Monday, October 1, 2012

Vegan MoFo Day 1: Hummus!

It's heeeere! It's heeeeeeere! Vegan MoFo is here at last!

As promised, I'll be celebrating this year's MoFo with a paean to that most wonderful of food forms, the dip. Who doesn't love dipping? Sitting around a table with a big bowl of something yummy and plenty of interesting things to poke into it... perfect. I love the informality and friendliness of a dip-dinner. For some reason, it always seems to lend itself to conversation and long lingering spells at the table, and I love that.

I'm kicking things off with a simple dip that pretty much every vegan everywhere likes (and if you're the vegan who doesn't, SORRY!): HUMMUS! Here's tonight's batch:

  A fine bowl of hummus

 The garnish is olive oil, za'atar and bittersweet paprika, and yes, it is a nod to Sabra. I feel churlish for admitting it, but I adore Sabra hummus and if it wasn't so expensive compared to homemade hummus, I would probably never make my own. THERE. I said it.

With that off my chest, may I just say that this is actually a really fine batch of hummus. I like to use the recipe in Veganomicon with some tweaks of my own (more water, more lemon juice, slightly less oil, chop the garlic with the blender before you put in the chickpeas, etc) because it really never disappoints. Even after all these years, we're still together, this hummus recipe and I.

*cough*

Anyway, I can't blog about dips without blogging about the accompanying dippers! Here's a (blurry, sorry) shot of our full table for tonight:

  Dip and dippers

We've got rainbow carrots, cucumber, and celery in the white dish, then some (canned) dolmas in the black dish in back, and of course a big plate of whole wheat pita in the middle. But what is that other dip you see?! Oh, I guess you'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out... On Tuesdays I'm out of the house for 10 hours at a stretch so this week I'll be double dipping, as it were. (Har har.)

Last but not least, look who is here! Here is the Emperor this morning when I was refreshing him on the whole idea of vegan MoFo: Some trepidation 

Looks skeptical, no?

 And here's the Magician after one celery stick too many. Buddy, we've all been there...

  We've all been there buddy

 Tomorrow I hope to sneak in a few minutes to read other people's blogs and start commenting! I can't wait to see what everyone else is doing for MoFo!

15 comments:

Unknown said...

That spread looks amazing!!! I have to admit that I've never really been into making my own hummus- I always feel like I add so much olive oil and other goodies that it ends up being more expensive than the store bought kind- but I may have to try this!

And the little one below must be your little "pumpkin", right? They are absolutely adorable.

Mel said...

Love your theme and am looking forward to reading about a month of dips! Your little guys are growing up so much and are as adorable as ever. The hummus looks great too!

Bekki said...

Aw, what little cuties! And a month of dips sounds wonderful. I'm pretty unimaginative in that department and love my hummus, maybe I'll branch out some.

Fanny said...

yuuum, hummus.

jd said...

That hummus looks super-awesome, and I can't wait to keep checking in with your blog to see what other scrumptious dips you come up with!

Happy MoFo!

PS Your little guys are adorable.

Unknown said...

Love me some hummus! And Sabra is my favorite brand too. I got some za'atar seasoning at Atlantic Spice company this Summer, which I am now going to sprinkle in my home made hummus too, great idea ^_^

Anonymous said...

I love your theme! Dips are one of those things I never seem to make, even though I love them. I do make hummus though... I've never put za'atar on it, but I do put sumac on it sometimes.

Tea and Sympatico said...

Great idea for a theme. Look forward to seeing more!

KitteeBee said...

oh yum! the oil well is my favorite part of restaurant hummus, i never do it at home, but i should!

xo
kittee

P.S. If you're able to disable your spam captcha for the month, other MoFoers will be able to comment quicker and more frequently!
<3 <3

Rachel Hallows said...

That hummus looks soooo good.

coldandsleepy said...

Oh dear heavens, I had no idea the CAPTCHA was even turned on. It's off now. If things get too spammy, I'll re-assess.

And Lorien, yes, the little one is the pumpkin-sized one! Though confusingly, we call the big one Pumpkin as a nickname...

Everyone with za'atar: just put it on everything. That's my philosophy.

Erin said...

I will admit that I super love Sabra too, it's so smooth and tangy! Probably that sneaky citric acid, haha. Your copy cat looks delicious!

coldandsleepy said...

Oh man, could it be the citric acid? I've never considered that. I have some in my spice drawer somewhere.

adrienne said...

31 days of dips is a very timely theme seeing as how we're on the cusp of so many holidays. I will follow along to get ideas for parties. Love the pictures of your little ones!

adrienne at http://cracktheplates.com

Anonymous said...

Oh MAN. Dips every day? Photos of your kids? And you used the word "paean" in real life? I think your blog is going to be my favorite this year. Did I mention that I loooooooooooove dips??? <3