easy hummus

I think I've mentioned before how my large-capacity food processor is one of my top 3 kitchen must-haves. Here is yet another reason why. What follows is a super easy recipe for hummus, blended in a food processor (a blender will work too).

Traditional Mediterranean hummus calls for tahini, which is basically sesame butter - think peanut butter but made of sesame seeds instead. In our house, we rarely have tahini around, so I've experimented with many different nut butters. Each has been successful, and lent its own variation to hummus. Whatever nut butter you have at home, try it!

Ingredients
One 15-oz can of chickpeas (or "garbanzo beans"), undrained
The juice of one lemon 1/4 cup tahini, almond butter, peanut butter, or other nut butter 
One raw garlic clove, minced or crushed or three cloves roasted garlic
1 Tbls olive oil
1/4 tsp salt, more to taste  

Directions
Drain the chickpeas and reserve the liquid.
Combine in your food processor or blender: the chickpeas, the lemon juice, the tahini or other nut butter, the garlic, the olive oil, and 1/4 tsp of salt.
Add 2 Tbls of the reserved liquid and pulse several times. Continue to add the reserved liquid a Tbls at a time, pulsing between each addition, until the hummus is your desired consistency.
Taste and add more salt if needed.

Garnish with olive oil, paprika, and/or olives.
Serve with pita chips, tortilla chips, potato chips, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, and/or fresh, sliced kohlrabi.

no grain granola

My pregnant protein needs combined with my youngest daughter's recent gluten sensitivity diagnosis led me to creating this recipe tonight. It makes a nice alternative to puffed cereals and sugary granolas, which seem to be about the only things that consistently sound good all throughout every pregnancy. It has a very high protein content for a "cereal" and it's 100% gluten free.

Ingredients
1 lb. almonds
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 Tbls. vanilla extract

Directions
Add everything to a large capacity food processor (we use and love this one).

Pulse several times until the nuts and seeds are minced into tiny pieces and the mixture starts to cling together. If it never clings together, add more maple syrup or honey until it becomes a little sticky. It should not cling together like a dough. You should be able to form a little test ball with your fingers and have it hold together.

Press the mixture into a 9" x 13" baking pan and bake for 2 hours at 225 degrees.

Gently break apart the mixture until it resembles granola and divide it equally onto two baking sheets. Bake another 1-2 hours at 225 degrees until it just starts to turn brown. Let sit uncovered for at least 6 hours. It will be soft when it first comes out of the oven, but will be crispy by the end of the 6 hours sitting time.

Add craisins, raisins, or any other favorite dried fruit to the mix.

We did not have any dried fruit to add tonight, but it was still good. Dried fruit would have made it excellent. It stayed crispy for over 10 minutes in a bowl of milk. I didn't test past that because I was hungry!

power balls

I've played around with this recipe for quite some time and the more I make these, the more I love them. They are high in protein, as low in sugar as you'd like, easy, and very versatile. There are so many options in the ingredients that you can use whatever you have on hand and they will still turn out great. You don't have to cook them, you can mix them all in one bowl, most sick pregnant mamas can handle them, and you can hide things in there that you want your kids to have. What's not to like?

Ingredients

1 cup of any or all of the following:

nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, whatever you have on hand)
seeds (sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds)
shredded unsweetened coconut
dried fruit

1/2 cup grain (wheat germ, dry oats, puffed rice cereal, granola, not plain flour...only use what you would take a bite of straight)

1 cup nut butter

honey, 3 Tbls. to start

optional: health food additions (bee pollen, 2 tsp. raw butter, probiotic powder, 2 tsp. wheat germ oil, 2 tsp. flax seed oil, blackstrap molasses)

optional: cocoa powder and/or chocolate chips

Directions

In your food processor, finely process any large nuts, seeds, & dried fruit. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely chop them, it will just extend the preparation time. Grind the flax seeds, if using, in a separate grinder. (Grinding the flax seeds before using them allows your body to digest them more fully.)

In a large mixing bowl (your counter-top mixer if you have one), use a wooden spoon (or mixer paddle on a counter-top mixer) to mix together the chopped nuts, seeds & fruit, grain, nut butter, honey & any of the optional ingredients.

Test for sweetness. Add more honey if desired.

You should have a "dough" that will cling together on its own. If not, add a little more honey and/or nut butter to achieve this consistency.

Roll into balls, about 1-inch in diameter, and store in the refrigerator.