Did you know there are people in this world who don’t like hummus?

I know, I was super confused too. How can you not like something that is so creamy, dreamy and versatile? Fluffy pita bread and hummus is my second favorite “table bread” at restaurants (fresh, warm bread and seasoned olive oil will always have my heart, forever and ever!) and have you ever had a veggie and hummus wrap? Holy crap. So good.

What makes this magical dip even better is that it is really easy to make! If you have a food processor. Which I do not. So when my parent’s asked me if I could house/dog sit while they went to Vegas (party animals) I was all “Duh, of course I’ll watch Max while you’re gone”, while in my head I was all “Duh, I’ll destroy the kitchen and use every appliance I don’t own myself in two days.” Just me, my dog and that kitchen. It was honestly the best weekend I’ve had this year.

In related new, I’m super lame.

I was really excited to come here and tell you guys all about how I had perfected my hummus recipe and still cut down on the oil content. But then I got a little excited when I was getting ready to photograph the stuff and accidentally poured A WHOLE LOT  of oil  ( and paprika for some reason) all over it, as evidenced in the photo above. Whoops. So, if you’re not trying to impress your internet friends with 80 photos of the same dish, you can avoid a lot of extra oil. But in the spirit of being honest, the more oil the more delicious. Truth hurts.

So while this may not taste exactly like the hummus you’ll get at restaurant it’s still pretty spot on. What I’ve discovered is that a lot of the creaminess just comes from over processing the ingredients. If you let it process – in stages – for a long time it will become creamy. Add as much oil (or some water, as you’ll see below) as you want. I firmly believe hummus is an objective dish – as in there is no one perfect recipe out there. It’s all about your taste and preference. I happen to have a current love affair with suuuuuuper creamy hummus, but others prefer theirs a little chunky. I also add more garlic and spice to everything so that’s in my basic recipe  but feel free to use less or leave it out all together. The universal basic ingredients are essentially chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini (sesame seed paste), olive oil and salt and pepper.

Below is my favorite recipe and process for making hummus. Maybe you have your own? If so, do share!

Hummus (makes approx. 2 cups)

1/4 cup tahini*

Juice of one lemon

1/4 onion, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

1/4 t paprika

1/2 t red pepper flakes

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 – 1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

Begin by processing the tahini and lemon juice until it’s very smooth – basically a liquid. If your tahini isn’t blending too well add a tiny bit of water to help it along. I always start with a teaspoon and go from there. Once it’s the right consistency, scrape down the sides and add in your chopped onion and garlic. Pulse and process for about 30 seconds until the onion and garlic become finely, finely chopped. Add in the beans, paprika and red pepper flakes and process. As it’s going, slowly drizzle in your olive oil. Allow it to process for a while until it becomes very smooth – you might have to stop and scrape down the sides a few times, but that’s okay because you want to make sure it all gets mixed together very well! If you find that it’s still a little chunky add more oil or water (the latter will keep it fairly healthy, the former…well, you know). Again drizzle it in slowly…you can always add more but you can’t take it out! Once it’s to your desired consistency, give it a taste and add salt and pepper accordingly.

Transfer to a serving bowl or container.  My family goes through hummus like it’s nobody’s business, but I’m willing to bet it will stay perfect for at least a week in the fridge – covered, of course!

* My local grocery store sells tahini on the bottom shelf in the peanut butter aisle…always the bottom shelf.  If you can’t find any in your local store, you will absolutely find it at an Indian or Middle Eastern grocer. If you just really don’t want to hunt down tahini, try this recipe with peanut butter! It’ll change the flavor a little bit, but I’ve heard it’s a good substitute. Unfortunately, I’ve never tried it so I can’t make any promises. If you do end up trying this with peanut butter please let me know how it is!

I have this thing about making one thing taste like another thing.

I know, I know. I also have a beautiful way with words.

But seriously, I have become OBSESSED with making s’mores flavored goodies and (not so obsessed about this) completely failing at them. S’more cookies fail? Check. S’more cupcake fail? Check. S’mores blondies fail? CHECK. S’mores donuts fail? Check.

Donuts never let me down.

I made these late Friday night for no other reason than I’m crazy. And I couldn’t stop thinking about them. And I was tired of trying to figure out why Ikea refuses to put words in their instruction manuals. Donuts in general cure all of these problems. But these donuts, with graham cracker flavor and chocolate baked (!) right in, and marshmallow glaze? Well I’m pretty sure these can cure all life problems.

As long as your life is full of #firstworldproblems or #trendyproblems. Cures it all!

In all honesty, these are kind of a cross between a donut and a cookie. The outside gets a tiny bit crunchy and the inside is pretty cake-y. I mean, really, I suppose the only thing that makes them a donut is the fact that they are baked in a donut pan – but still a donut is a donut and these wouldn’t work as cookies. I already tried that, remember? I made mine a little on the thinner side because I’m not totally comfortable with my donut pans yet, and I didn’t want to have a overflow problem on my hands. In general, if you fill your pan about 2/3 of the way full your donuts will be perfect  But if you fill them up too much, it’ll bake right over the hole which will then turn your donuts into giant puffs of goodness. Obviously a total win-win situation here.

One more thing: I think they taste the best the day they are made, but that shouldn’t be a problem seeing as how your face probably won’t be able to stay away for much longer. It’s a proven fact that we, as humans, are completely powerless when it comes to marshmallow fluff.

S’mores Donuts (makes 12 normal sized, or a whole lotta mini donuts)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 T baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2t ground cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup milk

1/2 t vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1/4 – 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff

1-2 T milk

graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, etc for garnishing (optional)

For the donuts: Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl combine your flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a small bowl or measuring cup combine the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Whisk until totally combined. Add the wet to dry and stir to incorporate everything together. Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill your donut molds about 2/3 of the way full (I find it’s easiest to do this with a pastry bag, but you can use a spoon if you want) and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the donuts are lightly brown on the outside. Invert onto a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before glazing.

For the glaze: Whisk together the fluff and milk until smooth. Start off with 1 tablespoon of milk, adding more if necessary. You want to be able to dip the donut into the glaze and have it drip off so don’t keep it too thick.

To glaze: Dip each donut into the glaze and shake off the excess. If adding toppings do that now and gently press them in so they stay. Alternatively, you can spoon the glaze over the donuts and let the excess drip down. Whatever makes you happy!

*I said the word “donut” 12 times in this post – before I even got to the recipe. That’s got to be a new record.

It’s a new week. Here’s a drink.

Doesn’t sangria just SCREAM summer?! It makes me feel like there’s nothing more to life than shorts, sunglasses and rooftop parties where some (cute!) guy pulls out his guitar and everybody starts singing. Those parties when you’re suddenly social and talking to strangers, vowing to yourself that you’ll be like this all the time because life is too short and why shouldn’t you talk to that adorable barista at Starbucks? It’s basically a pitcher of happiness!

For the record I’ve never experienced a night like that. I think I saw it in a Jennifer Aniston movie.

Even where I live (on the sun) people are just happier in the summer (even though it’s a billion degrees outside and we could all drop dead at any given moment from heat exhaustion). It could be the sun. It could be the extra Vitamin D. Heck, it could just be the sangria. Summer = happy. And that’s why I made Sangria on Friday at 2 p.m. Because it made me happy, not because I have a problem. And in my defense, I didn’t actually drink any until five hours later..so you can stop the judging now.

Okay wait, that’s a little bit of a lie. I might have a sip  two at like 5 p.m. BUT it’s because I was taking these photos and so I had poured the glasses and I just figured I’d have a little taste before I went to my Zumba class. See, the plan was to go Zumba (or as I like to call it – Zuuuuuuumba) and then come back and have a drink while I put together a bookshelf I bought from Ikea a couple of weeks ago. And frankly? My plan went wonderfully, except replace “a drink” with “two and half drinks”, “bookshelf” with “8o million pieces of wood” and “Ikea” with “evil warehouse that makes me feel bad about myself”.

Oh, and another thing! Does anybody else turn into a complete idiot during group exercise classes? Like, say, for instance when the instructor decides that instead of facing the mirror, the whole class should jump to their right and then you (I) jump to the left? Seriously, without fail, every single time, I will jump to the wrong side and end up face to face with another sweaty Zumba-er. And I can’t even blame this on the sangria -  I just completely forget left from right because I tend to be thinking about other things. A few that come to the top of mind? Trying not to fall (clumsy), making sure I don’t look like a complete fool (vain), not dying (out of shape), willing my hair to stay in place (really vain), and watching the girl in the front row who has obviously been zumba-ing all her life and trying to figure out why she’s smiling and how exactly are her hips AND shoulders moving at the same time because parts of my body seem to shut off when others are moving and SERIOUSLY WHY WON’T MY HAIR BEHAVE (jealous and really, really vain).

P.S. If you ever want to feel awesome about yourself just come stand next to me in Zuuuuuumba. It’s like Self-Esteem Boost 101.

P.P.S. That bookshelf still isn’t completely built.

Excuse me, I need a drink.

Strawberry Basil Sangria

10 strawberries

1 t honey*

1 cup vodka

2 limes, sliced

5 large basil leaves, either thinly sliced or torn

1 bottle of white wine

Ginger ale or Sprite (your preference, but I thought the ginger ale was tastier)

Slice the strawberries and drizzle with a little bit of honey. Pour the vodka over the berries and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Pour the berries and vodka into a large pitcher, along with the sliced limes. Pour the wine over everything and gently stir in basil. Let sit in fridge for at least two hours, overnight if possible – the longer it sits, the more delicious it is. When you’re ready to serve, splash a little ginger ale or sprite into each glass.

Note: Notice how I didn’t include serving size? Well, that’s because it’s basically enough for four people at a class party, or one person after a horrible day. Depends on who you are, what you’re doing and how ridiculous your life is.