Whole Wheat Pita Bread

As many of you already know from this post, I have been on a hummus kick.  My sister and I have tried many different accompaniments to have with the hummus and we have decided that no matter how creative and adventurous we get, pita bread just taste the best with it.  During one of my middle of the night feedings with N last night, I decided to look up how to make pita bread on my own.  Since I already had some whole wheat flour, this morning I gave it a go! I did some research on the main ingredients of pita and adapted it to accommodate the things I already had in my pantry.  Most of my recipe is adapted from here, but this is my version:

Ingredients:
1 Packet of active dry yeast
3 Cups whole wheat flour (only 67cents/lb right now at Sprouts!)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
not pictured:
olive oil, warm water

 Dissolve the yeast packet in 1/2 cup of warm water and mix. 

 Add sugar and mix.  Let sit for 15 minutes until the mixture is foamy.

 In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt.

This is the foamed up yeast mixture after sitting for 15 minutes:

Take the foamed yeast mixture and add it to the center of the flour/salt mixture.

Slowly add a cup of warm water and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is all mixed together.

Place your dough on a floured surface and knead it for 15 minutes.  This seems like a long time to stand there and knead but I brought the dough over to the baby and made faces at here while I kneaded.  Be creative, but make sure you knead for 15 minutes.  You know the dough is good to go when it is no longer sticky.

Coat a large bowl with olive oil and place your dough inside, turning it a couple times to make sure all the dough has some oil on it.  Let the dough sit in a warm place (I put mine by the kitchen window) for 3 hours.  It will double in size.  Being the impatient person that I am had a hard time waiting 3 whole hours for this! I was so excited to get to the fun part.  Here are some things I did to pass the time: a load of laundry, feed the baby, decorate a picture frame, get dinner ready, talk to the sister.

All those things I found to do while waiting 3 hours actually made the rising time go by really fast!  Take your now doubled dough and roll it into a long rope.

Pinch off small pieces of your rope and make some balls.  Place the balls on a floured surface, cover for 10 minutes.  While you're waiting for the 10 minutes to pass, place your oven rack on the very bottom and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Preheat your baking sheet too.

Roll out each ball into flat circles (mine are not perfect, they have character) :) Bake for 4 minutes.  The bread should be puffy.  Take it out of the oven and flip the pitas with a spatula and bake again for another 2 minutes.

I sprinkled mine with rosemary and ran to the door with one to shove in Josh's face when he got home from work.  

Most recipes say the bread can be stored in a pantry for up to a week!  Make these and some hummus this weekend to share with friends! DO IT!

Baked Salmon

Bri and I were at it again cooking up some healthy eats. I could get used to meals like these! Here is our process in cooking baked salmon with sundried tomato aparagus:

Ingredients for salmon:

Fresh Salmon Filet

Half of a Red Onion

2-3 Fresh Basil Leafs

2-3 Fresh Garlic Cloves

6 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 Tbs. Lemon Juice

Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Ingredients for Asparagus (not pictured):

Asparagus Spears

Olive Oil

Sundried Tomatos

Preheat the oven to 375. Since the salmon has to marinate, start with those ingredients first. In a large bowl, cover the salmon filet with the chopped onion, basil, and garlic. I threw all three of those ingredients into my food processor to eliminate chopping time. (I'm all about the easy way!) Add the olive oil and lemon juice to the bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

After you are satisfied with your marinating time, take your salmon smothered goodness out of the bowl and lay it in the middle of a sheet of tin foil.

Wrap the salmon in the tin foil to look like a pocket and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes. You will know the salmon is done when it flakes off easily with a fork.

In the meantime, boil the tomatoes.

And lay your asparagus on some tin foil just like you did with the salmon. Add the boiled tomatoes and olive oil and wrap up. Put the asparagus in the oven with the salmon.

Here is the cooked asparagus just out of the oven:

Yummy! We paired our delicious salmon filet and asparagus with a green salad. Bri had to have her hummus too!

This was honestly one of the best and most satisfying meals I have had in a long time! I also haven't had any fish (due to those mercury levels and being pregs) in about a year. Usually when I have cooked fish in the past, the house instantly gets infused with a nasty "fishy" stench but this wasn't the case this time! Good food, good company. What more could a girl want?

Homemade Hummus

My sister Bri has recently been inspiring me to eat healthy. Between her influence and my own desire to shed this baby weight, we have become obsessed with the Sprouts down the street. Anyone who says that eating healthy is too expensive, I say BULL to that. I have never spent more than 20 bucks for a few bags of fresh and healthy meats and produce. Here's the key though: only buy on sale and try to use coupons. (I'm not obsessing over coupons anymore though...been there, done that.) Anyway, Sprouts is wonderful for buying things to make from scratch. LIKE HUMMUS! Store bought hummus can tend to have a lot of extras and preservatives, so I decided to make it from nothing! I even grew my own beans! No, just kidding.

Here is my version of fresh, delicious husband approved hummus. Adapted from here.

Ingredients:

Garbanzo Beans (I used about 1 pound)

2 Tsp. Cumin

1.5 Tsp. Garlic Salt

2-3 Fresh Sauteed Garlic Cloves

1 Tsp. Sea Salt

1.5 Tbs. Lemon Juice

3 Tbs. Olive Oil

The night before, wash and soak your beans in cold water and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning, drain the water from the beans and fill a large stock pot up with fresh water. I did about 12 cups of water for my 1 pound of beans. Bring pot to a boil, then simmer beans for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Drain Beans.

In your food processor, process beans to your desired consistency. Once all the beans have been run through, add the cumin, sea salt, garlic salt, and fresh garlic. Run the processor again. Finally, add your lemon juice and olive oil and process real good one more time.

Wala! Homemade Hummus!

I also bought whole wheat pita bread at Sprouts, sliced it up, baked it, and served it along side the hummus to the hubs. He loved!

Hope you do too!