Hummus is a lifestyle!

I have what I believe to be an unnatural LOVE of hummus. I could eat it morning, noon, and night. With rice crackers, veggies, or straight from the container with a spoon. And the nice thing is, it’s a tasty, healthy snack. It travels well (a plus for us midwife types) and, with the help of a few baby carrots, it is easy to eat one handed. Many a container of hummus has been devoured in my car while I have been racing around town catching and weighing babies. My friend’s husband (a meat and potatoes kind of guy) teases me about my hippy ways, and says “Hummus isn’t food, it’s a lifestyle”. Well Scott, it’s a lifestyle I am happy to embrace!

And now, thanks to Angela over at Oh She Glows, my love has been upgraded to obsession. I adjusted her recipe just a smidge to make it less lemony and more garlicky. We have been making this hummus every couple of days!

[It helps that I have started canning my own beans, so I can get a can of organic chickpeas for what works out to be about 60 cents!]

So, here’s the recipe – so super easy! The longest part of making it is peeling the garlic I think….

HUMMUS:

2 cups cooked/canned chickpeas, liquid reserved and set aside
1 tsp sea salt (more or less to taste and depending on if your chickpeas are salted)
3 garlic cloves
1/3 cup tahini
4 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best)
2 tablespoons reserved chickpea liquid
4-8 drops of hot sauce (I use Franks Red Hot)

Olive Oil for drizzling
Paprika for garnish
Things to eat it with: rice crackers, pita, carrots, bell peppers (or eliminate the middleman and just use a spoon!)

Directions: Throw everything into a food processor or Vitamix. Blend well. Be amazed at how easy this was and how good it tastes.

To serve: Spread out on a dinner plate, about 3/4 inch thick. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. Garnish with a couple of kalamata olives if you’re feeling really authentic! The olive oil and paprika really make all the flavours pop!

Makes about 2 cups that will theoretically keep in the fridge for 4-5 days in a sealed container. Ours has never lasted that long because we just don’t give it a chance!

I think I’m learning an important lesson:

Gluten free dough doesn’t like to rise in the same way as regular dough.

D’oh!

Can I just say…

Here’s a little something you probably won’t ever hear again from anyone other than me:

This was the most awesome period EVER.

I had some mild cramping on the morning of the first day. I was scared because of what happened last month (it got kinda bad), so I took one lowly advil in the morning – and didn’t need anything else at all after that! I had little to no pelvic pressure, no rectal pain when sitting and my bowels were reasonably well behaved – very little difficulty passing anything and only a tint of spotting – a far cry from my usual. PLUS, I had no intestinal cramping, bloating, aches, chills or abdominal tenderness. I felt normal!! I didn’t hate my reproductive system and I actually had to keep reminding myself that I was having my period.

There are simply no words for how truly wonderful this is.

Part of me is super surprised at how quickly I have seen such dramatic changes in my body (especially around this particular issue). And part of me feels stupid for not doing it sooner (Since I’ve know about the benefits of a gfv diet for several years now). But really, I’m just thankful that this transition has been so easy, that these changes felt simple and straightforward and THAT IT WORKED!!!!

My body is really and truly starting to heal itself and that excites me to no end!!

Roasted Vegetable and Coconut Curry Stew

With our CSA, we end up with lots of yummy veggies. It’s great, but the reality is that sometimes we can get a little overwhelmed – too many greens, too many veggies, not enough time/creativity to plan all the meals. Most of the time we do alright – lately our greens have been ending up in smoothies –  but every now and then we need to do a fridge clean-out, figuring out a way to use all sorts of things in one big meal.

This Roasted Vegetable Stew did just the trick. Tasty, spicy and a clean fridge at the end! 🙂

Ingredients*:

Fridge is all clean!

• 1 Medium Onion, chopped
• 2 Carrots, chopped
• 1 Potato, chopped
• 1/2 Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped
• Small Acorn Squash, chopped
• 3 Golden Beets, chopped
• 4 White Turnips, chopped
• 2 Green Peppers, chopped
• 2 Handfuls of Green Beans, chopped
• 1 inch of ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 Tomatoes, chopped
• Olive Oil

 

• 2 Cloves
  

  The spices smelled so good!

• 1 tsp Ground Cardamom
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp vegan butter (I used Soy Free Earth Source)
• 1/2 cup “milk” (pick your own)
• 1 can of Coconut Milk
• 1/4 Shredded Coconut
• 1 tsp Thai Green Curry Paste
• Salt/Pepper
• Water as needed

*The nice thing is that you can put whatever veggies you want in this thing. Most of it was great – the acorn squash got a bit squishy, so I probably wouldn’t put it in again.

 

 

Directions:

All ready for the oven!

Throw all the veggies except the tomatoes and ginger into a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil, add some salt and pepper and roast at 375 degrees F. It took about 35 mins. Stir them every 10-15 mins or so. You want them slightly browned, but they don’t need to be cooked through since they will get tender while cooking. Roasting the veggies gives them a great flavour.

When the veggies are done roasting, heat a soup pot. Add the cinnamon, cardamom & clove & dry roast at medium heat you can smell the spices.

I wish this picture was scratch and sniff -

add the "butter"...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the butter, thai green curry paste, and ginger.

 

 

 

 

 

Add all the roasted veggies, except for the tomatoes  & stir at medium heat for about 5- 7 minutes.

Toss the veggies in...

Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, tomatoes, milk substitute, coconut milk and water if needed. Cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender. It shouldn’t take too long since they were already on their way from being roasted.

Add the coconut milk - it smells so fantastic!

All done, can't wait to have a taste...

Top with shredded coconut and enjoy!

YUM!

 

 

DIY Buddha Bowl

Well folks, I finally did it. I made my own Buddha bowl and it was fantastique!

I was inspired by my darling husband. You see, it turns out that KindFood is also a place he likes to frequent – sometimes even without me! So, while I was in Palm Springs, he stopped in for some food and while he was there, he asked them what kind of rice they use in the Buddha Bowls – and then he bought a bag for me. *love*

So, when I came home the other day I gave him his gifts (a retro looking Star Wars t-shirt and skinny jeans – which are really for me, but I think he’ll like them too!) and he gave me mine – a bag of short grain brown rice. And last night, we had a go at the Buddha bowl and it was almost identical.

Given that I didn’t use a recipe, just looked to a list of ingredients (and tweaked it a bit) I don’t mind sharing here – but please know this idea came from someone else.

BUDDHA BOWL (or as I like to think of it, “post-birth bowl”)

Ingredients:

• Brown Rice – steamed
• Sweet Potato – sliced 1/8 inch thick
• Red Onion – chopped
• Tomato – chopped
• Avocado – chopped
• Cilantro – chopped
• Basil – chopped
• Almonds
• Sprouts
• Tamari Sauce
• Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper

Directions:

Start your rice cooking on the stove or in a rice cooker. Slice your sweet potato and drizzle with olive oil and season with a bit of salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until cooked and browned. I did mine in the toaster oven at 400 degrees F and it took about as long as the rice took to cook – 30ish minutes. Meanwhile chop the onion, tomato, avocado, cilantro and basil. I chopped the cilantro and basil together and pretty fine at that – you will sprinkle it on at the end.

When the rice is done, put it in a bowl and add the onion, tomato, avocado, almonds, cilantro/basil and a few pieces of now-roasted sweet potato (how much of each you add is up to your tastebuds). Toss on some sprouts and sprinkle with the tamari sauce (not too much though).

Enjoy!! 🙂

 

Almost done...all it needs are the sweet potato slices!

 

[Note: I didn’t have any sprouts to add. Also, KindFood adds sunflower seeds which I also didn’t have. Pumpkin seeds might be nice on here. Really, you can add/remove stuff to your liking.]