Homemade Pitas with Garlic Scape Hummus

I had a wonderful girls night with my amazing friends Meghan and Nacie. As I've mentioned before, I am very lucky to have some really wonderful and impressive friends. The three of us got together to network and brainstorm our entrepreneurial ideas, and discuss maintaining work life balance while pursuing multiple things at once. Nacie just published her book, The Finch Effect: Five Strategies to Adapt and Thrive in Your Working Life and Meghan just left her 9-5 to pursue her own consulting business. Needless to say, we had an amazing time eating, drinking and chatting.

I wanted to make something special to nibble on and I was inspired to create something healthy and delicious using some amazing things I picked up from the farmer's market. I got some beautiful garlic scapes, french breakfast radishes and baby carrots. Craig and I are obsessed with the baby carrots from Parker Farm in Lunenberg, MA. They have super thin skin, so you don't have to peel them, just scrub and eat. They are so sweet and crunchy, we bought two pounds on Saturday and have already finished them.

So I decided to use the garlic scapes to make a tangy hummus dip for the veggies. Garlic scapes are the "stalks" of the garlic plant, which must be removed early in the growing season for a full bulb of garlic to grow. They are only available for a few weeks in May and June so grab some if you see them at a local market. They have a tender and mild flavor with a bit of garlicky bite. Hummus is a simple way to enjoy scapes and highlight their unique and tasty flavor. This hummus is incredibly simple, just a can of chickpeas, some scapes, lemon juice and olive oil.

Next I tried to figure out what else would compliment this tasty hummus. Crackers seemed so boring, so I decided to branch out a bit. The lovely and talented Katherine Martinelli guest posted at Baker Steet last week in a series of posts called Bread 101. This is right up my alley because I need to enroll in Bread Kindergarten. I literally have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to anything involving yeast. So. I saw this amazing post about homemade pitas and thought it might be doable. Both Katherine and Anuradha make bread making look so delicious and simple. Since they are both far better at this than I am, I figured if I followed the instructions I wouldn't mess up too badly.

Turns out homemade pitas are SO SIMPLE to make and so tasty. Fresh from the oven they were absolutely heavenly. Craig and I ate so many I was afraid I wouldn't have any left for my guests later. The warm, slightly fluffy pitas made a wonderful compliment to the garlic scape hummus. My only regret is that I didn't make larger batches to have some snacks for work.

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Apple Oat Bran Bread

I felt like something sweet today so I decided to experiment with oat bran. Oat bran is the outermost layer of the oat kernel. Like oatmeal, it contains B vitamins and heart healthy soluble fiber. This bread is hearty and filling, due to the 9 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber per slice. The secret to this recipe? Plain greek yogurt. Substituted for butter and oil, it adds calcium and protein and you can't even tell the difference. You can throw this together quickly and have breakfast for days. Drizzled with a bit of honey its tasty and filling.

Full recipe and photos after the jump.
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Homemade Pretzels

Warm homemade soft pretzels are a crowd pleasing appetizer or snack. Serve with mustard and beer for a tasty game day treat. Having eaten soft pretzels at ballgames for years, I never thought I could make them easily at home. The key is the two step cooking process. First you boil the pretzels with baking soda and then you bake them to a crisp. The finished product is as good as any I've had at Fenway.

Full recipe and photos after the jump!
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