Lick the bowl...

I'm about to blog like a fool because I cooked so much today... I thought you should know about some hummus I made today:

Lick-the-Bowl-Clean Hummus

Yes, that's really what it's called!  ...and Jimmy really did lick the bowl clean!  Well, he didn't lick the bowl... and I may have put it in two small containers because I misjudged how much hummus was in the food processor... but he ate all of the hummus in the smaller container (I'm assuming because it was delicious!).  :-)  I remain amazed at the amount of onion that goes into this recipe.  The hummus even retains that onion burn as you eat it.  Or maybe it's the garlic.

I ran out of chickpeas *gasp*, so I substituted black beans instead.  I think chickpeas are still my favorite.  I didn't realize you could use various beans interchangeably.  You can! 

Oh Garbanzo!

I just realized that this is my 51st blog entry!  That means that I've actually blogged 50 times?!  That's a little insane.  Insane maybe, but it sure has been scrumptious. 

I was lucky enough to have another snow day today... I wasn't nearly as lazy as yesterday.  Played some wordfeud with my brother, got some work done that's due tomorrow, watched some Ellen, and even Jazzercised tonight!  I heart Jazzercise.  <3

Anyway, in the midst of all that I made some more hummus.  Here it is in the food processor:

Alissa's Green Olive Hummus (1st attempt!)

Now, I've decided that I'm not going to give you the recipe until I perfect it.  I basically added a bunch of stuff in there today just to see how it would turn out.  Pretty good, but it could be better.  Wouldn't you rather have a recipe that's perfected?  Yep, I thought so. 

I also made Turkey Tetrazzini tonight for dinner.  Mmmm... and I may have made this, too:

Garbanzo and Avocado Salad (WW recipe)

Wow.  Just wow.  Oh glorious garbanzo beans!  This was soooooooooo fabulous.  Jimmy and I ate the whole bowl of it between us and barely touched the tetrazzini!  Can you believe that?!  Awesome.  I will definitely make this again.  The bright side?  We have leftover tetrazzini... which I personally think is even better than fresh tetrazzini.  Yum!

*Side note: For some reason, all of the recipes that I get out of this one WW magazine that I have I cannot find links for the recipes.  I'll give you the gist of what's included in the salad... I eyeballed the amounts based on what I had available and the fact that I wasn't making this for a small army. 

You need: 
-1/2 c. grape tomatoes, halved
-2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-1 avocado, pitted and chopped
-1 small can of diced green chiles
-1/4 c. feta cheese
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 T. fresh lemon juice

Throw it all in a bowl, stir, and eat!  Easy!  If you plan to save some of it for a later date, add the avocado separately so it doesn't brown.  You'll have to add new avocado when next you eat... that is, if there's any left!

Here's hoping for 50 more blogs of delicious food!  Thanks for reading, readers... if you're out there... :-)

Chickpea Fail.

Okay, so I have to ask all of you a question... should roasted chickpeas taste the same as roasted pumpkin seeds? 

If you said yes, then great!  I have the recipe for you:  Roasted Chickpeas 

If you're normal like the rest of us (just kidding!), then you think they should taste a little different from each other.  Honest to goodness they tasted the SAME.  They even look similar in their pictures!  If I ever make these again, I will certainly not follow the cooking times given on the chickpea recipe.  It was waaaaay too long for my oven.  About halfway through cooking, I tasted them and they were much better then than they were when finished.  Ah well...

Can't win them all!  I still love chickpeas!!!  <3

Paper, Shallots, and Cast Iron. Curious?

Ah, Thursday.  Not quite yet Friday, but close enough.  It tastes sweet.  Weekend ahead looks good... especially with a dash of snow and a dollop of whoa-I've-been-married-for-a-year-on-Sunday!  :-)  Woot! 

Why is the traditional 1st anniversary gift paper?  Just curious.  I find it weird.  Granted, one could be very creative with how to give paper.  Hmm.

Regardless, we've decided to celebrate with a little getaway this weekend.  No paper for us!

<3

Anyway... I'm sure you're here because you want to see some pictures of food, right?  Right.  I thought so.  Here's what I concocted tonight:

I'm going to link you here.  Mainly because this is something like what I blogged about before and if you're at all interested in this, you may like my other messes in a pot.  :-)  Yep, mess in a pot.  We like.  Here's what it consists of:

Alissa's (Improved?) Taco Noodles
Leftover taco meat (whatever you got!)
1 pkg. wheat pasta (any kind of noodles)
Light alfredo sauce
Garlic salt
Chickpeas
Sliced mushrooms
1 Shallot
1 Clove of garlic
Parmesan cheese
Shredded mozzarella

Cook the noodles per instructions on the box/bag.  Add garlic salt to the noodles while they cook so they don't stick to the pot AND they taste amazing at the same time.  Drain the noodles.  Dump in a jar of light alfredo sauce.  Dump in leftover taco meat.  Drain and rinse chickpeas and add to mixture.  Chop up mushrooms, shallot, and a clove of garlic and add to mixture.  Stir!  Heat up so that everything is nice and warm.  Top with cheeses and serve!

Alissa's (Improved?) Taco Noodles

I suggest that they may be improved only because Jimmy said so.  He gave me a nice compliment and said that I took my Taco Noodles to a new level tonight.  :-)  You be the judge and let me know what you think! 

Side note:  I recently discovered shallots!

Other side note:  Below is a picture of my brand new cast iron skillet.  Now I just need to be brave enough to use it to broil my yummy salmon frittata recipe.  To be posted sometime soon (hopefully!) with pictures of my first broiling experience.  I'm scared!  For now, just oooooh and ahhhhh at my picture, please.  :-)

Ooooooh... ahhhhhh. 

Chili, again?!

Before I actually leave the house today... (I know, right?), I thought I'd blog about dinner last night.  It's really not all that impressive and I could have definitely done some things differently, but I totally experimented and made my own meal.  Here are a few pictures:

What?  Are you surprised that it again looks like chili?  You shouldn't be.  We like chili here.  It was actually a combination of Confetti Spaghetti, Turkey Tetrazzini, and several kinds of chili... and it sort of came out to be reminiscent of a casserole made by Hamburger Helper. 

Basically, it's ground turkey, onions, chili seasoning, tomato sauce, kidney beans, chickpeas (yay!), garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder mixed up, cooked, and served over whole wheat noodles.  Add mozzarella cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and some cilantro to garnish it.  The boys ate it!  Keep in mind, that may not be saying much about my cooking.  I'm pretty sure at this point that they'll eat anything. 

Boys playing "Portal"

The Chickpea Invasion...

I'm gonna need some good chickpea recipes.  Send them my way if you have some!  :-)  I think they might be my new favorite thing.  Quite by accident, mind you.  I don't even know what they really are... are they peas?  Beans?  Garbanzos?  Chicks?  They better not be ground up chicks.  Chickpeas.  Go.  Whatever they are, they're delicious.

Look what I made:


Yes, that is indeed White Chicken Chili... but it has chickpeas in it!  I may have accidentally opened a can of chickpeas instead of cannellini beans.  Then I proceeded to freak out about whether or not I should use the chickpeas in the chili or not... and then I tried one.  Yum! 

So, in went the can of chickpeas as well as the cannellini beans.  It made for some awesome chili.  fyi. 

Since then, I've been eating chickpeas in lettuce wraps.  Here's one such creation:

Besides the chickpeas, there may be some Roasted Pine Nut Hummus, light sour cream, RF cheddar cheese, and mushrooms on that wrap.  It may sound a little weird, but don't knock it til you try it. 



I added chickpeas to my fish tacos tonight. 

I may have a problem.

In the meantime... what else can I add chickpeas to?  Hmm.  :-)

(Chickpeas Continued...)
Okay, so I wrote this chickpea blog a few days ago.  I thought I'd add on some other things that I added chickpeas to tonight!  Did I mention how delicious chickpeas are?  How did I not know about them?!  I linked the captions back to my original blog about them... just add chickpeas! 

Chili Cheese Chickpea Corn

Guacamole Chickpea Burgers

Here's my latest concotion:

Chickpea Breakfast Mess

1/2 c. Egg substitute
Shredded cheese
Mushrooms
Spinach
Chickpeas
Garlic
Pepper
Old Bay
*You can add just about anything to this combo, so I figured why not chickpeas? 


Check back often for more chickpea updates!  :-)