Deviously Delicious

Hummus is a simple and delicious dip which can be a snack, a meal, or an appetizer. I make it pretty often and my kids love that I serve it to them atop a plate full of fun stuff to dip it in. Hummus is a great time to try out giving kids a muffin tin meal; you put the hummus in one muffin hole and a variety of dipping items in the others.

Other things I like to do with hummus in house:

• Make wraps with hummus and various salad items.
• Use hummus instead of mayonnaise on various sandwiches.
• Serve it with: tortilla chips, carrots, raw broccoli, raw green beans, apple slices, wheat thins, pita bread warmed in the microwave with a moist papertowel on top.

It makes a great portable snack for a long day out with kids (or hungry adults for that matter). I put a little clear wrap over that hummus dipping bowl, and threw it our our bag to go to the playground with.

My Simple and Versatile Hummus Recipe:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas (also known as garbanzo beans)- drained from can and rinsed with cold water
  
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup tahini (optional) Tahini is ground sesame seeds, packaged in jar that looks similar to peanut butter-- sometimes found in the organic or health food aisle. I highly recommend using it if you can.
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A couple squeezes of a lemon, or a few drops of lemon juice from the bottle
• A small cup of cold water to add if necessary

The Method:

1. Put drained chick peas, garlic cloves, tahini (optional), salt, and a little lemon juice, and 1-2 teaspoons water into a food processor, blender, or mini food processor and go, go, go.
2. Scape the sides and give it another whirl, if too stiff add another couple teaspoons of water and repeat. I would compare the desired consistency to soft serve ice cream-- thin enough to not need a spreader but thick enough to not look soupy.
3. If you want to dress it up a little sprinkle a pinch of paprika or parsley on top. I don't do that when I'm serving it to my preschoolers-- but do it as you see fit :).
   

This recipe kills three birds with one stone-- wow, that's really doesn't sound like a nice thing to say. This recipe can be made three ways: Rocket Pesto, Arugula Pesto, or Spinach Pesto- yum, yum, and yum.

As you will see below, cream cheese is an excellent complement to pesto, so they are very often paired together.

Here's some ways I recommend using your pesto:

• Over pasta as a sauce.
• On pizza instead of tomato sauce, or in little dollops- as a topping.
• Toast a hearty bread, spread some cream cheese on, then spread pesto over the top. Add a tomato on top, and a basil leaf if you're so inclined. This is my favorite use for pesto.
• On crackers with cream cheese.
  
• Make into a torta by layering pesto, cream cheese, and sundried tomatoes-- probably best done on a springform pan.
• Use on sandwiches instead of mayo or mustard.
• Coat chicken in and bake.
• In/ on omelettes or quiche.
  

Pesto on toasted 5-seed bread, topped with cream cheese, pesto, tomato, and basil.

How to make it all happen:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups either rocket, arugula, or spinach
• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil
• 3/4 cup (approximately) pine nuts
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (I used mostly freshly grated, but when I didn't have enough I added some store bought grated from a bag)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Making pesto is super easy:

1. Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes. I just stuck them in the toaster oven on baking paper and turned the dial to "lightly toast". Some of them burned on, but I tasted them and they were delicious burnt, so I still used them in the pesto.
2. Throw toasted pine nuts and all remaining ingredients in the food processor, or blender if you don't have a processor-- and turn it on.
   
3. Turn off and scrape the sides, then give it a go again-- add more oil olive if it's too thick. Personally, I like it thicker and less oily, but if you like it thinner (for using over pasta especially) add more oil.
4. Taste it before serving it to people, to make sure it's delicious-- if not salty enough, add more Parmesan or a little salt.

Yeah, like I really thought anyone needed instructions on how to make tuna salad-- but sometimes it's good to hear how someone else does it.

You actually can pretty up tuna salad by adding a splash of color using red capsicum (that's Australian for red bell peppers-- and if you say red bell peppers in Australia, I don't think anyone will know what the hell you are talking about).

Both my kids like this... a lot. I've been putting it on wholemeal bread (that's Australian for wheat bread), quartering it diagonally, and cutting the crust off. It is also lovely served with crackers, or atop a salad.

For me it's all about the red bell peppers in it, but if you're like my husband and "hate peppers", then feel free to substitute celery. But for goodness sakes, I am begging you-- please do not add that nasty sweet relish... mom, that means you.

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large can (not those little mini cans) tuna packed in water
• 1.5 tbsp Hellman's Mayonaise or Light Hellman's Mayonaise-- other brands just will not do in my opinion
• 2-3 tablespoons diced red bell pepper (aka red capsicum)
• 1-2 tablespoons dried onion flakes (the kind that come in a spice bottle--looks like dehydrated little pieces of onion)
  
• 2 small pinches salt
• A little pepper
• (optional) 1-2 tbsp diced celery-- personally I don't do this, except for in my husband's portion which has no red bell pepper in it
  

The method of my madness:

1. Squeeze water out of tuna can well.
2. Put tuna in bowl and use a fork to smash it until not in chunks anymore.
3. Throw in all the other ingredients (only 1 spoon of mayo at a time, you can always add more--but too much is just totally unacceptable) and mix with fork.

To serve on a salad:

• Put lettuce or spinach in a bowl
• Use an ice cream scooper to make a pretty round scoop of tuna salad on top
• Add little veggie decorations around it like broccoli, green beans, cucumber, carrot--whatever

To serve on a sandwich:

• Stick it on bread
• For kids cut into quarters or let kids make them into shapes with cookie cutters
• Cut diagonally for adult sandwiches