cindy's pea dip

Recently I visited my good friend Cindy and she made this delicious dip for us to snack on. It is basically a hummus variation using peas in place of chick peas...I loved it! It was a very hot day and she had barely thawed her peas at all -- we joked that it was like pea ice cream! I decided to give it a try with thawed peas but I think the goal is probably somewhere in between -- the coldness of the dip was particularly good but with completely frozen peas we ended up with an icy chunk that was hard to dip into. If I make it again I will partially thaw the peas but be sure to leave them quite cold. The dip is great with blue corn chips, baked potato chips, or pita chips. Cindy suggested trying it as a spread for an open faced sandwich topped with some sunflower sprouts as well...yum!

CINDY'S PEA DIP

1 10 ounce bag frozen peas, mostly thawed but still very cold

1 tablespoon tahini

Juice of half a lemon

a few fresh mint leaves

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Place peas, tahini, and mint in a food processor and pulse. Add lemon juice and a few pinches of sea salt and pulse again. With motor running slowly drizzle in olive oil until the desired consistency is reached. Taste and add more sea salt if needed.

chocolate chip mini scones

Popular with all ages, these little scones are a yummy treat fresh from the oven...either for breakfast or as a little snack with tea or coffee. You can make the scones a day ahead and bake them just before serving.

Chocolate Chip Mini Scones

makes about 2 dozen 1 1/2 inch round scones

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced

zest of 1 orange

generous half cup mini chocolate chips (I prefer dark chocolate)

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 egg yolk

milk for brushing tops

Preheat oven to 400°. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter and orange zest and mix in using your fingertips until the mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are a quite small. Combine buttermilk and egg yolk and beat with a fork to break yolk. Pour over flour mixture and stir with a fork until all the flour has been incorporated but the dough is still crumbly. Stir in chocolate chips and turn out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into an oval about 1 inch thick. Using a 1 1/2 inch biscuit cutter cut out scones and transfer to a silpat or parchment lined tray.  Brush lightly with milk. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.

zucchini bread

When Lauren was pregnant with her second child she developed gestational diabetes. She really missed carbs and sugar and always had her eye out for things that would satisfy her cravings without hurting her blood sugar.

One day while I was at her house she was making this bread. The original recipe was from Epicurious.com and can be found here. She made a few changes in an attempt to keep on her diet and the result was great. Just look at that bowl full of vegetables! No guilt required.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.com:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

3/4 vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1 1/2 cups grated peeled carrots

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside. Sift together both flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large bowl. Add zucchini, carrots, walnuts, and dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and bake for an hour and 15 minutes, or until top is springy and a tester inserted into center comes out clean. 

Allow bread to cool in pan for 15 minutes before unmolding.