Hummus shmummus

It's only Thursday and already I have so much to share! Getting right to it, I gathered my shopping list to make 3 little recipes for the week, spicy black bean "hummus" (I will explain the air bunnies* in a minute), bok choy and Chinese mushrooms over soba noodles, and Asian edamame salad. All are pretty basic recipes so I made my veggie list and hit the produce stand. This week I treated myself and went to Rorabeck's on Military. It's pretty much out of the way for me but I just happened to be in the area. I much prefer it to the one near my house! I know this sounds nerdy, but I just love being there and looking at all the great colors and fresh vegetables. You find yourself picking up peppers that you don't even need for a recipe. And their apples are just gorgeous and huge! There's just something about a huge mound of lemons that makes me happy and reminds me of summer.

*Refer to the Kiss me, I'm vegan blog to find out about air bunnies. http://jennybecomesavegan.blogspot.com/2011/03/happy-saint-patricks-day-i-wanted-to-do.html

I walked in and filled my bag with all the veggies I needed for the week, and some fruit. I bought 5 baby bok choy, a bunch of green onions, garlic, a shallot, some lemons, 3 plums (not pictured), a hunk of ginger, and a huge jalapeno. My total came to $4.47! I get home and get everything unloaded when I realize that I forgot to buy an avocado. Bummer! So I wasn't about to go back to the produce stand for just one avocado when there is a Publix within walking distance. I go to Publix, pick out my avocado and go to the checkout. I almost fell over when I saw the total on the screen. $3.69 for ONE measly avocado!!! Are you kidding me?? I almost didn't buy it because I was so outraged... but I really needed it. How irritating though!!

The first thing I made was the black bean "hummus." The reason it's called "hummus" is because the word hummus means mashed chickpea. So technically this recipe isn't hummus because it's made out of black beans, but who cares, right? Hummus-shmummus! I was very impressed with how this turned out. It is definitely my favorite hummus so far!! This is a MUST try!  It's hearty and spicy, just an all-around satisying dip.  Ok, I'm a nerd and arranged mine on a plate with the perfect amount of hummus on a corn tortilla chip and a piece of avocado to top it off. I then squeezed some lime over all of it and hit with with some salt. The flavor combo was great!! I think these would be super-simple little finger-foods for entertaining.  And no, you can't taste the olives, all you olive-haters!  It just adds some saltiness.  I used pitted kalamata olives.

Spicy Black Bean and Olive "Hummus"
Ingredients
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
10 black olives, pitted
1 small jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame tahini
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Paprika or chili power for garnish

Directions
Add the beans, olives, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper to a food processor or blender. Process or blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Garnish with paprika and serve. Yield: 1 1/4 cups

The second recipe I made was Asian edamame salad. This was so simple. It can be enjoyed as a side dish or served over a nice, leafy salad. The tangy, Asian dressing is full of great flavor. It contains toasted sesame oil, one of my favorite flavors! This is too good and too simple not to make from time to time. It's a perfect snack to keep in the fridge.

Asian-Inspired Edamame Salad
Ingredients
8 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
16 ounces frozen, shelled edamame
1/4 cup seasoned or plain rice vinegar
1 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 carrots, shredded
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (raw or toasted)

Directions
Place the water and salt in a soup pot, and bring to a boil. Add the edamame, and cook for five minutes. Rinse immediately with cold water, drain well, and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, tamari, agave, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the drained edamame to the bowl, along with the carrots and sesame seeds. Toss well to combine. Chill at least two hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before serving. Yield: 3 cups

If you can't find frozen edamame for this recipe, which is what happened to me, you can use the pre-cooked edemame that is vacuum-packed and just skip all the prep for the beans. Just make the dressing and toss together with the carrots and sesame seeds! By the way, I'm still mad that Publix didn't have frozen edemame! They had at least 5 or 6 different brands of lima beans but not one kind of edamame. Very annoying!!  Both the hummus and the edamame salad recipes came from Color Me Vegan.

I found this next recipe on VegWeb.com. I made my own adjustments and it was a winner for sure!!! This is the closest to that real, yummy Chinese take-out that you can get, only it's a billion times better because you know what went into it. Soba noodles go great with this but you can also serve it over rice or any other grain.

Bok Choy & Chinese Mushrooms
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups vegetarian flavored broth (I used this to reconstitute my mushrooms first, then re-used it to saute the onions and garlic)
2 green onions, sliced thin, divided
1 largish clove fresh garlic, minced or pressed
1" piece fresh ginger, minced or pressed
8 - 12 oz mushrooms, cut to 1/2" pieces (I used 8 oz fresh shiitakes plus 1/3 oz dried procini mushrooms which I reconstituted in vegetable broth to yield about 4 oz of mushrooms)
5 baby bok choy, quartered (use stems and green parts)
2 tablespoons cornstarch + 1/4 cup cool water
Salt and pepper to season

Directions
1. Pour broth into skillet. Add 1/2 green onion, the garlic and the ginger. Saute for a few minutes, then add the mushrooms.
2. Add the bok choy, reduce to low heat and cover. Steam bok choy for 5 or 6 minutes.
3. Thicken the broth with corn starch mixture. Make it slightly thicker than you want the sauce to be, since the moisture from the boy choy will thin it a bit.
4. Serve over soba noodles or rice.


That's pretty much it as far as recipes I tried for the first time. I am going to need another blog entry to share my next restaurant reviews!