Hummus + Baba Ganoush

Well, I got on this weird kick where I love Mediterranean food. Inspired mainly by this sweet restaurant. So...I said to myself, I can make this yummy nectar of life known as hummus and baba ganoush.

So...I embarked on an afternoon of cooking and baking (I decided to make the bread as well). The hummus turned out pretty well IMHO. The bread was...edible. But, we are able to share with our friends at the wonderful silent movie at Discovery Green. It seemed like it went over pretty well. I'm posting the recipe here (sans the pita bread)...

Tahini - 1 cup sesame seeds, a little EVOO. Roast seeds @ 340 in oven, do not brown. Put in food processor. Add oil as needed to make a paste. I should also add that if you plan on venturing into the world of falafel, you might want to consider an oil that is more stable at high heat than olive oil (aka veg oil).

Hummus - 16 oz chick peas, strained. 1/4 cup chick pea water. 2-3 cloves of garlic. 1.5 tsp tahini. Olive Oil. Fresh lemon juice. Salt. Put in food processor and hit go. Blend until it looks like hummus. Tweak ingredients to suit your taste. For spicy variation, I added cayenne pepper and a couple of thai chilies.

Baba Ganoush - Roast eggplant @ 400 degrees for 30-40 mins (make sure to poke holes with a fork). After roasting, place eggplant in cold water. Skin and put in food processor. With eggplant, add 1/4 cup tahini (I had less than that), lemon juice, a couple of cloves of garlic, olive oil, pepper and salt. Hit go on the food processor.

The great thing about all these recipes are you can just chop, taste and refine. Really easy. Also, you can get as creative as you want with other things to add to your hummus (we're open to suggestions, we have a lot of chick peas left over). And Anne's idea about using it as a spread on sandwiches, excellent.

I estimate a 2 cup batch of hummus cost just over $1. We bought the huge can of chick peas, so we saved a lot of money there. Just a note for the cost conscience.

Me and the tahini

Baba Ganoush prior to processing!

Rolling out the pita bread dough

Hummus in finished state

Dough after rising

Me and spicy hummus

Done pitas (I have a few ideas to improve)

Houston Burger

We have been in Houston for over a year now. OK, just at a year for Dayna. We have found all these awesome restaurants, but one thing has been missing from our list of regulars. A burger.

It's been so bad that when I craved a burger last time, I thought about going to BK. There is the greasy burger stand in The Heights, which is so impressive I can't recall its name. It's on the corner of 11th and Studewood. But, I was almost reduced to going chez MacDo, as the French would say, over that lousy Heights Hamburger Place.

But, it's amazing how smart this guy is. He led us straight to the promised land of hamburgers. And after we crossed the sea, there stood Christian's. Check out Texas Burger Guy's review of the place.

Well, we can put the Conor & Dayna stamp of approval on Christian's. It's nice to have a place near home where we can go pick up a good burger. This place is starting to feel more like home everyday.

Next up...Smashburger!

Bring on the BEEF!!!

Digging in the archives now, trying to catch up with life. I'll go back to where I left off last fall. Yes, I am fully aware it is April . . . . just be grateful Conor posted the video while on our Utah trip in December! ; )

So, many of you may find this amusing. I am 31 years old and had never cooked a "real" roast. Only thing I had ever done was venison roasts, from deer and elk--which were small cuts. The only way I had ever prepared them in the past was using the pressure cooker. They were alright, but probably stored in the freezer way too long before I got to that point. (Having an upright freezer that was larger than my fridge just perpetuated the awful cycle!) Growing up we ate red meat and potatoes all the time--to the point I grew sick of it. Most of my adult life I haven't eaten or cooked them much. Chicken has become my protein of choice! : )

Last fall Conor wanted to know if we could have roast, potatoes, etc. and have the traditional Sunday meal after church. I laughed and then realized I haven't done that in years, let alone since we've been married. That next week I found a roast at the store that looked interesting and decided to try my hand at a real beef roast! I don't even recall what it was now--crown rib roast? I browned it with seasonings and cut slits for garlic and rosemary--then added all the other goodies. Baked it in the oven until medium rare and it was good. I personally think it looked better than it tasted. lol The following weeks I tried a slow cooked roast in the crock pot, with meat only and fixings baked on low in the oven. Loved that!!! Then I tried one with it all together in the crock pot--meat was amazingly tender and fell apart, once again, but I like the flavor of my potatoes, carrots, onion, etc. by itself. Always have.

Here's to my attempts to reawaken my homemaking self and preparing better, home-cooked meals!

Road Trip to Utah

Dayna and I finally made it to Utah, via a car. It took over 5 days and we saw some amazing things. We put together this photo slideshow for everyone to see the goodness in which we partook.

Brazos Bend Camping Trip

Well, we finally made it out camping in Texas during November! Yeah!!! It was perfect camping weather. Cooled off at night, but not too cold. Beautiful, warm, sunny weather during the day that was nice enough for shorts. Our friends, the Campbell's and Downs's, joined us on our venture to Brazos Bend State Park only an hour from Houston. The biggest draw to this area--at least for me--was the fact that there are alligators! I had never seen an alligator outside of a zoo and thought it sounded exciting to camp near them.

We all arrived in the dark and pretty much took the last camping spot available. Needless to say, we were packed in like sardines. It's definitely not primitive camping, but we enjoyed our getaway. My favorite was the entire Boy Scout Council that seemed to be surrounding us. . . It didn't make me want to join--despite all their signs encouraging me to do so. It was probably the earliest I've woken up in a year--I love those high-pitched squeals from young boys before the crack of dawn. It was WAY before the crack of dawn but you would've thought it was 10 am with all the clatter! I hope we kept them up with all our chatting and laughter the night before! : )

Some highlights: seeing a variety of funky spiders, interesting birds, alligators, eating good food, enjoying company of friends, s'mores, seeing the stars, and a fire ant attack on my right ankle (6 bites from the little guy gave me a cankle--pretty sweet!). Can't wait to go camping again! Enjoy the photos and make sure to check out the video at the end (pause the music playlist on the right column before starting)!

Happy Halloween!!!

I bought 3 pumpkins that adorned our doorstep until Halloween day. One was used for our dinner in a pumpkin--which is a yummy casserole that's all cooked and you just clean the pumpkin, stuff with its new guts and bake in the oven. The other two were pawns in our hands and both experienced some of our carving skills. Conor also cleaned, salted and baked a punch of pumpkin seeds as well. I made Ghosts in the Graveyard dessert to top off our somewhat themed dinner. Of course there was snacking on the candy bars since the trick-or-treaters were practically non-existent on our street. That's why you always buy candy you like!!! : )

We had a couple friends over for dinner and had fun hanging out. Unfortunately the pumpkin was taking it's pretty time (kinda like me) and never did soften up enough to scoop some out with the dinner. It tastes like squash and is great if it's cooked! Bummer! Maybe next year I'll get it right. . . . And next year I won't be competing with football!!! : )

Surprises Come In Big Packages

A couple days before Halloween, we came home to a surprise on our doorstep. We had been shooting some bridal photos and by the time we were home it was dark. Conor wanted to know what I had ordered and I insisted nothing. He brought in the large box and told me it didn't look like nothing. Shane had just texted and told us to check our door so I figured it was from him. We had no clue what was inside, but it weighed a fair amount. I was guessing a 5 lb. brick of caramel for apples and candies since I told Shane I couldn't find any here. We opened up our box and found some lovely surprises!

I love surprises!!!

Me, trying to act surprised.

Almond Joys=joy in my mouth! Those are the best packing pellets I've seen yet!
Look at his face! Like a kid at Christmas!!!

I had to pry them out of his fingers . . .

He drank the first one so fast I couldn't capture it. So here was round 2 the next morning, thus the fluffy hair.

I think I should've timed this . . .

And he polishes it off!

He knows if he tilts it at an angle he can suck a few more drops out.

Officially gone and already compacted for the trash! : )

We were so excited and welcome surprises any time!!! : ) Shane and Mindy felt bad they were no longer going to be able to visit before Thanksgiving like we had talked about last month and sent us this consolation prize. Conor is especially grateful (not that you're not visiting) because he has been out of his beloved rootbeer milk for a couple months now. You can buy it in Logan at the Gossner's cheese factory. I bought 5 cases before we moved and hauled it with us. When we drive to UT for the holidays we're stocking up on more. Conor insists this is part of the year's supply food storage we should be saving . . . Shane thought it quite comical that we'll be loading up our car with cases of the stuff and wanted to see what it was all about when they visited Logan recently. They were very kind to think of us and send us our goodies! Thank you guys!!! We look forward to your visit next spring!