Getting My Hummus On ... Black Bean Avocado Hummus

Since I had good like with a white bean avocado hummus, I thought why not try my hand at black bean!  Well of course I couldn't do the simple way (but don't worry it does work with canned if you want).  I hit up my bulk section at Winco for some dried black beans.

First on my mission was to make my dry beans into beans ready to use. I found on Pea's and Crayon's a way to make Crockpot Black Beans. Which is simple and easy ... JUST remember the beans will expand so don't over fill your crockpot like I did with the dried beans. YUP had to do an emergency transfer to my smaller crockpot to give some room for the beans to expand.  (YUP I'm human and I will share my human / Blonde moments).

First I did the black beans (you can skip this step and just do canned if you would like).

step 1  grab a bag of black beans - rinse with water and pluck out any broken ones
step 2  pour into crock pot
step 3  fill with water to about 2 inches above the beans
step 4  turn on to HIGH and set a timer for 3.5 hours

Come back drain the liquid, use the beans then or freeze them!  I did a combo of both.  I made a HUGE batch of hummus (since I eat it every day), some for dinner (Chicken Chili, recipe to come) and then put the rest in the freezer for future recipes!

Now onto the hummus, I found this recipe on Intuitive Cooking for Black Bean Avocado Hummus.

Ingredients:
-One 15 oz. can of black beans (drain most of the liquid)
-3-6 cloves of garlic (to taste- how much do you like garlic?)
-1/2 an avocado or one small avocado
-small handful of cilantro (or to taste)
-lime juice (1/2 lime)
-1 tsp of each of the following: cumin, paprika, seasoned salt
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-1/4 cup of olive oil

Steps:
-Throw all of your ingredients (minus the oil) into the food processor
-Begin blending the ingredients; while blending, slowly add your olive oil to the mix
-While you are blending your ingredients, stop and take a taste: is it smooth enough? spiced enough? If it's too thick and not creamy enough, add small amounts of olive oil while you blend until it is the right texture (more lime juice can help thin it out too)

ALEXIS NOTES: I used my crockpot beans instead of canned.  I used my Ninja to blend up all the ingredients.  I also added some tahini since I keep seeing most hummus recipes having it.  I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it, but it was darn expensive so I will have to use it up ... lol.

Give it a try, I promise you won't buy store bought again!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Getting My Hummus On ... Avocado Hummus

I've been working on ways to get my veggies in and not wanting to dip them in ranch or something too bad for me.  I saw a friend post Humus she bought and being who I am I of course had to take my hand at making it.  I posted one on FB that was just a regular hummus and a friend commented on one she makes with Avocado.  I thought that sounded real yummy!  So I went with a Avocado Hummus on Family Spice.  

A pretty simple recipe, She topped her's with tomatoes which I'm not a fan of so I skipped that part.

Ingredients:

• 15 oz cannellini beans, canned, drained
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup cilantro, fresh, loosely packed
• 3/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 TBS cilantro, fresh, chopped
• 1 TBS onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp lemon juice

Instructions:

        Purée until smooth in a food processor:

1. 15 oz cannellini beans, canned , drained
2. 1 avocado
3. 1/4 cup lime juice
4. 2 garlic cloves
5. 1/2 cup cilantro, fresh , loosely packed
6. 1/4 tsp salt
7. 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
8. While the food processor is still running, pour in slowly:
9. 1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
10. 1 TBS cilantro, fresh , chopped
11. 1 TBS onion , chopped
12. 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
13. 1/4 tsp lemon juice
14. 1/8 tsp salt

Spread hummus into a shallow serving bowl. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

ALEXIS NOTES: She used tomatoes with the onions, cilantro, lemon and salt as something she added on top.  I added (minus the tomatoes) into the my food processor I liked the taste it all mixed in. I also squeezed 1/2 a lime in.

Give it a try, I promise you won't buy store bought again!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Manic Monday Meals ~ Last Minute Party Treats

I love baking as you all know by now but sadly I don't get out very often to go to a party. So of course when I found out about a New Years Eve party I was all about making something new and fun! I made 3 (I know I can't help it) so of course I was running around like a nut and even ended up being late to the party. Which of course let to my best friend getting worried and calling my mom to see if I was there. HEHE of course that meant that mom called me and gave me the mom talk about driving when it is cold and icy out ... Thanks Tarra at 34 I got my new years lecture ... lol. Thanks mom the roads were super clear.

You must head over to see Jami and say hi she gave me the first two recipes!

First off was supper easy!

Pretzel Treats

Bag of "O" shaped pretzels (squares work OK if you're in a pinch.)
2 small bags of Hershey's Hugs (or a big one if you can find one)
Bag of Christmas Colored M&Ms

1)Have one of your kids unwrap all the Hugs. Good luck keeping them from eating them. :) Maybe you should buy three bags.

2)Place wax paper over a baking sheet and scatter "O"s on the wax paper.
(Eat the broken ones, because they are of no use to you in this recipe.)

3)Place one unwrapped HUG in the center of each "O".

Place this whole tray into the oven at about 250-300 degrees. DO NOT go above 300. I have found that if you do, the chocolate browns and hardens at the tips, making it very hard to smoosh down (that's totally not a word).

4) Place M&Ms in the centers of the Hugs and press them in so that the chocolate spreads out to fill the pretzel. If you are careful, you can keep the stripes intact. They look really cute!

5) Place tray in freezer (or put them out on your patio table) for about 5 minutes. It doesn't take long till they are firm enough to remove from the tray.

ALEXIS NOTES: I looked and looked but only could find these square pretzels. I used both Peppermint kisses and the Chocolate kind. I used coconut m&m's with the chocolate and no m&m's for the peppermint.

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Candy Cane Brownie Bites

1 brownie mix and ingredients
24 peppermint kisses (or another flavor)
chocolate coating for dipping
crushed candy canes

1) Make Brownie Mix as the box directs.

2) Bake and cool

3) Smoosh (we've all agreed that this is now a word) brownie around kiss.

4) Place in the freezer until firm

5) Melt the chocolate in the micowave (DON'T OVER HEAT ... SEE pic below what will happen)

6) Add a little bit of shortening to thin the chocolate out. Drop the bites in the chocolate and roll them around a bit. Remove from the choc and place on wax paper until the choc sets up. It will set up super fast because the bites are frozen, so if you are going to sprinkle, do it quickly.

7) Sprinkle with the crushed candy canes.

ALEXIS NOTES: I usually would use the brownie mix I buy in the bulk section but was out this time. I would suggest you don't let the brownies completely cool, it is easier if they are warmer. Watch your chocolate (or it will look like the pic below).

This is what burnt chocolate looks like!

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Spicy Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Hummus

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 (4 ounce) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• Directions

  1. Place the garbanzo beans, feta cheese, drained red peppers, lemon juice, parsley, cayenne pepper, and salt in the bowl of a food processor; blend until smooth.

ALEXIS NOTES: I doubled it, I REALLY need to stop doing this I always make too much ... lol. I did add a little olive oil to help my mixer but maybe shouldn't have it made it a little thiner. Overall a good dish but just made too much :).

Happy Monday!! Hope you have a party you can make one of these or all for!!!

Thanksgiving Ideas (Recipes)

Well here we are the 3rd week I'm preempting my Wednesday Weekend Wrap. I thought some more recipes for the Thanksgiving day holiday would help.

I made these cute little turkey's to take them for Cole's school Thanksgiving Day Party. Only bad thing is after I spent 2 hours making these suckers and a trip to the grocery story for a second time I find we have no school for this lovely snow!

Turkey Rice Crispy Treats

Found on The Finer Things in Life

• 1/4 cup butter
• package of marshmallows
• 6 cups crispy rice cereal
• chocolate sandwich cookies
• chocolate frosting
• candy corn

Melt the butter. Add marshmallows and stir. Heat until marshmallows are melted. Stir in cereal. Let cool for 10 minutes.

While the mixture is cooling, twist apart sandwich cookies. Remove white filling.

Butter your hands and shape the gooey cereal into 1 1/2 inch balls.

Frost the inside of the cookie halves. Press candy corn into the frosting in a fan shape (for 1/2 of the halves).

Press a cereal ball into the frosting below the candy corn.

Stick the remaining cookie half to the bottom of the cereal ball.

ALEXIS NOTES: I stuck a little extra frosting on the bottom to keep the bodies together.

I started on a few things for my Thanksgiving Dinner. I have 2 cold easy dishes you can do ahead of time.

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Dip

by Kitchen Simplicity

• 1 (250g/8oz) package spreadable cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup pumpkin pie filling
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup sour cream

1. Cream together cream cheese and pie filling until smooth. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and sour cream. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.
2. Serve with graham crackers, ginger snaps, cinnamon cookies or fruit such as apples and pears.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and light sour cream.

And my second cold dish is for us humus lovers. Yes you can make it at home, just as yummy and a LOT cheaper!

Extra Easy Hummus

by allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor combine garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin, salt and olive oil. Blend on low speed, gradually adding reserved bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used Chick Peas (which are garbanzo beans). I doubled the recipe :)