The Glorious Chickpea

I've had hummus before, but haven't paid much attention to it.

I picked some up on clearance the other day, and it was delicious. What surprised me was how low calorie it was for how filling it was.

Eating a bunch of raw veggies does not normally do much for me, but with the richness (to me) of the hummus, it actually makes for a satisfying lunch or light dinner. Who knew (probably most of the Mediterranean, but whatever).

So I made some today for myself. I was pleased with how it turned out.  I took a recipe from Rema that she got online, and sort of remembered it...

2 cans chickpeas -reserve 1/2 cup liquid from can (i ended up using all of the reserved liquid)
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
lemon juice to taste - i just squeezed a lot out of the bottle, didn't measure
salt and pepper to taste

(and I went with these measurements to keep it lower calorie - i think it would normally have more tahini and olive oil in it)

I don't know how my version compares to the "real" thing, but I thought it turned out quite tasty.  Next go around, I might add the roasted peppers I have in the freezer.

What I must remember is that I do not have the world's greatest food processor, and should have put the garlic through first...oh well...

Even the girls like it. I'd rather R dip carrots in hummus than ketchup (blech). W also enjoyed dipping her pringles in the leftover hummus on her plate.

Since I was on a chickpea roll, I decided to try this recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough dip

OMG. It was so tasty.  I heartily recommend this recipe. I used brown sugar, natural peanut butter, and coconut milk (b/c that's what i had on hand).

Delicious.

Even the girls liked it. Yay!  We talk a lot about eating healthy, and so they thought it was fun that this sweet treat was healthy.

I mean, yes there's brown sugar in it...but I'd rather they eat this than a little debbie snack cake.

So here's to the chickpea, nature's blandest bean (or whatever the heck it is).

Of course, when I was talking to my mom on the phone about this recipe, I mentioned that there was a certain chickpea-ness to the flavor...(wait for it...wait for it...) ...and then i spent the next couple of minutes snickering to myself....

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on another food note - we've always known that R has milk issues...and that W and I seem to have different issues related to milk...so not going dairy free - still using butter, yogurt, and cheese - but trying to incorporate other milks (like coconut or rice) into the diet more for all of us.

New Ideas

I'm definitely an omnivore. I love veggies and all, but it's hard to imagine life without animal products...I mean, I guess I could go meatless, but it's hard to imagine going butterless, yogurtless, etc...

and I don't have any interest in exploring the virtues of tofu, thank you very much.

anyway, in my perusings, i came across this blog.  now, this is a vegan blog, which seems to focus primarily on desserts...

ok. i'm willing to try.

and really, the reason i'm willing to try is i love the photography of the food...it makes it look so delicious.

so far i've tried fudge babies.  I thought they were delicious.  i actually made mine with hazlenuts, which gave it a definite nutella-ish flavor (and i used them b/c for some reason, i have a ton of them in my freezer)...i think i would like it with the walnuts better, but that'll have to wait.  in the meantime, delicious! i also added a touch of honey b/c my mixture seemed kind of dry - this could be b/c of the less than awesomeness of my food processor.

then i made the chocolate frosting mousse.  it was super delicious, but mine was not thick at all. she talks a lot about the coconut milk, so for my first time out, i'll chalk it up to that. i called it chocolate soup and it was still super delicious.

my last attempt yesterday was the single serving one minute chocolate cake.  i used regular sugar, white flour, and the leftover coconut milk that i had on hand...this was SUPER tasty - i topped it with a little of the chocolate soup i made :) and it was wonderful. WONDERFUL.

i'm looking forward to trying more of these recipes. i know they aren't low in calorie, so i'm not going to go crazy with it, but i do like that the ingredients are so much better than say those in a little debbie snack cake.

here's to chocolate!

Cooking!

I've successfully made french bread. It was relatively easy, and turned out really well.  Here's the recipe I used if you're interested.

I'm mid process of making coconut cream cupcakes - the cupcakes have turned out well, and I'll do the finishing touches tomorrow.

And it's all thanks to my kitchen aid :)

The Road From Over-Consumption

So awhile back, I started using this website to track my calories.

Tracking calories is not fun. It is very tedious work...especially since I cook most of our food from scratch...

I'm not even worrying about other health issues, like fat or what vitamins I'm getting...just the calories.

On myfitnesspal.com, I have it set to consume the calories that would allow me to lose 1 lb. a week..

Surprisingly, that's very doable.

not surprisingly, I like to eat large portions many times through the day. it's an adjustment...pasta and rice are figuring less in my daily diet than before, which has been kind of hard...

It's been an interesting journey - like, I can eat all the veggies I want until i feel like puking, or i can have one tiny reese's peanut butter cup :)

It's also more incentive for me to exercise - like, if i exercise, then i "earn" those extra calories (rather than the reverse of, i ate that dessert, now i "have" to exercise)

So far, I've lost about 7 pounds.

Which means that from 3 years ago, when I went to the rhuematologist, I've lost 15 pounds.  That's just crazy to me. Mainly because when i look in the mirror, I still see the same person.  I was happier with my Christmas picture this year though, so i must have lost the weight from my chin. hahaha.

Anyway, that's where I'm at.  I've gotten back into the exercise routine while R is at pre-K.  I of course injured my foot again while running - and even though i really loved it, i may have to accept for now that running is not for me.  Recumbent bicycle it is...

Yum

So I made popovers the other day - it was relatively easy, and tasted right.  Only difference was I made it in a muffin tin, not a popover tin...I think this played a part in the end result shape.

R took a bite and said "yum! these are like what we had at that fancy place with granny"

hooray! my 4 yr old thought they tasted like the popovers at nordstronm's :)  i take that as a success.

of course, i am now greatly inspired now to get a popover tin..but all in good time