Surviving a Kitchen Remodel (with Hummus Recipe): Week 7
At this point we are primarily waiting for our countertop to arrive, so week seven was a slower week. John installed some of the shelves and we moved a few things in, but otherwise we are at a standstill. Not entirely bad, since we were able to get away for the 4th of July weekend and have some fun.
Cooking spread across the first floor, backyard and basement is starting to take its toll. To illustrate the process, here is a recent adventure in making a hummus dip:
- Printed out the recipe upstairs and gathered up the ingredients stored upstairs to take downstairs where the blender is stored (1 flight of stairs). Actually got all the ingredients there in one trip!
- Got down only to realize the can opener (for the can of garbanzo beans) was upstairs. Went back up to retrieve it (up and down = 2 trips for a total of 3).
- Started putting ingredients into the blender but realized I didn’t have any measuring cups or spoons (total of 5 trips).
- Got everything in the blender but the garlic and realized I didn’t have a sharp knife to cut the root end off. Gave serious thought to tossing it in dirt and all, then went to retrieve the knife (7 flights).
- Took everything that needed to go back up upstairs again. Left the hummus in the blender because I didn’t have a good storage container in the basement (8).
- Put the hummus into pyrex. Took the blender into the bathroom for rinsing and realized it wouldn’t fit under the faucet. Back down, then up to eat (10 flights).
- Called my mother to beg for another dinner at her house.
I’d lose weight doing this, except it keeps making me want a beer to revive myself (just discovered New Belgium Organic Mothership Witt–mmm). To any of my friends who read this: if you ever remodel a kitchen, consider this a standing offer for dinner at my place.
In the meantime, I have decided that hummus and raw vegetables is a great answer to the problem of getting your veggies and using your CSA output without a kitchen. In fact, I took this combo to a fireworks party and every single snap pea and carrot stick disappeared! We were buying the hummus, but I given the quantities we have been consuming and my general dislike of grocery shopping, I decided to try to figure out what I could produce. Here is the recipe:
Hummus
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, liquid reserved to add as needed
- ¼ c lemon juice
- ¼ c tahini
- ½ t cumin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt, if desired (I think this works without any)
Directions
- Blend olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and garlic cloves until smooth.
- Add garbanzo beans and tahini and blend again, adding bean liquid as needed to blend. Dip should be thick but blended through.
Hummus Dip with Snap Peas
Approaching the home stretch: Kitchen Remodel Week 8
They only sell one size of Tahini at our supermarket and it costs $8. It is a rather large container about the size of a normal jar of peanut butter. How long does Tahini last after it is opened? What else can you do with it? IDK how making your own would be cheaper for me when I normally go through 2 small containers of Hummus in a week. That is only about $7-8, less or the same as just the Tahini.
The Tahini is indeed the most expensive ingredient in this! But that one jar will make a number of batches of hummus. If you are really trying to economize, consider using dried chickpeas and cooking your own–for instructions see: https://artofnaturalliving.com/2011/03/25/bpa-free-quicker-cooking-dried-beans/ The Tahini will last a long time in the refrigerator–just like peanut butter does. The only other recipe I make with it is baba ganoush which I discuss at: https://artofnaturalliving.com/2011/09/08/eggplants-everywhere-baba-ganoush/ Hope you give it a try!
I’ve been there during a kitchen remodel albeit without the stairs. Good for you for using up your CSA even in those conditions.
Thanks! As you can probably tell, I need the moral support right now. But the payoff is in sight!