Chickpea + Avocado Hummus

The addition of avocado is a fun twist for a simple, quick homemade hummus. I got the recipe from Joy the Baker, whose baked goods are AMAZING along with everything else on her blog.

I ate most of the hummus with pita chips and fresh veggies, like the snap peas from my garden, but I also made a really good pita sandwich with chicken (with lettuce that's also from my garden!). 

AVOCADO HUMMUS

1 can (15 oz) chickpeas

2 ripe avocados

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

 1 1/2 tbsp tahini

2 cloves garlic

salt & pepper

Blend everything in a food processor until as smooth as you like - I like it to stay a little bit chunky for texture but some people like a very smooth hummus. 

Sushi

I thought it would be good to do a basic sushi post. My cousin, Kara, took a sushi making class years ago. She taught my family how to make sushi and we've been hooked ever since. My 18th birthday party was a sushi making party. We even made some of my not so adventurous friends try the nori. I just learned that all sushi fish is flash frozen at sea so it's still raw but not in the way I always thought. I always imagined ocean, boat, then sushi. 

I just had my parents over for dinner last week since they were coming up anyways to pick up the monkey. She shadowed me (and was super bored) but I like to think that I made up for it with awesome food. I made my miso soup (in the archives) and we had some appetizers from the Korean grocery store. Octopus, etc.

I get my fish fresh from Whole Foods. It is technically sushi grade but the fish people aren't allowed to condone making sushi. But I trust them. Also YOLO. There are no quantities included because it really depends on how many people you're serving and how much those people can eat. In the case of my family, we eat A LOT. Also sushi is meant to be eaten right away. Leftovers aren't as good but definitely edible.

You're going to need:

For the rice:
Sushi rice (short grain white rice)
Rice wine vinegar
Sea salt
White sugar

Nori sheets

Veggies + misc:
Carrots (I love the multicolored ones)
Cucumber
Avocados
Cream cheese (for Philadelphia rolls, duh)
Black sesame seeds (to be fancy)

For the seafood:
Imitation crab
Salmon filet
Tuna steak
Shrimp

Dippings + sides:
Wasabi
Soy sauce
Pickled ginger

Supplies-wise:
Bamboo sushi mats (found at Asian grocery store)
Plastic wrap

Ok to start wrap the plastic wrap around the bamboo mats to decrease the mess.

Then cook the rice. I cooked about 2 1/4 cups sushi to make enough rolls for 7 people. 1 cup uncooked rice makes 3 rolls.
Rinse the rice under running water until the water runs clear. Cook in a rice cooker or according to directions. So for 3 cups uncooked rice, you will need 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar, 2 tbsp white sugar, and 2 tsp sea salt. So I decreased each a bit since I had less rice.  My cousin just used rice wine vinegar, so you can do that too. Once the rice is cooked stir about half the vinegar mixture in with chopsticks or a wooden spoon in a ceramic bowl. Metal reacts with the acid so avoid metal utensils for the sushi. Then taste the rice and add more seasoning as needed. I like a lot of seasoning. Let rice cool at room temperature until it is easy to handle.
Source for rice instructions: Make My Sushi

Chop the vegetables and fish while the rice is cooking and cooling. I like to set them out on separate plates so it's easier for people to grab what they want.

Fill a bowl with warm water. Place a nori sheet on the mat. There will be subtle lines on the nori and you want them vertical on your mat. Then wet your hands and grab some rice (maybe a couple tablespoons) and press pretty firmly all over nori leaving a small strip at the top edge empty. Make sure not to use too much rice unless you want huge sushi rolls. A thin layer is enough. Rewet hands as necessary. Then line the fillings evenly one inch up from the bottom of the nori sheet. Roll from the bottom up pressing the roll into itself firmly as you roll. So roll, press, roll, press. This is how you get a nice looking roll!

Some favorites are:
Salmon, cream cheese, cucumber
Tuna, avocado, carrot
Carrot, cucumber, avocado
Tuna, salmon, cucumber
Imitation crab, cucumber, carrot

Then to slice the rolls, wet a large and sharp knife and slice in a quick downward motion. You may have to clean the knife as you go along. It helps to have one person be in charge of slicing. If it's your first time it may take a couple tries to get the rhythm down. It's easy though, I promise.

Eat right away with some wasabi swirled into soy or tamari sauce. You can also sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the sushi!

2 Salads: Lime/Shrimp/Avocado & Blood Orange/Sweet Potato/Kale

I am just about ready to kidnap Michelle & baby and fly to Ecuador and stay in airbnb places and Alandaluz, a beach ecoresort. (Michelle, look.) Brittany, you can change your flight back from Mexico and come join us. I just think that I shouldn't have to be around snow right now. See:

Instead, I will make bright, pretty salads.

Lime/Shrimp/Avocado Salad

Adapted from Skinny Taste

1 lb cooked shrimp, peeled & deveined, rough chopped (I sautéed mine in olive oil)

1 avocado, cubed

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

2 limes, juiced

salt & pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

Toss the onion, lime juice, olive oil and salt & pepper in a small bowl. Let that sit for about five minutes to mellow out the onion. Combine with pepper, jalapeno, avocado and shrimp. Add pomegranate seeds if they're laying around from something you made yesterday. Serve.

Note: You can add cilantro if you want. I like cilantro, and I bought some for this salad but it smelled really bad when I opened it so I tossed it. It's so good without the cilantro that I won't use it when I make this again.

Blood Orange/Sweet Potato/Kale

Slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 sweet potato, rough chopped

1 tbsp maple syrup

3 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

6 cups salad greens (I used chopped dino kale)

2 blood oranges, chopped or sliced sideways

1/4 cup pomegranate arils

4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

2 blood oranges, juiced

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper

1/3 cup olive oil

Roast the sweet potato in the oven at 400 in the maple syrup, oil, salt, pepper and paprika. Roast for about 20 minutes or until a little soft. Let cool.

Mix the greens with the sweet potatoes, orange pieces, pomegranate arils and feta cheese. Combine the orange juice, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour in the olive oil while whisking. Pour as much as you want to use into the greens and save the rest in the fridge for other salads. Serve.

Super Easy Pasta with Avocado Sauce

Hi all.  I finished my first week of work!  I FINALLY got a nanny job.  As part of a nanny share, I'm responsible for taking care of 2 tiny babies (one 3 month old and one 7 month old) and the 7 month old's big sister after kindergarten.  I'm starting out with just the 3 month old for a couple weeks as her mom returns from maternity leave and will transition to having all babies in a couple weeks!  It's so nice to finally be working.  As Michelle knows, too much free time is not my friend.  Speaking of Michelle:

Puppy Selfie

Sleepy Pup

I've been cooking a lot lately and need to catch up on blogging recipes.  Honestly, my favorite thing I've made in a long time was Sesame Peanut Noodles with Beets!  So good.  I had been craving peanut sauce for a while and finally purchased farmers' market beets and was gifted honey, paving the way for this deliciously one point sauce.  


So I guess since this blog requires more than just puppy pictures and updates on my life, let's talk about Pasta with Avocado Sauce. This was a pinterest find, as many of my recipes are lately.  I really didn't alter it from what Damn Delicious came up with.  This was fast and easy, and unlike most my recipes, I didn't have to chop vegetables forever.  It made a bunch, but I have a feeling the avocado will make it brown.  Let me know if you think of any ways to improve or add on!

Avocado with Pasta Sauce

Adapted from Damn Delicious

"Fiesta Bean Salad"

Like I mentioned in a previous post, Vince and I have been trying to budget, including packing lunches.  I made this salad for the first time within my first couple weeks living together.  I've found the key to packing lunches is packing food you actually want to eat.  Many a time at my old job, my packed lunch would get pushed further back in the fridge as my coworkers' ideas for takeout sounded more enticing. Vin mentioned different salads sounding good and I thought of a recipe of Jackie's from college.  I couldn't track that down, but as always I found my way on Pinterest.  I get the feeling Vince's coworkers were a little impressed to see Vince actually bringing lunch, rather than going out for lunch every day as he was before.  They were also impressed with my over-doing the garlic, with the smell of garlic filling the room whenever Vince opened his container at lunchtime.  Though he loves garlic, I've since cut back for the sake of our containers and Vin not getting sick of the salad.  The original recipe recommends to eat it right away, but it's fine through the week, though the avocado gets soft.  I think maybe next time I'll add some black pepper.

Avocado & Steak Salad with Balsamic Basil Dressing

Today I went to the first First Friday at the Frick concert of 2014 with my sister, mom and grandparents. My family's been going since I was in elementary school, and I've tried to go at least once every summer. So many more people go now! The whole Frick property is packed with people and their crazy fancy picnics. The headliner concert of the Three Rivers Arts Festival was the same night, and the place was still packed.

Guacamole

Mexican food! We've been eating lots of it in California and surprisingly in Manila. Currently we're at the airport waiting to head out to Saigon.

As soon as we got to Manila we were exhausted, and therefore were perfect targets for the taxi drivers to rip us off. I have to say that was our only barely negative experience. I say that because we had no idea we were being overcharged by 1000% (not exaggerating) until today. So we were blissfully ignorant. Otherwise we've been perfectly happy. Everyone has been very kind to us and a lot of people here speak English which makes it easy. In fact, all of the signs are in English. I think the American occupation had a large impact on the country.

We rented an apartment in a high rise right near a park and overlooking the Manila Bay. Right by our apartment was Starbucks, Seven Eleven, McDonalds, etc. I couldn't believe the amount of chains around us but they're pretty popular here. We did our research and found some great Filipino food (also spaghetti is popular here) which is similar to Vietnamese cuisine. You can basically find whatever food (like cupcakes and Mexican food) you want here at any hour of the day since it is the 5th largest metropolitan area in the world. This also means traffic all the time.

Guacamole, at last!

3 ripe avocados
1/4 red onion
1 small tomato
1 lime
1 clove garlic
1 pinch cumin
1 jalapeño
1 small handful cilantro

Cut the avocados in half and scoop out the flesh using a spoon. Reserve one of the pits for storage (I once heard it helps keep the avocados from browning). Mash the avocados using a fork until they meet your desired consistency. Then juice the lime and add half the juice to the mashed avocados. Then dice the onion, tomato, garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro. Add to the avocado and season with more lime, salt, and pepper.

Avocado Cupcakes

There's this lady in Pittsburgh that makes vegan treats and sells them at various farmer's markets and fairs. At the I Made it Market before Christmas time, I tried one of her avocado cupcakes and it was phenomenol. I finally got around to making them myself. You can really taste the avocado in the cake part and the cupcakes turn out to be a really great pale green color. The avocado replaces the fat in this recipe which is pretty cool. I found this recipe off of epicurean vegan's blog. I did, however, substitute actual yogurt instead of soy yogurt so my version is not vegan.

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcakes:
1-1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
3/4 C almond milk
1/3 C plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
1/4 C Earth Balance margarine
1 C confectioner’s sugar
Coconut cream
Sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin with liners. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the food processor, puree the avocado.
Add the almond milk, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla; blend until smooth and creamy.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture with a whisk until there are very few lumps.

Divide the mixture among the muffin tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

To make the frosting, I did not measure anything but I combined the ingredients a little bit at a time until I liked the taste and consistency of it. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting! I actually like to wait until I'm ready to serve them and then just frost them right before.

Avocado Smoothie

My favorite drink in Vietnam is an avocado smoothie. My mom used to make these for me when I was little. This is a great way to use ripe avocados. They turn out to be such a pretty pale green color. This recipe is just  for 1 smoothie so feel free to double or triple it for multiple people (or just for yourself).

1 ripe avocado, seed removed and flesh scooped out
1 large spoonful of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup almond milk (more or less depending on how thick you want the smoothie)
1 squirt of agave nectar (or 1 spoonful of granulated sugar)
5 ice cubes

Place in a blender and blend until smooth. I put my smoothie in a mason jar so I could take it to work. Yum! Next time, I think I'll add some spinach for some more green color!