Redneck recipe and roasted roots

Motivated by Heather to dust off some underutilized cookbooks, I flipped pages and landed on one that stumped me. Hillbilly hummus. I’ve always lived in the South, so I’m no stranger to southern flavors. Hillbilly hummus was certainly packing a surprising ingredient list. Peanut butter and garlic in hummus? Hmm, not my go-to pairing. I let an “eww.” However, I thought it was best to yield to experience and give this a shot! A bonus was that I got to use the can of black-eyed peas that was looking super lonely in my pantry.

Hillbilly Hummus (from Passionate Vegetarian)

1 can black-eyed peas (15 oz.)
3 cloves garlic
¼ cup peanut butter, I used Earthfare organic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon of cayenne
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, fresh cracked

This recipe swaps the traditional chickpeas with black-eyed peas and peanut butter for traditional tahini! I processed the black-eyed peas, garlic, cider vinegar, and peanut butter. I added the seasonings and continued to process until smooth. Believe it or not, this hummus was delicious!! I sampled plenty of it on some organic blue corn chips.

Have you ever made something of odd ingredients that came together? This hummus was quite different from my typical recipe and well worth making again! Lemme hear your in-kitchen success stories! Maybe you will dust off a cookbook or two of your own and find a winner.

For a lunch I roasted up some carrots with thyme, similar to the method recommended by Greg. I served them over red quinoa for a quick meal + the hummus I’d already consumed. Huge carrot flavor and very little time spent!

Readily showing my nerdiness, I got an exciting book about backyard permaculture from the library today. Permaculture deals with creating interconnection between several levels of plants, from ground cover to large trees. I’m still learning, so that’s all I say for now! I can’t wait to put the reading into practice this spring. I want to expand my plots further on the land out back with herbs and veggies. I’ll share more as we get closer to time that I’ll start growing from seeds! Do you plan to plant a garden in 2010? Have you continued to garden from the fall, either in a green house or indoors? What stumbling blocks keep people from growing their own food? When I was in 7th grade I had a optional class in garden design and I fell in love with it! It was just a one time thing where we learned about landscaping, really. I sketched on graph paper an elaborate layout of my dream garden, but I had no concept of growing plants for form and function! I think it probably lacked much that was even edible! It might be fun to try this exercise again and see what I come up with. What would your dream garden have? Enjoy your week.

Peace!