Hot Mess Hummus

Like most of y'all in on the blogs, I have an addiction to hummus, in particular the 3 Pepper Spicy kind by Athenos. I'm not a super fan of any of the other flavors they make, but this one is always divine. For a long time, my local grocery store had this brand on sale of $1.99 (!!!), but alas, the promotion was discontinued the end of July and I was afraid I was destined to be hummus-less due to my highly frugal (a.k.a. cheap-ass) nature. BUT...I realized I could just as easily make my own. Duh! I still have a container of chipotle peppers in adobo suace packed away in my fridge from when I made this, so I decided to make my own supah spicy hot mess hummus.

A note about chipotle chilis--most recipes only call for something like one chopped chili and 1 tsp of sauce, but they obviously don't sell 1 single chili canned, so you'll have to by a while 4 oz or so can. Be advised, there are a lot of little peppers in this can! Never fear though, because as you can see, they stay good forever! This means you will have lots of time to get totally creative with your spicy self and make stuff like this:

Spicy Chipotle Hummus with Garlic and Lemon

• 1/2 can drained garbanzo beans
• 1 tbs. tahini
• 1/4 c. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 chopped chipotle chili, plus 1 tsp. adobo sauce

Combine all ingredients in food processor and blend, scraping down sides as necessary. Add water or more lemon juice if needed to reach desired consistency. Serve on chips, veggies, turkey sandwiches and anything else you can think of :)

Luscious Lemon

I wanted to make something for our realtor since he's been so awesome, so last Friday I kicked off my morning with some baking by fashioning some luscious Lemon Poppyseed Zuchinni bread. Luckily the batter made about twice as much as I'd anticipated, so there were some leftovers for some friends, and us too:)

Even though lemon poppy seed and zuchinni is kind of an odd combo, this bread was delicious. It was amazingly moist and cakelike. You couldn't even tell that there was zuchinni in the bread at all except for some tell-tale green flecks. I topped it off with a little leftover cream cheese frosting that I had in the fridge made into a glaze.

Wrapped up all Suzy Homemaker style...

Luscious Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread

• 2 c. flour
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1 (1 oz-4 servings) sugar free instant lemon pudding
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c. skim milk
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 3 tbs.lemon juice
• 1 c. shredded zucchini
• 2 tbs. poppy seeds
• 1 tsp. lemon zest

Whisk together eggs, milk, oil and lemon juice. Add flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking soda and baking powder. Stir until just moistened. Add zucchini, poppy seeds and lemon zest. Pour batter into 4 mini loaf pans sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Makes 4 mini loaves.