Category Archives: recipes

homemade yummy hummus = yummus!

Posted on by

3

Considering my love for hummus now, it’s hard to believe, but I did not discover this delicious dip until I was in college. I particularly remember falling head-over-heels for hummus my junior year, when I studied abroad for a semester in Norwich, England. The grocery chain Tesco made a superb fresh hummus, and nearly every weekday for lunch I would make myself a plate of hummus and pita bread before heading off to class. My flatmates {dormmates} would tease me about it, and I kept wondering when I would grow tired of my hummus lunchtime routine, but I never did. I ate hummus and pita bread for lunch nearly every weekday of my sixth-month stay in Norwich, and I kept eating it when I returned home to the States. I’ve never been able to find a store-bought hummus that tastes quite as good as my memory of that hummus from Tesco. Plus, store-bought hummus can get a little pricey, and who knows what preservatives and additives I’m inhaling along with my pita bread.

So, this week, I decided to get out my blender and try making my own hummus. I’m SO glad I did, because it is absolutely delicious, waaaaay cheaper than store-bought brands, and could not be easier to make! I also love how I can control how much oil, garlic and spices go in. And it was simple to make my hummus organic — I just paid 20 cents more for the organic version of Kroger-brand garbanzo beans!

easy-peasy garlic hummus

– 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, most of the liquid reserved
– 1 tablespoon lemon juice
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– 2 tablespoons tahini
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped {I used 2 tsp pre-chopped garlic}
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– black pepper, red pepper, or cumin to taste

1. In a blender, or by hand, chop the garlic. Pour garlic and garbanzo beans into blender.

2. Pour lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, chopped garlic, salt, and optional spices in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.

3. Add additional bean liquid to get desired texture and additional spices, salt and lemon to taste.

4. Optional: chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, or as long as you can stand the wait. I think this hummus tastes even better the next day, once the flavors have had a chance to marinate together for a little while!

I served mine with fresh sliced carrots and cucumber. I also love eating hummus with warm pita bread. Makes a great lunch or healthy snack! Hummus also makes a great sandwich spread — I’ll use it instead of mustard or mayonnaise.

What are some of your favorite veggie dips & sandwich spreads? Any other hummus-obsessed people out there?

-Dallas

———————————

-Time spent: 15 minutes
-Cost: $3.00

You might also enjoy these healthy snack posts:
– baked mango with brown sugar & cinnamon
– creamy avocado yogurt dip from Two Peas & Their Pod
– honey goat cheese dip from Peanut Butter Fingers

blueberry streusel muffins

Posted on by

1

I spent a rainy afternoon last weekend at Starbucks writing, reading and grading. Sometimes it’s nice to just get out of the apartment — if I stay inside all day without getting out at all, I start to feel a little claustrophobic. I call it the “closed-in feeling” and when it hits, the only solution is to grab my bag and books and keys and head out! Even just heading down the street to Starbucks is enough to clear my head and get me into productive mode.

I ordered my usual Zen green tea and since I was a little hungry I also tried a blueberry muffin. I really loved the crumb topping and as soon as I got home, I thought: I want to make my own version!

So this morning that’s what I did.

I found this recipe on the blog Stacey Snacks for peach streusel muffins … I didn’t have any peaches so I adapted it to make blueberry muffins. I’m looking forward to trying the recipe with peaches sometime soon though! The photos on Stacey’s blog look amazingly scrumptious.

Here’s how my blueberry streusel muffins turned out:

blueberry streusel muffins

for the topping:
– 1/3 cup uncooked oatmeal
– 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
– 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon
– 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

for the muffin batter:
– 2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1/2 cup sugar {or 1/4 cup stevia/truvia}
– 1 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 2 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 3 eggs
– 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
– 1 cup Greek yogurt
– 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
– 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
– 1 & 1/2 cups blueberries

1. For the topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the butter, and mix until well blended. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, from flour to salt, and set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, butter, yogurt and vanilla.

5. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture. Stir until just moist and blended, being careful not to overmix.

6. Fold in the blueberries.

7. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan until the batter comes to the top of the paper liner or pan. Sprinkle with the brown sugar streusel topping, and lightly press the topping into the muffin batter.

8. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until tops are golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Update: These were delicious right out of the oven, and still moist and fresh-tasting a couple days later when I finished the last of the batch. They’re a great way to use up the last of your summer blueberries! I especially loved the streusel topping!

YUM!

Have a delightful day, everyone!

Always,
Dallas

—————————-

-Time spent: about 1 hour {including bake time}
-Cost: less than $5

You might also enjoy these previous posts:
–blueberry/blackberry/raspberry muffins
–good morning sunshine muffins

happy birthday holly!

Posted on by

7

Today is my friend Holly’s 25th birthday! Happy birthday, Holly! ❤ We met our freshman year of college at USC where we lived in the same dorm and quickly bonded over our shared love of Sarah Dessen books, Nora Ephron movies, cheesey rice cakes, giggling, baking, browsing Target, taking long walks {especially in the autumn with hot apple cider from Starbucks!} and listening to Taylor Swift albums on repeat. Holly is one of those people who makes others feel instantly at ease with her warmth and compassion. I admire her for a zillion reasons: her genuine kindness, brave spirit, intelligence, creativity, insightful take on any situation. She is someone I can always call for advice and she will listen thoughtfully and help me come up with solutions when it seemed like there were none. And she is always someone I can count on to make me laugh and find the joy in the everyday moments of life!

Holly is living in Nashville, going to divinity school at Vanderbilt, and I’m bummed I couldn’t celebrate her birthday with her in person. We lived together for our four years of college, but since we graduated our friendship has been “long distance.” I miss her! But we have a little birthday ritual that helps us feel like we get to celebrate together even though we live far apart. It started when Holly baked me a cake on my birthday a couple years ago and sent me a picture. It was such a sweet gesture and I loved thinking of her enjoying some birthday cake on my behalf! We’ve continued baking birthday cakes for each other even though we aren’t together to share them. {I’m hoping one day soon, we will be!}

This year I changed things up a little bit and made Holly some birthday brownies instead of a cake. I used to make brownies all the time in college and I have many fond memories of Friday nights in, eating brownies and watching Friends marathons.

Nom nom nom!

I just used a box mix for these brownies {Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate} but I substituted the oil for applesauce to make them a little healthier and I also mixed in some white chocolate chips for extra chocolate goodness.

And because what goes better with chocolate than strawberries… I sliced up some strawberries and put them on top! Delicious.

Do you have any special birthday rituals? How do you celebrate the birthdays of your friends & family?

Happy weekend!

-Dallas

rice krispies treats with m&ms

Posted on by

10

Last weekend I went to a welcome-back potluck for my Master’s program and I volunteered to bring dessert. {I always volunteer to bring dessert — any excuse to bake!} I racked my brain for something to make. Cookies? Cupcakes? Lemon bars? But with a busy weekend to-do list of errands and course planning, I was a little pressed for time. I thought back to picnics and potlucks of my childhood, when my mom would often bring Rice Krispies treats — they used to be one of my favorite desserts. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a Rice Krispies treat. A craving hit and it was immediately decided: I would try my hand at making some for the potluck!

Lucky for me, this recipe could not be simpler. It’s the perfect, inexpensive crowd-pleaser for any gathering — especially in the summer, when you don’t want to heat up your kitchen by turning on the oven. This would also be a fun recipe to make with kitchen-helper kiddos!

Looking for a dessert to bring to a Labor Day picnic? Try whipping up some of these!

rice krispies treats with m&ms

-1 package mini-marshmallows
-1/3 cup butter
-1 large bag mini m&ms
-6 cups rice krispies

1. Grease a 9 x 13 pan with butter and set aside. Melt the rest of the butter in a big pot on the stove. When butter is halfway melted, add the marshmallows.

2. Stir until the marshmallow is completely melted and smooth.

3. Turn off the burner. Add the rice krispies two cups at a time, stirring thoroughly until the mixture is combined.

4. Add a heaping cupful of the mini m&ms. {Feel free to use whatever kind of m&ms you want; I like the minis because they are so dang cute!}

5. Press the rice krispies mixture into the greased 9×13 pan. Pour the remainder of the m&m bag onto the top of the rice krispies and press down with a spatula.

6. Let cool for 15-20 minutes {or as long as you can stand it} before slicing into squares and serving.

Have a delightful weekend, everyone! I’ll be soaking up these last rays of summer before autumn sweeps in …

xoxo,
Dallas

————————–

Time spent: 15 mins
Cost: $6.00 {with about half a box of rice krispies left over for breakfast this week!}

marvelous monday: strawberry chocolate-chip pancakes

Posted on by

1

Happy Monday, everyone! How was your weekend? Marvelous, I hope!

I had a fun, relaxing and productive weekend. It was a great balance of work and play! I did some grading and lesson-planning, worked some on the novel I’m writing for my thesis, and did some baking! {Delish new muffin recipe coming later this week, hooray!} The highlight of the weekend was definitely Saturday night, when I drove an hour to Indianapolis to see Bob Dylan in concert!!

It was a beautiful summer evening and the concert was held in an outdoor venue, so we got to enjoy the sunset just as Bob Dylan was beginning to play. I loved the casual, picnic atmosphere. There were no assigned seats {at least not in the back section where we were sitting!} Instead, people sat in blankets or lawn chairs in the grass. It was lovely.

And Bob, of course, was rockin’! It was so neat to hear him play so many of his classic songs live. For an encore he played “Blowin’ in the Wind” which might be my favorite of his songs. You can just barely make him out in this photo I snapped — in the middle of the stage in the black jacket, playing the piano. Can you spot him?

What a fun time! I had a blast. What are some of your favorite concerts you’ve ever been to?

I wanted to start the week off on a luxurious note, so for breakfast I made strawberry chocolate-chip pancakes. How can this not be a fantastic week with these babies kicking it off?

I love this recipe for homemade from-scratch buttermilk pancakes I found on the terrific blog Newfashioned Mom, but you could also substitute your favorite boxed pancake mix.

strawberry chocolate-chip pancakes

– 1 cup unbleached flour
– 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 tablespoon sugar
– 5 tablespoons powdered buttermilk (or 1 1/4 c. fresh buttermilk, skip the water)
– 1 egg
– 1 cup water
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 cup chopped strawberries
– 1/2 cup chocolate chips
– butter for greasing pan

1. Heat pan or griddle on medium-low.

2. To make pancake batter: sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, water, and vanilla extract. Add egg mixture to dry mixture and stir together until big lumps disappear. {Batter should still be slightly lumpy.}

3. Grease pan with butter and pour in your pancake batter. I use a 1/4 cup scoop.

4. If desired, drop in the chocolate chips and strawberries. I prefer to cook chocolate-chip pancakes and add the strawberries on top after.

Option 1 on the left, Option 2 on the right.

5. When batter begins to bubble in the middle, use a spatula to flip the pancakes over. Cook until golden-brown on both sides.

6. Serve immediately with warm syrup. YUM!

Whenever I make pancakes, my first batch is nearly always a hot mess. Still tastes good, but not as pretty as the others. At least this one kinda looks like a heart! ❤

Hope you have a wonderful week filled with strawberries & sunshine!

-Dallas

———————

-Time spent: 20 mins
-Cost: less than $5

meal planning whiteboard

Posted on by

3

Happy Friday, everyone! I must admit I am really feeling the TGIF vibe today. I love teaching, but the first week back at school always seems so loooong … I think because everything is new, I’m learning all my students’ names, figuring out my new schedule, etc. I’m looking forward to a weekend of recharging my batteries and getting ahead for the upcoming week!

Over the past few months, I’ve gotten really into reading different organization and recipe blogs {you can find links some of my favorites here.} Something I’ve seen recommended again and again is using meal-planning to get organized, save time, and save money. For as much as I like to cook, I’ve never been a weekly meal-planner. I’m the type of person who decides what to make for dinner that morning, at lunch, or even sometimes when staring into my half-empty fridge, stomach rumbling, trying to figure out what I can throw together quickly for a meal.

And you know what? It can be stressful! One of my least favorite things is heading home after a long day with no idea of what to do for dinner. Those are the days I will end up grabbing food out somewhere. I do enjoy eating out in restaurants, but I like it best when it’s something planned in advance, something I can look forward to all day — it feels more special that way.

Which all goes to say, I’ve been thinking about implementing a meal-planning schedule into our routine for a while. This week, with the beginning of a busy new school year, I finally did something about it!

I went to Target yesterday and in the back-to-school aisle I found this adorable whiteboard with a blue frame and attached pen — plus, it had a magnet on the back. Just what I needed! Best part of all: I snagged it for only $3.00.

All I had to do was take it out of the packaging, slap it up on the fridge, and write out my planned menu for the week. On Tuesday Mike and I are planning to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner to use a gift certificate we have, and on Friday I’m getting together with my friends Xun and Hai for dinner.

I chose to place the whiteboard on the side of the fridge where I’ll see it every time I walk into the kitchen. I hung it right above a monthly calendar/newsletter I get from the apartment complex. It’s my new “information station”!

It makes me feel so great to have the week sketched out like this — no more stress wondering what to have for dinner! And I think planning out the week this way will help save money {and last-minute grocery trips to get that one ingredient I don’t have…}

Do you use weekly meal-planning? I’d love to hear any of your tips!
-Dallas

————————–

Time spent: 5 minutes
Cost: $3.00

baked mango with brown sugar & cinnamon

Posted on by

7

I have a quick, easy & delicious recipe to share with you today!

At the grocery store yesterday mangoes were on sale for $1. I never really ate mangoes until a year or so ago — I’ve always enjoyed mango-flavored things, like gelato and tea and smoothies, but for some reason buying the actual fruit at the store was intimidating to me.

Then Mike came into my life. As I’ve shared before, Mike loves trying new foods, especially exotic and intriguing fruits. On one of our first grocery trips together, he bought a mango and showed me how to test it for ripeness. We let it soften for a couple days until it had some give, like a ripe avocado. Then Mike showed me how to prepare it: slicing the fruit off from the core and peeling off the skin. I was surprised at how easy it was!

Ever since then, I’ve been enjoying mangoes on a fairly regular basis. Last night I was in the mood for something new, so I decided to try baking a mango, much in the way I’ve baked peaches and pears in the past.

baked mango with brown sugar & cinnamon

– 1 mango
– 1 tbsp brown sugar
– 1 tbsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice the mango away from the core and arrange the pieces, skin down, in a glass baking dish.

3. Sprinkle the slices with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sugar-cinnamon mixture starts to bubble. Peel off the skin and serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

Mike and I enjoyed this as a healthy dessert tonight! I think it would also make a great snack, or even breakfast!

Hope you’re having a wonderful week! Make today a masterpiece!
-Dallas

————————

Time spent: 30 minutes {including bake time}
Cost: $1.00

cranberry ice cubes & cherry-cranberry jello

Posted on by

1

I came down with the stomach flu last week and completely lost my appetite. But it has been so hot outside that I wanted to make sure I kept hydrated. What really sounded good to me were ice cubes {for the coldness} and cranberry juice {for the flavor and Vitamin C!} My sweetie Mike had the genius idea of combining the two things to make cranberry ice cubes. They are the perfect way to stay cool in the summer heat while also enjoying a pop of flavor!

cranberry ice cubes

-cranberry juice {we used 100% juice, a mixture of cranberry and apple}
– water
– ice cube tray
– toothpicks {optional, to make little popsicles}

1. Fill a large cup with half water and half cranberry juice.

2. Carefully fill the ice cube tray.

3. If desired, add a toothpick to each ice cube for easy removal.

4. Freeze until solid, remove, and enjoy!.

Mike also used these cranberry ice cubes to make Jello for me, which was hands-down the BEST Jello I have ever had! He used the sugar-free cherry flavor and combined with the cranberry ice cubes it was the perfect mixture of sweet and tart!

cherry-cranberry jello

– 1 package sugar-free cherry jello
– cranberry ice cubes
– water

1. Make jello according to package directions, except instead of using regular ice cubes, use cranberry ice cubes!

2. Put into the fridge to chill for an hour, until jello-jiggly!

YUM!

Hope you have a cool, relaxing weekend! Stay healthy!
-Dallas

—————————-

Time spent: 15 minutes, plus fridge & freezer time
Cost: $2.00

chicken & quinoa salad

Posted on by

2

A few weeks ago, Mike and I went down to Indianapolis for the day. We went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch, one of my favorite restaurants — I used to eat there all the time when I lived in California, but since moving to Indiana the closest one is in Indianapolis about an hour away. Whenever we go there, I always get my favorite pizza, the Barbeque Chicken Pizza. This time I tried something a little new: the Hawaiian Barbeque Chicken Pizza {pretty much the same pizza, but with pineapple added. YUM!}

Another item on the menu, however, did catch my eye: a healthy and delicious-looking chicken quinoa salad. I ended up sticking with my tried-and-true fave pizza, but I made a mental note to sometime come up with my own version of the salad inspired by the CPK version.

I tried out this recipe tonight, and it turned out great! Both Mike and I give it two thumbs up!

{This recipe currently serves two people, but can easily be modified to serve more.}

chicken & quinoa salad

– 2 chicken breasts
– 1 cup uncooked quinoa
– 1 and 1/4 cups water
– 4 cups arugula {or your choice of lettuce}
– 1 cucumber
– 2 roma tomatoes
– 1 tsp chopped garlic
– feta cheese to taste
– pine nuts to taste
– salad dressing to taste {I used fat-free sesame; I think a balsamic vinagrette would be nice, too}

1. Cook chicken in a pan on the stove until golden brown; I used a nonstick pan, but you might want to use a little olive oil if you’re worried about it sticking to the pan.

2. While chicken is cooking, boil 1 and 1/4 cups of water. Stir in quinoa and garlic and cook about ten minutes, until all the water is absorbed.

3. Slice up the roma tomatoes and cucumber and cooked chicken.

4. Serve quinoa and chicken warm over bed of arugula. Top with tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, pine nuts, and salad dressing.

YUM!

————————–

Time spent: 25 minutes
Cost: about $6.00

lemon bars for my gramps

Posted on by

21

I have always been especially close with my Gramps — I’m even named after him! {His middle name is Dallas.} I’m really grateful to be home for this week and get to spend time with my family. I love being able to just hop in the car, drive three minutes down the road, and pop into my Gramps’s house to say hi. We usually end up chatting over TCM movies, episodes of M*A*S*H or “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.”

Speaking of The Food Channel, my Gramps loves lemony desserts. Lemon meringue pie, lemon cake, lemon sorbet. He was diagnosed with cancer this past December {that is mercifully in remission now} but ever since undergoing radiation his taste buds really crave sour food. So I decided to make him some lemon bars after I was inspired by this recipe on a blog I love, Recipes Happen.

I’d never attempted lemon bars before, but these were easy-peasy and turned out really well! I like the shortbread texture of the crust mixed with the smooth tartness of the lemon and the sweetness of the powdered sugar on top.

gramps’s favorite lemon bars

for the crust:
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-1 cup flour
-1/3 cup powdered sugar

for the lemon topping:
– 1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar
– 3 eggs
– 3 tablespoons flour
– 1/3 cup lemon juice {I used two medium-sized lemons}
– zest from one lemon {about 2 tablespoons}
– powdered sugar to dust on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish and set aside.

2. Combine the softened butter, flour and sugar to make the crust. Dough will be crumbly. Press into the bottom of the baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.

3. While crust is baking, make the lemon topping: beat the eggs and add the sugar and flour. Juice the lemon and pour the juice through a sieve to make sure no seeds get into the dessert! Grate the lemon peel and add to the mixture. Blend well.

4. Pour the lemon topping over the hot crust and put back into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

5. When done, lemon bars should be solid in the middle, not soupy. Dust with powdered sugar. I’d recommend letting them cool before attempting to cut them. {I personally think lemon bars are delicious refrigerated!}

Enjoy! Gramps and I sure did! 🙂

Hope you have a wonderful weekend with lots of time with your loved ones,
Dallas

————————-

Time: 40 minutes {including bake time}
Cost: about $3.00