Filed under: Desserts, Side Dishes | Tags: chickpea, garbanzo, hummus, lemon, meyer lemon
Valentine’s Day flowers – from our yard!
A few weeks ago, I made a deal with the kids in my after-school program for Wilderness Youth Project: if they brought me fruits/vegetables/food that they had either foraged or harvested, I would make them snacks. A few days later, one of the girls brought me a large bag of meyer lemons from her family’s tree. Lemon bars had definitely been mentioned as a request, but I was feeling a bit of guilt over giving them so much sugar in one dose. But luckily I found this recipe in my searches. It uses whole wheat flour (always a plus) and not nearly as much sickly sweet sugar as other recipes I’ve found. They were a hit!
To counteract the effects of sugar, I decided to make hummus as well, and serve it with carrots and celery from the garden. Most hummus recipes seem to be very similar, so I wasn’t too obsessive over which recipe to use. I was very pleased with the result – and with a food processor, it was a snap to throw together.
Another friend gave me a bag of lemons this past weekend. What shall I do with them? Ideas..?
Lemon Bars
Crust:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter
Filling:
6 eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup whole wheat flour
Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray (or butter it) and line with foil or wax paper for easy removal later on. Spray again.
In a food processor, pulse flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add butter one cube at a time and process to blend, then pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Dump crust out into pan and press firmly to even out. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, then bake until golden brown, 20 minutes.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the filling is set. Let cool completely. Store in refrigerator up to 1 week. Cut into desired shape.
Hummus (original recipe here)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
14 oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup tahini
1 tsp sea salt
Olive oil
Cayenne pepper
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping the sides occasionally. To serve, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.
