywhere: on planes, in the car, while watching movies. i was a machine! but, alas, i just straight up didn't start this sucker early enough. because then came THE DARNING.

THE DARNING deserves caps because it's driving me insane. that's right: present-tense. i'm still working on it. originally i figured i'd swiss-darn the horizontals in. that wasn't right because i didn't want them to appear only on one side. so i tried my own (again: made up) method. it was ok. i went for about, oh, 50 painstaking rows, had an epiphany (knitpiphany?) and decided to rip all of the horizontals out (it was TERRIFYING) and start afresh with a new technique it's working out much better. i mean, this b*tch actually kind of looks like tartan now. it's a slow process, though, so i'm starting to feel frustrated. honestly, i just hope i finish it before winter ends, and Dad won't be able to use it.

[this is what ambition looks like: a partially-finished plaid scarf and the fear of god behind my dilated pupils.]