I had baby O!  He’s a healthy, hungry and happy little guy who made his debut into this world with wide eyes open and a full head of Show Hair.

show hair don’t care

We are all adjusting to life as a family of four with a new baby, but there are three things I’d forgotten about having a newborn… 1. I am unsure how adding a tiny 7 lb person to your life doubles your laundry and trash output, but it does.  2. In any moment of any given day my husband and I have been pooped on, barfed on and peed on, sometimes all three at once.  Though incidents such as these would have sent me screaming for the shower just a few short years ago, now it’s like “meh, it’s not that much barf, I think I can weather this shirt for the rest of the day”.  3. Mommy-brain is something real.  Do you know that when you are pregnant your brain actually shrinks?  I must admit, it had been so long since I’ve signed into my blog that I forgot how.  I. FORGOT. HOW.

Anyway, back to food, (if you so dare after reading the above #2).  This recipe makes the BEST HUMMUS EVER.  I am super dooper picky about hummus because, well, I think beans are gross.  In fact, I wouldn’t even touch hummus until a few years ago.  I had previously only tried store-bought, gritty, grainy, gross hummus. Then I met The Professor and he introduced me to all sorts of new (to me) ethnic foods and we found two restaurants (yes, only TWO) in the surrounding Nashville area that made a smooth, non-gritty hummus.  Really good hummus with just a hint of lemon and “barely there” garlic, and I loved it!  I tried to make hummus at home using canned chickpeas and felt it came pretty close to the smooth restaurant finds.  Dried chickpeas with an overnight soak, however, is even better and it yields the creamiest, most silkenly-smooth hummus ever.

You do have to plan a day ahead; the prep work is easy enough, and as I above mentioned, the dried chickpeas require an overnight soak.  The following day you’ll need an hour or so for boiling the beans and then another 20 or so for whizzing and adding flare.  By “flare” I mean, a sprinkle of chopped parsley, maybe some sliced hard boiled eggs, or my favorite, spiced ground meat.  Have you ever tasted something as lovely as warm hummus with meat in it?  Hummus just became a meal.  Now that I’ve had warm hummus with meat in it, plain old cold hummus will no longer do.  Sorry-not-sorry vegetarians, but your last option for eating hummus at my party just had meat swirled into it.

bonus points if you make your own pita bread, too

In my sales job I come across all sorts of people.  ALL SORTS.  Writing up this recipe made me think of one fella in particular.  One that (I am not joking or exaggerating) eats a tub of the store bought hummus (with extra chopped garlic on top, you know the brand) for lunch every day.  I sat on a committee with him once where we lunched through our once-a-month, monthly meetings.  I joked with him at the second meeting held and said,  “hummus day again today?”  His deadpan response: “Not today but EVERY day”.  Fair warning: chickpeas make you super gassy and that the longer the hummus sets after being made, the more potent and plentiful your gas becomes.  Do you know what the shelf life is of mass produced, store bought hummus?  Just sayin’… you’ve been warned.

Hummus
(from Milk Street Magazine May-June 2017)
Ingredients:

• 8 cups +10 cups cold water, divided
• 227 grams dried chickpeas (about 1 1/4 cup)
• 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup tahini, room temperature (pro tip – store it upside down for easier stirring later)
• 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped curly fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

Make it

1. Combine 8 cups cold water, 2 tablespoons salt and dried chickpeas in a large bowl.  Let soak overnight or for at least 12 hours.
2. Fill a large stock pot with remaining 10 cups cold water and baking soda.  Bring to a boil.
3. Boil the chickpeas for 50 minutes, or until they are very tender and the skins are falling off.
4. Reserve 3/4 cup of the cooking water before draining the chickpeas.
5. Drain chickpeas and let sit in colander for a minute or two to drain off all the water.
6. Set a small handful of chickpeas aside for garnish.
7. Transfer remaining chickpeas to a food processor or blender and blend with remaining 1 teaspoon of salt for at least 3 minutes.
8. After processing for 3 minutes, stop processing and add the tahini.  Process again until the hummus has turned very smooth,  about 2 minutes longer.  Scrape down the sides with a spatula.
9. Turn the machine on again and drizzle the 3/4 cup of reserved cooking liquid into the hummus along with the lemon juice.  Let processor run until desired smoothness is achieved.
10. Taste and add salt if necessary.
11. Garnish with reserved whole chickpeas, chopped parsley and paprika.

Put some spicy meat on it (Kawarma)

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb ground beef or bison
• 1 teaspoons paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 grated on a microplane garlic cloves
• 3/4 cup water, divided
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Make it:

1. Using a medium bowl, mix together beef, paprika, salt, cinnamon, cumin, oregano, cayenne, garlic and only 2 tablespoons of water.  Use your hands to mix the meat and spices together.
2. Add the beef mixture along with onion and olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Let cook about 6-8 minutes, until the onion is soft and the meat is no longer pink.  Take care to break up the meat as finely as possible.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and cook about 30 seconds.
4. Add the rest of the water and cook until the water has evaporated and meat begins to sizzle, around 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and parsley.  Spoon over top of hummus and garnish with a sprinkle of parsley.