I’ve had a few people ask me for my hummus recipe after eating it, so here it is. This recipe is the mix of about three different recipes I found and then experimented till I got a taste that I loved. You’ll notice applesauce in this recipe, that will help for all of you who have had stomach problems with hummus because beans are not part of your daily diet.
Ingredients:
8oz garbonzo beans/chick peas
4 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
3.5 tbsp tahini (ground sesamie seeds - incase you didn’t know, also add to taste since flavor of tahini can vary)
3 gloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
3.5 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
good dash salt - to taste
good dash pepper - to taste
Instructions:
Open a can of garbanzo beans and drain the contents over a bowl. Allow to drain while you prepare other ingredients. A key to smoothing out your hummus to to keep the juice from the can. So make sure you drain it over a bowl or container to save for later use.
Peel your garlic and chop/mince.
Pre-process/chop your garbanzo beans. A common problem of using your regular blender for hummus is that it thickens up too much and is hard to blend. Pre-processing them in a food processor will help eliminate this problem.
Now comes the time to add it all to the blended. This is usually the order that I put them into the blender to help with mixing: minced garlic, garbanzo beans (to more of one side of the blender and the rest on the other side), apple sauce, tahini, cumin, salt, pepper, olive oil and finally lemon juice.
Put your lid on and use the puree setting. I occasionall use the liquify setting also to try to make sure it’s smooth.
You’ll notice that it starts to thicken up and has somewhat of an opening in the center of the mixture. Add some of the save ganbanzo beans juice to this little opening to help smooth it out to preference and mix with a spoon to make sure all ingredients get pureed.
Garnish with parsley and paprika to your likings.
Hummus is usually served at room temperature so make sure you leave it sit out before serving. Tastes great on pita bread, pretzels, wheat bread and wonderful with a side of dried apple chips.
With a goal this year to be a little more self efficient and some spare change from the governments surplus tax refund, here is how I spent my tax return:
Urban Garden - $120 for pots, seeds and a few pre-grown plants purchased from Urban Gardener here in the North Side of Pittsburgh. Plants include 10 heads of lettuce, raspberry bush, zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, cabbage, hot peppers, sweet peppers, basil, oregano, chives and parsley. This garden may not be enough to feed me all summer but it’s enough where I can get a salad or two or more a week out of it.
Large Portable Solar Power Kit - $380 for 17 watt solar panel, upgraded 12v 22amp hour battery, 400 watt DC to AC converter and various other connection wires for converter and solar panel. Kit purchased from siliconsolar.com. This kit is my first attempt at using solar power and more of a learning experience for me. From this kit and a full days charge I’ll be able to power lights and other devices for a good bit of time. My plans are to purchase more batteries and while others are in use then more will charge. I hope to grow my knowledge base on it and the applications it can be used.
Redline 925 Commuter Bike - $100 with trade in at Thick Bikes in the South Side of Pittsburgh. I’ve been riding bmx for 12 years now and have rode my bmx bike everywhere for the last year I’ve lived here in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately riding a bmx bike for more than a few miles because hard on the back, legs and the single low gear ratios aren’t that great for the hills of Pittsburgh. So I finally committed to trading in one of my bmx flatland bikes to purchase this commuter bike which is still a single speed with a coaster cog and fixed gear on the other side but is really quick because of the ratio. This bike will help me eliminate driving my car to only once or a few times a week now.
With gas and food prices increasing, it’s time to start to eat local and purchase your goods locally. One great resource for purchasing organic and local foods is www.localharvest.org.
“LocalHarvest is America’s #1 organic and local food website. We maintain a definitive and reliable “living” public nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources. Our search engine helps people find products from family farms, local sources of sustainably grown food, and encourages them to establish direct contact with small farms in their local area. Our online store helps small farms develop markets for some of their products beyond their local area.”
One local collective of growers called the Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance has pick up points all across the Pittsburgh area when you purchase a share of their crops. For about $20 a week you get 7-8 different crop items, anything from vegetables, fruits, cheese and local raised live stock. For more information about their pricing, seasonal crops and to order your 10, 20, or 30 week share of crops check them out here or vist their website. This is a great way to eat local, support your local economy and help end the need for importing so much of our food.
Please take a second to send a newsletter to Bush before world poverty is set back 7 years because of rising food prices. This has to be addressed NOW!
With gas and food prices projected to keep growing, I’ve begun to look for more ways to become more self efficient. Things like setting time aside to allow for alternate transportation (walking, biking), eating less unneeded food, growing vegetables and cutting back to just the more essential needs of living, and shopping independent and locally. Over the past two weeks I’ve started to plant my veggies for the year. I’ve planted 9 heads of various lettuce, two heads of cabbage, tomatoes, green beans, herbs (basil, chives, oregano, parsley) and zucchini in various size potters.
Each day I water them twice a day with added plant food, move the pots from my locked porch out onto my porch steps to get their 6 hours of sunlight and then stash them back away in the evening. That’s pretty much all you need to do in and in a few months I’ll have enough lettuces to eat salads daily, which is usually the hardest thing I have keep good in my fridge because it goes bad before I can eat it.
Much of the soil, plants, seeds and pots I used came from a independently and locally owned Pittsburgh (North Side) garden center called Urban Gardener. They had a great selection right now and have even more coming in. So I suggest stopping by there if you want to get some plants started while it’s still spring. On a side note, they were really knowledgeable and if you wanted to get started with planting at your apartment then stop by because I’m sure they’d be able to get you started.
This is a really great talk about Africa. It really makes a point that doing fundraising and providing aid both monetary and others is not enough to help a country. I think that the more business opportunities to help the economy we can offer the better. I know for one I’d like to start to take more business classes to get myself more knowledgeable about what opportunities I can open up in my local area to support the purchasing and importing of African goods. Does anyone know of any resource that brings together trade in Africa else than http://www.africantrade.com/? Does a campaign need to be started to bring awareness to the world that Africa is open to trade and that it’ll help grow its economy? That aid can only take it so far. This seems like a cry from within and sometimes we get caught up in what we think Africa needs from an outside point of view that we miss the cries from within.
So my neighbor grabbed me yesterday and told me the reason behind my landlord changing the locks at my apartment. She explained that the homeless were getting in and sleeping in our community basement. While she seemed almost appalled at the thought of it, I kinda felt like well at least they had somewhere to sleep that night. This really got me thinking of where our culture is heading if we continue on the same path. Are we growing? Are we recessing with the constant price increase in gas and food? What can I do to become more self efficient? It’s crazy to think that by 2050 1 of 3 people on this planet will be living in a shanty town without what we consider the essentials of living. This form of simplicity in life almost seems appealing to me some days when you find yourself glued to the computer 16 hours a day and not getting to even be outside. I know for myself I’m going to start to take steps to become more self efficients. Garden vegetables on my windowsills, walk/bike even more to destinations, fill up a nalgene of water instead of purchasing bottled water, eat more basic fillers (rice, grains, pastas, bread) to fill myself up, and so on.
A new way of thinking is afoot and I just wanted to give a shout out to the Global Oneness Project who is out there documenting this change. Check out some of their interviews to see what the world is up to.
As photographer and someone that likes to produce video content, I realize that images can bring people together, separate them, inspire them, scare them, and cause sooo many other emotions. One May 10th the world will come together to experience inspirational images from across the world. The Creative TreeHouse in Pittsburgh will open it’s doors from 2pm to 4pm for Pittsburgh creatives to come together to experience this historic day. For full information about Pangea Day please visit www.pangeaday.org but please keep checking www.creativetreehousepgh.com for more information if you live in Pittsburgh.
Did you know that Converse is now owned by Nike. There goes the symbolism of Chucks. Buy shoes from Blackspot Shoes and become a shareholder in a new company with meaning.
So I’ve been trying to do this for the last few months and I’m starting to have less and less time to update as I’m trying to get involved more with non-profit work. So I may shortly change the direction of this blog over to helping supply information on topics and ways to help others. With my lack of time to update it’s more practical for me to update this when I stumble across cool and easy ways to make a difference. Plus it bothered me a lot when someone took my site as a way of glorifying myself doing one nice thing for someone instead of trying to show how easy and simple it is to do everyday. So I think this is a better direction to head with it now.
36. Today’s Nice Thing (Wednesday the 12th): Yay
Thanks to everyone that came out and was involved with the Invisible Children Art and Music Benefit. We had a great turn out for the event and had a combined total of $1115 from entries, donations, raffles and art sales. The Invisible Children East Coast Roadies were truly amazed at how great of an event it was and can’t wait to return to Pittsburgh in the future. Thanks again to all our sponsors, artists, musicians, attendees and volunteers for the night.
35. Today’s Nice Thing (Wednesday the 20th): Sorry for the lack of updates.
Wow I’ve been extremely busy but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing my nice things each day. It just just means I haven’t the time or ability to blog about it So this post I’m going to list out a few things I’ve done since my last post and promise that I’ll return to updating this daily here in the near future after I’m done with some event planning for the Invisible Children benefit show I’m working on. So here a few things I’ve managed to do in between working full time, Creative TreeHouse and event planning.
1. Send a friend chocolates and fruit to her work because she works really hard and feels unappreciated sometimes.
2. Cooked a nice dinner for someone on Valentine’s Day.
3. Suprised my mother by traveling out to see her on her birthday.
4. Left cans out again for the homeless to collect and cash in.
5. Offered to do barter design work for Mike from Flavorville Cafe because he is a hard working guy who is training disabled people food skills so they can get jobs.
6. Supported a local Bellevue business by purchasing catering items instead of buying from cheaper establishments.
7. Helped promote local Pittsburgh establishments doing Invisible Children Events by creating www.creativetreehousepgh.com/IC.
8. others I’ve forgot
34. Today’s Nice Thing (Thursday the 7th): Sent a letter to congress.
So a lot of websites now offer an easy way for you to write to the government about a specific issue or causes. I fill these out as much as I can because it only takes a second and you are another person that shows your government you care. So I don’t becoming a statistic in this sense. Today I filled out one to support the installation of wind energy power in United States. So take a second, read the information and submit your comment to the government on this issue. Read more here.
33. Today’s Nice Thing (Wednesday the 6th): Donation to Greenpeace.
So I just got in from my nightly walk in downtown Pittsburgh and I have to say that there is something a matter with the weather. It shouldn’t be 60 degrees in the beginning of February. Now I don’t have much money to donate this money because I’m relatively broke but I just donated $5 to Greenpeace. I’m not sure if they can figure out if global warming is causing this weather but I do know that I find it funny they were arrested for peacefully protesting in fake polar bear outfits in Washington DC. Click on the image to read the story.
32. Today’s Nice Thing (Monday the 4th): Spending time with friends.
So I’m finally starting to peek my head out of the shadows and join the rest of the world in normal activities. This was the first time I’ve been really sick in a long time and have almost fully recooperated else than a slight occasional cough. So I’ve moved once a year since I’ve been 17 and have lived in various areas around Pittsburgh, PA. During these times I’ve found a lot of friends in these towns, but unfortunately don’t get to see them as often as I like with working a full time job and doing Creative Treehouse after. So today I agreed to meet up with some friends and head down to Washington DC for the weekend. So if any of my long lost friends wants to catch up while I’m in DC please get ahold of me
31. Today’s Nice Thing (Wednesday the 27th): I’m in hiding.
I’ve been sick this past week and so my one nice thing for these days has been not trying to spread nasty cold. Please stay away from me till I’m better!
30. Today’s Nice Thing (Tuesday the 22nd): General Tso by The Jim Dandies.
Last weekend was Lights! A Photographic Exploration at Creative TreeHouse which was organized by John Bodnar. One of the bands that was played was a new band called The Jim Dandies from Pittsburgh ,PA. Luckily I had my flip camera with me and grabbed a few videos of their performance. To help promote them, I’ve thrown this video up on a few sites.
29. Today’s Nice Thing (Monday the 21st): Raising Money.
So I just setup a www.ChipIn.com for raising $10,000 for Invisible Children. It’s a pretty awesome widget that basically lets people make a donation into an organizations paypal account and keeps track of it. So I’m hoping to raise $10,000 by the end of the year by having people make donations directly to them. Please take a second and donate a few dollars if you can.
28. Today’s Nice Thing (Wednesday the 16th): The Story of Emmy.
So I’ve been doing a bit of organizing and spreading the knowledge of Invisible Children visiting Pittsburgh this coming March. During their visit they will be showing the Sunday documentary which you receive if you buy one of their bracelets. Each bracelet you can purchase supports a different child in Uganda. Since I’ve already seen this, I decide to purchase one of their red bracelets to support Emmy. Here is Emmy’s story.
Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been working some long hours with my fulltime job, Creative TreeHouse and planning some upcoming stuff for an Invisible Children benefit show. I’ve been doing my one nice thing a day but not getting to update it here. Should be updating daily again in the next few days.
27. Today’s Nice Thing (Sunday the 13th): Texture Downloads.
So I spent a few hours the other weekend scanning in everything I could find laying around at the Creative TreeHouse. This pretty much happened after working on a new websites for a tattoo artist when I got inspired to scan in some more materials I could use in the design process. So here is another goodie for anyone that wants them. Enjoy!
26. Today’s Nice Thing (Saturday the 12th): IC Coming to Pittsburgh.
So I just sent out information to all my contacts here in Pittsburgh about the Invisible Children World Tour that will be hitting Pittsburgh March 6th - 13th. Creative TreeHouse will be hosting an event during that time and I’m hoping many of the other organizations in Pittsburgh will be able to do the same. If anyone is interested in helping out with an event at the Creative TreeHouse or hosting your own, please contact me here to get more info.
25. Today’s Nice Thing (Thursday the 10th): VisitPittsburgh.com
So I got an email from a friend over at VisitPittsburgh.com today looking for some Pittsburgh photos they could use for a few presentations. So she inspired me to dig up some photos and do another free goodie giveaway over at MonkeysRunFree.com. So here you go for all of you people out there that work for Pittsburgh based companies and occasionally need some photos of events that promote Pittsburgh. The images are of decent resolutions. I hope everyone finds them useful and it’d be great if you credit Jesse Hambley if you use them, but not needed if you can’t.
24. Today’s Nice Thing (Tuesday the 8th): Non-profit it is.
Tonight was the first meet up for the Creative TreeHouse’s new board of directors. I’ve been doing the Creative TreeHouse for a year now as an LLC and it’s time to finally make the push to turn it over to a 5013c non-profit. The decision was pretty much made tonight that this is definitely the route we want to head with the Creative TreeHouse and the best direction for its future. I’m happy to finally be able to bring everyone on board and make even a greater push here in Pittsburgh to enrich the community.
23. Today’s Nice Thing (Monday the 7th): Electronic Frontier Foundation.
So I just made a $5 donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and added one of their badges on the One Nice Thing site. For all of you who don’t know what the EFF is, the “EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit group of passionate people—lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries — who depend on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights. ” They have done a lot already to protect the rights of bloggers & contributors on the internet and with everyones support they can do more. So please check out their website and add a banner in support on your blog.
22. Today’s Nice Thing (Friday the 4th): Affogato’s new travel mugs.
Another great Bellevue establishment and small business is Affogato. Today on lunch I went down and shot some product photos for the owner, Victoria, because they just got in their new travel mugs. The mugs are pretty awesome and feature the Affogato “Big A” one side and the STBD logo on the other side if you’d like it. She’s currently selling them for $10 so please stop in, pick up a mug and support your local small business owners
21. Today’s Nice Thing (Thursday the 3rd): Debit or Credit.
So I’m not sure if everyone does this or not, but it’s probably just me. When I’m checking out at mom & pop establishments and they ask me for debit or credit, I usually respond with whichever is cheaper for you guys. Not many people realize this but to establishments using credit/debit card processing they are sometimes charged a fee per transaction for either one or the other. I caught myself doing this today and realized that I probably just saved them a few cents to a few dollars on the sale. So I just wanted to bring this easy action to people’s attention and hopefully encourage them to do the same. I heart small businesses!
20. Today’s Nice Thing (Wednesday the 2nd): Putting a good word in.
So if you are from Pittsburgh then I’m sure you’ve already heard about the new clothing line featuring some Pittsburgh inspired clothing called Wear Pittsburgh. Weirdly enough Wear Pittsburgh is actually using the company I work full time for to produce their shirts and so I’ve been doing what I can to help them out and represent Pittsburgh within the company. After talking with Mike Woycheck, one of the co-founders, it was apparent that he would love to have some sample shirts of all the materials they offer. So with the few powers I have, I put in a good word at work today and in a few weeks Wear Pittsburgh should be receiving their very own samples of our materials Happy to hear Pittsburgh is being spread throughout the country, even if it’s on a silly note.
19. Today’s Nice Thing (Tuesday the 1st): Causing a Smile
Happy New Years! So I’m pretty excited for what this year is going to bring. I see a lot of great things happening hopefully in the immediate future for myself, Pittsburgh and the people around me. I hope everyones New Year’s resolutions are ones of helping others and giving back to the people that have helped them. One of the easiest things you can do on a daily basis is causing someone to smile. Today while I was shopping at a department store, there was a clerk who apparently was having the worst day of her life. I’m happy to say from just having a smile on and being friendly I ended the check out process with her smiling and wishing me a Happy New Years instead of not responding like she did to the few customers before me. Once again, Happy New Years and I wish everyone the best of luck for this year!
About
One Nice Thing a Day is Jesse Hambley's blog documenting the experiences of trying to do one nice thing along with being a resource blog of easy ways to make a difference. I'm not trying to change the world, just trying to show how easy it is to make a difference.
So this post I’m going to list out a few things I’ve done since my last post and promise that I’ll return to updating this daily here in the near future after I’m done with some event planning for the Invisible Children benefit show I’m working on. So here a few things I’ve managed to do in between working full time, Creative TreeHouse and event planning.
