Easy Mint Hummus

Fast, Simple, Delicious

Hummus is delicious on just about everything (pita bread, corn chips, vegetables… cookies), and luckily it is also super easy to make.

Mint Hummus Recipe

1 can chickpeas (reserve 1/2 cup of the liquid)

1/4 cup tahini, which is like a sesame seed butter (I use Sunland brand).

About a 1/4 cup of fresh mint

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 clove of garlic

3 tablespoons of olive oil

The juice and zest from one lemon

Method
With a food processor:Combine all of the ingredients and 1/4 cup of the reserved chickpea liquid in a food processor and pulse until it is smooth (you may require a little more reserved liquid to reach the consistency you enjoy).

Or with a blender:If you are using a blender, I would start by adding 1/4 cup of chickpea liquid, olive oil , lemon juice, and tahini and blend together. Gradually add the chick peas until it is smooth, then add the other ingredients and you should be good to go.

This recipe really is super easy. I plan on posting a more intricate version using dried chickpeas and homemade tahini in the future, but for the time being, this recipe is very convenient and yields a product that is all kinds of delicious!

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Strawberryjammaking!

I believe that I have waxed sentimental about my enduring affection for jam before… Needless to say, I still loves me some jam and would like to share my recipe for an easy, quick strawberry preserve.

Lemon Ginger Strawberry Jam Recipe
2 pints of fresh strawberries
1 to 1.5 Cups sugar depending on the sweetness of the berries
1 teaspoon fresh, grated ginger
Zest and juice of one lemon
½ teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method
Wash, hull (remove the stem) and place strawberries in a large nonreactive pot and mash with a potato masher.

Add the sugar to the strawberries, place the pot on burner over medium high heat and bring the berries to a boil, stirring frequently.

Add the ginger, lemon, vanilla and salt to the boiling berries and allow the mixture to continue to boil for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

During this time, place a spoon in the freezer. After 20 minutes has passed, place the cold spoon into the mix to see if it has set. The Jam should adhere to the spoon and be fairly thick at this point.

When the jam has thickened, remove from heat and allow it to cool for ten minutes. When the jam has cooled, transfer it to a sterile container, or you know, clean, whatever... this is jam to get us through the next week or so, not the winter.

Additional Thoughts
The vibrancy of homemade jam can’t be matched by a prepackaged version and I think that the addition of lemon and ginger make this recipe just a little bit special.

YUM!

Spicy Asian Pickle Salad

I love homemade pickles but rarely have the patience to wait the full amount of time required for complete pickling. I’ve found that things like thinly sliced cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and bell peppers actually pickle fairly fast and offer a quick fix to my cravings for tangy, vinegary delights.

Quickly pickling thinly sliced vegetables offers instant gratification and my Asian pickle salad is a refreshing treat on a warm summer night.

Spicy Asian Pickle Salad Recipe

Pickling Liquid
¾ Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
¼ Cup Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Veg
1 large shallot sliced thin
2 Carrots, sliced thin
1 English cucumber, seeded, split in two and sliced into ¼” half circles
5 mini sweet peppers, sliced into 1/8” rounds
1 jalapeño finely diced



Method
Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar into a small sauce pot and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, combine all of the chopped veggies into a large metal or glass (heat resistant) bowl. When the vinegar solution reaches a boil, reduce the heat until it is lightly simmering and then pour the contents over the sliced veggies.

Cover the veggies in the vinegar solution with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerators for 3 hours. That’s it, you now have a delightfully spicy pickle salad that is great on its own or can be combined with some baby spinach and tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Yum!

Juicing the Mint Leaves

Mint Chip Chocolate Cookies

Mint has always been a flavor that has captivated my palate. However, despite this longstanding love affair, mint was rarely used in the sweets my mom prepared when I was young. This lead me to believe that items with mint components were incredibly exotic and that it must require Herculean efforts to impart that cool flavor to one’s dishes. In fact, my sister and I still use the term “have to juice the mint leaves” when referring to simple tasks that appear to be deceptively laborious.

Luckily, it turns out that making a delicious mint desert can be as simple as adding a few high quality mint chocolate chips to the recipe.


Add a couple cups of Guittard green mint chocolate chips to a chocolate cookie recipe and you will have a mint cookie to rival the devil-spawned (that is to say, unnaturally delicious), cocaine laden wafers purveyed by any girl scout.

Polka Dot Cookies Recipe

Adapted from the recipe from the back of the Guittard Green Mint Chips bag.
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon coffee
2 cups (1 12 oz bag) Guittard Green Mint Chips

Method
Preheat your oven to 350oF.

Add the semisweet chips to a microwave safe bowl and heat for one minute in the ole ‘wave. Stir the chocolate and microwave for another minute. Add the butter to the chocolate and stir together until it is all melted evenly (the butter and chocolate may require an additional minute in the microwave together).


When the chocolate and butter is smooth, set it aside and combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and coffee until smooth and light. Add the dry ingredients to the mix until everything is evenly incorporated into the batter. Fold in the green mint chips, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place everything into the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes.


(The Master's Glaive?)

When the cookie batter has firmed up a bit, scoop it into rounded teaspoons and drop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes and buen apetito!