Things I have learned from my sisters

Over the years there have been many things that I have learned from my lovely sisters.  Stephanie continues to teach me so many things in the kitchen.  I have recently been on a hummus kick and was lamenting the fact that a jar of tahini costs $10!  To which she replied "You know that you can make that right?" Of course.  So after some research and conferencing with her, I made my own tahini and then made my own hummus.  So easy and so good!  We have also been enjoying her salsa recipe which seems too easy to be so good.

So for the Tahini all you do is buy some sesame seeds from the bulk bin (about 1 cup) lightly toast then let cool.  Put them in the food processor and grind with a little olive oil.  You can keep this in your fridge for awhile.  With this amount I have been able to make 4 batches of hummus.

Hummus

1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. tahini
olive oil

Chop garlic in food processor then add rest of the ingredients and blend.  Drizzle in olive oil until desired consistency is reached.  You can also add a little warm water if you don't want to use the olive oil, but the reality is that you aren't using that much 2-3 T.

So from my other lovely sister I have learned to try new recipes.  Every time we see each other she has some new recipe to try and most times it is a combination of ingredients that I would not think of putting  together. So last night I decided to try a new recipe (to me) and it turned out great.  I made butternut squash risotto the girls were not interested but I loved it.  It started out after I roasted a butternut squash to make ravioli (more on that later)  I had more squash than wrappers so I decided to use the rest for the risotto.

Butternut Squash Risotto
(adapted from Giada's Pumpkin risotto)

1 cup butternut squash cooked
1 quart chicken stock
1 onion chopped
2 cups aborrio rice
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup parmesan cheese shredded
fresh sage chopped

Heat squash and chicken stock in a pan in a separate pan sauté the onion until soft.  Add the rice and sauté for another 2 minutes.  Add the wine and allow to cook out.  Add the heated stock 1 cup at a time until absorbed stirring the rice so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.  This process will take about 20 min.  Once finished add the cheese and sage.