Homemade Hummus

I've been making this hummus for years and now it's time to share.

Hummus

Ingredients:

2 cans garbanzo beans

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)

1/4-1/2 c water

1 T minced garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground red pepper or 1/4 tsp cayenne

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

Puree until smooth, adding water to achieve desired consistency.

We serve our hummus with cheese, summer sausage, an assortment of vegetables (carrots, celery, cucumber, tomato, bell peppers), alfalfa sprouts, and a grain (Triscuits, French bread, pita, toasted tortillas, homemade wheat bread).

My favorite is spreading the hummus on my homemade whole wheat bread, topping it with alfalfa sprouts and garden tomatoes. A filling, but light dinner, perfect for summer! All five of my kids love eating this hummus. My babies yell at me for not spooning it into their mouths fast enough. My two-year-old squeals and dances with glee when she sees the hummus.

*recipe adapted from Budget Bites

Crockpot Granola

I almost feel lazy doing this kind of blog post, but I also detest those bloggers that want to write their whole life story and background on why folding laundry is difficult for them, only to finally give me the dang recipe.

So here it is, straight and simple:

Crockpot Granola

from Barefeet in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil or butter (or any oil that you want)
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup raisins and/or craisins

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray, then add in the oats, almonds and salt.

In a pan over medium heat, melt together the honey, oil, peanut butter, and cinnamon.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, then pour the mixture into the crockpot, stirring to combine thoroughly. Put the lid on the crockpot, leaving a crack for venting. Cook on HIGH for 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides to prevent burning. When it's done, stir in the dried fruit. The recipe says to the pour the granola out on trays to dry over night. Sometimes I do that, other times I leave it in the crockpot and stir periodically if I remember. Then I just pour it into my cereal container in the morning. Works for me, and no extra dishes.

People used to the conventional oven method of making granola have asked me why bother making it in the crockpot when their oven method doesn't require them to melt ingredients first. I don't know. I haven't tried your oven method or your particular recipe. But what works for me is that I can make a double batch of this recipe in my crockpot, yielding 16 cups of granola. I can't do that in my oven. Either method requires periodic stirring. The crockpot allows me to stir without opening my oven and stooping to stir, or otherwise pulling the pan out to stir and put back in the oven. I don't have to worry about keeping my kids out of the way for constantly opening the oven. I have two large crockpots and can make two types of granola at the same time, while baking dinner in the oven if I want to. Or I can have granola cooking in one crockpot while yogurt heats in the other. Basically, I just like employing my crockpots.