Homemade Hummus

 Homemade Hummus

One 15 oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained but save liquid

1/3 cup Tahini

1/4 cup Greek extra virgin olive oil

3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in blender except saved liquid. Start to purée on low adding garbanzo bean liquid to make it smooth. I needed to add liquid to get it to start to blend. I used most but not all of the liquid.

Add some olive oil on top of you wish.

Enjoy! Soooooooo darn good!

 

Banana Pecan Streusel Muffins

You’ll need three bowls. One for dry ingredients, one for not so dry ingredients and one for the topping.

Dry ingredients 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Not So Dry Ingredients 

3 mashed, elderly bananas

3/4 cup white sugar

1 beaten egg

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pecan pieces

Streusel topping ingredients 

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1 Tbsp butter (not melted)

1/4 cup pecan pieces

Directions

Preheat oven 375 degrees and prep muffin tins with Pam. This recipe makes 6 giant muffins if you have a giant muffin tin. You’ll need three bowls.

In large bowl mix your dry ingredients. In another bowl mix your not so dry ingredients. Stir banana mixture in flour and mix until moistened. Spoon into muffin tins, until tins are nearly full but not too full.

In small bowl mix streusel ingredients but don’t add pecans yet. Cut the butter in first then mix in the pecans. So much easier than adding the pecans and then trying to cut in the butter! Sprinkle over the top.

Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Ricotta Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups ricotta

1 stick butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries (not thawed), divided saving 1/4 cup for top

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Prepare 9 inch round or square pan by lining with parchment paper (if you don’t have parchment spray the pan really well)

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) and set aside

Mix eggs, ricotta, vanilla and then fold into dry ingredients

Fold in butter, fold not stir or mix, don’t overmix

Fold in 1 1/4 cups of raspberries, again fold and don’t overmix

Pour batter onto parchment covered pan. Spread evenly as necessary.

Top with remaining raspberries 

Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick from center comes out clean.

Cool at least 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Store at room temperature. This is very moist so be sure to eat it relatively quickly or it will mold. Of course it’s so good that likely won’t be an issue.

Enjoy!

 

Homemade Pita

Homemade Pita Bread via Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

Ingredients
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup flour

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup flour

8 drizzles of olive oil for frying

Never made pita bread before. Never even considered making pita bread before. Who knew it was so super easy! There are a lot of steps and its homemade bread so it'll take time, but it's oh so worth it! And you get to use your beautiful new tangerine KitchenAid Mixer! WooooWhooo!

Add 1 cup flour, yeast and water in stand mixer bowl. Use the whisk to mix - you'll probably have to scrape the sides to get the flour to combine but this is a super quick step - just get it all mixed together.  

Let sit for about 15 minutes. It will rise a little and be bubbly.

Replace the whisk with the dough hook. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, salt and 1 3/4 cup flour. Mix at low speed until soft but will be a little sticky. (If dough sticks too much to the sides add a little flour to get it to combine off the sides.)

Knead for 5-6 minutes on low speed. Dough will be a little sticky and might even be stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Trust the process. It is a little sticky just not wet. After the allotted kneading time dump the dough into a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides of the dough. 

You're an accomplished bread maker so you have already worked on creating that warm spot to allow your dough to rise. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp cloth (or flour sack towel) and let rise in its toasty location for 2 hours. Dough should be doubled.

Lightly flour your surface and lightly pat out the dough to around 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball by tucking the dough under the bottom of your round ball. Cover and let it be for 30 minutes.

Using a little flour, pat the balls out to thin circles of dough (1/4 inch). Let them rest again while you get your cast iron skillet warmed up and ready.  Medium-high heat and drizzle of olive oil between each piece frying. Pick up your dough in such a way that you cradle the edges to keep your nice round pieces and lay in hot pan. Dough will puff and blister. A few minutes on either side is all you need - you're just wanting it to brown and cook. Flip and brown. Stack on a plate to cool.

So good!

Go ahead and make yourself some pita pizza and try to go back to store bought pita bread. Nope! Yum!

Sweet Potato Kielbasa

Sweet Potato Kielbasa

1 20 oz bag of Simply Sweet Potatoes (or cut up some fresh) Or use red potatoes if you prefer.

1 13 oz Kielbasa, cut (I used Turkey)

1 chopped Onion (size and kind of your choice)

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp Dry Mustard

1 bunch baby Spinach (more or less to your tasting)


Add chopped onion of your choice and sweet potatoes to your frying pan. Add a drizzle of olive oil. Heat on medium heat, covered for 10 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes.

Meanwhile combine the brown sugar, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl. Set aside.

At your 10 minute mark add the cut kielbasa and brown sugar mix to the potatoes. Stir. Add the spinach to the top and put the cover back on. After a minute or two turn the heat down to a simmer. Now the goal is for the spinach to cook. Stir and cover until your spinach is cooked.

That's all. Serve and Enjoy.
It's super simple, healthy and tasty. What more could you ask for?

Lucky Lemonade

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

What makes it lucky? 3 ingredients! Can't get much luckier.

7 lemons (should end up with 1.5 cups of juice, pulp)
1 3/4 cups sugar
8 cups water

Squeeze those lemons and get rid of the seeds. If you can do that all at one time that will save you a ton of time. I didn't and it took for...ever. Not that it wasn't worth it - this is sooooo good, but still....

Side note, if you don't have a juicer/squeezer thingy not to worry - use a beater from the hand mixer...but the seeds present an issue. Update: got myself a juicer and ooooh the ease!

Take 1.5 cup (of your 8 cups) of water and boil. Add sugar and mix well. You want a syrup although it isn't very thick. This dissolves the sugar really well and makes the lemonade awesome.  Let it cool at least 20 minutes.

Mix the lemon juice, water and syrup.  Chill.  Enjoy.

That's all there is to it and it's the best darn lemonade. Summer or not it's so good. I tried some while it was still warm and was tempted to drink it all. So good.

Seemed like a lot of sugar to me but oh wow it was good. Might try with a little less but it was pretty fabulous so maybe just leave it alone. :)

Rueben Casserole

Rueben Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound pastrami or corned beef, chopped to bite size yumminess
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces (1/2 normal bottle) Thousand Island salad dressing, of your choice obviously
3/4 package rye bread (16 slices). Unseeded, unless your a fan
8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
Two 14 ounce cans sauerkraut (or just one depending on your love of the kraut)
4 dill pickles, good sized if your a pickle lover 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray your 9x13 cake pan. 

Start by ripping up 14 of the 16 slices of rye bread and plop randomly in the cake pan until you've coated the bottom. This is your crust.

Layer pastrami/corned beef with sauerkraut. Two layers each.

Next mix the sour cream, Thousand Island dressing and pickles together. And pour evenly on top of the kraut.

Slap on the cheese. Top with the two remaining slices of bread - ripped up.

Bake 30 minutes.

Ooooohhh laaaa laaaa. That be good. Take some beano and enjoy! :0