Now that we have some plants growing in our garden, I’m coming up with ways to incorporate them into our meals. Of course, it will be a while until we see our first tomatoes or cucumbers, but the herbs are already out and proud. Here’s a delicious (and fast) hummus recipe I whipped up for lunch yesterday.
The story with hummus is this: It’s super expensive at the store. Even with the Wegmans family pack or Aldi big tubs, the price is much cheaper when you make it at home. So, this recipe is for a double batch that should last a hungry family all week. The cost was around $2.00 total versus the $6.00 or more you might spend to purchase a similar amount. You could save even more money if you soak and cook chickpeas at home versus buying canned.
(Also: Sorry for the iPhone photo. When I made this, I didn’t have my camera around.)
GARDEN BASIL HUMMUS
What you’ll need . . .
2 cans chickpeas, drained + rinsed
1-2 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
dash cayenne (optional)
salt + pepper to taste
Water
Method . . .
Toss everything in your food processor except the water.
Pulse and slowly pour water into the processor to achieve desired consistency.
Turn the speed to high and blend until smooth.
Feel free to try this with cilantro, chives, or other herbs in your garden.
Note: I don’t provide exact measurements of some ingredients because you want to tinker with the flavors until you reach exactly what you like. I prefer more tahini and garlic powder, while others might like a less intense blend.
Freezer and crock pot meals have been a big game changer for me when it comes to meal prep and planning. I’m sure it’s the same with a lot of you. This year, it’s all about doing it better and changing up the recipes. We try to have a good stock of veggie burgers in the freezer at all times, but over the holidays our count dwindled to zero.
We bought a bulk slab of tempeh (two pounds!) at the Greenstar Coop the last time we were in Ithaca, and I’ve been waiting to do something amazing with it. When I thought to mix together my Freezer Veggie Burger recipe, I stopped myself short. A few pulses of the food processor later and this “meaty” burger was born.
TEMPEH VEGGIE BURGERS
Double this recipe to make 16-18 freezable* burgers.
What you’ll need . . .
1 pound tempeh, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 large bell pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped (or 1 clove garlic)
2 tablespoons ACV
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup ground flax meal
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
salt, pepper
other seasonings (optional)
Method . . .
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Alternatively, I used a special pan to form my burgers, which I’ll write more about in a minute.
Chop all ingredients and place in your food processor. It helps to pulse the veggies a little first. Then all the tempeh and continue pulsing with the wet ingredients. Then let blend for a few minutes until a wet dough forms.
Scoop heaping 1/4 cup of dough onto your sheet and form patties. Flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 minutes, until burgers feel a bit firm. Then it’s up to you. You can eat right out of the oven. If you want to eat them right away, I suggest heating some olive oil in a pan and browning both sides (I like the crispy texture).
*To freeze: Cool burgers on a cooling rack and then place on wax paper on a baking sheet in the freezer until frozen. Put in an airtight container (zip bag is great). To re-heat, let thaw for around 30 minutes. Then heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat and brown on both sides.
My mother-in-law bought me this Muffin Top Pan for Christmas, and I’ve made tons of stuff in it, just not muffins! I love the shape for cookies, burgers, and even baked egg dishes (more on that soon). So, if you think a sheet like this might have a million purposes in your kitchen, I wholeheartedly agree.
See? Perfect patties!
I’ve been eating my burgers open-faced on a slice of toasted Ezekiel bread lately. More flavor, a little less bread, and definitely saves money. (That bread is so expensive, which is why we usually make our own.) With a little cheese broiled on top, some sliced tomato, and BBQ sauce? Perfecto.
If you were trapped on an island with only one type of bean to eat, what kind would you choose? That's an insanely ridiculous hypothetical question. But I'd choose chickpeas. Between hummus, garlic knots and pizza crust, chickpea burgers, basic bean salads, and even banana bread -- the uses are endless.
Then a friend of a friend posted a link on Facebook to this recipe by Ambitious Kitchen for vegan + flour-less + full of protein (chickpeas!) blondies, and I thought it sounded way too good to be true. I've been trying hard to resist the urge to bake too often and eat lots of sugar. To the extent that I no longer have sugar or other sweetener in the kitchen. It wasn't really a plan of mine, and I will go out and get some maple syrup soon, but I've been OK without it!
That's a huge step. Still, I crave sweets daily. The quantity of what I desire has changed, and I can get along fine without eating too much except for on special occasions. But I'm at a point now where I'll be fine with some sugar in the house but would still prefer to lighten the loads of it in my diet. So, these blondies are perfect for that. I realized quickly I had almost everything on hand to make them.
I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I subbed in a banana for the maple syrup and added more chocolate. Everything else I left the same. Consequently, all the ingredients I used came from Aldi (our store has chickpeas now!), so it's also a budget-friendly treat.
CHICKPEA + BANANA + PB BLONDIES
adapted from Ambitious Kitchen
What you'll need . . .
1 can chickpeas, drained + rinsed
1 medium ripe banana
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch sea salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Method . . .
I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F.
Then I tossed it all but the chocolate chips into my food processor and blended until well combined, folded in the chocolate chips, and then spread into a well oiled bread pan (you can also use a square brownie dish), and let bake for 25 minutes.
I let cool for around a half hour before slicing.
So, try this recipe. It's delicious and pretty healthy, too! I also think it'd be fun to add 1/3-1/2 cup cocoa powder to make "brownies" -- and I'll likely do that soon because this batch didn't last long.
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It's true! Eliminating food waste is one of the best ways to cut down on grocery bills. So, if you're looking for a way to use up that last cup of Roasted Carrot + Miso Soup -- I've got you covered. Not only is this dip great on its own, we also had some major success subbing it in for the pumpkin in our favorite garlic knots recipe.
Yes. For the first time EVER, I successfully made peanut butter this weekend. Well -- actually, it was this morning, truth be told. But we'll get back to this topic in a moment. This weekend was great. It began with a dinner out Friday night (we usually cook at home on Fridays because we like what we make better than most restaurants around here). Our favorite place in town has expanded its menu to include a variety of new dishes, appetizers, and drinks!
We spent the rest of the night watching TV in bed (I have like 3,000 pillows and 10,000 blankets). Because we had nothing better to do. And it was glorious.
Saturday, we each began the day with a large serving of the banana-stuffed faux crepes. Yum! Then, a run! I did an easy 5.5 miles and Stephen completed a 4 mile pace workout. I'm still not feeling like I want to run. But I'm also getting excited for the race. It's only two weeks away! After that, we met up again with our friends Lindsey and John.
Lindsey and I went shopping -- she got some awesome maternity clothes she needed . . . and I got a ton of stuff I probably DON'T need, but still enjoy. I'm curious -- because I bought for colors of the same shirt, and I am thinking about going back for more. Does anyone else have this habit? I tend to find a cut/style I like, and I stick with it. I just end up with different colors of the same thing. If it works, it works. At least that's how I feel!
John and Stephen stayed back at the house and brewed another batch of beer. This time, they mixed up a kit for Hopnog. And though I can't yet attest to the nogginess, the hops are DEFINITELY there. They also experimented with a new method that might help save water and more effectively cool the batch faster for the future.
Sunday, though we're in our taper, is still long run day. We each had 12 miles ahead of us. I planned to run part of my 20-miler route -- out and back -- but I couldn't because there were several road closures. Thankfully these closures were THIS week and not last. It's difficult to change up your route when you're 5 miles from home and have 15 to go. With only another 7, it was no big deal. I finished my run in 1:45:00 -- 8:45 pace. Basically, this is my "ultimate goal" marathon pace, so we'll see if I can maintain it at the race (would mean a finish around 3:49:30). If not, that's OK, too!
Stephen ran a half marathon distance, finishing in 1:26:00 -- or 6:28 pace. (Sick, right?) We're both feeling confident and ready to hit the pavement. But I think we're both nervous about the weather. October is a tricky month up in the Northeast. It could be cold and cloudy . . . or it could be hot and sunny. There's really no telling -- and the temperature, etc., certainly impacts performance. For example, yesterday was much warmer than it first seemed . . . and I ended up getting pretty dehydrated by the end of the run.
I'm also happy to report that we've added a new appliance to our kitchen family. Yup -- I caved and bought a new food processor last night. It's awesome. Specifically, it's the Cuisinart 11-cup Pro Custom model. I'm not entirely sure if it's the same one that Ashley has, but I think it's the same one that Julie just picked up last weekend.
Let's just say . . . I don't feel like I'm just playing around anymore. This baby has POWER. And I'm starting to understand that all my failed attempts at making peanut butter weren't failed because I'm deficient in some way. No. I just didn't have the right tools . . .
Major difference, correct? The new processor has no trouble at all transforming peanuts into peanut butter (we used Ashley's recipe). It's as easy as . . .
1.)
2.)
3.)
More about the food processor (and peanut butter) another day, though. I still need to play around with it more. It even came with a DVD and special slicing plates for fancier cuts, like julienne!
Seen any good movies lately?Why, yes. Yes, we have! This sort of gets us back on our music discussion from the other day (with our video post). Stephen and I both love this band called Joy Division. You may or may not have heard of them. They're late 1970s post-punk out of England. Anyway, there's a movie that was produced about the lead singer, Ian Curtis, that came out in 2008. It's one of those movies we meant to see when it was released, and then forgot about.
Then we FINALLY remembered. It's called Control. I highly recommend it.
After watching it, we spent Saturday and Sunday listening to Joy Division and a band that grew out of them, New Order. We also found some cool covers that we like almost as much as the originals!
So, that's pretty much everything. What did YOU do this weekend? Craft any new recipes? See any good films? Rock out any workouts? Let us know -- just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.
Hello + welcome // I'm Ashley -- work-at-home mama to three lovely girls, Ada + Eloise + Eden. In this space, you'll find thoughts on family life, frugal vegetarian + vegan recipes, and ideas for how to create a natural, healthy home. READ MORE!
