For lunch I made spring rolls – cabbage, bok choy, onion, carrot, pears; sesame oil, juiced orange, ginger, peanut butter. I love them, so does DH. So quick and easy once you get the knack of it. (I don’t fry them) I’ve been learning to make arepas, but I am apparently missing something and while they are good, they aren’t great. I’ll keep trying. Last weekend I made blackraspberry and peach scones. Tomorrow is quinoa salad w avocado and nuts. I made potato salad with blue cheese, a smidge of bacon, and tarragon vinagrette that was a hit for dinner (we are deliberately leaning veggie these days)
If you love food-as-travel, I would recommend a lovely little book called The World On a Plate. As an older, white, ethnically Canadian/British person, I love learning to make something new that is dear to someone’s culture because I find my own food culture somewhat lacking in pizazz So I am getting lots of good ideas here!
For summer with abundant garden cucumbers and tomatoes, Greek salad is almost my daily treat. So easy to make, healthy and tasty: my garden cucumbers have been doing really well this year so it is an added incentive.
I think for the generation that came before blenders/mixers, removing chickpea skins so they could be easily mashed was necessary. I remember my in laws would use a metal sieve to prepare the hummus and religiously remove all skins.
I am surprised that certain hummus recipe does not use tahini, as I thought it is one of the main ingredients. Learning new things everyday.
Just got back from the beach where we had a crab feast for dinner one night. SIL was visiting from west coast with her kids so we introduced them to this local summer tradition. We picked all the leftover crabs and will make crab cakes for dinner tonight with the crab meat. In our absence, our tomato plants produced an abundance of tomatoes so we will have tomato, basil (also from garden) and mozzarella with it and eastern shore corn I picked up on the drive home.
I love tahini, so I can’t imagine why you’d want to leave it out. When we were in Jordan most hummus came with a little pile of chopped up green leaves in olive oil on the top. Does anyone know what they were?
I am unfamiliar with this crazy sounding concept. “Leftover” crabs?!? Crabs are like shrimp at parties - no matter how many you have, people’s capacity to eat will expand until all are consumed and people are still picking through the leftovers looking for any remaining morsels.
I made a jar of preserved lemons yesterday. It already looks different than fresh lemons in juice. Crossing my fingers. Yes, I have read that they need to be rinsed thoroughly. Thanks for the link @abasket !
We are also unfamiliar with the concept of leftover crab. We are very familiar with the concept of swatting folks away from the table in order to save some for tomorrow’s crab egg Benedict or such.
I think you can put many herbs too. My son asked me what I thought they were, but of course he asked me months later. I’m pretty good at identifying ingredients when they are in front of me. I’d guess given what was in other things in Jordan that thyme, parsely and mint in some kind of combo were the most likely suspects.
Yesterday made a chocolate zucchini bread with walnuts; this morning made whole wheat buttermilk waffles with blueberries and have the tomatoes to make the filling for tomato omelet Provençal (from the Vegetarian epicure cookbook). I go in spurts, as time permits, and try to freeze things for later.
@deb922 sometimes I think we spend way too much time too often trying to plan more elaborate food for people - when everyone would just be happy with a taco bar!
We’re doing a taco bar next week for our annual family euchre party. And a corn on the cob bar!
Speaking of tacos, I don’t really buy the store taco shells anymore. I think sometimes the flavor is off and honestly they always break! We have gone to using more soft tortilla shells. BUT I bought a product that we used a couple of weeks ago that made eating tacos a whole lot easier - and great for those who like to load up on toppings;
Speaking of tacos, on our last night at the beach last week, I was trying to use up some of the food we had so I didn’t have to take it all home. My kids had “taco in a bag” in order to use up some of the single serve bags of fritos and doritos we had brought as snacks. For those of you who’ve never heard of it, they are a staple at swim meets. You just crush up the chips inside the bag, open the bag and fill it with your favorite taco fixins’ then just eat it right out of the bag.
I’ve resorted to just making a taco salad and eating with a fork. I just pile everything onto a plate with shredded lettuce and break up tortilla chips and sprinkle on top. The rest of my family is hodge podge - sometimes some want soft tacos and others want hard tacos so I just serve both and let them choose. Those fiesta flats are interesting. I’ve never seen them before.
I just recently taught myself (?lol?) to enjoy hummus after years of not liking it. I now make it once a week, using one can of chickpeas, drained, half a jar of roasted red peppers (or fresh), tahini, evoo, salt, paprika, cayenne, garlic, and lemon juice.
+1 to Tajin. You can easily buy it on Amazon. Go for the clasico.
“I did a google search for Tajin seasoning at Penzey’s . It pulled up there Pico Fruta seasoning - I actually have that - do you think it’s similar? I like the Pico Fruta (on watermelon) but would something a little more pungent/heat.”
My family doesn’t like Penzey’s Pico Fruta anywhere near as much as Tajin. Tajin is inexpensive, too.
“A family friend who is originally from Malaysia let us in on her spice blend for her amazing kofta and now that we’ve made them my boyfriend can’t get enough (and he loves making pita). Serve with pickles and garlic mayonnaise. Next time we do it I’m insisting on also making our own hummus.”
So, are you going to let us in on it?
If you want to make a good hummus, look for the Michael Solomonov recipe. I am in the no chickpea skins camp whether starting from dried chickpeas or canned (use Goya). It really helps in making ethereal hummus and it doesn’t take that long especially when you multi-task while watching a tv show.
Younger son and I were prepping food this morning. He was trimming a whole tenderloin to be used for Beef Wellington tomorrow (his project, not mine. It’s yummy but I don’t tend to make really involved things like that outside of holidays and birthdays. Lazy, remember?) Anyway, I was making the spice mix to coat crispy chickpeas with and rinsing canned chickpeas to let them dry before roasting. As I spread out the chickpeas to dry, I told him about our ongoing discussion on this thread about peeling chickpeas. DS burst out laughing at the idea of peeling chickpeas, seriously thought I was kidding. Guess we’ll make homemade sausage, Beef Wellington, can our own tomatoes, make our own jams, chutneys, etc., but peel chickpeas? That’s just crazy talk!
So I am getting lots of good ideas here!