Hummus

I discovered hummus at the beginning of college... one of my best friends and I would get the exact same wrap for lunch at least once a week- turkey and pepperoni (sounds weird but it was good) with hummus.  While many of my high school friends complained about the mediocre food on their college campuses, my Alma Mater, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, had the BEST food. Seriously.

"Since 2004, Miami has won a total of 50 culinary awards, including nine grand prizes and 15 gold prizes, in the Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards competition — more than any other university in North America, according to Nancy Heidtman, director of dining and culinary support services." http://www.miami.muohio.edu/news/article/view/15589

 

As much as I love to cook, I really do wish I could have a meal plan again... order whatever I want, whenever I want, no matter how much it costs and then not have to clean up? You college students really have a good system. 

Anyways, after spending the past decade eating and buying hummus (Trader Joes has some good ones!), I FINALLY made it myself.  I decided to start with traditional chickpea hummus... and it was delicious. 

These are the ingredients you need:

Here's the recipe I made up based off of personal taste and a few recipes online: 

Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed

1/4 cup tahini

1/8 cup olive oil

1/4 cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp paprika

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.  Add extra water or olive oil if a thinner consistency is desired.  Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh parsley. Serve with veggies & pita bread. 

 

Menu Plan Monday 7/25

Wow does it feel weird to type 7/25. WHAT? JULY. 25th. I feel like summer just started. I have decided that this will be my last week of "I'm not going to do anything for school." Next week will be busy as we have VBS each evening, but as for this week... I'm having fun and taking it easy...sort of.

Here's what I'm attempting this week:

Sunday: left over mac & cheese from our date night at La Chatelaine with all-beef hot dogs (classy, I know.)

Monday: Black Bean Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Spinach Artichoke Pasta Salad

black bean & zucchini cake from tonight's dinner... these were délicieux! 

 and the spinach artichoke tortellini salad... also amazing :-)

Tuesday: Potstickers, brown rice & egg rolls

Wednesday: Pancakes, Sausage & fruit

Thursday: BBQ Chicken, Baked Potatoes & green beans

Friday: Pizza on the grill! So excited to finally try this!

Saturday: leftovers

for more menu planning ideas, go to http://orgjunkie.com/2011/07/menu-plan-monday-july-2511.html

Corn: my current vegetable obsession

sI haven't been in the mood for veggies recently, with one exception: corn. So we have been eating A LOT of it. When I was preparing to leave Montreal last week, due to my desire to have Mexican food, I kindly requested that Grant pick up the necessary ingredients for tacos. We had tacos two nights in a row, and as I was exhausted from the traveling, I didn't make my old standby of Mexican rice, rather, I made corn. Here are a few corn recipes we've enjoyed this summer (#1 & #2 were the new ones I tried last week):

1) Spicy Corn sidedish: Cayenne & Cumin Sweet Corn: I made this the night I got back. I go through more cumin than any other spice, so I figured this would be a winner. We like a little bit of spice, but not too much, so I cut back on the cayenne. I love how spicy food forces you to drink more water :-) I cut this recipe in half and used frozen corn instead of canned, and used basil from my garden.

2) Summer Corn Salad: love a good cold corn side dish. This one was super refreshing & while we ate it as a side dish, it would probably work well as a snack with some tortilla chips. I used frozen corn again & cut this in 1/3, using only 1 tomato.

3) Grilled Corn: this is our first summer with a grill and while we've had grilled corn frequently, we've never been the ones to prepare it. I shucked (such a gross word) the corn, spread butter on it and topped with kosher salt, garlic powder and cracked peppercorns. It was SO good. I think we left it on the grill for around 30 minutes, turning every 10 or so.

and drumroll please.... because dish #4 is my favorite corn dish. Ever. I found it 3 years or so ago and have been making it constantly. Summer, Winter, Fall, Spring. SO GOOD. It combines corn & black beans (another love of mine)... it says to refrigerate overnight but you just have to eat it right away, it's THAT good. I eat it with tortilla chips, like a salsa.

4) Corn and Black Bean Salad: I use olive oil instead of vegetable oil and frozen corn instead of canned. Other than that, this recipe is easy and so delicious. Here's a pic of the last time I made it:

Menu Plan Monday 7/18

Most of you know I love to cook. Like love, love love. I was dreaming of the things I would cook while I was in Montreal (keep in mind I started my days there wearing a cardigan over my tank top...)... and now that I'm back, what am I doing? Eating cheese & crackers, yogurt & fresh fruit. And a few pickles. Basically, anything that I can take out of the fridge and eat. Seriously... this was my afternoon snack:
Greek Yogurt (my new love), mango, strawberries & raspberries.

I need it to be 75 again! This mid-nineties, high humidity is ridiculous. So this week should be interesting dinner-wise, because for once, I don't feel like cooking. Perhaps if our a/c worked just a little better, it'd be easier.

Nevertheless, here's my game plan for the upcoming week:

Sunday: leftovers... the fridge needs to be cleaned out!
Monday: leftover pizza (for Grant)... I might just have more fruit & yogurt.
Tuesday: Whole Wheat pancakes (with the maple syrup I brought back from Canada!) , yogurt & fruit
Wednesday: Italian Wedding Soup (in the crockpot so I don't have to stand over the stove... perhaps I will actually write down the recipe this time & post it), bread
Thursday: beef & onion multigrain enchiladas w/ this sauce, mexican rice, refried beans
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: burgers on the grill, oven baked french fries

More menu plan ideas (probably ones that involve more cooking!) can be found here.

Home Sweet Home

After being gone 2.5 weeks, there truly is nothing better than your own home. I got asked while I was in Montreal if I was homesick. The answer: absolutely not. My freshman year of college, I was homesick a little at first. But then I learned to love Miami and still miss living in Oxford to this day. When I studied abroad in college, I was homesick for the first few weeks. However, I slowly learned to love and appreciate the differences between the culture of the USA and that of other countries. Taking those leaps of faith of going to college 4.5 hours from home and studying abroad as a 19 year old were life changing. I spent the summer living in Virginia Beach for 10 weeks, and the following summer in France. After college, I moved yet again to a new city. Columbus doesn't feel like my "hometown" and never will... but I am settled in here. The problem though, is that all of the traveling and living abroad has given me the travel bug... when I'm in one place for too long, I feel this strong urge to get OUT. It doesn't have to be far, but I love the change of environment. The only problem is my champagne taste on a beer budget. Thank goodness my dear husband is the one who handles our finances. Otherwise, we'd be leaving for a trip to Venice, Italy and then for a week-long cruise in the Greek Islands. Apparently that is not the typical vacation when you are 26. Someday. We will be visiting New England in a few weeks, for which I am super excited :-)

What do I miss though, if I love living in another place?
1- my husband & family
2- my friends
3- Mexican food

Yup...always those three. Weird, I know. But you just don't eat Mexican unless you are in the USA or Mexico.


So anyways, Montreal... things I liked regarding the culture:

1- people SMILE and say BONJOUR in the streets, instead of just staring straight ahead like in Europe
2- people in general were very polite
3- I have never felt SO safe in a big city
4- they are taking great steps to make the city eco-friendly: they don't give you bags at stores unless you ask... there are escalators that go on a super slow speed when no one is around them and then speed up when you walk past the sensor.
5- like Europe, you were allowed to take your time with a meal... which was great when it was just me, and a hot mess when it was me AND the two children for whom I was nannying.