We now have a Ninja in the house

When Mother's Day rolls around, a lot of women expect flowers, perfume, jewelry, something feminine and pretty. Me? I ask for appliances and gadgets. I remember the first year Jeff and I lived in North Carolina. Jeff got me a fishing pole for my birthday. It was a great gift, because he and I enjoyed going to the beach together and fishing, but I didn't have my own pole. I remember talking to my Dad, and he asked me what Jeff had given me (making sure his baby girl was being taken care of I guess). When I told him, he was quiet for a minute before asking me if I had wanted one. He must have thought Jeff was in big trouble. But Jeffrey has a great track record in the gift department. He knows me very well.

Sometimes I am super specific though. This was one of those years. I pointed out a few times that I really wanted a Ninja master prep system. It slices and dices and...you get the idea. Jeff ordered one off Amazon and hauled it out to the mountains with us since we went away for Mother's Day Weekend. Yay! Just what I wanted!

Things have been crazy busy around here since then. I was to the point that if we all had a clean outfit to wear the next day and we all ate dinner I felt like I was ahead of the game. So we haven't had the time to properly christen our new kitchen toy. We finally did tonight, by making hummus.

I became a big fan of hummus a couple of years ago. Sometimes I make a quick trip to the grocery store on my lunch break, and hummus and pita chips with a banana or yogurt on the side makes for a great lunch.

To make it tonight, first we roasted a head of garlic (super easy - cut the top off, put it in an oven-proof dish on top of some olive oil, drizzle olive oil on the exposed cloves, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook for 45 minutes 375 degrees). This makes the house smell delicious!

Here's the recipe we used for hummus. We did have to add more olive oil. It was creamy and garlicky and so yummy. I say we...actually I gave the boy directions and he made it. That's been happening a lot lately, which is fine by me. It took us a while to find
tahini paste in the grocery store. Was it with the Asian food? The peanut butter? Nope. With the vinegar. It's a sesame paste that is actually pretty tasty. Now I have to figure out how else I can use it.

As for the Ninja, next I'll be looking at a new smoothie recipe. I really want to try one that combines vegetables and fruits and supposedly tastes like the fruit so you forget you're drinking spinach. If you have any good recipes, please feel free to share!