Hummus

I bought prepared hummus for years but never really liked it.  It was one of those foods that seemed fake to me and although there are plenty of prepared foods I eat, I always question how fresh they are, how nutritious.

Turns out (and I know because I timed it), that it takes a mere five minutes to make your own hummus, less than ten minutes (nine to be exact) to make it and wash all the prep dishes.  I'll edit this post after I go grocery shopping, but I estimate it cost less than $1.50 to make two cups worth using canned beans. Our local market sells a large container (but I forgot to see just how large, I'm guessing a cup) for $3.68, so for ten minutes of work, I save $2.18 and have fresh hummus, made to your own specifications.  When I start soaking and cooking the beans myself, there'll be a bigger monetary savings, and a bigger environmental saving - one less metal can floating through the recycling pool.

Traditionalists stuff hummus into pita pockets, but I love it on a dense whole wheat bread, with slices of tomato, red onion, and lettuce or sprouts.  I give it to Harry for lunch plain on bread as he's the kind of vegetarian that likes to avoid vegetables (so perhaps he's more of a carbosugovore as he tries to subsist on carbohydrates and simple sugars).

The Recipe (I didn't forget about it, I was just musing)

15 oz. can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)

3 T tahini

1/3 cup water

2 T lemon juice

1 T cumin

1 clove garlic

ground pepper (I did 20 turns on my pepper mill)

Place all ingredients in a blender.  Blend.  Use a spoon to scrape the sides and blend again. Stop when the hummus is as smooth as you like it. 

For the creative: try different spices - cilantro is great, you can't go wrong with parsley, or another clove of garlic for those who aren't speaking to coworkers right after lunch.  You may be able to trick your family's carbosugovore by sneaking in some grated carrots, celery, or bell pepper - these could also add a nice crunch.  Speaking of crunch, if you use a food processor instead of a blender, you'll get a crunchier hummus - use the blender if you like your hummus to have the store-bought consistency.  

Baked Tofu

Firm or Extra-Firm Tofu (not silken)

Any marinade you like

A secret ingredient

The secret to making great tofu is to press the water out of it.  Line a baking dish with four sheets of paper towel.  Take the block of tofu out of the container, rinse and place on the paper towel. Put four more sheets of paper towel on top of the tofu.  Place a plate or another baking dish on top of that.  Now, for the secret ingredient: high school textbooks, preferably World History and Biology, although any will do (if you don't have any high school students living in your house, college textbooks or any really heavy books should work just as well).  Leave 3 or so books on top of the pile of ingredients for 15 minutes or so.  This will press a lot of water out of the tofu.  

Remove the tofu from the pan.  Throw out the paper towels, ditch the water.  

Slice the tofu into slices (inch thick, give or take some thickness - it's up to you!).  

Now the fun starts, you can use any marinade you like, or make your own - try mixing things such as oil, vinegar, lemon juice - it's hard to make a mistake.  Place some marinade on the bottom of a baking dish, line up the tofu on top of it, and cover the tofu with more marinade.  Marinade for 15 minutes to all day.  Then bake the tofu for 15 minutes on each side at 350 degrees.  Voila!  

BTW, my goal is to stop using paper towels and use cotton towels instead to be less wasteful.

Chick Pea Patties

This is probably the #1 vegetarian recipe that I cook that everyone loves, be they a vegetarian or an omnivore (okay, my old friend Jeff, who's a self declared meat-and-meat kind of guy, may not go for it, but Shay loves it and he's the biggest meat lover in our family).  It's hard to know how many this will feed - but I think it will safely feed four normal eaters (I can't judge by my very, very hungry family of five (especially during cross-country season, there's no amount of food my three kids can't make short order of).  If your crew eats more modestly (most people do), these patties are excellent as leftovers and can be served either hot or cold. They can be tucked into a roll or between two slices of bread for a very powerful lunch (delicious with Dinosaur Schmearing Sauce - yes, there really is such a thing!). This recipe was adapted from Nava Atlas's excellent cookbook: Vegetariana.  It is not vegan, but I'm sure it can easily be adapted to a vegan diet by replacing the eggs with a vegan egg-substitute such as Ener-G Egg Replacer.  However, I haven't made it that way yet.  Once I do, I'll edit the recipe here.  

2 celery stalks

2 carrots

2 cloves of garlic

4 cups cooked or canned chick peas

4 eggs

1 cups of flour (I use spelt, but whole wheat would be good too), sometimes I replace 1/2 cup with corn meal for a crunchier patty.

2 t ground cumin

1 t dried thyme

1 t dried basil

1/2 t ground coriander

1/2 t ground mustard

olive oil for frying

Place chunks of carrots and celery and garlic in food processor and process until they're in small bits (if you don't have a food processor, just mince them).  Add chick peas and process until they're pretty well mashed (without a food processor, you can use a potato masher).  Add eggs, flour and spices.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a skillet.  Form the mixture into patties (any size you like is fine).  Fry the patties until they're golden brown on both sides.  Drain on paper towels.  I keep them warm in the oven until they're all cooked or we're ready to eat.