Chickpea Curry, yummy hummus and friendly fellowship

Wanted to share a quick post about our day...

About 8:00 this morning we had kids at our door wanting to play...our neighbor was hauling dirt from the dirt pile in our yard from the new drainage hole the landlord dug to try to fix the clogged washer we've been dealing with all week...So, her boys were hanging out on the front porch...no problem, except I was moving slower than usual because I stayed up later than normal last night and I was...ummm...still in my pj's ;) it was only 8:00 am! So I sat on the porch watching the little one, who turned 2 today...thankfully I had decent pj's on and looked more like lounge clothes. I don't mind if they hang out but he's so little and still into those days of touching and turning and observing everything and he isn't the most gently with Reina and I am afraid she might nip at him if he hurt her...she never has before, but she is still a puppy...

So, there I am, pj's, trying to finish my coffee, but since I am not in front of the fan, which is where I have to be to drink my morning coffee...it just wasn't working for me... but it was great bonding time with Luis Angel. finally, he ran off with his momma and I dodged inside to go get a shower (my first of the day). Before I made it to the shower, I saw someone through the window at the gate. I recognized him to be from the Calvary church/ I asked Matt to go out and greet him so I could change. When I got out there, his daughter, who is super sweet, was inside already playing with the girls. he had asked if she could come and play for the morning. So, she stayed until about 12:30 and the girls played great together. (I finally got in the shower right after her dad left).

Today was kind of a cooking day for me. I was making dinner for some friends coming over tonight, but also cooking ahead for the next few days. today, I cooked black beans in the pressure cooker- enough for the meal tonight, breakfast tomorrow and then lunch tomorrow! I was excited!

Also, today I made hummus - without tahini- because I couldn't find any here - even at the pricey American grocery store. It turned out fantastic! We ate it with cucumbers, peppers and carrots. I have pita bread that we are going to eat with it tomorrow that I found for about a $1.00, which I thought was a good price.

Then, for the main course for supper tonight, I made my first ever curry. I have been wanting to try it and our friends that came over tonight love curry so I thought I'd go for it! I made Curried Chickpeas and Black beans and it was fantastic! I am hooked on curry and can't wait to make it again! T I she kids loved it (except Ethan does not like chickpeas, so I'll have to use different beans for him). I served it over white rice.

I also had some bananas that needed to be used, so I tried to make banana cake, a Costa Rican recipe. It turned out yummy, too! Since it was Luis Angel's second birthday today (remember the little boy I was playing with at 8 am in my pj's?) I made him a small cake for his birthday :) That was really fun giving it to him!

After I had gotten most of the supper made and/or prepped, I took my second shower of the day so that I would not gross out our guests with an offensive odor during dinner.

We enjoyed wonderful fellowship with our friends and dinner was a hit!

I wanted to share the recipes with you so you could enjoy t hem, too! :)

Curried Chickpea and black beans recipezaar.com

1-2 tsp. olive oil (I used soy oil)
1c. chopped onion
1 T. minced ginger
2-3 tsp. curry powder
1 14 1/2 oz can black beans (I made my own)
1 15 oz can chickpeas (garbanzo bean
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes (I buy large caindustrial sized can and separate out into cup sized portions and place in baggies and then freeze- I used 2 c. )
1/3 c. fresh cilantro or parsly
1 T. fresh lemon juice

*I added the following as well:
cayenne pepper to taste
fresh garlic

1. Heat oil on med. heat.
2. Add onion and ginger (and garlic). Saute 3 minutes.
3. Add curry powder, stir to coat onions and garlic evenly.
4. Add tomatoes with juices- cook 1-2 minutes until slightly thickened, stirring well.
5. Add black beans, chickpeas, salt, cayenne pepper and any other seasoning you may wish to use to taste.
6. Stir to coat evenly.
7. Cover, reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes until heated.
9. Turn off heat, stir in cilantro and lemon juice.
10. Serve warm over rice.

Tahini-Free Hummus- allrecipes.com
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained, juice reserved
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 T olive oil (I used soy)
Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend on low, gradually adding reserved liquid until hummus reaches desired consistency.

Super Yummy! :)

Queque de banano (Banana cake)
1 c. sugar
5 ripe bananas
1 T. butter
spices to taste (vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg) - I used all three
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 egg

Mix bananas, sugar and butter and beat well. Sift the dry ingredients and add to the mixture, add the egg, hand beaten. Bake at moderate temperature- about 275 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Is a very moist cake. Serves 8

Also I cooked enough beans and rice yesterday to have for gallo pinto this morning for breakfast and then had enought beans left over to make taco dip for supper tonight. So I did not have to cook at all today becausee we had leftovers for lunch!