Hummus

Hummus is one of our favorite snacks, lunch box items, and dips for vegetables, crackers or even bread.  Nothing tops homemade hummus.  It is incredibly simple and keeps well for at least a week in a sealed container in the fridge.

2 cups of soaked, cooked chickpeas
4 cloves of garlic grated
1 tbsp toasted cumin seeds
juice of one lemon
rind of one lemon
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup of tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/4 cup of water
2 tbsp olive oil
dried chives (optional)

Directions:
Put it all in a food processor and process until smooth. You may need to add a bit more water if your mixture is dry.  It will depend on how much lemon juice you extracted and how thick your tahini is.


Use it as a sandwich spread, dip, or salad dressing.  

Enjoy!

Sourdough Starter Starting Now

We love bread.  I don't purchase the store bought stuff.  I grew up on homemade, and will forever stick to that.  I do sometimes break down and buy a sprouted whole grain loaf , Ezekiel bread, but no others.  I have several sourdough recipes, some yeasted and some not.  I thought I would start a starter (that makes sense right?) to show how to capture the wild yeast to use in bread making.  It sounds difficult, but it is the most simple thing.  Read the rules at the bottom of the post before you begin.

This is a 7 Day process.  Let's grow culture together!  We can call ourselves the Culture Club... oh wait... ha!

First you will need a good stone ground dark rye flour.  Mix 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup, non-chlorinated water in a clean bowl.  It will look like the mixture below.  Set this aside in a corner in your kitchen loosely covered with a clean tea towel, and wait 24 hours.

First mixture, Day 1.

On Day 2 add another 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 cup of water, turn into a new bowl. Cover and set aside.

Day 2, after the second addition of flour and water.

Day 3, repeat addition of flour and water and turn into a new clean bowl.

Day 3 before adding flour.  See the bubbles?

Day 4, same as day 3.  Someone should write a song about this.

Day 4, sweetish/sourish smell starts and it is very frothy.

Day 5, you guessed it.  Same.

Day 6, same.

Day 7. Feed it flour and water, turn it into its new home and CONGRATULATIONS! you are now the proud parent of sourdough starter!  Go ahead and give it a name. Mine is Marge.

Moved Marge to her new home.

Every week feed your culture 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 non-chlorinated water.  Once a month clean your cultures home. It is going to live on your kitchen counter, so it's okay if you talk to it.

Mom's old glass cookie jar.

Rules to help you grow a successful culture:

1) Absolutely no metal.

2) Use Rye flour, it is friendlier to the wild yeasts in the air.

3) Use non-chlorinated water, chlorine kills bacteria and you want to grow it.

4) Have fun! It is not hard, it is exciting!

Now onto the Bread!  That's the best part.

Sprouting Lentils at Home

These flavour packed lentils give salads and soups a nice boost.  When you eat alive foods, you can tell.  They have a strong peppery taste so a few go a long way.  In Canada's long winters, fresh alive green foods are a welcome addition to any meal.

Fill a mason jar 1/2 full of lentils, and then fill with water.

Let sit for a day, then drain water.


Tip jar upside down on a dish, and rinse every 8 hours with tap water.


Once the little leaves show yellow/green, rinse them and store them lightly covered in the fridge.  Remember to rinse them daily while being stored.