A Twist with Hummus ~ Homemade Wheat Thins

I had one more butternut squash to use, and decided to make a recipe that is in one of my Root Cellar books.

Warning:  long blog post again (sorry)

Hubby and I took a road trip Sunday, and I took along my Root Cellar book.  He is motivated more now that ever to get things done around here.

Why?


Well, he put down a payment on his new motorcycle.  The plan is to go pick it up soon, when the weather is more conducive to riding it home.  He's a pretty happy man right now.  He even bought me a helmet.  I just need boots, but that can wait. 

Back to the recipe.  I found a butternut/onion/hummus recipe in the this book:

So I made it.  Monday was a long day in the kitchen.

You roast about 3 cups of butternut squash, along with garlic and onion.  Oh, and some olive oil.  The recipe states  "cloves of garlic" so I chopped them.  Not sure if I should have left them whole or not.  You let that cool, add some chickpeas, lemon juice and olive oil.  I had organic canned chickpeas, so I used two cans and rinsed and drained them.  You can use cooked chickpeas too (2 cups).

I tasted it and really didn't think it had the garlic taste I like with traditional hummus (using Tahini).  I ended up adding more minced garlic, then mixed it up again in the food processor.

The family love it.  I loved it.  I am so thrilled I found another reason for Hubby to dig that root cellar.  When I told him the hummus was from a butternut squash I could store in a root cellar, vs. buying expensive Tahini (which he can never locate in stores and gets upset I asked him to pick it up), he was shocked.

I had to put it into two containers so we could all share, but it was quickly gobbled up.  I bet it would make a nice sandwich spread too.  And to think you get your vegetables in it, and less fat.

That's not all I did in the kitchen.  Surprisingly, along with vacuuming, laundry (etc.), I whipped up a batch of homemade wheat thins to go with that delicious hummus.  The dough is a bit sticky, so I have extra flour on hand when I roll it.  So far, the extra flour has never hindered my cracker results.

I am sharing photos in case you have never made them.  I roll small bits at a time, because I roll them very thin.  I use long metal spatulas to move the dough to the parchment lined baking sheets.

I then use my pizza slicer, and cut the crackers.  I don't even sprinkle extra salt or prick the crackers.  I just put it right in the oven.  I rotate the pan half way through the baking time.

I let the baking sheet sit a few minutes before dumping the crackers into a container.  I reuse the parchment for the next batch, while another is baking.   I should really weigh or count these, but I get a good amount of them.   Even rolling these very thin, they do not break when we dip the hummus.

I got some more organic dandelion greens blanched and in the freezer.  By blanching, these taste delicious in my breakfast, and do not have that bitter taste.

And lastly, I made a batch of homemade  Thousand Island dressing for our salads.  This also tastes great on a grilled burger with bacon and jalapenos.