rosemary-lemon white bean dip

my obsession with rosemary has taken up again. i made rosemary-lemon white bean dip again, but this time i had time to take pictures. and pictures i took.

i found the recipe while trying to find ways to use up the rosemary i got last time at my local farmer's market. i bought some more fresh rosemary on saturday (along with sage, lemon verbena & fresh garlic). and seriously, the fresh garlic was amazing. i'd never had it before, but it smelled great, and i'm pretty sure tasted more amazing than the regular dried garlic i normally use. (also, the lemon verbena makes fantastic tea)

back to the dip. i'm sure you can follow the link to get the recipe, but i'll copy it here with a few modifications i made. which aren't many.



ingredients:

* 2 cups cooked white beans, like cannelini, drained but moist (i used 1 can of white cannelini beans)
* 1 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
* Grated rind of 2 lemons (i used only 1 lemon, & i added about half of the juice from 1 lemon)

- Blend the beans & garlic (start with 1 clove & taste to see if you need more) & a pinch of salt. (add some of the oil & lemon juice if your food processor doesn't blend dry stuff very well). process until the mixture is smooth. then taste & see if you want more garlic. if so, add more, blend more.
- Scoop the bean mixture into a bowl & beat in (with a spoon or spatula) the chopped rosemary, lemon zest, & the rest of the olive oil, along with salt & pepper to taste.
- Garnish, & serve with chips (i prefer rice chips)

blueberries + apricots = yummy smoothie

as you can guess, i made a blueberry apricot smoothie the other day. it was delicious. i never measure things when i make them. but i basically just blended together blueberries, sliced apricots (i think they blend better if peeled..), honey & fruit juice (i only had grapefruit available).

to see the pics large & beautiful, visit my flickr. more specifically: this picture, this other picture, & yet another picture.

basil scrambled eggs...

apparently i'm not very original with my eating habits. i happen to like eggs. a lot. and i like eggs with toast and avocado. a lot. however, i tried something different today. in my scrambled eggs i added a bit of pesto, chopped basil, and shredded cheese. it was scrumptious. :)

sauce of apples

i've discovered how easy it is to make homemade applesauce. i used this recipe as a template, but i make modifications each time i make it.



this is roughly what i did yesterday:

ingredients:
4 large apples (i used golden delicious - they really are...)
1/2 cup H20
2 strips of lemon peel (1/2 inch in diameter)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 -1/2 inches cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaping tsp honey

directions:
core & chop apples. put abosolutely everything into a medium to large pot on the stove top on high heat. bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer until the apples are mushy enough to mash with a potato masher. taste for sweetness. (this recipe isn't very sweet - if you like sweeter applesauce add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of honey. or just add more honey.) remove cinnamon stick & lemon peels. mash. serve hot or put in a jar and refrigerate.

the best part of waking up: breakfast

i had pancakes for breakfast this morning. mmm...

lately i've been using the buttermilk pancake recipe from joy of baking, except that i substitute regular milk for buttermilk, since i never have any buttermilk on hand. i highly suggest using 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour, which is what i normally do. however, i am out of white flour currently, since my grocery store isn't selling the brand i like anymore. thus, i used stoneground spelt flour. the result was a batter that was a bit too liquidy, so i'm thinking maybe the stoneground spelt didn't absorb the liquid as well? (i really have no idea). regardless, they were yummy. i ate them with blueberries, peanut butter, and maple syrup.

try the recipe here.

our tiny basil (garden)

tiny basil seedlings:

a little bit bigger basil:


soon to come (hopefully): even bigger basil ready for use in a scrumptious recipe