Family Chow Hall

I’ve been told that the best thing for dipping pita chips is GUACAMOLE. Well, maybe so. Personally, I prefer hummus, especially if you put loads of garlic and red pepper in it.

My sister says she makes guacamole frequently with a few simple ingredients. The only trick is getting good avocados. I mean, you can get them all the time, but too green is not good and you have to wait for them to ripen. But don’t wait too long or they will become soft, mushy, and brown. Not very appetizing. When you go looking for avocados, look for dark green ones - on the verge of black. Then check for firmness. Like a peach, they should be firm but not hard. Flies buzzing around them is definitely bad, hee hee. The ripeness window on avocados, as with bananas, is very short. When they are good, don’t waste any time using them.

Below you will find several variations of guacamole….

Variations of Guacamole:

Sue’s version:

“No need for me to add fat to my avocados, I love them just the way they are…actually I add a lot of lemon…chopped tomatoes, green chilis, cumin, chili powder, onion, garlic, and plenty of lemon juice.”

My creamy version:

“1 or 2 avocados, 1/4 c. sour cream, fresh cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and plenty of lime juice — throw this all in the chopper and pulse until smooth”

Hubby’s Guacamole:

“1 or 2 avocados, lots of chopped onion, some chopped poblano pepper, cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper, and just a dash of lime to prevent the avocado from browning.”

Use any of these as a dip for pita chips, corn chips, or a topping for fish or chicken. It also goes great on salads, soups, and tacos or fajitas. Yum, Yum!

However you like it, go ahead and make your own — don’t buy the tub of it in the produce section. It’s no big trick to do it yourself.

I promised in my last post to tell you how to make those fresh homemade pitas into toasted pita chips and here it is. First I have to say that, besides warm and fresh, this will be the best way to consume your homemade pitas. For some reason, homemade or not, pitas turn stale and dry quickly. When this happens, or even before it happens, go ahead and plan on making them into chips and make a great (and possibly) healthy dip to go along with them, such as red-pepper hummus, spinach dip, or pesto.

Toasted Pita Chips

This is so simple, but unfortunately you can’t make a mountain of them at once unless you have a double oven and several cookie sheets.

Heat your oven to 300 degrees.

Cut the pitas (unsplit) into eight triangles each.

Place them in a single layer on your cookie sheet.

Spray with olive oil cooking spray. You can also brush with butter or olive oil, but the spray is easier, healthier, and does the trick.

Next, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder.

Now place them in the oven and turn the oven off. Yes, off.

About 2 hours later, remove from oven and eat. If the pitas were thick, check to make sure they are completely crispy with no soft spots. If there are soft spots, you may have to turn the oven on again and repeat for an hour.

These pita chips can be stored at room temperature just like potato chips.

NOW FOR THE DIPS. I’ve posted some of these before, so I’m listing the links below:

Tzatsiki Dip

Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Spinach Dip

GOOD EATING, FOLKS!

I’ve been making pita bread pretty regularly lately. Warm and fresh from the oven, this almost-flat bread is so delicious for dips, sandwiches, and salads.

If you’re thinking “I don’t really like pita bread, it is too dry and tough,” then STOP. Pita bread, bought from the bread shelf at the grocery IS dry and tough, especially the whole wheat variety. However, baked in your own kitchen, homemade pita bread is a totally different experience and I challenge you to try it.

The basic ingredients are the same as any other bread. Since I’d made pita bread only one other time and it didn’t turn out very well, I decided to do more research. In the process, I found The Fresh Loaf, a website dedicated to helping us bake wonderful bread. This is a great resource and should be bookmarked on everybody’s web browser.

So I checked out what the folks at the Fresh Loaf had to say about pita bread, then tweaked the recipe a bit to include some whole grains and got busy in the kitchen. I’m listing the basic recipe below. For more details or the original recipe, check out The Fresh Loaf.

Pita Bread
makes 12

1 1/3 c. water
2 T. olive oil
1 T. honey
1 1/2 t. salt
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 3/4 c. white flour
2 t. yeast

Combine all of this in your bread machine, following the maker’s instructions, and set the machine to “dough.” (Personally, this is the only cycle I ever use. I never use the bake cycle on my machine. I like to bake bread in my regular oven.) While it runs, clean up the kitchen because you need lots of counter space to prepare these.

An hour and a half later, when the machine is finished working it’s magic and saving your arms, turn the dough out onto a floured board. Knead gently, just for a minute or two, and divide into 12 portions.

Shape each of these into a ball and let them rest on a floured surface (cover with a towel to prevent drying) for about 10 minutes. Next, roll each one out, nice and thin. You should be able to get them thinner than the pitas you see in the grocery. Scatter them on every flat surface in your kitchen, again covering with a towel. (Don’t stack them up - I’ve made that mistake) Let them rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now for the fun part! Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place either a baking stone or a upside-down cookie sheet in your oven to preheat. Once it’s up to temperature, flop a pita onto the stone or cookie sheet. Generally, I prefer stones, but I can get two pitas on the cookie sheet and only one on a stone. Bake for just 3 minutes and remove. They will puff up and then deflate after you take them out of the oven. The kids love to watch this process. If you get brown spots on the bottom, turn the heat down a bit.

When warm, pitas are every bit as soft and pliable as a tortilla. After they’ve cooled, they will crack when you try to fold them.

Next time I post I will tell you how to easily turn these into garlic pita chips for dipping into hummus or pesto.