This week, I've been trying to make meals from ingredients already in my fridge or pantry. It's not easy, especially when you're a planner like me - I like my lists, my recipes, my instructions for life.
But here I am, pretending that all the cookbooks in the world have been destroyed, and I have to make lunch.
I decided to start with that damn can of garbanzo beans that has been sitting in my pantry. I'm sure there are fantastic restaurants in New York using garbanzo bean puree on their $50 grilled baby koala, braised leek, blah blah blah. But standing in front of my pantry, I've got nothing. Well actually I have two thoughts - Salad or hummus, salad or hummus.
So hummus it is. This can't be hard right? I've eaten a lot of hummus. Looked at ingredients. Even made some hummus years ago.
Break out the trusty food processor and in goes all the ingredients - Garbanzo beans...
Um..
Oh yeah, olive oil. Throw in some salt and pepper. And because I'm on a roll, I dig up some sun dried tomatoes out of the fridge. After a quick puree, it looks pretty good. I'm pretty proud of myself, until I give it a taste and realize that it tastes like mashed garbanzo beans with olive oil and sun dried tomatoes. It's not bad. It's just not good.
I really wanted to rush to the computer to look up a recipe, but I told control freak Amber to calm down. I ended up making a little veggie wrap with spinach tortillas, my mashed bean mixture, red onion and cucumber. All ingredients I had on hand. It was a nice little lunch and kiddo even chowed down.
Later I looked up the recipe and realized I was missing lemon juice, garlic and tahini. The funny thing is, most people don't even know what tahini is, and I have a jar of it in my pantry.
So in the end, it wasn't a complete failure. I had a nice lunch and I will always remember what goes in hummus. Tomorrow maybe I'll tackle the tub of ricotta I have in my fridge.
PS: Are you still upset about the grilled baby koala? Com'on... it was a joke. I only eat adult koala.
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