Anyone else trying to cut down on the amount of meat and saturated fat in their diet? I'd raise my hand but at this point it's covered in barbecue sauce from my baby back ribs. I use to be a whole lot better at making vegetarian meals than I am now. I don't know if I just got lazy or bored or maybe a little of both, but I'm back on the bandwagon now and trying to make more meat free recipes.
Did you know that you're much more likely to keep your New Year's Resolution if you set a specific time to work on your goal? I bring this up because I ran across a great site that I wanted to pass on to you all (or y'all if you're in the south, or youse guys if your related to me by marriage.) The site is Meatless Mondays, which is joint project begun in 2003 by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The site encourages Americans to make Monday meatless in an effort to reduce saturated fat in our diets. Sounds like a worthy goal to me! You can go to the site for recipes, nutritional information and if you want, sign up for their weekly e-newsletter, with the latest health news, product recommendations, tips and coupons.
This recipe is one of my old veggie standbys. I don't know why I haven't made it in so long. You can serve this as an appetizer with pita bread for dipping or take it along as a lunch and dip all kinds of veggies into it, carrots, celery, red pepper strips, they all make great carriers for this high protein dish.
My favorite way to serve hummus is inside a pocket pita bread with sliced cucumbers and lettuce. Yummmm..... I'm particularly partial to Basson Bakery Original Pocket Pita Bread. It's made here in Washington, but I don't know if it's available nationally. They also don't have an Internet presence (Hey Basson! Get with the program, it is 2009, you need a website!) If you want to stuff your hummus inside a piece of bread make sure your pita is the "pocket" variety and not the flat Greek variety.
Garlic Hummus - Garlic Hummus-One Page Printable Recipe
2 cups dried garbanzo beans (or substitute 2 cans garbanzo beans, drain the beans and reserve the liquid.)
4-6 cloves garlic
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup tahini
2 tsp kosher salt
Dried beans are one of the best values in the grocery store. They take longer to prepare than canned but they'll save you money. You could cook the beans the day before you want to make hummus and store them overnight in the refrigerator.
To start, cover the dried beans with water and soak overnight in a large stock pot. The water should cover the beans by two inches.
Drain the beans and return them to the pan. Cover with fresh water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling reduce the heat to simmer and cook until the beans are tender, about an hour and a half.
Once cooked, drain the beans RESERVING ONE CUP of the cooking liquid. Set beans aside to cool. If you're cooking the beans the day before make sure you store one cup of the liquid along with the beans in the refrigerator.
When the beans are cooked and cooled they'll look like the picture above.
Add the garlic cloves to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until minced.
Add the cooled beans, olive oil, lemon juice, tahini and salt.
Process until smooth, adding reserved cooking liquid as needed to achieve the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding more salt if necessary.
That's it! You've got lovely delicious hummus. It's great for lunch, dinner just about any time you need a tasty boost of protein. Enjoy!
Hummus is one of my all time favourites and I'm a big chickpea fan in general. Years ago I invested in a pressure cooker so that I could cook dried chickpeas (and other pulses) in a fraction of the time - they're a big feature in my diet!
Posted by: Daily Spud | January 21, 2009 at 06:04 AM
Oh wow this is making the Greek in me jump for joy! :D
Posted by: howtoeatacupcake | January 23, 2009 at 11:11 AM
LOVE hummus! Too bad I don't have a food processor or even a blender. This looks fabulous, though!
Posted by: Tiffany | January 27, 2009 at 08:42 AM
Oh, that is a beautiful looking sandwich. Great job!
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Posted by: Nate | January 27, 2009 at 11:15 PM