Salad Adventures and Lessons in Hummus

So I know what you’re thinking. Another boring salad for lunch. Well not today’s my friends. Today, salad went on an adventure.

First, salad wanted to know how tall it was. So we got out the measuring tape.

How big is salad?

Soooo big!

Then, salad wanted to ride on the rocking horse. I didn’t see any reason NOT to so off we went.

Next, salad wanted to play the drum. OK salad, but just for a minute.

Salad, still feeling a little musical, wanted to play the keyboard. Salad totally rocked some funky beats.

Then salad needed to make a few calls. I waited patiently. Salad has excellent telephone manners.

Then salad was feeling sleepy and it was time for a nap. Shhh. Salad is sleeping.

I waited for salad to fall asleep. And then I ate him.

In other news, I made hummus today!

When I make hummus, I might used canned garbanzo beans, and sometimes I have more time and patience and I cook my own.

I use to be very intimated by cooking my own beans, but then I slapped myself a few times and said shut up they are just beans get over it.

There are two methods. Patient and Impatient

The Patient Method: Soak dried beans completely covered water for 8 hours. The beans are going to expand so you’ll want to add enough water so that the water level is a few inches higher than the beans. 8 hours later, *drain and rinse, fill pan with fresh water, add beans and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer for about an hour and you’re ready to rock.

The Impatient Method: Put dried beans in a pan with enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Let beans soak for about an hour, follow from * in The Patient Method above.

And for the record, The Extremely Impatient Method: use canned beans.

I cooked half a 16 oz bag of garbanzos for this batch using the Patient Method. I made garlic hummus today with cooked garbanzos, garlic, canola, tahini and salt.

I’ve made hummus so many times now my food processor has basically paid for itself. I do not measure anything, so these are estimates.

2 – 2 1/2 cups of cooked garbanzo beans, whatever was made from the 8 oz of dried beans.
1 teaspoon of tahini. I’ve learned that you only need a little tahini! Too much and it tastes weird to me.
4 cloves of garlic. I use jarred minced garlic in water, probably 1 Tbsp which = 4 cloves.
Canola oil, probably 2 or 3 Tablespoons. Maybe more. The more oil you add the creamier it will be.
Dash of sea salt.

If I use canned beans I drain most of the liquid but not all, leaving maybe 15 – 10%. This adds to the creaminess factor too.

Everything in the food processor and give a spin.

Whoops! Almost forgot! The juice from half a lemon. I use to buy lemon juice in the little plastic lemon jug you can find in the produce section, but now that green lemonade is a staple in our lives I always have fresh lemons on hand. I like it.

And now it’s time to eat. Just in time for a snack too! What a coincidence!

I spent the afternoon working around the house. Productivity was high today! Probably because Aunt Ellen took the girls to the playground for a couple hours and gave me a chance to get caught up on life. But before I knew it, it was dinner time and I hadn’t made anything but hummus.

Having resisted the urge to grocery shop today I was left with the bare bones of produce and made a very simple but very yummy vegetable sandwich. Said sandwich involved two slices of toasted sesame Ezekiel bread, mustard, lettuce and roasted red pepper from a jar. On the side was unpictured carrots and hummus. If you are wondering what it looked like, please scroll up.

OK, just wanted to make sure you got a good dose of ridiculousness tonight. If you have forgotten the ridiculousness of this post already, please scroll up.