Super Easy Homemade Hummus

My family enjoys hummus.  Normally, I buy it at the store and we'll use it as a dip for pita chips or veggies.  I needed hummus for a recipe (see tomorrow's post!) and recently saw this homemade hummus recipe.  I liked it because it didn't call for tahini.  I've made hummus in the past, bought the container of tahini for like $5 and only used it once.  Another plus is that I already had all of the ingredients in the house.  This was super easy to make, just like the title implies.  The most time consuming part was taking the skins off of the chick peas.  This was very garlicky and tasty but it definitely wasn't as creamy as I would have liked (like the store bought hummus!).  Could the tahini possibly have something to do with it?  Possibly.  This was perfect for my recipe that I needed hummus for, but I probably won't make it again.

Supe Easy Homemade Hummus
recipe from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients:
2 cans chickpeas
1 clove garlic
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
up to ½ cup water
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:
Remove the skins from the chickpeas by gently pinching them until the skin comes off. Discard the skins and reserve the chickpeas.

Place de-skinned chickpeas in a blender or food processor with garlic, olive oil, ¼ cup water, and salt. Blend or puree until very smooth, adding the remaining water one tablespoon at a time if the mixture is too sticky to move through the blender. Once the mixture is going, you can stream in a little bit more olive oil to help achieve a super creamy texture.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms

It's time again for the Eating The Alphabet Challenge, hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic.  This month's letters were M, N, & or O.  There were just so many veggie, fruit, and grain options to choose from for this month's challenge that it was hard to choose!  I finally decided on stuffed mushrooms.  I love mushrooms in all forms but unfortunately my kids really dislike them.  Although I like stuffed mushrooms I rarely get a chance to eat them.  And I've never made them until now!  Knowing the kids wouldn't eat these I ended up making them as an afternoon snack for myself.  They were surprisingly easy to make.  I had always assumed that they took a lot of work to prepare, one of the reasons why I never made them.  This recipe that I found did not use bread crumbs.  I think that the stuffed mushrooms that I've had and enjoyed in the past used them, so these weren't totally satisfying.  But now that I know how easy stuffed mushrooms can be to make I'll definitely be trying out new variations in the future.

Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms
recipe from allrecipes.com by Angie Gorkoff

Ingredients:
12 whole fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

2.Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

3.When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.

4.Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

Mommy & Daddy rating: So-so.  

Golden Artichoke Dip

My son turned 4 this past Saturday and we had several extended family members over to celebrate.  Over the next few days I will be posting various recipes that were made for the party.  My husband and I were making a lot of salads and sides with our dinner so I didn't want to go crazy making a lot of appetizers.  I served crackers with cheese, hummus and baby carrots, chips, and this artichoke dip.  It seemed a little fancier than just putting out onion dip.  Unfortunately, my husband did the grocery shopping for the party and came home with Lays Tomato & Basil potato chips.  They tasted great, but not so good with artichoke dip!  Luckily, Ritz crackers tasted just fine in this dip! I haven't made a lot of recipes off backs of products, but this was tasty enough that I'd make this dip again.

Golden Artichoke Dip
recipe from Lipton Recipe Secrets
(originally found on the box of the Lipton Recipe Secrets Golden Onion Souop & Dip Mix!)

Ingredients:
1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Golden Onion Soup Mix
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1 container (8oz.) sour cream
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (about 4 oz.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In 1-quart casserole, combine all ingredients.

Bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

Serve with your favorite dippers.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

This recipe was shared at:
Fireflies & JellyBeans
Somewhat Simple

Around the World: Afghan Dumplings (Aushak)

This dish, which I ended up serving as a side, due to timing, was the star of the night!  I had bought the ground lamb for this dish a couple of days earlier when I was doing the weekly grocery shopping.  My husband had taken the kids to the park and then to the grocery store to get stuff for the Mother's Day dinner he was cooking for me.  When I was getting this dish ready and pulled the lamb out of the fridge it had this grayish brown color and smelled rancid.  My huband pulled into the driveway when I had to send him back out to the store to exchange the lamb.  Finally the dish was finished! This was different than most dumplings in that it was only filled with sauteed scallions.  It was then topped with a yogurt sauce and ground lamb. Can I tell you how much we all enjoyed this?!  I started the kids with one each.  They both asked for seconds.  Then my daughter asked for thirds.  I think I cut her off when she asked for fourths!  I didn't realize how much my daughter liked dumplings!  I have wontons leftover and definitely plan on making other types of dumplings in the near future!

Afghan Dumplings (Aushak) from Afghan Culture Unveiled

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground lamb
1 cup tomato sauce
1 ½ tsp. paprika
1 ½ tsp. ground coriander
3 teaspoons Kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 lb. green onions, washed, stems removed
1 package won ton wrappers
1 tsp. vinegar
1 cup plain yogurt
½ teaspoon ground dried garlic

Preparation:
Saute the onion over medium heat in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil until tender and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté another minute. Add the lamb and sauté until cooked through, breaking it up. Add the tomato sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, the paprika, coriander and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring regularly for 20 minutes.

While the meat is cooking, finely chop the green onions. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the green onions and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Turn heat to low and sauté until tender, 10 minutes.

To assemble the dumplings, fill a small bowl with water and put it at your work station. Set a won ton wrapper on your work surface and dip the tip of your finger in the water. Moisten the edges along two connecting sides of the wrapper. The water will serve as glue for the dumpling. Put about a teaspoon of green onions in the center of the wrapper. Fold the dough in half over the green onion in the shape of a triangle. Use the tip of your finger to firmly press the edges of the dough together to form a tight seal. Next, lift the two longest points of the triangle and press them together, creating a little circle over the dumpling. It will look like a fancy napkin fold.

While you are assembling the dumplings, bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil. Add the vinegar. Once all of the dumplings are done, immerse them in the water and boil according to directions on the won ton package (about 4 minutes). While the dumplings are boiling, quickly stir together the yogurt with the garlic and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt.
Gingerly scoop the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon, a few at a time, and arrange on a large platter. Spoon the yogurt over the dumplings and the ground meat on top of that.

Family Rating:  2 thumbs up!

Restaurant-Style Buffalo Chicken Wings with Bill's Blue Cheese Dressing

Unfortunately, although we made a bunch of dishes for our Christmas dinner that we hosted, we didn't take any pictures.  :(  It was crazy in the kitchen trying to get everything cooked and ready to eat at the same time.  We were able to get a pic of these wings that we served as part of our appetizers.  I have to say that I love wings, but rarely make them.  We even have a nifty little fryer called a "Wing-It," which is specifically made to cook wings (although we use it to fry other things too!).  The only down-side to the Wing-It is that it's a little small and I was frying up these wings in batches of 5 or so.  So, it took a bit of time to cook up the three dozen I had bought and prepared.  I thought they were tasty and the blue cheese dressing was creamy and helped cool the "heat" of the wings. Since the recipe calls for 10 wings, I tripled everything.

Restaurant-Style Buffalo Chicken Wings
allrecipes.com - by Kelly

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 chicken wings

oil for deep frying

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup hot sauce

1 dash ground black pepper

1 dash garlic powder

Directions

1. In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt. Place chicken wings in a large nonporous glass dish or bowl and sprinkle flour mixture over them until they are evenly coated. Cover dish or bowl and refrigerate for 60 to 90 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). The oil should be just enough to cover wings entirely, an inch or so deep. Combine the butter, hot sauce, pepper and garlic powder in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir together and heat until butter is melted and mixture is well blended. Remove from heat and reserve for serving.

3. Fry coated wings in hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until parts of wings begin to turn brown. Remove from heat, place wings in serving bowl, add hot sauce mixture and stir together. Serve.

Adult Rating:  2 thumbs up!

Bill's Blue Cheese Dressing
allrecipes.com - by William

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/3 cups mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce. Season with mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir in blue cheese. Cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Adult Rating: 2 thumbs up!