Posts Tagged ‘Garbanzo beans’
Posted by terrepruitt on May 11, 2013
As you might know, I purchased some dried garbanzo beans. I thought I would go the dried bean route and try to avoid the canned because of the stuff they say is in the can that you should avoid. But then I didn’t know how to process them. A quick search on the internet said I needed to soak them for at least 4 hours or that I could do a “Quick” Soak Method. Well, I did the soaking method a few weeks ago and I have been meaning to do the “Quick” Soak Method but I have not had time. I mean, honestly, putting beans in a bowl and letting them soak for however long—until I am ready to use them—seems so much easier than boiling them on the stove. Well when I finally went to do the “Quick” Soak Method I looked it up again and one blog said to boil them, rinse them, let them set for an hour, then boil them again, rinse them, let them set for an hour . . . . I was failing to see the QUICK in that method at all. Then I found one that said boil them until they had little bubbles then let them set for an hour then rinse them. Ok, that is more like it, but still, I had to be in the kitchen to watch for the bubbles. In the “long” soak method, I left them to soak unsupervised. I am thinking that the “Quick” Soak Method might be quicker, but to me it is not easier.
So I followed the directions I found on About.com:
Rinse beans in cold water. Put them in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of cold water. Bring almost to a boil (small bubbles appear around the edges of the pot), cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for 1 hour. Drain. The beans will be “soaked” and ready to cook.
I actually let them sit for TWO hours because when I poked them they didn’t seem very soft. What I have been seeing articles say is that if the beans looked shriveled to begin with they will not get soft. Well, one of the reasons I don’t like beans is because of the texture. I don’t like soft and mushy. So I really think I like the dried beans because they don’t get that soft.
This time I managed to NOT burn them when I cooked them. I like the roasted chickpeas crunchy. So I really like this dried bean route. I think I will use them from now on. I will have a few cans on hand in case I don’t remember to soak them in advance, but really if I don’t remember to soak my beans in advance the “Quick Soak Method” is not going to help me. It doesn’t really save that much time. I mean, if the “long” soak method only requires four hours and most “Quick” soaks require at least 90 minutes . . . . I think I can plan ahead. I might even try freezing some that I have soaked.
Anyway . . . the end result to me, is that either soaking method results in about the same type of textured bean and the “Quick” Soak is not quick or easier enough for me. I like the put-them-in-a-bowl-full-of-water-and forget-about-them-method better.
Now I need to try it with other beans, right? Since the only other bean I eat is kidney beans, I will try it with them . . . . eventually. But I will skip the “Quick Soak Method” and just use the overnight one.
How about you? Do you have a preferred method for soaking your beans?
Posted in Misc, Uncategorized | Tagged: canned beans, chickpeas, dried beans, dried garbanzo beans, Garbanzo beans, quick soak method, roasted garbanzo beans | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 27, 2013
You might have gathered from my posts that I am not a fan of beans. Beans are great for fiber and protein, but I just don’t like them all that much. I was sometimes ok with garbanzo beans/chickpeas, but that was it. I didn’t like any other type of bean, but I went to a friend’s house and she had this yummy two bean salad. So I decided that I am ok with red kidney beans and garbanzo beans in this salad. Then I came across a recipe that had kidney beans it in and I decided to use half kidney beans and half garbanzo beans. This recipe is one of my husband’s and mine favorites. I also like roasted garbanzo beans. Recently I was in the area – after teaching a Nia class as a sub in south San Jose - of a store that I have been hearing a lot about. It is called Sprouts. The name is “Sprouts Farmers Market: Healthy, Natural & Organic Grocery Stores”, which I don’t really understand, as it is NOT a farmer’s market and not everything is natural nor organic. They have the produce section kind of set up like you might imagine a market on an actual farm in that nothing is in nice neat rows and it seems kinda hodgey-podgely put together . . . but that is it. Their organic section of fruits and vegetables was no larger than the one at my “regular” grocery store. But whatever, I digress (WHAT? ME? NO!) . . . my post is actually about that fact that I bought some dried garbanzo beans.
When I first discovered the Red Beans and Rice recipe my friend and I were talking about dried beans and we wondered if we could buy dried garbanzo beans. Later she reported back that she had seen some in the store. I had asked my chef friend about them and she gave me some advice on how to process them. And of course I forgot what she said. But anyway . . . I finally was in a store that had them when I remembered to look. So I bought some.
When you look up how to process dried beans on the internet you will probably come across two different methods. There is the long soak and then the quick soak. My idea was to do both and then report the results on my blog in one post. But funny as it sounds, I have not had time — more accurately, I have not made time — to do the quick soak method. I know, you would think that would be the easiest and fastest one to do. But to me it was much easier to throw the beans in a bowl and let them soak for 13 hours and 45 minutes. I’ve read they should soak for at least 4 hours. Mine just turned into 13 hours plus.
Since I have not yet gotten around to doing the quick soak method I will report on what I found with the long soak method and then when I do the other one I will post about that.
The “long soak” method has no cooking involved. I was interested in not cooking the beans. Everything I read said that they double in size. I don’t recall that happening. NOTHING I read told me they would pop! I kept hearing this odd sound and wondering what it was. If you have a pet you might do as I do and the first thing I do when I hear something unfamiliar is I blame my pet and find her first to see if she was responsible. But when I heard the pop she was right next to me. So, I kept thinking it was coming from outside. Finally it dawned on me that it might be the beans and I stood by the bowl until I heard one!
I had decided to split the bag in between the two methods. So I got a huge bowl and put half of my beans in it. Then I filled it with water. I did this at 11:00 am on a Friday. I changed the water twice. I rinsed the beans both times. My report is that beans themselves have gas. My kitchen smelled gassy the whole time the beans were soaking. I kept lighting a candle. I drained the beans at 12:45 pm on Saturday. I decided I was going to roast them. So I drained them to let them start to dry out.
I roasted them. They were gorgeous. I like them because they seem less “mushy” than the canned beans. And for me “mushy” is part of the reason I don’t like beans. So I really liked this dried/soaking method. I left the beans in the oven a tad bit too long. I was doing too many things at once and when I took them out to check them I forgot to put the timer on when I put them back in. I realized my error when I smelled burning beans. So . . . . they are ok, but not as I would have liked them.
The verdict in regards to soaking beans is good. I am going to do that. I have a feeling that soaking them will turn out to be easier than the quick soak method. We will see.
The questions I have been thinking about though is . . . . the canned beans I buy say “Organic” whereas the dried ones I bought did not. So really which are better? I will look for organic dried beans, but I am not sure where to find them. I know I didn’t see them at the “Farmers Market” that claims to have healthy, natural, and organic food. 
Well, at least I didn’t see a sign that claimed the dried beans were organic.
Do you used canned beans or dried?
Posted in Food | Tagged: bean salad, chickpeas, dried beans, exercise classes, farmers markets, Garbanzo beans, healthy, Natural & organic grocery store, Nia, Nia San Jose, quick soak beans, Red Beans and Rice, red kidney beans, San Jose Nia, soaking beans, South San Jose, Sprouts | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 9, 2013
My cat has been on a “bland diet” of beef and sweet potatoes. I keep thinking “today is the day” — meaning, today will be the last day, but until “things” have gotten back to normal I am not comfortable putting her back on her cat food. Part of the prescription of the bland diet was “very lean” beef. So I am feeding my cat lean beef. One day I was about to cook two dinners. One for my cat and one for my hubby and I. Then I realized I could just cook one. So I put away what I had originally planned for my hubby and I and just cooked up some beef for us too. As I was cooking the meat I was thinking of what veggies I had in my fridge . . . yeah, my door note does not always get updated. Of course I couldn’t remember but when I opened the door I spotted the mushrooms . . . cool, I decided to put the meat on/in tiny tortillas with some mushrooms and cheese. Then, I decided that in addition to mushrooms I would add some garbanzo beans. As I was putting something in the fridge I spotted the zucchini and I decided to grate some of that into our mushrooms. I was making this dinner up as I was cooking it! (I can do that when I don’t have a Nia class.)
I have to cook the cat’s meat without flavoring, so I figured I would just salt the meat after and put some raw onions on it. I figured that would be enough flavor. But then I took hers out to prepare it and I left ours in the pan and I added cumin and garlic salt. I am starting to add cumin to different things now. Ever since I used it in my adjusted version of Bobby Deen’s Red Beans and Rice recipe. It was not a spice I was accustomed to cooking with. I like it.
We ended up with a pretty tasty dinner, I think. I think the raw onions on the topping it all off really gave it the perfect finishing touch.
Beef, Beans, Mushrooms, Zucchini, And Cheesy Tortillas
small wedge of onion, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
four shakes of garlic salt
half of a zucchini, grated
four shakes of garlic salt
1 can of garbanzo beans
four shakes of garlic salt
1/4 of a pound beef
four shakes of cumin
four shakes of garlic salt
10 small thin slices of cheese
five tiny corn tortillas
Heat the oil and onion (save some for garnish), then put the mushrooms in, add garlic salt. Cook them until they are almost done, then put the grated zucchini in, add garlic salt. Cook until it looks done almost done, then add the beans and the garlic salt. In a different pan, cook the beef with the cumin and garlic salt.
When the mushroom mixture and beef are almost done, heat the tortillas, melt the cheese on the tortillas. Spoon the beef onto four of the cheesy tortilla, then spoon the mushroom bean mixture. Top with raw onions. (One tortilla was meatless!)
I had to cook the meat separate because of my cat, but if I were just making this for us I would cook the mushrooms first . . . I like my mushrooms caramelized, then I would add the beef . . . and I would use more so that it would work for all five tortillas. I would add the cumin to the meat. Then I would add the zucchini, then the beans. I don’t like the beans to get to cooked so I add them last. With each ingredient I would add garlic salt.
I have an electric grill/panini press I used for the tortillas. I grilled them.
This was very good. I will be making this again. But since we rarely have ground beef (we are only eating it because the cat is!) I will use our regular ground turkey.
I like cooking with cumin!
I know I don’t come up with very inventive stuff, but we like it and sometimes all you need is an IDEA of what to cook for dinner. Maybe this will help you.
What do you think? Any ideas on what you might add?
Posted in "Recipes" | Tagged: beef, Cheesy Tortillas, cumin, easy recipe, Garbanzo beans, mushrooms, Nia, Nia class, quick dinner, zucchini | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 2, 2013
For those of you that cook dinner every night you might understand what I am about to say, “Cooking dinner is difficult.” Ok, more accurately coming up with ideas of what to cook for dinner is difficult. I actually have it very easy because my husband would be fine eating the same thing all week then switching to something else the next week. As long as it was not a vegetarian dish three days in a row. But I am not happy with that. As you know if you have read any of my posts about food, I love left overs because they keep me from having to cook or at least keep me from having to start from scratch. The other night I was really at a loss as to what to prepare for dinner. It was a Wednesday so I really should have been thinking in terms of cooking for Wednesday so that I could have enough left over for Thursday when I have a late Nia class. But I couldn’t think “two nights” I just wanted to get through the one night and use the portion of a piece of chicken I had from the night before. I came up with something that I didn’t even think about being enough for leftovers but it was. It carried us through two nights. Asparagus, beans, rice, and chicken.
Another thing you might know about me if you have a read a few of my posts, I LOVE asparagus. I mean, love, love, love, love. Once I was asked what food I would want to have given to me free every day and I said asparagus. But even though I love it, I won’t buy it when it is $8.99 a pound. I don’t even like to buy it when it is $4.99 a pound. I might buy it when it is $2.99 a pound, but I like the $1.99 range. But knowing how much I love it my hubby bought me some recently. I didn’t ask how much it was. I just had five pounds of asparagus to eat.
I often use three servings of meat to make four servings of dinner. Usually my husband has a serving and I have a good portion of one. The next night I will use the third serving along with my smaller portion to make another meal. Well on this night I was using just my left over portion because we had only cooked two servings the night before. So to me it would be a vegetarian-ish dish. As it would have way more veggies than meat.
So here is my “recipe”
Asparagus, beans, rice, and chicken
—1 tablespoon olive oil
—1/2 of an onion, chopped
—asparagus (2.25 pounds) chopped
—2 teaspoons minced garlic
—1 3/4 cup cooked rice
—2 tablespoons of butter
—3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
—1 15 1/2-ounce can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
—3/4th of a LARGE chicken breast, cooked and chopped
—Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
—Garlic Salt, to taste
Heat the olive oil and the chopped onion. Add the asparagus. Cook only slightly (because the rice takes a while to heat up). Sprinkle garlic over asparagus. Stirring it and allowing it to cook. Add the rice breaking it up and letting it get soft. Use the butter to help the rice get moist (might need to use a bit of liquid too). And the cumin. When the rice is soft, add the can of garbanzo beans. Then add the chopped up chicken. Add pepper and garlic salt to taste.
Since asparagus doesn’t take that long to cook and everything else is ok to eat as is, it is really the rice that needs the most amount of time. If you are using freshly cooked rice then this would take minutes. As a note the chicken I used had been seasoned when cooked the night before so that is something to keep in mind when flavoring your dish.
For me it is the beans and the cumin that is “new”. I have done dishes like this before using other meat. I think this would also be good with left over pork.
I was thinking of the Red Beans and Rice recipe when I did this, using the beans and the cumin.
We liked it. What do you think? Sound easy? Sound like something you would like?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: Asparagus, chicken, chickpeas, cooking dinner, cumin, Garbanzo beans, Nia class, olive oil. left overs, Red Beans and Rice, Thursday night Nia class, vegetarian dish | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 15, 2013
For two weeks we didn’t have a working stove or oven. The oven started beeping one night. We turned off the circuit breaker and it stopped beeping. I used it the following night. But then the day following that it started beeping again. It beeped and displayed a code. The code indicated a part was broken. My husband concluded via internet research and taking the control panel off the appliance that he could order it and replace it himself. Part of the reason it took two weeks to get fixed was that there was a holiday and a weekend in there. The part being shipped was delayed because of the Holiday. By the time we got the part and he was able to put it in, it was the weekend. The part didn’t clear the error. Then there were issues in securing a repairman. For those of you that know how much I love my roasted vegetables you might understand having no oven was really difficult for me. Roasted veggies are not only yummy, but so easy to make. A few minutes prep then in the oven until they are done leaving you time to do other things. That is why I love my oven. During the two weeks we ate take out. We ordered Chinese Food, which for us equates to a few nights of Chinese Food. I also used my toaster oven, my electric skillet, my crock pot, and my Cuisinart Grill. So it was not as if I had no way to cook, it just put a cramp in my cooking a bit. On the nights I have a Nia class I like to put our dinner in the oven and have it turn on about the time that class is over. 
By the time I get home whatever is cooking is either done or on its way to being done. Without that I had to come home and start cooking. But alas I have a stove and oven again. YAY! I missed them. While I was not being able to use my stove and oven I tortured myself by looking at a cooking magazine. As soon as my stove was fixed I decided to try a new recipe.
The recipe is from Bobby Deen. I got it out of the Food Network Magazine. The name of the recipe is Monday-Night Red Beans and Rice and is on the Food Network website.
Not your typical Red Beans and Rice recipe. I made some adjustments, of course! I am posting it here as I did made it. I am calling it something different too!
Sausage, Beans, and Rice
Ingredients:
—Three turns of the pan Olive oil
—3/4 medium onion, finely chopped
—8 turkey sausage patties
—1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
—2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
—1 15 1/2-ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
—1 15 1/2-ounce can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
—1/2 cup chicken broth
—1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
—1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
—1 bay leaf
—Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
—Salt, to taste
—Cooked brown rice
—Chopped scallions, for serving
Directions
Cook the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, chopping it up and separating it as it cooks. Stirring it and moving it around as necessary. Cook until almost cooked through. Add the garlic. Mix the garlic into the onions and meat. Cook for about 1 minute. Add the beans, chicken broth, cumin, thyme, bay leaf, green pepper, salt to taste, and pepper to taste. Stir the ingredients until it is all mixed well. Reduce heat and cover. Let cook about 10 minutes.
Serve the mixture over rice. Top with the scallions.
This was so good. I used my beloved 14 inch pan that I missed for two whole weeks. Once the beans were added my stirring was gentle as I didn’t want to end up with smashed beans, but I also wanted to make sure the spices were distributed and the bay leaf touched a lot of the ingredients. So I stirred a lot, but not vigorously.
My typical spices consist of garlic and onions. I didn’t even have cumin. I had to buy it with the sausage and onion. Yeah, I was out of onion. I have a stock of kidney beans and garbanzo bean. I have them both for the bean salad I like. Plus I love to roast the garbanzos.
I actually DID put pepper in this while I was cooking it. For those of you that know me (either in person or through my blog) you know I don’t like pepper/spicy hot, but the pepper my friend gave me (SMOKED PEPPER) I can handle a little bit of. So I put a little in the pan while I was cooking. When I served it to my husband I put a lot of pepper on his. While he was eating it he kept saying he was surprised I could eat it. He thought it was too hot for me. I had him taste mine . . . . which had NO extra pepper and he said the flavor was a little different. So maybe the pepper brings out a different flavor.
Either way, we both loved it and I can see this becoming one of those meals I cook often. I can see experiments with different sausages and no meat at all.
I can also see me cooking more with cumin.
Do you like red kidney beans? Do you like garbanzo beans? Doesn’t this sound tasty?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: and Rice, bay leaf, beans, Bobby Deen, chickpeas, Cuisinart Grill, cumin, electric skillet, Food Network Magazine, Food Network website, Garbanzo beans, Monday-Night Red Beans and Rice, my crockpot, Nia, Nia class, olive oil, Red Beans and Rice, red kidney beans, roasted vegetables, Sausage, thyme | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 13, 2012
After subbing with Nia for a Zumba class today, I made a quick stop at the Farmers Market in our corner of San Jose. I wanted to buy some greens and remembered I could get some pita bread for my hummus. I finally made hummus with my new blender. I pretty much followed the hummus recipe I have and I like, but I think I put six teaspoons of the “bean juice” because I was thinking more liquid would make it a little creamier. I enjoy the creaminess of a specific brand that we used to buy. As I mentioned in my blender post the last few times I made hummus I ended up with whole-bean hummus which isn’t hummus at all, it is just garbanzo beans. So I was thinking that with a super blender it would make creamier hummus. Well, it is not creamier. So the creaminess is not just from blending. And there were still a few bean pieces, but not whole beans as in my last batch and not as many. This batch was also not as grainy, in general, as the last batch. I like making hummus in this blender as opposed to the other blenders or small chopper I have because it is easier to get it out. I have been told the best way to do it is in a food processor, but I don’t have one of those. And I think I have enough appliances at the moment, I will make do with my new super blender.
I made hummus for my niece once and I was talking about how I wanted it creamier so she jumped on the internet and found a website where a woman claimed that the secret to creamy hummus was taking of the HULLS or whatever that “shell” is on the bean. Do you know what I am talking about? That odd ectoskeleton that the beans seem to have? Well, my thought process is that the hull of the bean is part of what give the bean its fiber so I don’t want to remove it. That and, who wants to sit there and pull, pick, peel, or just make sure that the hull is off all the beans? Not me. I want the fiber AND that is one thing I am not willing to spend time on. The “uncreamy” hummus is not THAT bad. I think I will experiment with more liquid. More oil maybe? Or maybe more been juice? Maybe that will help it been more creamy. I don’t want it more watery, I want it more CREAMY. But it was a good batch.
I think the WildSide container that came with the blender allows for a lot of air to be whipped into the blends. I believe that is how this blender does not require a tamper as some blenders do. But it does whip air into things. I think it whipped a bit of air into the hummus, which is fine. Made it a little light and fluffy.
So I have been using my blender and I have been using for what I wanted it for. I use it almost everyday for smoothies and today, I used it for hummus. I am satisfied with the way it made the hummus. I am a little disappointed that it is not as creamy as I was hoping, but I have learned (I believe) that the secret to creamy hummus must be in the ingredients. If it truly is the peeling of the hulls then creamy hummus will not come out of my kitchen. Ha! Well, I guess one day I could experiment to see if that really does make a difference, but it will not become the norm. I don’t need creamy hummus that badly, my new blender does it just fine!
Besides buying it, what is the key to creamy hummus?
Posted in Food | Tagged: creamy hummus, Garbanzo beans, hummus, Nia class, Nia San Jose, San Jose Farmer's market, San Jose Nia, smoothies, substitute instructor, super blender, Zumba | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 14, 2012
I recently tried my hand at making hummus. I have made it a few times and I keep adjusting the recipe. The first time it seemed a bit too bitter and sour so I decided the next time I would put in less tahini and lemon. So I put in less tahini, lemon, and salt and I put in a lot of raw garlic. Woooeeeee! That made it kind of spicy and really strong. Our refrigerator smelled of such strong garlic. I was thinking that if I cooked the garlic before putting it in the hummus it would make it more mellow. I was making it in a kitchen other than my own and I forgot my garlic press so I really felt I needed to cook the garlic before putting it in. This third batch was the best so far. In addition to the sauteed garlic I was able to use a food processor. The food processor really made a big difference. The time before when I used my blender there were many whole beans left. The blender does not get the beans as well as the food processor. But I do believe the key ingredient is the tahini. Despite the fact that it really bitter it has the flavor that makes hummus taste like hummus to me.
Tahini is ground sesame seeds. The jar states this tahini is made of roasted then ground sesame seeds. I am not usually a fan of sesame seeds. If given a choice I would not eat them, but I do believe they are an important ingredient in hummus. As I said, I think tahini is the ingredient that gives the hummus that familiar-to-me flavor.
I also think the tahini is the main reason why hummus is a bit high in fat. The beans themselves have fat, garbanzo beans have 2 grams of fat per half of a cup. The tahini has 19 grams of fat per 2 tablespoons. That is a lot of fat. There is a lot of protein in both the beans and the tahini. The beans have 7 grams per 1/2 cup and the tahini has 6 grams of protein per 2 tablespoons. Hummus is a great source of protein.
There is hardly any sodium in the tahini which I think is a good thing because it allows for control of the sodium content in the hummus. The first batch I made seemed very salty to me so I was able to adjust it with each successive batch.
The marketing on the jar of tahini states that it is a good source of iron and calcium, but it is only 4% of the recommended daily value. Combined with the beans I think hummus is a good source of iron, but I don’t feel it is high in calcium.
I like to eat hummus as a dip. I dip veggies in it. I also like to eat it with pita bread or even corn chips. I also like to use it as a mayonnaise replacement. I put it on sandwiches instead of using mayo. It helps to add a bit of protein and fiber to a sandwich. Also having the hummus with the tahini in it really adds an additional layer of flavor to a sandwich. I really think that the tahini is the key to a flavorful hummus.
Are you familiar with tahini? Do you make your hummus with or without tahini?
Posted in Food | Tagged: bitter, chickpeas, flavor, Garbanzo beans, garlic, hummus, Recipe, sesame, tahini | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 15, 2012
You know I started this blog to share things with you. I wanted to share about Nia, exercises, things I think are healthy, and stuff I learn. I don’t think I had thought about posting recipes, but I probably didn’t think I would limit myself from doing so. It is funny that food posts get the most views and even more fun spark the most conversations. (I love the bloggey conversations.) We love our food, huh? It is universal. Everyone eats. Not everyone works out, not everyone dances, not everyone goes to exercise classes, and not everyone does Nia, but everyone eats. Even though we all eat different things it is still something that we all have in common.
As you might have noticed, when I try a new recipe, or just try making something I sometimes like to share. Even if the recipe still needs some adjustments I have to start somewhere. I like to post my recipes because I find myself using my blog when I am going to make something. I can even be at the store and get the idea that I want to make a certain recipe then I think, “Shoot I don’t know what it is in . . . . ahhhh, but I posted it on my blog!” So I use my blog at the store to grocery shop sometimes. Here is a recipe of something that I made that I need to work on.
I haven’t always liked hummus, but once I started eating it. I really liked it. There is a brand that my husband found that is really good. It is smooth and creamy. We used to eat it often. But it has Canola Oil in it. I prefer not to eat Canola oil. I have always wanted to make my own hummus so I thought not eating our favorite brand would inspire me. It did not. My issue was tahini. I don’t think of tahini. So when I go to the store I am not thinking, “Oh yeah, I need tahini.” I know you can make hummus without it. I believe my friend makes hummus all the time and she never used tahini. I haven’t tasted her hummus that I can remember so I don’t know if it is good without tahini or not.
The other day I was online and I actually bought tahini. I decided on wanted to finally make some hummus. There are a lot of recipes out there for hummus so I took some ideas from several of them. I need to work on it.
I used:
2 cups canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
3 teaspoons liquid from the beans
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon garlic flavored olive oil
I put everything in the blender and blended until smooth.
I prefer my hummus a little more smooth and actually creamy, but the blender was making odd noises so I didn’t want to push it too far.
First of all I think it is too salty. Next time I am going to use less salt and less tahini. I am also going to use less lemon juice. I am also going to use fresh garlic. I used some we have from a jar.
Not too bad for my first try, but not so great. But sometimes I just need to get in there and do it — make the recipe — so I can see it is easy to do so then I can play with it and make adjustments.
Do you like hummus? Do you make your own?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: Canola Oil, chickpeas, creamy hummus, dance exercise, dance exercise class, Garbanzo beans, garlic oil, healthy recipes, hummus, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia workout, olive oil, tahini | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 21, 2012
Well, I bought the kale on a whim after Nia one day. My intention was to make kale chips. I think I looked up the recipe. The one I found said to remove the stems, then rip the kale into bite sized pieces, then wash it and spin it dry in a salad spinner. That is as far as I got. I don’t remember the rest. It would have served me much better to keep reading and remember the directions. I don’t have a salad spinner so I thought I would wash the kale before hand and let it dry. I was thinking that it being dry was very important. I think I decided that garbanzo beans need to be dry. But instead of drying the garbanzo beans with a paper towel the other day I put them in the oven on a low temp without any oil, but with a little bit of salt. I let them “dry” that way. Then I put olive oil and seasonings on them and roasted them. They came out very well. So I thought I would do the same thing with the kale. But this time I thought I would use my convection setting. I really ought to “listen” to my nose when it tells me something is burning. YUP! I burned the whole tray of kale. My convection only goes on at 300 degrees and I guess I was thinking kale was much heartier than it actually is. Sigh.
But with that lesson under my belt and a half of bunch left, I put the remaining kale on the cookie sheet. I just pulled the leafy greens off the stem at the same time I ripped it into bite sized pieces. And I washed it first because I didn’t want to be handling the dirty (it was really dirty) kale.
I spayed the pan with olive oil, then set the ripped pieces of kale on the pan, then sprayed the kale with olive oil, then sprinkled garlic salt on it.
I didn’t use the convection part, but I kept the oven at 300, but only for ten minutes. Let me tell you, the kale cooks a lot slower with the convection off and oil on it. I think I cooked it a total of forty minutes — maybe it was 30? I did turn the oven down to 200 after the first ten minutes. I can’t sit there and watch stuff cook so I thought 200 would be ok, and kept checking it. I think the last 10 minutes I turned the oven off. I think it is the type of thing that I will have to cook in ten minute intervals and check on.
It was ok. It taste like roasted lettuce to me. I don’t think it deserves the rave reviews that I have heard from people. And by no means can it beat a potato chip (as so many have claimed), but it is ok. It is a way to get some greens in. It is not too hard to make. It is a great thing to snack on. And I think my husband REALLY liked them. He kept reaching for them. Anytime he reaches for something over and over again, I know it is a hit! So I will be making them again. I probably will pay as much attention to cooking them as I did this time. I should have paid more attention because I knew I was going to post about it. But I didn’t. After I burned the first batch I was kind up grumpy at myself. The funny thing is, I burned the first batch because I was so excited to write my kale post. So I set the time more based on how long it would take me to finish up and post my article then how long it would take to dry the kale.
So have you made kale chips? Have you tried them?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Garbanzo beans, Kale chips, leafy greens, Nia, potato chips, roasted garbanzo beans, vegan snack | 9 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 18, 2010
I posted a recipe for bean salad. I have made the bean salad about three times since I posted it (including that post). One time I used red onion and green peppers. I like both red onion and green peppers but it just wasn’t the same. It lacked the POP. It made it more like the other bean salads I have had. The first time I made it I checked the labels on the cans of beans and decided on the ones with the least sodium. The second time I went to the same store so I didn’t have to check the labels. The third time I was at a different store with different brands and so I had to check the labels again.
I wasn’t thinking about posting about the sodium when I was in the store so I didn’t get the information off of those brands. I went to the internet to get some of the sodium information. For the red kidney beans I found three different amounts in 1/2 cup. One brand has 340 mg, another has 436 mg, and another touted as 50% lower sodium came in at 220 mg. Don’t get me wrong, I love salt, but I would rather add it myself.
As you can see I got lucky because the brand I bought only has 100 mg per 1/2 cup.
For the garbanzo beans I found that 1/2 cup has 380 mg for one brand, another brand has 500 mg, and another as 460 mg.
The brand I bought of the garbanzo beans only has 100 mg per 1/2 cup, also. Right on!
The point I am trying to get across is that canned beans seem to have a lot of sodium in them so check your cans. Find the ones with the lowest sodium so you don’t turn a healthy dish into something not so healthy.
Posted in Food | Tagged: bean salad, canned beans, Garbanzo beans, mgs of sodium, red kidney beans, sodium. cans | Leave a Comment »
