The Leaning Tower O Maize

Supper, Sunday July 09: mediterraneanish platter (heirloom greens, beets, grilled zucchini, olives, hummus, shrimp, rye toast).

OK, I was just being silly. We just got back from our beach condo. When we are there, we tend to eat a lot of seafood. Generally speaking, it's good for us, but we often make 2 mistakes: we eat too much; and we take in too much salt. Often when we get home we get back on our normal habits of watching our salt intake, scaling back on meat, and putting more veggies and grains on the plate.

This was no exception. When we got home, and after we got settled in, I went into the garden to pick some beets, lettuce, and squash. The corn and shrimp came from the coast. They were part of the leftovers from a big pot of low country boil I made for us and my very good friend who lives in the area. I whipped up some hummus and threw a few olives on the plate and voila, a healthy supper.

If you have a blender or a food processor, then you should make sure to find a good hummus recipe(s), something that suits your taste. It is a wonderfully malleable dish. Just the plain-Jane version, the basic recipe, is a tasty snack or side. When you start playing with variations a whole world of flavors opens up. Switch out the chickpeas with lima beans. ( I know that suggestion might induce retching in some, but if you like limas, this is heavenly.) Toss in a few pitted kalamatas at the end for little tidbits of salty goodness. Roasted chilis, pinenuts and basil, black beans, and on and on. Plus it's good for you: legumes; olive oil; garlic; sesame. The ingredient list is a practically an FDA healthy eating guideline.