Pico de Gallo

November 4.

The tomatoes I had picked a few weeks ago were all ripening, and Joseph was happily incorporating them into his lunches every day.  There was a mountain of them, though, and I knew I had to do something with them as they slowly started getting really ripe.  Time for pico de gallo, which is basically a fresh salsa.

Amazingly (according to my friends), I don't use a recipe for this.  Many people also drain off the liquid from the salsa, but I leave it in.  You pretty much can drink the remaining bit of salsa down when you get to the bottom of the bowl.  Yum!

I also have a pretty new pottery bowl to put my pico de gallo in--I purchased this hand-made bowl at our local farmers market this past summer.

I love all things blue!  But you probably figured that out already.

Pico de Gallo

tomatoes
onion
green pepper (optional, your taste!)
jalapenos
cilantro
garlic
white vinegar
salt

Chop the tomatoes, onion, green pepper, jalapenos, and garlic as coarsely/finely as you wish.  Chop the cilantro and add it in,  Pour in a splash of white vinegar, and salt to taste.

I really can't give you ingredient amounts, but they are listed in order of amount.  If you have, say, four or five tomatoes, use 1/4 of an onion, one small green pepper, one jalapeno (or whatever, depending on your affinity for heat!).  Then go from there--half a bunch of cilantro, a splash of white vinegar, maybe 1/2 teaspoon of salt (better start with 1/4).  Just keep tasting/testing along the way.  That's how I do it!


Back to life,
Christine

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Hummus Spiced Up

As I sit here huddled in my blankets typing this post, I'm thinking of heat.  A bit of global warming would be really nice right about now.  Heat of any kind sounds good to me--and that's why I'm posting this recipe.

Credit--I found the original recipe on All Recipes.  My friend directed me to it, but warned me that the chef who created the recipe probably wrote down the ingredient amounts she thought she used.  I took the original and experimented.  You know me by now--everything was written down, then changed if I added more, or erased if it didn't work.  The "new and improved" recipe is here now, to warm you up on the inside, even if it's still snowing in March, like it is here.

Dry beans--Please use them!  They're so much more economical than canned, and so much healthier for you!  Yes, you have to plan!  Yes, I'm using exclamation points!  :)

Jalapeño Hummus

This makes a large batch (about four cups), so if there are just a few of you, you'll want to halve everything.

2 cups dry garbanzo beans, prepared (keep the liquid!!)
1/3 cup canned jalapeño peppers (I use my home-canned ones, with the liquid)
4 tablespoons tahini
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I try to use fresh)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt to taste (for this big batch, I use about one teaspoon)

Prepare the garbanzo beans:  Sort, measure into a pot (3-quart pot works nicely for this amount), and cover with water.  Let soak overnight or several hours (dry beans need to be soaked!).  After soaking, drain, re-cover with fresh water, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 2-3 hours or until soft.  Drain most of the liquid off, reserving it (you'll need it!).  Now on to the recipe.

You may use a blender--put all the ingredients in it.  Or you may use a stick blender--plop the blender into a bowl with all the ingredients in it.  (A full-size blender will produce a creamier consistency.)  I use a stick blender because it's faster and there's less to clean up.

Blend everything up.  Use the reserved liquid, adding it bit by bit as you blend, to achieve the consistency you desire.  That's the whole recipe--how hard is that??

Of course you'll want to taste test the yumminess.  Add more jalapeños if it's not spicy enough, or more garlic if you love that.  Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, spread on crackers, eat by the spoonful.  Oh, and lick the bowl when you're done.  Yum.

Jalapeño hummus with tortilla chips.  Spicy yum!

Back to life,
Christine

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