CSA & Hummus Recipe

I was lucky enough to be introduced to the wonder of the CSA a few years back and now each year as the weather warms, my family anxiously waits for the vegetable deliveries to begin. This year we joined Good Earth Farm and we received our 3rd delivery last night and it was a whole bunch of awesome, again! Our new CSA has several additional options like bread and mushrooms, so we're also splitting a fruit share with a friend. This week was the strawberry delivery and I am relieved to be sharing, because we received 7 quarts of delicious strawberries. I'm thinking of making a strawberry pico de gallo this weekend and maybe some jam and freezing the rest. Yum!

I made another a batch of hummus this week and wrote the recipe down since there were requests after my last batch, so here it is! I make a big batch, feel free to cut it in half if you want less.

Alisa The Yarnista’s Hummus

• 4 cups chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 2-4 garlic cloves (base on how much you love garlic)
• 1/2 cup Tahnini
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbs water or juice from beans

Add all ingredients EXCEPT chickpeas and water/bean juice to food processor and mix until coarsely pureed. Add chickpeas and blend to desired consistency - add water/bean juice as necessary. Enjoy with veggies, pretzels, on bread and spread on sandwiches!

I'm freezing some of this batch to see how it holds up. I think it will be okay since the beans hold up in the freezer after I cook them in the crock pot, but we'll see. Have you frozen hummus or do you have a hummus recipe to share?

Cheers!

Margaritas

I love margaritas and a few months back I made homemade margarita mix for a get-together with some friends and they were delicious - like, really delicious. I concocted that batch in my usual manner of adding a little of this and a little of that, but then I had requests for my recipe - eek! Then, as luck would have it, my sister-in-law had a birthday, she mentions margaritas and this was perfect because I had a boatload of limes in the fridge just for this. It was meant to be, right?

Seizing this perfect opportunity - "perfect" meaning I got to be in the kitchen AND knit her the above  Canning Jar Sweater - I tried to recreate what I had done a few weeks back and kept track of the actual recipe. End result... It's really close and pretty darn good! First and foremost, use fresh limes. This requires some elbow grease, but they really make a difference and the little bits of lime pulp are wonderful. To avoid pulling a muscle to get as much juice as possible from each lime, I present my handy dandy:

Tips for juicing limes:

• Microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute and let set for 1 minute.
• Roll on the counter with pressure before cutting.
• Use a citrus reamer or fork to get every last little bit of juice.

Alisa The Yarnista's Margaritas

• 1-1/2 cups of freshly squeezed lime juice (8-10 limes)
• 2 cups Triple Sec
• 2 cups tequila
• 2 tbs Agave syrup (add more if you like a sweeter margarita)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Mix all ingredients and pour over ice - I also love mixing in some beer for a beergarita or seltzer water to lighten it up a little bit. These margaritas are so much tastier that the store-bought mix and I'm sure you'll agree! Cheers!

Do you have a homemade version of margaritas or another beverage that you'd like to share? 

Ree's Mom's Muffins

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, always has wonderful recipes that frequently include all sorts of goodness that is best in moderation (butter, sugar, bacon...). Then last month I was catching up on blog posts and came across this recipe on Ree's blog - I was floored to discover the list of ingredients did not include butter or oil and had a reasonable amount of sugar. Then it made sense... it was her mom's recipe! I rarely bake and have a long history of mediocre and failed baking attempts - mostly because baking requires following a recipe when you don't understand the mechanics of making it work. I usually start out with good intentions, but in the end my creativity overrides and the results are less than favorable for anyone with any sort of taste.

But... I saw this recipe and had no desire to get 'creative'. These are healthy, very easy to make and simply delicious!

As you can see, there are quite a few ingredients - I accidentally left the oats out of the above photo, but I did omit the nasty raisins in the actual muffins so it evens out. Ree shares her feelings on bananas in her recipe post and my feeling on raisins are just about the same. The raisins did make the photo because I was going to make 2 batches - 1 with raisins for hubby and 1 without - but I forgot a banana at the store and wasn't going back to work for that, so I only made one batch. More that you wanted or needed to know, right?

So... Here we are with all the ingredients and there are the oats!

Look at that! I would say we have baking success!!! They are seriously yummy and I'm making another batch this weekend. They were great for a grab-and-go breakfast or a quick snack. One wrapped muffin resided in my purse for a couple days just in case I ended up somewhere and was starving - yes, I'm weird like that and always have food, water and knitting at my disposal.

So even though these aren't my mom's muffins, I'm sure my mom would approve and maybe she'll even make a batch when she reads this. I hope you try them, too!

Cheers!