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.