Hummus (2)

This is a new and improved hummus recipe. It is improved as I have learned a way to improve the texture of the hummus so that it is not so grainy. Its different in that it has different ingredients and a cleaner taste. Both recipes on my site are good but this one is my latest and maybe favorite of the two. After much research I came up with this version.

Here is what I did.

2 Cans Garbonzo beans, rinsed and place in a salad spinner.
3 cloves of garlic, minced (you can add more to your taste. I just don't want it to be overpowering.)
juice of  1-2 lemons, about 1/4 cup (add this to your personal taste. More or less whatever suits you.)
1 tsp. salt
1 (7oz) container of plain Greek yogurt.
3/4 cup Tahini (I have learned to make my own. It is very simple and I will post a recipe soon)
6 Tbl. olive oil
6 mint leaves
4-6 Tbl. water
1/8 tsp. smoked paprika (you can either add it to the recipe or just sprinkle it on top when serving. Since we don't ever just serve a big platter of hummus I chose to add it to the mix.)

Ok, part of what makes a smooth hummus is removing the skins off of the Garbonzo beans. I had no patience for this in the past. Then I watched a video on youtube (love youtube) and a woman had a great idea. She took the cans of beans and poured them into the strainer portion of a salad spinner ( you know the spinner that spins the water out of salad greens.) She rinsed them and then drained them. She then took her hands and gently rubbed the beans together in her hands and the skins sort of just came off. She didn't do it hard enough to mash the beans but enough that most of the skins came off. She then put the strainer into the bowl portion of the spinner and filled it with water. The skins kinda of float to the top. As she tilted the bowl and drained the water she used her hand to just push the skins out of the bowl. I did this twice to get rid of all the floating skins. Then drain the beans and place in a food processor.

Then add the chopped garlic, lemon juice, salt, yogurt, tahini, evoo, mint and blend well. Stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Next to get the consistency you want you will add water. I ended up adding between 4-6 Tbl. Blend well till it is smooth and no more chunks. Then taste for seasoning. Add the paprika if you want and blend again. Or wait and serve it with paprika sprinkled on top and a little olive oil drizzled on it before serving.
Like I said we just grab it right out of the bowl and so I added it.
Everything here is a personal taste thing. You can add more of something or less depending on what you like. I did try adding cumin to this once as cumin is in a lot of hummus recipes and I have always liked it but I like this better without the cumin. My other recipe has cumin in it. This is just a good clean tasting hummus and we enjoy it a lot. 

Rustic Hummus

My family loves hummus. I have a son that could live on the stuff. I use to buy a big container of it weekly at Costco. It dawned on me that there was no reason to buy it when I can make it at home for 1/2 the price.
I have tried many different recipes. I have never found one that I loved. They were bitter or just not right. This one is really good.
 To get that super smooth hummus we tend to see you must sit and remove the little skins off of each garbanzo bean. Well after pulling the skins off of about 5 little beans (I had 4 cans of beans rinsed and ready to use) I said the heck with it. We will have rustic hummus. I'm not sitting there and peeling the skins off of 4 cans of beans. So it is up to you on how smooth you want it to look. It tastes the same.
This recipe makes a large bowl. You can certainly half it.
The thing about this recipe is that you can adapt it to your own taste. More of this, less of that. It is a good basic recipe to play with.

Here is what I did:
4 cans garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
1 cup tahini (this is a sesame seed paste you can find at most grocery stores and health food stores. Make sure you mix it well before you use it. The oil and seed butter separate. )
4 lemons juiced
1 Cup extra virgin olive oil + a drizzle or so as needed while blending.
1 bunch cilantro, cleaned and just tear the top leaves off, a little stem is ok. You will be blending it a food processor anyway.
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
2 tsp. garlic powder (you can certainly use fresh garlic. This is just easy and works fine in my opinion.)
1 1/2 tsp. salt or more to taste
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
optional- a drizzle of honey if it tastes too tart from the lemon juice. The lemon will mellow some if you want to wait before adding any honey.

In food processor add tahini and lemon juice. Blend and scrape down sides if needed. Add evoo, cilantro, cucumber, garlic powder, salt, paprika, cumin and blend scraping sides down to blend it well. Add half the beans and blend well. Add the other half and blend well. Scrape down sides a few times during blending to make sure it is completely blended. If it is too thick add a drizzle of evoo or a Tbl. at a time of water.  Taste for tartness and add honey if you want to. Just a small drizzle. As I said before the lemon will mellow out. Now taste for seasonings. Add more salt or cumin etc...as needed. You don't want to under salt this or it will be very bland. The lemons and salt are important ingredients in getting the right hummus flavor.
Serve with cut up veggies, corn chips, pita chips or eat it off a spoon. It all works. We love to use it in veggie roll up as the condiment. YUM.
Enjoy!

Brown Beans with Kiolbassa Sausage

 This isn't going to be an exact measure recipe. I'm going to tell you what I put in there and the approximate measurements. I wasn't expecting to list this but the recipe turned out so delicious that I just had to add it to the blog. I don't think you can mess this up. As long as the beans aren't over salted or too dry, you will be fine. First I'm sorry to anyone who can't get these sausages. They are the best. Here is a link to their web site. I believe you can order them.
http://kiolbassa.com/

There are no words to describe how much my family loved this. I had a real time keeping everyone out of the pot till dinner was ready. One of my sons who always drains the bean broth off sat and used a spoon to lap up all the broth in his bowl and added more. This is probably one of the best pot of beans I have ever made. I served them with Mac and Cheese and brown and serve rolls (and passed around the Beano) Give it a try. You wont be sorry.

Brown Beans with Kiolbassa Mesquite Smoked Beef Sausage

1/2 a 5 pound bag of dried Pinto beans (picked through and clean rinsed)
2 small onions chopped
2 packages Kiolbassa mesquite smoked beef sausage sliced into bite size pieces
Lowery's seasoned salt (a good dusting), Start with no more than 1 tsp. and after they have cooked a while taste for seasoning and add more if they need the salt. I think they don't need a lot because of the amount of sausage in the recipe.
2 (32oz) boxes of beef broth (MSG free)
1 (32oz) box chicken broth (MSG free) You could use all beef broth. This is just what I had on hand.

Chop the onion and slice the sausage. Add a little drizzle of olive oil to pot for beans and fry onions and sausage till onions are slightly softened. Add beans, broths, and seasoned salt (this is a taste thing. You want this to salt your beans but be careful to not over do it.) Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and put cover on pot. I used an 8qt. ceramic cast iron pot for mine. Was a good size to hold everything. This is the pot I used. I love it.

Let the beans simmer covered and stir often so they don't stick till they are done and the broth has cooked down some. You want it soupy but not watery.If need be once the beans are done take the lid off and let some of the liquid evaporate. But watch close and stir often. You don't want to lose too much bean liquid as they are best if they have lots of liquid (and it tastes soooooo good) Just cook it down till its is soupy and not watery as I said before. You can also thicken it by breaking up some of the beans. This will thicken your bean liquid up quickly.

All I can say is "YUM"

Baked Beans

Oh how I love good baked beans. It surprises me how hard it is to find good baked beans. They either taste more like a Ranch Bean or too tomato sauce tasting. I like a sweet and smokey baked bean. Not too heavy on tomato flavor and not a spicy chili powder flavor of Ranch Beans. I think this one is just the thing.

Baked Beans

4 bacon slices ( I use applewood smoked bacon. It is the best)

1 small onion, diced

4 (15 oz.) can pork in beans, drained

1/2 Cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 Cup ketchup

1/4 Cup molasses

1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. dry mustard

Cook bacon in cast iron skillet till crisp. Remove to drain on paper towel and crumble. Saute onion in bacon grease till transluciant, about 7 minutes. Stin in drained beans, brown sugar, ketchup, molasses, Worcestershire sauce and dry mustard. Stir together well. Now you can add the bacon back in now or wait and top the cooked beans when done. Its up to you. Place skillet in oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so. The longer you cook them the thicker the final product will be. I actually would cook them less. Just watch them and take them out when they are to your liking. Stir them half way through. Only stir again if they look like they are looking like they are too cooked. If that happens you can also just pull them out of the oven and call them done. You want them to thicken. After that they can be removed from the oven and topped with the bacon pieces.