Good Eats: Whole Wheat Pita Chips and Hummus

Don't these look yummy? 

Did you know that hummus sandwiches are the PB&J of the Middle East?  At least that is what I heard on Oprah.

I don't know what possessed me...  maybe it was because I was missing Oprah, or maybe I was missing all the delicious restaurants like Lebanese Taverna  my hubby and I used to visit in fancy pants Northern VA...  but out of the blue today I decided to make my own pita chips and hummus from scratch. 

I just love, love, love baked pita chips but the store is so far away and I had a pile of laundry a mile high I had to tend to....  So, what's a girl to do but make them herself!

The first part is pretty easy.  Like most any yeast recipe you start the yeast, then you mix up the ingredients (I cheat and use my dough hook instead of kneading it) and just sit and let it rise.  Then you punch it and roll it out and let it rise again, bake and your done!  It may take some time but it is pretty easy.

I used this recipe for whole wheat pita bread here.
 

It made 6 of them and I didn't need near that many but I'll be using the left overs for some yummy PB2 sandwiches later!

Once they cooled down, I cut them into triangles, brushed them with a tiny bit of olive oil and a generous amount of salt and baked them at 400 degrees for about 7 to 9 minutes to make them into chips.

Lastly, I threw in a few ingredients into the old processor to make a giant batch of hummus.  I used this recipe on Mr. Food's site here, omitting the chives and adding a bit more garbanzo bean liquid then was called for to get the right consistency.  Voila!

Good Eats - BBQ

We've been in the area of VA for almost 3 years now (hard to believe) but it hasn't quite felt like home.  You see, we are BBQ connoisseurs and despite all our efforts and many tries at restaurants all over our area from Scottsville to Madison, we hadn't found our BBQ home yet.  It's not that there aren't plenty of restaurants selling BBQ in our area.  It just that unfortunately most of them just aren't quite good enough to call your mama about.  We had almost lost hope and thought we'd might never find amazingly good BBQ in our area...   until we found the BBQ Exchange of Gordonsville, VA.

At the BBQ exchange, patrons line up at a counter, cafeteria style to get their BBQ fix whether that be brisket, pork, chicken or even tofu .  Of course I've never tried the tofu because who are we kidding?  The meat is what we come for.   Both our faves, pulled pork and brisket are out of this world.  They do not dissapoint.  They are perfectly smoked with hickory flavor throughout, tender without being fatty, and all alround terrific.

The smokers doing their magic.

The sides are phenomenal as well. While I wouldn't get the sides everyday for fear of suffering a massive heart attack, they are mighty tasty making them very hard to pass up.   If buttery pound cake and corn bread had a love child, the corn bread they serve would be it.  I've never had anything like it.  The baked beans are a BBQ lovers best friend.  They even make their own homemade pickles which they will happily fry for you to order. Unfortunately, they do serve them up spear style while I prefer my fried pickles served more chip style.... but they are worth a try nonetheless!  Good thing I hadn't heard of this joint while pregnant!

Once you select your eats, you can choose your seat amongst several family style picnic tables covered with butcher paper where five different sauces await you from spicy to tangy to sweet and bacony...   along with a roll of paper towels in case things get messy.

 

I could definitely get used to this place.  I'm kinda glad this place is 30 minutes away...  keeps me outta trouble.