mmmmm more hummus

so i made the spinach and artichoke hummus but i swapped lime juice for the lemon juice and i added 1 tsp of cumin and a generous splash of chipotle hot sauce

it was awesome!!!

almost tasted the same as guacamole

and i finally found sugar snap peas in my local grocery store

have you ever tried them? great to eat raw

memories of safety harbor hummus

or really you can call this artichoke and spinach hummus

i haven't really eaten much of any spinach and artichoke dips because this became popular after i started eat to live and gave up dairy...most are laden with cheese and icky stuff that makes me cringe so i think i may have taken a little taste of one once but didn't ever think that you could make a hummus with spinach and artichoke

after many years i find myself in safety harbor florida for the t-tapp retreat and my wonderful room-mate and fellow t-tapp trainer jen had stocked the fridge we had by accident with lots of fresh fruit and veggies in addition to an artichoke and spinach hummus

wow...was i amazed at how good it tasted...we ate it with fresh veggies and were actually the envy of some who saw us walk into a meeting with a plate full of cruditees and this awesome hummus.

i left the retreat and knew that i needed to make up my own version with no added oil or added salt...i'm a eat to live groupie or nutritarian...are you surprised?

well i finally got around to it and as promised in my previous post, here is the recipe...

artichoke and spinach hummus

3 cups chick peas, cooked
half a pkg of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed well
2 gloves of garlic
juice of one lemon
1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained
1/4c water to get 'er going

i threw this all into the vitamix and blended until it was pureed. if you prefer it a bit chunky then pureed the chickpeas, garlic,lemon juice and water first then add the artichokes and spinach and blend to the desired consistency

awesome and oh so tasty

i gave my husband a bit to taste and he said i should probably hide it because my older son will be more than willing to help me eat it all up



this is my new favourite hummus

nori wraps

i'm truly in heaven

i just finished eating some wraps that i made for lunch.

originally i was going to make artichoke and spinach hummus and eat it in some romaine lettuce leaves with some extra veggies and sprouts...super tasty as is

on our way from a two hour hike with lots of dips and climbs i needed sprouts and happened to walk by nori in the store and *ding* a light bulb went off. why take some extra time to wash the lettuce (i still had to get home and make the hummus too) when i could roll it all into some nori sheets and have awesome wraps

i saw this idea once on someone's website and it stuck with me but i never tried it

boy am i glad i did

i made the hummus (recipe in the next post) then i lay a thin layer on the nori, topped it with some baby spinach leaves then added some fresh carrot slaw mix from the produce section and topped it off with sprouts.

i filled them a little too much but by working quickly i could gently squeeze the filling and pull the nori...very gently!

i ended up with some fantastic wraps and i'm thrilled it was so good

the hummus was so good it deserves it's own post

the key thing to note when working with nori is that it is dry and brittle until you add a moist ingredient...then it is soft and kind of stretchy. if you don't fill them too much you can actually roll it completely and the hummus will help it stick together into a "burrito" of goodness.

my camera and video camera batteries were both dead so i got my phone because this was worth documenting

the possibilities are endless...i hope you give this a try and let me know what you made!!

mmm i made the soup

as you know...based on my previous post...i was craving soup

it is a longer process than any other soup i've ever made but it was soooo worth it

here's the final recipe with a few more mods

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Ingredients
•1 butternut squash – cut, remove seeds and roast (cut side up) 45-60 min at 350
• 1 bulb of garlic – roast for 45 min
Saute the following until the onion is caramelized
• 1 onion diced
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 1 leek, sliced
Add 10 cups water
• 4 potatoes cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 large yam cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 can chickpeas (drained and soaked)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Puree once you add the roasted squash and garlic and everything is soft.

Add some hot sauce or lemon juice when serving to jazz it up

it's cold...i want soup

I'm coming off a raw fruit and vegetable detox and the biggest irritation has been feeling cold the whole time.

I'm craving a warm soup and I've got the perfect recipe to start off with.

I found it here

They forgot to mention the garlic in the ingredients. By omitting the salt and oil it should pretty much be perfect for me. I won't bother with vegetable stock...I'll just add some carrots and celery to the onion and leek mix to give it more flavour.

Oh and I'll probably add a bay leaf and skip the maple syrup and cinnamon...hahahaha. There's a reason I said it was the perfect recipe to start off with.

I also hate recipes with long instructions...c'mon it's soup not brain surgery.

Here is my modified recipe

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Ingredients
•1 butternut squash – cut, remove seeds and roast (cut side down) 45 min at 350
• 1 bulb of garlic – roast for 30 min
Saute the following until the onion is caramelized
• 1 onion
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1 or 2 carrots diced
• 1 leek
Add 10 cups water & 1 bay leaf if using curry
• 4 large red potatoes cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 large yam cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 can chickpeas (drained and soaked)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon or curry powder (depends on mood)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Puree once you add the roasted squash and garlic and everything is soft.

Spring is here and I'm craving salads

The sun has been shining all weekend and I saw a fennel bulb in the grocery store with my name on it.

I love this easy salad that I make which is crisp, sweet and reminds me of spring and summer. You might want to try it when you want something other than your regular repetoire of salads.

Fennel & Orange salad

1 fennel bulb, sliced
1/4 red onion sliced, very thin
2 oranges
fresh crushed black pepper
red wine vinegar

Place the fennel and onion into a bowl. Cut the peel off the oranges making sure that you cut into the flesh and have no white pith on the orange. Do this over the bowl to catch any juice that may drip. Supreme the orange segments so no membrane is on the segments. Squeeze the remaining orange after you've placed all the segments in the bowl.

Add as much black pepper and red wine vinegar as you'd like.

That's it! The orange juice and vinegar are enough to dress this salad and the fennel has a wonder crisp anise taste.

Another salad that I love is bean salad. We have this popular recipe that was passed down throughout my family for ages but it includes oil, salt, sugar etc etc.

Over the years I cut a little here and removed a little there and now all I do to dress the salad is mix a little agave syrup (just a few spoons) with white vinegar and it's done. The key is to let it marinate for a while.

This week's version has lots and lots of green and yellow beans, some red kidney beans, chick peas, lima beans, green pepper, red onion and some black pepper.

Chipotle Black Bean & Sweet Potato Stew

I love trying new recipes...especially fast, easy and nutritarian ones.

I googled Chipotle Black Bean & Sweet Potato Stew after reading an article regarding male vegans or "hegans". I found this one that wasn't too complicated and was easily modified to fit into my whole food, plant based way of eating without added oil or salt.

All I did differently was I used no oil and water sauteed the onion instead. I also did not add salt.

It was so fast and easy and I love how the sweet potato balances the subtle yet spicy taste of the chipotle.

You HAVE to try this recipe no matter what your typical fare is. Trust me...it's great. I think it would be a wonderful filling for burritos too!

I'm pretty sure that those who resist healthy cooking would like this.

I've been eating it for lunch over a bunch of kale or steamed broccoli but some brown rice would be great too.

Let me know if you try it and whether or not you liked it as much as I did.