Summertime Glide - Edamame Hummus

I love summertime foods. Fruit, hummus, salads, fresh veggies, farmer's markets, CSAs, gardens - all of it is perfect; and we've seemed to glide right into the summer love.

Tonight I'm filling you in on Edamame Hummus. I doubled the batch and my kids plowed through this in less than ten minutes, next time I'll triple it. Really, just one batch of this is certainly not enough.

This hummus has a fluffly texture which kind of reminds me of whipped cream cheese. I honestly don't think I changed anything about the recipe, it's excellent as is and nice change from the usual standard.

Recipe here

Make sure to buy GMO free soybeans, there are far too many reasons as to why for me to get into so I'll leave you with this click here.

Cookie Dough Dip all Healthy Schmealthy

I'm not sure where to start with this one so I'll just say it. 

This is a post for a recipe, for a cookie dough dip that tastes really, really good and it's made with chickpeas, it's also healthy. Enough said.

Saw the idea on Pinterest among many, many other ideas that I can only pin and dream of getting to and ended up on this blog. It's a huge score for me, finally someone that doesn't use white flour, sugar etc and can still land on a pretty decent dessert and sometimes down right awesome.

I've made her voluminous oats for breakfast every morning this week, with cocoa powder and a few other things.. will post that too - it's like eating chocolate pudding. 

Recipe here

My mods:

Heat the chickpeas for the smoothest consistency. Once you get them hot, rinse in hot water and drain. Add to processor and mix as directed.

I'm not a fan of stevia at all and have tried to be.. used maple syrup the first time and evaporated cain the second. I measured out the sweenter and added slowly to taste. I added extra vanilla b/c I like it. Used homemade almond butter, peanut butter makes it taste like peanut butter cookie dough (which really isn't a terrible thing). I also added cocoa powder to the first batch and it was ridiculous good, tasted like brownie batter. Used pretzels to dip into that one. I chill it in the fridge for a few hours before eating and it's much better than when it's warm. I also added the oats.

This cookie dough recipe is great with graham crackers too. Enjoy!

Low Fat Homemade Hummus

I've screwed around with my hummus recipe for a couple of years and finally decided to post it.

I recently modified the recipe to make it low fat; although the olive oil and sesame oil is a good fat, I feel the quantity in most recipes is a bit excessive and not needed to make a great hummus.

The key to smooth hummus - heat your chickpeas and blend in food processor while still warm.

3 cloves garlic
3 cups of cooked Chickpeas, or 2 cans - rinsed, drained and heated
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 T Tahini
1 T Olive Oil
1/4 cup cooking liquid
1/4 warm water - give or take, add slowly
1 T Cumin - I like cumin, add slowly and taste if you're not sure
1 tsp Sea Salt - add more little by little if needed

Heat chickpeas in liquid, peel garlic and whiz in food processor until minced. Drain chickpeas and save liquid. Add chickpeas to processor and blend, add all ingredients and blend until smooth. Add warm water little by little to thin out hummus - Enjoy.

Mango Guacamole - So Good!

We always cruise the salsa and guacamole at Whole Foods before picking up our produce. I thought I'd grab a container of the mango guac until I saw the price, $6.00. Seriously? 6 bucks for a small teeny container of mango guacamole, come on!!

I refuse to pay that for something I could watch Anthony take down in 3 bites (he could too). I made my own version tonight, I just took the ingredient list from their package and went from there. Tastes the same to me (probably better) and at a fraction of the cost , and enough for the entire family!

3 Avocados
2 On the Vine Tomatoes
1 Mango
1 Lime Juiced
Cilantro - to taste
Kosher / Sea Salt - to taste

Mash the avocados with a fork (I like mine a bit chunky). Dice tomatoes and mango, throw in. Squeeze in lime juice. Mix. Add cilantro and salt to taste. Mix and chill. Serve with the Red Hot Blues by Garden of Eden for a lil spice.

Pfff.. 6 bucks

Perfect Spicy Red Lentil Dip

a

Again, I'm craving spicy Indian food and had everything in my pantry / fridge for this one. Comes to us from myrecipes.com . Made it tonight and it's awesome. My (almost 2 year old) son wouldn't stop eating it, I was shocked as I up'd the red pepper from 1/8 to 1/4 tsp, we both loved it! mmm mmm mmm Such a nice change of pace from hummus, I'm a bit burnt on that one..I don't use cooking spray, it's a chemical sh*t storm in a can, why ruin perfectly good food with that?? Instead coat the pita with a nice thin layer of coconut oil and a few grinds of sea salt (left out the pepper, didn't want to complicate anything) Used coconut oil instead of olive to sautee - Enjoy!

You can use green or brown lentils, but the dip won't be as pretty.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: about 1/4 cup dip and 2 pita crisps) or one hungry toddler, Mamma (with a little left over for lunch)

Ingredients

• DIP:
• 1  cup  dried small red lentils
• 1  bay leaf
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  cup  finely chopped onion
• 2  tablespoons  pine nuts
• 1  tablespoon  tomato paste
• 1  teaspoon  fine sea salt
• 1  teaspoon  ground coriander seeds
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground caraway seeds
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 
  PITA CRISPS:
• 4  (6-inch) pitas, each cut into 5 wedges
• Cooking spray
• 1/8  teaspoon  fine sea salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare dip, place lentils and bay leaf in a large saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above lentils. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Discard bay leaf.

Heat oil in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and nuts; saute 5 minutes or until nuts are lightly browned. Stir in tomato paste and next 6 ingredients (tomato paste through garlic); cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in juice. Combine lentils and onion mixture in a food processor; process until smooth.

To prepare pita crisps, coat 1 side of each pita wedge with cooking spray; sprinkle wedges evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Arrange wedges iz a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until golden.

PROPS! click here to view original recipe 

Amazing Tzatziki!

Tzatziki (Greek Yogurt and Cucumber Sauce)

I made this to go with the Falafel (recipe in last post) and it is a MUST have! Don’t even dare to think of making the Falafel without this amazing, perfect, wonderful sauce. Make it with fat free Greek yogurt, Fage is my fav (now comes in a huge container!). You could cut this recipe in half but trust me; you’ll find other uses for it. I made oven baked zucchini fries and the sauce was a perfect touch (another future post).

Comes to us from Georgetta via the Kayln's Kichen Blog . She does low glycemic low carb recipes. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Greek Yogurt (or regular plain yogurt, strained as described above)
  
• Juice of one lemon (about 3 T)
  
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
  
• 2 medium cucumbers, seeded and diced
  
• About 1 T kosher salt for salting cucumbers
  
• 1 T finely chopped fresh dill (can substitute mint leaves for a slightly different version)
  
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Peel cucumbers, then cut in half lengthwise and take a small spoon and scrape out seeds. Discard seeds. (If you use the small seedless or European cucumbers with few seeds, you can skip this step.) Slice cucumbers, then put in a colander, sprinkle on 1 T salt, and let stand for 30 minutes to draw out water. Drain well and wipe dry with paper towel.

In food processor with steel blade, add cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill, and a few grinds of black pepper. Process until well blended, then stir this mixture into the yogurt. Taste before adding any extra salt, then salt if needed. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend. (This resting time is very important.)

This will keep for a few days or more in the refrigerator, but you will need to drain off any water and stir each time you use it.