Garlic Hummus

I have a recent addiction... here goes... I LOVE garlic lovers hummus. Love love love it. As in, I am tempted to eat a tub of it per day (though I do try to restrain myself). Anyway, this is a rather expensive hobby as the family size container, a mere 17 oz. is nearly $6 (which is approx. $0.35/oz). Yikes. So today I decided to try making the stuff and see how it is. Naturally I found a recipe on the web, but I changed it significantly enough as I went along that I can't even really cite that recipe. Also, though that recipe was titled garlic hummus, I had to add significantly more garlic to mine. I prefer garlic with a touch of chick pea and not the other way around. So here's my new recipe...

Reenie's Garlic Hummus
3 c. (1 large can) chick peas


4 T. Tahini (sesame paste- found in the oriental food aisle)

2 T. Olive oil




8-10 t. minced garlic (the recipe called for cloves of garlic "crushed" but since I always have minced garlic on hand, I went with that. And doubled the amount).


juice of 2 lemons (I hand juiced 2 lemons, and then probably added another teaspoon of lemon juice to give it a little more zest)


1 1/2 t. salt

1 t. course ground pepper

1/2 t. oregano

Put everything into the food processor and make a paste. Yuuummmm. Makes approx. 4 cups of delicious garlic hummus, emphasis on the garlic... (and yes, I may add more garlic next time).

Pricing-- most of this is a guess, but probably a reasonable comparison.

chick peas $2

tahini ($10 for the jar) $2.50

minced garlic $.25

olive oil $.20

oregano, salt, pepper $0.05

lemons $1

Grand total: $6.00 for 32 oz. = $0.19 / oz.

What are you waiting for? Go make some. You won't regret it! (Except you, my dear mother, you won't like this at all- it tastes distinctly like garlic :) Mmmmmmm.

My favorite bread recipe

Basic White Bread (found somewhere, somehow on the internet at some point)
5 ½ c. bread flour
1 T salt
2 ½ t. rapid rise yeast (somehow I always use 1 T.)
2 c. very warm water
1 T olive oil
2 T honey

Place dry ingredients in mixer (I use my kitchen aid with the dough hook which works great). In a glass measuring cup, first add the very warm water, then olive oil, then honey (if you measure the oil first, it keeps the honey from sticking to the tablespoon) - stir together so the honey dissolves (5-10 seconds). Turn on the mixer for 15 seconds (to mix the dry ingredients), then add the liquids all at once at mix at setting 1 for 1.5 minutes. Turn off mixer and let it rest for 10 minutes. Mix on level 2 for 3 minutes. Knead 3-4 times (I never do this). Place in an oiled bowl in a warm place, covered, for an hour to rise. Punch down, knead 3-4 times, shape into loaves, rolls, etc. Let rise 45 minutes covered. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes for loaves, 20ish minutes for rolls.

Things I’ve tried and like:
-- I always brush the baked loaves or rolls with olive oil to keep the crust softer. Yum.
-- Cinnamon / Craisin Bread: Add 1 T (ish) cinnamon and 1 cup (ish) of craisins to the dry ingredients before mixing all together. Sometimes I also add an extra tablespoon of honey to make it a touch sweeter (and sometimes I don’t). This is great as rolls or bread. The rolls are super easy to grab for breakfast on your way out the door in the morning. (you can do this with just cinnamon and skip the craisins too).
-- Do above, but before the second rise, roll dough into two large rectangles, brush water (or milk) onto the surface, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll into a loaf, pinch the ends together, and then let rise before baking. Yummy.
-- Whole wheat: Use 3 cups white flour, 2 c. wheat flour (you need about ½ c. less flour when you use wheat flour – or I add a bit more water).
-- Garlic Herb: Add 2 T. (to taste) garlic powder and 2 T. (to taste) basil (and any other herbs that inspire you) to dry ingredients before mixing. This is probably the one I do the most, it is very tasty as bread, rolls, homemade croutons, everything! Love it.
-- I’ve also substituted sugar for the honey in the recipe when I didn’t have honey.

Things that don’t work:
-Forgetting to add the salt (though I was able to mix it in even after the rest of the dough was mixed and it worked out fine).
-Using really old yeast- makes for very flat, hard bread (not bad for bread pudding though).
-setting a loaf of this bread on the kitchen bar stool for a minute to clear off counter space and then forgetting it was there tempting a hungry dog and going to change the laundry. Not a good idea, or so I've heard...

And since I’m sharing my favorite bread recipe, I’ll add my crouton recipe too. Often I will have a little bit of bread leftover at the end of the week that I don’t want to go to waste. I cut it into small cubes and make croutons (especially delish with the garlic herb bread leftovers).

Homemade Croutons
4 c. bread cubes
4 T. butter, melted
2 t. basil, 1 t. garlic powder – optional (you can stir these into the melted butter if you want. Typically I just use the garlic herb bread so I don’t need more herbs or garlic).

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour melted butter over bread cubes and toss to coat evenly. Bake on cookie sheet for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Great for salad toppers, adding to soup, snacks after nap (or anytime really), munching on in the car, putting into an empty cranberry juice bottle to keep your dog busy and more…

On the homefront

Thank goodness I've got a week to be at home in the evenings!!! Last week filled up fast and somehow I was out every night except Monday, and most of the day Saturday and Sunday. So this week's clear schedule to catch up at home is much appreciated!!! Although after spending the last two evenings doing canning / kitchen stuff, so far the house isn't looking much improved. Maybe tonight.


On Monday night I picked a bunch of grapes from the grapevines along my back fence. They originally came from my neighbor's corner, and have grown about 2/3 of the way across my back fence. Being a grape growing novice I haven't pruned, or really done anything to them. So the grapes are rather small and sour. But I decided to give homemade grape jelly a try. So Monday night I picked, washed, smushed, cooked with water, and left overnight to strain the juice. Last night I made the juice into jelly... I guess we'll see how it turns out once it cools and gels. The jury is definitely out on this grape jelly thing. It's especially difficult to know if you've reached the proper "jelly" temperature if you don't have a candy thermometer- so I was sorta guessing...

Monday I canned a couple more pints of homemade dill pickles. I think the cukes are slowing down in the garden and I have plenty of pickles to go around.

Monday night I also peeled and diced a bowl of tomatoes before realizing I didn't have several of the necessary salsa ingredients... so last night I stopping off at the grocery store and finished a batch of salsa after dinner. Every time I make salsa, I am soooo grateful for my food processor. The first year I did a lot of salsa I chopped everything by hand and was usually crying my eyes out by the time I'd diced all the onions and jalapenos. Not so with the food processor- you just put it all in there and it does all the work. Now the only thing I cut by hand are the tomatoes! So much faster!! Here's the recipie, in case you're interested. It is my favorite canned salsa by far because it still tastes garden fresh when you open the jar months later.

Canned Salsa8 cups peeled, cored, chopped fresh tomatoes
1 to 2 cups seeded and chopped fresh jalapeno peppers; use more or less to taste
2 cups chopped onion
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Pour hot salsa into hot pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal jars with two piece caps. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Makes 5 - 7 pints.


I'm definitely loving the domestications. It's relaxing and satisfying... sigh of contentment... on second thought, maybe it's not relaxing, but it's definitely satisfying.

New recipe

So... on Saturday, in the midst of staining the new patio door and doing yard work, i was making dinner for Bren and Hannah and for some reason (probably insanity) I decided to experiment... I don't really recommend experimenting when cooking for someone else since it can cause last minute panic "what if it doesn't turn out, or its gross, or or or..." Nonetheless, I hadn't thought that through (until it was too late). There were a few factors driving the decision to experiment and what i would make: I didn't have much time, I had tons of tomatoes, I just bought chicken, and I was thinking about wine...

So, it started out as chicken tenders in the crockpot and grew from there. In the end, i thought it was delicious and Brad who also had it for dinner gave it rave reviews (although its possible -though doubtful- he was just being nice). I hope Bren and Hannah liked it. Anyway, here's the recipie (ish- none of this was actually measured at the time):

Maureen's Tomato, Chicken, Wine Creation

Step 1:

12 chicken tenders (basically just chicken pieces 1/3 the size of a boneless chicken breast)

4 cups food processed tomatoes- I had lots of yellow pear tomatoes sitting around, so i washed them, threw them in the food processor with the garlic, and threw them in the crockpot.
6 cloves garlic (also food processed)
1.5 cups white wine (I used pinot grigio because it was open, next time i'd probably go with chardonnay)
Oregano & Basil (a bunch of shakes)

Put the above ingredients in the crockpot and cook on high for around 3.5 hours. Test the chicken for doneness and turn off the crock.

Step 2:
Make noodles- I used rainbow rotini, but i imagine it would work with any kind of noodles and probably rice too. I think i made about 6 cups of noodles (dry).

Step 3:
2 T. butter
2 T. flour (maybe a little less)
1 T. minced garlic
2 c. milk
1 pkg cream cheese (i used the low fat variety)
4 cups crockpot sauce (from above)
salt (to taste- i used probably less than 1/2 teaspoon)

Put butter and garlic in saucepan on high, once the butter is melted, add the flour and stir in quickly. once that is combined and bubbling, add the milk slowly, stirring to combine as you add it. Add the crockpot sauce and cream cheese, cooking and stirring until cream cheese melts. Add salt to taste.

Step 4:
Mix noodles and creamy sauce together, put in casserole dish. Add chicken on top of them, slice cherry tomatoes (or yellow pear tomatoes in my case) in half and add with chicken. Sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees approximately 10 minutes until parmesan is melted. (Technically, you could skip the baking part, but i liked the melted parmesan and slightly toasted tomatoes.)

Yield: 2 casseroles to serve 4-6 each (ish)

YUM!