hummus! round one

so i eat a lot of hummus. lots. like a costco sized tub :) it's that sabra hummus! if you've never tried it, head to the grocery store immediately and buy some. and some pita chips. then cancel dinner and sit on your couch and enjoy the yumminess :)

as a result of my hummus addiction, i've been trying to make my own. i've yet to come up with a chickpea version that tastes as good as sabra, but this spicy black bean hummus is in it's own league. it's delicious with pita chips or multigrain tostitos. and you can control the spice with how much jalapeno you use. i used a whole one the first time and WHOA! that stuff was hot. nate ate it like candy of course, but it was a bit too hot for me. about half seems to be perfect :) enjoy! and if you have a great hummus recipe, please share! i'm still tweaking the chickpea one. i'll post it once i'm satisfied :)

Spicy Black Bean Hummus

• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
• Dash of crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Dash of ground red pepper

Place garlic in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, black beans, jalapeño pepper, and crushed red pepper; process until smooth. Spoon bean mixture into a medium bowl, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with ground red pepper.

(not pictured as hummus isn't all that photogenic) :)

tgif!!

so glad it's friday!! happy weekend to you all :)

cleo's new friends

so it was a little difficult to get them to sit still, and i definitely didn't get a group shot, but here are the dogs that cleo's been hanging around with this weekend :)

colt:

and nittany:

better than ezra

last weekend we went to see better than ezra at house of blues in orlando. it was fantastic! we had a great view of the band and there always tons of fun to see live. i was thinking about the first time i went to see them, and cassie, correct me if i'm wrong here, but i'm pretty sure it was thirteen years ago!

better than ezra was cassie's favorite band and they were playing for $17 a ticket at the electric ballroom in tempe (which has since been torn down). i was fifteen (cassie's friend drove). we staked out a coveted railing spot and the cover band played so long i almost fell asleep! when they finally came on we loved every minute of it. we had to leave sometime at the end (maybe already at the encore? i can't remember) to make curfew.

we've seen them lots of times in betweeen then and now. i'll see them at least once more this year, they're playing at epcot's food and wine festival in october!

dog central!

we're dogsitting this weekend for 2 dogs plus our usual resident canine, cleo. it's been pretty entertaining! cleo has never seemed to understand how to play with other dogs and she usually ends up growling and making a whole lot of noise that scares them instead of encouraging them to play with her. not so with this bunch! colt is a french bulldog and nittany is a mix of several things (i'll have to post a pic, she looks sort of like a tall fox). but because nittany is used to the frenchie growl, she just plays right along with cleo. right now they are chasing each other in figure eights around the couch. it's nice for cleo to have some entertainment ;)

nate's been out of town TONS lately! which is good that he's busy at work and that lots of that time has been in PA so he's been able to see family and friends. the only downside is that he's not here with me! i' ve been keeping busy though, been working late some and also working on catching up on photos. i also (and this is embarrassing) have been playing a whole lot of the sims2 and some stupid game on facebook that cassie and i have both reluctantly gotten addicted to ;)

this weekend, nate's brother (and lots of others from his company) will be in town for a conference. so we'll be spending time with him which will be fun :) i'm hoping to challenge him to a round of dr. mario! i think the band is getting together sometime today too.

have a great weekend!

oh okay one more :)

i think this one is my favorite:

attn: fans of fletcher

i'm working on the photos but since i went a little crazy with the quantity last weekend, it's a lengthy process ;) these things take time people! in the meantime, here's one more of fletcher. i think he's dubious that i will finish these anytime soon... what do you think?