I’m actually not a huge fan of regular hummus unless it’s so jacked up with lemon juice and garlic that most other people won’t eat it, but I made a hummus today that we both like a lot.

Ingredients

• 1 19oz chickpeas, drained and well rinsed
• 5oz baby spinach, wilted (I just tossed it in a non-stick saute pan with a tsp of water until it was more cooked than raw — 5 mins on med-high or so)
• Zest from a whole lemon, minced
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4c extra virgin olive oil
• Salt + pepper to taste — the canned chickpeas probably have a lot of sodium in them already, so be cautious with the salt at first
• 1 md clove of garlic
• 1/2 md shallot

Method

1. Toss it all in a food processor and puree until more-or-less smooth. Should be a nice rich green colour. Add warm water a little at a time if it needs thinning.
2. Taste and adjust seasonings — add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice as you see fit.
3. Transfer to a bowl and, ideally, let sit in the refrigerator for a while. The flavours will blend and develop over time, although it’s perfectly good straight out of the processor.

Serve with whole grain pitas or whatever.

It’s possible that this might be a touch lemony for some people, so if you’re not a huge fan of a big citrus punch, only use zest from half a lemon.

I had some slightly wilty asparagus left over from last week, so I decided to make asparagus soup. Very simple and really good.

Ingredients

• 2 lb asparagus, washed, tough end bits snapped off, cut into 1″-2″ chunkies
• 1 med onion, diced
• 1 large-ish stick of celery, diced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 4 c low-sodium chicken stock (Knorr-in-a-box)
• 1/4 c table cream (totally optional)
• Salt + Pepper to taste

Method

• Basic soup method – melt butter in a good sized stock pot. Toss in onions and celery and saute until all translucent and yummy. Add a few grinds of pepper.
• Toss in the asparagus chunkies and chicken stock — bring to a quick boil, then reduce to minimum and simmer for 20-30 mins or so (I went to 40 and it makes no difference at all).
• Remove from heat, blend with an immersion blender.
• Stir in the optional cream (I probably won’t bother next time — didn’t do much for the texture and didn’t add anything but unnecessary calories). Taste and add salt and additional pepper if necessary.
• Serve in nice big bowls with fresh 12-grain bread.

That was lunch (with leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch). Dinner is 4 bean chili.

• 1 can diced tomatoes, juice and all
• 1 med onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Handful baby carrots
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 c chicken broth (Knorr in a box)
• 1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
• 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 6 small new potatoes, halved
• Salt + pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large-ish pot over med-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened. Add garlic, cook for 30-40 seconds. Add the rest of the chopped vegetables, sauteing for a couple of minutes. Add thyme and salt and pepper.

Transfer all that to the slow cooker, add tomatoes and chicken stock. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Add beans 15 mins before you want to serve to heat through. Serve in big bowls with crusty buttered bread.

I have no idea what this is like yet, but I’m going to try it tomorrow. Really, I doubt you can go wrong with this recipe.

Very, very simple; very, very yummy. Serve, ideally, with Tostito’s “Hint of Lime” nacho chips.

Ingredients

• 4 ripe avocados
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 shallot, finely minced (3 tbsp or so)
• 1 small ripe tomato, finely diced
• Juice of one fresh lime
• Salt + pepper to taste (more than you think)

Method

1. Split, pit, and scoop avocados out into a medium bowl. Smush it up a bit with a potato masher, but leave it fairly chunky. Mix in garlic, shallot, tomato, lime juice, and salt + pepper.
2. That’s it.

My mom pointed out that I haven’t posted a recipe for a while, so here’s what I made for dinner tonight. This recipe is liberally borrowed from Mark Bittman and slightly modified.

Ingredients

• 1/8 c olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 2 bay leaves
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/2 a small savoy cabbage, cored and shredded
• 1/2 c chicken stock
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• Spaghettini pasta, cooked al dente
• Fresh grated parmasean cheese

Method

Place oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and bay leaves in a saute pan and heat to medium. Cook until garlic is just starting to brown. Remove bay leaves. Add cabbage and cook on high until cabbage is wilted. Add stock and pepper, then continue to cook at medium-high for 8-10 mins.

While waiting for the cabbage to finish, cook the pasta, drain, and return to the pot. Add cabbage mixture, toss, and serve. Top with grated parmasean and some more pepper.

Serve with whatever wine you like. We had a light pinot noir that didn’t quite stand up to the garlic, so you might want something a little more robust.

Yummy.

Inspired by my apparent chicken stock success, and completely starving since I forgot to eat all day, I just made this: Creamy Italian White Bean Soup. It is absolutely phenomenal.

Recommendations: Use low-sodium chicken stock and lots of parmasean cheese. Also consider either separating out the “reserved beans” straight from the can or puree it all and add more beans afterwards. Trying to separate the beans from the onion/celery isn’t worth the hassle.

Don’t neglect the lemon juice. It’s not much but it does make a difference. Yum.

Threw together some random basic yummy things to make an even yummier, but exceedingly simple, pasta sauce.

Ingredients

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 med cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 14oz can diced tomatos (salt-free if possible)
• Fresh ground pepper
• Dash of sugar
• Dash of salt
• 1/4 c fresh basil, rough chopped
• Fresh grated parmasean cheese (optional, hi FA)
• Pasta (linguine or spaghetti)

Preparation
Pre-heat oven to 400. Heat an oven-proof skillet on the range until medium-hot. Add oil. When oil is hot, toss in chopped garlic and stir. Let garlic cook for 20-30 seconds, then add the can of diced tomatoes (do not drain, add all the juice and stuff too). Stir. Add pepper, salt, sugar, and stir again. When oven is heated, settle tomatoes into an even layer in the bottom of the skillet and put it in the oven. Bake uncovered for about 20 mins. After sauce has finished baking, add basil and stir well. Let it sit for a minute or two so the basil wilts nicely.

While the sauce is baking, cook pasta in a generous quantity of salted water. Drain.

Top pasta with sauce, top with parmasean cheese. Yum.

We had bean salad at the BBQ on Friday, but as with most commercially-prepared bean salads, there was a certain unpleasant chemically aftertaste. I love bean salad, and it’s actually astoundingly good for you, so I decided to whip up a batch today. This makes a fairly sizeable quantity, but luckily it keeps pretty well:

Ingredients

• 10 oz can Chickpeas
• 10 oz can Red kidney beans
• Small can Peaches and Cream corn niblets
• 1 large red pepper
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 small white onion
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 c white wine vinegar
• 1/8 c balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

Procedure

Whisk oil, vinegars, sugar, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Drain beans and corn, rinsing well. Rough chop red pepper, green pepper, and onion. Stir beans, corn, peppers, and onions together in a large bowl. Pour oil-vinegar mix over top and stir to coat. Seal in large tupperware container and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

On somewhat of a whim today, I picked up some organic short-grain brown rice. I like rice, and I especially like the toasted nutty flavour of brown rice. Rummaging around the web, I figured out an awesome way to prepare it, with extra nuttiness. This makes an extremely yummy, dense, nutritous side-dish:

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 c organic short-grain brown rice
• 4 c water
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1/3 c slivered almonds
• 1/3 c sunflower seed kernels
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Procedure

To cook rice: Boil water. In a separate pot, heat sunflower oil over med-high heat. Rinse uncooked rice well, and put in oil to saute for 3-4 mins, stirring constantly. Pour boiling water over rice, do not stir. Bring back to a boil. Cover and set to minimum heat to simmer for 45 mins. After 45 mins, take off heat and let sit, undisturbed, for another 20 mins.

When rice is cooked: Melt 2 tbsp butter in a sauce pan over med heat. Pour in almonds, sunflower kernels, and sesame seeds. Saute for 4-5 mins, until almonds brown nicely. Add 3 cups of the cooked rice and stir until heated through. Stir in parsley. Serve.