Too soon to improvise?

My two recipes this week were Pan-Fried Onion Dip and Hummus. I made the dip for a small soiree. It was eaten, but not devoured. I thought it was alright. I'm not a huge onion dip eater, but it wasn't too bad.

Here's my unhappy assistant. She spotted her new favorite "toy" on the counter while I was trying to take this picture. You can see her hands signing, "Please" to ask for it.

Ahhh--so happy. Our old digital camera is her new favorite toy. She agreed to document my progress on the onion dip.

The true sign of a delicious concoction? A sizzling pan of butter!

SUCCESS! Poppy eats it and doesn't gag!

I guess I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Oh well. As I said, it was just alright.

The Hummus.

First off, let me say that I have yet to learn to check to ensure I have ALL the ingredients for the task at hand. After I had added EVERYTHING to the mixer I realized we didn't have any lemons! I contemplated mixing everything together and adding the lemons later. I then thought to myself, "Hmmm, I wonder if lime juice would work? What the heck! I'll try it with some lime juice." Oh--let me mention that the recipe said, "Barefoot Contessa likes really lemony hummus."

Umm, yeah. Here's how that worked out. It was heinous! Ugh...I couldn't stand it!

So I got up uber early on Friday to re-make the hummus for a work event. The second batch was better, but still just alright. The recipe suggests using 6 TBSP of lemon juice (2 lemons). Seems like a lot, right? That's what I thought. Well, I added only the juice from one lemon and nearly gagged on the taste test. Lemony hummus blows! So since my improvisation worked so well with the first batch, I decided to give it another go. I added about 1/4 c more chick peas and 2 TBSP of tahini. It was a little better now. I decided a little fire would help it out as well. I tossed in a pinch of Cayenne Pepper. A pinch and man or man did it add some heat! I really liked it. Apparently, so did all my coworkers because the hummus was all gone by the end of the day! Hooray!

Notes to Sonya & Barefoot Contessa;

The onion dip was good, if you like onion dip. I think that cream cheese, mayo, sour cream trio throws off my mojo. The hummus was alright. I don't think I'd make it for myself again--at least not that recipe. Too many culinary decisions to be made. I didn't get into cooking because I wanted to think more!

Kelly