Roasted Red Chili Pepper Hummus!

I got a bug in my butt the other day for hummus, and nothing would stop me until I had made my own...

So I went to the store to get the ingredients...pretty simple except for one...Tahini...basically sesame seed butter...I looked and looked at my regular store and could not find it, and as always i did not have a lot of time so I just gave up and went home disappointed. A few days later I went to a different, slightly more upscale grocery store and found it no problem...and wouldn't you know it, when I went back to my regular store I ran right into it! Well at least I know where to find it the next time I need it...anyway...

I had some chili peppers left over from the salsa I had made so I wanted to use those, and I wanted to Roast some garlic, sense I had never done that before either... So I roasted both, and they turned out great! And so I was ready for my hummus.

Cast of Characters:

2 cans of Chick Peas
4 chili peppers, seeded and roasted
1 whole garlic roasted (chop off the top, drizzle in Olive Oil, wrap in foil and bake until soft)
2 cloves fresh garlic
3/4 cup Tahini
1 tbspn Cumin
Juice of 1 lemon
small handful of chopped fresh parsley
Salt to taste
5 tbls water


You need a blender or food processor for this, I personally recommend a food processor and truthfully if you're going to do any amount of cooking you're going to need one anyway...end lecture...

Before we get started I need to tell you, that most of these photos are crap...I didn't realize until it was to late that my 2 y/o, sweet precious thing that she is, had been playing with my camera and had left fingerprint smudges all over the lens...so please please can you forgive me???


Drain the chick peas and dump them in.




Then throw in the roasted chili peppers and garlic...I forgot to take a picture of this...I was having an off day ok...

Next comes the lemon

I usually just squeeze the lemon right into the dish holding it pulp side in my palm, this id supposed to keep the seeds out, but I found at least 2 while eating my hummus... try at your own risk...




Then I added the cumin...but really you can do this part in any order you feel like. Feel free to get crazy with it and add the cumin first if you really want to!






Throw in the parsley...this is what it should be looking like about now...




Now for the Tahini...when you open the jar, can, whatever you will see a bunch of oil sitting on top,and the buttery stuff has settled to the bottom, and by buttery I meant sticky and hard. You HAVE to stir it and get it consistent before you can add it...this will take a while...and you will get a cramp in your hand...just a warning...


Once it's blended, add it to the blender...


Start blending!! See I told you the pics were bad...



At this point I tasted it and decided it needed more garlic...so I grated in a couple of fresh cloves, but it is completely up to you...and if you don't have one of these, I highly recommend getting one...seriously...it will save your life...seriously...



The last thing you do is add the Olive Oil, and only blend long enough to incorporate it, just a few pulses should do it...and please don't hate me forever about these pictures...





And vwaaalaaaa...

It was soooooooo good, I forgot about the flat bread and just ate it by the spoonful!







Amen.

Tip Tuesday

Store freshly cut herbs such as parsley, basil, and mint on your kitchen counter or on your Kitchen window sill in a glass with the water level covering only the stems. Much the same as you would cut flowers Change the water occasionally. They will keep for weeks this way, even develop roots!

This is a picture of my parsley and mint on the window sill above my kitchen sink. I have these both growing on my front porch in planters. I love having parsley so readily available, and I cut them regularly to promote new growth.

Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Blue (sort of)

I Luuuurve this recipe! It's easy and it tastes amazing!!

You will need:

3-4 decent size chicken breasts
Your most favorite cheese (or whatever you have on hand)
Deli thin sliced ham
2 cans of Cream of Mushroom (or chicken) soup
2 chicken Bouillon cubes




Start by pouring 1 can of soup into the Crock Pot and make sure the bottom is coated. I said you could use either soup, I personally do not care for Cream of Chicken soup, but it would be easier, as you would not need to add the bouillon cubes...but if you're weird like me or just happen to have cream of mushroom and not chicken then just add the bouillon and you'll be fine.








Next, lay out your breasts (ha ha) and give them a good pounding (double haha) until they are uniformly flat. I like to put them between plastic wrap or something to try and contain the amounts of salmonella flying around my kitchen, but that's just me...








Then cut each breast in half into a serving size portion (and please try to do a better job than I did)





Layer each piece with enough ham to cover it. And then add whatever cheese you want right to the middle of the piece. Obviously you could use Bleu cheese and make this a little more true to the title, but we are not huge fans over here, so I usually just use cheddar because I almost always have that on hand.





After the cheese is added roll up the best you can to try and keep the cheese inside while cooking, but inevitably some will run out as it's meltuing into oohy goodness!






Place each piece folded sides down in the crock pot and cover with another can of soup (and possibly bouillon cube) then add a little salt and pepper to the top.




Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or low for four.


When it's done it will have your whole house smelling good and your neighbors will be knocking on your door to see what's cooking in there!




Amen

Salsa!

"Salsa is the # 1 Condiment in America, and do you know why? Because people like to say Salsa!"...Jerry Seinfeld


I made Salsa the other day for a Small Group meeting, and it was a HUGE hit! We are total salsa snobs! I don't really care for most of the bottled pr jarred varieties, they are just to processed and it's like they aren't even trying to make it taste or seem fresh...

We haven't even been able to find a salsa we like in a local restaurant, granted we live in a relatively small town...but still, looks like someone around here would get it....anyway


Here's what I made... (it will serve about 15)






Start with 10 big tomatoes, and chop into small pieces (this takes a while, and if you can avoid it, don't do it while both your children are up and in need of dinner )





Add 5 red chili peppers (it still was not even medium in my opinion) seeds and all, 1 red onion, chopped fine, 3 cloves of garlic grated in, 1 handful of cilantro and parsley finely chopped, the juice of 1 lemon and a few drizzles of Olive Oil.






Mix it all together, and stick in the fridge. Leave for 24 HOURS!! This is important!! Don't serve it to soon, it needs this long for all the juices to get flowing! After maybe 8 hours, taste and see if you want to add more peppers or possibly some salt, but take into consideration that chips have salt too!


This was such a hit, I had people asking me all night what the recipe was and calling me Betty Crocker!



Amen.

Update!

Yesterday I decided to restrain (is that a word???) the Blackeyed Pea salad, since it seemed so wet, and then remake and apply the dressing!! It worked and the salad was much much better. So what I'm thinking is if I had let the salad sit for the 8 hours and then applied the dressing, it would have gone a lot better, all the juices from the veggies would have accumulate and they could be drained off, therefor, not watering down the dressing!! Yippee!! I was so excited when I figured this out!

Amen

Pork BBQ and Black Eyed Pea Salad

Ok people. My promise to you is that I will share whatever I cook, even if it doesn't come out great, even if it is a disaster...so here we go...

A couple of nights ago I made pork BBQ in the crockpot (before I knew my sweet husband had planned a date night for us, so we didn't actually get to eat it that night).

I just threw in a pork half loin (about 3 pounds)




I poked holes in it (I don't recommend this, the pork was a little dry and this is probably why, I just remembered that I read somewhere that this lets all the juices run out instead of letting them in...nice...please learn form my mistakes, that is what I'm here for, I and my poor family will take it in the gut for you...)




and poured a coke over it...I heard about this somewhere, so it's what I did...and all I had on hand was the leftover coke from my husband's micky d's lunch... I know...






and then cooked it on high for about 4-5 hours or until you can easily pull it apart.



While that was cooking I made the Black Eyed Pea salad (as well as took care of my 2 babes, cleaned the house and picked up my little sis from school)


It's really a good thing that my hubby planned that date, because I don't always plan my meals very well, and when I found this recipe for a Black Eyed pea salad, I didn't realize it had to sit in the fridge for 8 hours!! I just knew I had a bag of frozen Black Eyed peas I wanted to use... so it worked out...

I did not follow the recipe verbatim...I rarely do, it's one of my problems, I hate making numerous trips to the grocery store, so I try to use whatever I have on hand...sometime it works sometimes it doesn't...

I used frozen balckeyed peas that had a few green beans mixed in instead of the canned blackeyed peas...(this may also have been a mistake as the salad turned out a little wet, I probably should have drained them completely first)




I also used canned diced tomatoes instead of the fresh one it called for, (because I didn't have one) but I rinsed and drained them first.





And I used 2 green peppers instead of one green and one red...




everything else was the same...I did have fresh parsley thanks to the 2 plants growing on my front porch!! Yippee!





And I made the dressing exactly as described. ( But I forgot to take pictures...I know I suck...) Here it is ready for the dressing that really did exist even though I can't prove it...






So the salad is made and in the fridge for next dadgum 8 hours...





So when the pork is done I pull it out (and notice it's dry, but I'm getting ready for my date and can't do anything about it now...) and start shredding it using to forks, until it is pretty well broken up, and then put it in the fridge too...

The next day I have it for lunch, and yep I was right, definitely dry. Oh, and I didn't make my own BBQ sauce, I have yet to perfect one of my own and I'm sure that will be a whole slew of posts all on it's on...so just use whatever your fav is. (and if you have one you love, please send me the recipe!)

And I got ready to taste my yummy salad, but also noticed it seemed wetter than it should be, and when I tasted it, it had very little flavor, I could barely taste the vinegar, that's why I think there was to much water in the peas and it diluted it and the oil, because nothing seemed to be coated very well either.







It wasn't bad per say, just bland and we really aren't bland people over here and who would have thought a salad with peppers and onions would be bland???? So disappointed I was...

Oh well..It looked really pretty and I will try it again to see if I can get it right...I'll let you know what happens...


Amen...

Shepherd's Pie Stuffed Potatoes

This is actually a variation of a recipe I saw on Rachel Ray. I love Rachel Ray's cooking...not so much the talk show, but yes to the cooking... I changed it a bit, and now I don't even remember what I did different form her...but there were a few things...anyway....

What you will need:

4 big baking potatoes
Sea Salt
Olive Oil
1 stick of butter
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
2 big cloves of garlic
1/2 block of cheddar cheese grated
Paprika
1 can of mushrooms
a little milk maybe half a cup
1 tblsp flour


Start by baking the potatoes...in the oven...potatoes should not be microwaved (in my opinion) and they need at least 1 1/2 hours in a 350 d oven to be "right". You need to poke a bunch of holes in them with a sharp knife (careful, careful) and then rub Olive Oil all over them, and them roll them in Kosher salt. Wrap in tin foil and bake!

1 1/2 hours later (seriously, this is important!) They are done...let them cool enough to handle, and then cut a wedge out of the top, and scoop out all the insides you can without tearing the potato (please learn from my mistakes).

And don't turn off your oven!!!!

Put scooped potatoes in a pot with a little milk to keep them good and warm.


Brown your ground beef. I usually have frozen because I buy in bulk and separate into 1 lb baggies. You can make really quick work of it by soaking a baggie of frozen gb in warm water until thawed enough to get out of the bag. then put in the pan with about a half a cup of water, and keep shredding the beef as it thaws in the pan, add more water as needed.



I also always always always add a dash or 2 of worcestershire (almost as hard to type as say) sauce to my gb..I HATE the smell of it cooking and this really helps!

While the gb is browning, chop up the onion pretty small, and mince the gloves of garlic.








Add to the pan, and keep shredding, and adding water as needed...

add the can of mushrooms, and keep repeating the shredding and water adding until the meat is completely brown and very soft.








Once meat is brown, form a hole in the middle of the pan and add 2 tblsp of the butter, when melted, add 1 tspn of flour to make a roux, this will mix with the beef to make a bit of a gravy.




While that is thickening, work on the potatoes, add the rest of the butter, and sprinkle on some paprika, and mix well.









Add it to the meat, and mix well.


Scoop into the potatoes, and be generous, you should have enough for it to be coming out of the potato.








Sprinkle generously with the shredded cheese and bake until cheese is completely melted and a little crusty. Yum!






Finished product, with Kings Hawaiian and mixed veggies (keeping with the Shepherds pie theme).