Ten Minute Hummus and an Easy Weekend Lunch

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I recently discovered hummus through a friend, and I am absolutely converted! I can’t believe that I have been missing out on this delicious, and incredibly versatile food. Ready-made hummus seems to be quite expensive, so I searched all over Pinterest (click here to go to my Pinterest) until I found a whole bunch of different recipes. The common thread is chickpeas, either tinned or cooked by yourself, tahini and seasoning.

After some trial and error I think I’ve managed to get a pretty good recipe down, and its very easy to make if you have a food processor or blender

In a food processor or blender, add the following:

  • one tin of drained chickpeas
  • 1/3 cup of tahini
  • 1tsp crushed garlic or garlic powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • paprika to taste
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil (or more if your hummus is too thick – it’s really up to you!)

Blend everything together – it’s as simple as that.

Hummus is so handy to have in the fridge and makes a delicious dip for veggies, toasted pita bread or whatever your heart desires. However, my favourite way to enjoy hummus is with toasted whole wheat bread, avocado, tomato and boiled eggs. Delicious!

Pin this recipe to your Pinterest!

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Thanks for reading! There will be more posts coming soon, including a delicious marmalade cake that everyone will enjoy (even if they don’t like marmalade!)

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Today I Made: Tomato and Chilli Jam

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Spoiler alert: It is delicious.

I found a recipe on a blog called Spicy Ice Cream and simply had to make it. I love love love sweet chilli sauce, but I discovered how much sugar was in it and had to give it up. This recipe calls for a lot less sugar, meaning that this tomato and chilli jam is a lot more healthy.

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I was forced to alter the original recipe a little bit, as I didn’t have all the ingredients that I needed. If you click the link above, you’ll be able to see the original recipe but here is what I did:

Ingredients:

  • 1kg Roma tomatoes
  • 1 and 3/4 cups castor sugar
  • 1/3 cup white vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp crushed ginger
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 5 red chillies of choice

Method:

First, chop your tomatoes (I chopped mine into quite large pieces and found that they cooked down very nicely, but you can chop them as small as you’d like) and your chillies. Add them, and the other ingredients to a big pot over a low to medium heat. Slowly bring the heat up to ensure that all the sugar has dissolved, and then boil the mixture. Mix the jam frequently and wait for it to thicken up a bit, then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for 15 – 20 minutes. Take the pot off the stove and allow to cool a little while to prepare your jars. Do this by rinsing them in very hot water and then placing them in a hot oven until they are dry and sterilised. Pour the jam into the jars and seal immediately. Store it in a cool, dry place for up to three months (if you can hold off from eating it for that long!)

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When I made a second batch of jam, I used baby tomatoes that my dad grows in his veggie garden. This meant that they didn’t cook down quite as much – so I used a hand blender and made a much smoother jam that is almost the consistency of store-bought sweet chilli sauce. Yum!

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This jam is honestly so tasty and is super good served with cheese and crackers, or mixed into cream cheese to make a dip for chips.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Stick around for more recipe posts, especially now that I’m on holiday from varsity.

 

A little throwback…

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Screen Shot 2018-06-13 at 20.31.44A long, long time ago (well, three years, but it feels far longer than that) I ventured into the world of youtube, and I made a few cooking videos. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it, but with school and other commitments, it fell by the wayside. Somehow, I never got back into it, but who knows what I’ll get up to in the future. For now, I thought I’d share them here. They aren’t perfect by any means – the sound is a bit off, and its clear that my editing can improve a lot, but I’m still very proud of all these videos.

Click on any of the recipes below to go straight to the video!

An Introduction to Me

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catherine-profileHello there, world! Welcome to my blog, Catherine and Cranberries. I’m a nineteen-year-old from South Africa, and I’m in my first year of university at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. I have a love of cooking and baking and I really enjoy experimenting with new recipes, both healthy and not so healthy. In Grahamstown, there are lots of opportunities to be outside – we walk everywhere and go hiking, running, and exploring lots of new and exciting places. I try to fill my free time with crafts, like crocheting and journaling, with the occasional drawing session – sometimes I just watch series and whittle away my time (but we don’t like to talk about that). I’m also just getting into health and exercise, so I’ll be keeping a little running tab of my progress and how I’m working towards healthy habits while in a university environment. Come along for the ride – I’m super excited to be back on the blogging train, and in this community of people.

 

A Fresh Start

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I have been wanting to start a proper blog for years – and I did, quite a few times, but it was never the right time to properly invest my time and energy. Now that I’m in university, and settling in well, I feel that now is my moment. So here I am! Welcome to Catherine and Cranberries, my favourite new space for just about anything, from food (I loooove cooking and baking) to craft, exploring my surroundings with my friends, to health and exercise.

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” — John Steinbeck