Get Your Hummus On

I've wanted to make my own homemade hummus F.O.R.E.V.E.R. I love hummus. It's a super food and it tastes good on everything. Only problem: It's decently expensive in the grocery store. Plus it's just better homemade! I have a hard time paying a lot of money for something that I can easily make. No better day than today to give it a try, I finally realized.

Homemade roasted red pepper hummus:

I think it was a success, too! Jonathan said it was the best hummus he'd ever eaten anywhere. I'll take that as a compliment. And I made it from my own recipe. Below are most of the ingredients:

I made modifications after I took this picture. I didn't use paprika for garnish (you can, if desired) and I added cayenne pepper.

Ingredients:

1 roasted red pepper

3 large garlic cloves

1.5 tablespoons EVOO

one 19-ounce can chickpeas, drained

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 tablespoons sesame tahini

3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Method:

Prepare pepper by removing stem and seeds. Broil red pepper for 10-12 minutes, or until charred. Set aside to cool. Peel the skin off. I threw about 3/4ths into my food processor.

Add the remaining ingredients and process until mixture is light and fluffy. Enjoy with veggies, warm pita, on a wrap, or whatever else you can think of! 

I will be doing another batch soon. If you have a great hummus recipe, do share!!!

Sweet Potato Maple Muffins

Yes, I know I haven't been blogging about my adventures with power tools. Be patient — I must be since I possess precious few tools. Hopefully my father will be visiting soon with a biscuit joiner and I'll have a new project to share. No, a biscuit joiner is not a piece of sausage, either, as one of my co-workers suggested!

And, speaking of food...

It's been awhile since I've shared a recipe. This is my modification from Gwyneth Paltrow's Sweet Potato & 5-Spice Muffins.

I make them for Nora because there's no added sugar — the sweet potato, maple syrup and spices give it a wonderful flavor. And, when you make it according to the recipe, it's gluten free and dairy free! I will admit though, that I make it with regular flour. I've made it with unsweetened almond milk and regular milk, and both taste delicious. Honduran vanilla extract is my secret baking weapon. My mother-in-law, Rita, brings us back some when she goes on mission trips to Honduras.

I'm sharing this recipe because so many people have asked for it.

INGREDIENTS
1 large sweet potato
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup good-quality maple syrup or xylitol, plus 2 extra tablespoons for brushing the muffins
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free flour (if the flour doesnt include xanthan gum, add 1 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 400F. Prick the sweet potato a few times with a paring knife or fork. Bake until soft (when a paring knife can cut through with zero resistance), about 1 hour. Set the sweet potato aside until its completely cool.
Peel the sweet potato, discard the skin and mash the flesh in a mixing bowl with a fork. Whisk the olive oil, almond milk, maple syrup or xylitol, and vanilla into the sweet potato. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, five-spice powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and evenly distribute the muffin batter among the cups.
Bake at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, brushing the tops with extra maple syrup during the last 5 minutes of baking. Let the muffins cool before serving.

Enjoy!

New Day, New Diet

About once a year I decide to give up all food that tastes good. I decided that the time was right on Sunday to begin my latest diet — er, lifestyle change.

Yes, I'm going to the beach for a whole week in May, but that's not why I'm choosing to eat like a health nut again. Okay, well, it's only about 35% of the reason. The other 65% is that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have weird medical maladies that I'm not going to discuss in the blogosphere. You wouldn't believe me anyway. Suffice it to say that I've been through a LOT in the last year and a half — and it's time to take matters back into my own hands.

That's why I decided in a bout of frustration this weekend that I'm resuming some semblance of the Candida detoxification diet. If you'll recall, that's the diet I went on last year. In 10 days I lost around 7 pounds and went down an entire pants size. I'd never felt better...that is, until I added back food and found out that I'm sensitive to everything but water.

This go-round I'm going to drastically cut my carbs and sugar, not eliminate them. I'm going to dramatically limit my alcohol intake. I'm going to focus on eating organic foods — mainly meats and veggies. I will drink chamomile tea and eat probiotics and try to coax my GI tract into submission. Oh, and I'm going to drink water until I float away.

Here was my last good meal. Thanks, mom:

Here are the only foods I'm allowed to eat from now on:

I'm excited about my grocery store finds, actually! I've never tried these Naked fruit smoothies or carrot juice or greek yogurt.

Tonight's dinner wasn't bad at all, either. Jonathan and I had butternut squash soup and a chicken salad with dry roasted edamame. We tossed it in our favorite dressing — oil and vinegar with a little salt and pepper. That's another one of those tips straight from our Italian grandmother.

See, not so bad:

Wish me luck!!