Black-eyed peas supposedly bring luck on New Year’s.
Don’t we all want to get lucky?
This year I could use a little extra luck, so I made sure to concoct a black-eyed pea dish to share with friends at our New Year’s Eve pairing dinner. I used traditional hummus ingredients, but replaced chickpeas with canned black-eyed peas. What resulted was a fantastic, black-eyed pea hummus.
…
This is a bold statement.
I didn’t make it.
Claims like these typically make me skeptical… but I make an exception when it’s made by a Greek food blogger. After reading her recipe below you will be a believer too. I started drooling at the mere mention of truffles.
I first met Anna at a Food Buzz conference a few years ago. She immediately impressed me with her height ability to eat copius amounts of hummus #strangebutgood approach to food. Her blog has been in my Reader Feedly ever since!
When she proposed we do a hummus recipe exchange, I was a little nervous. I mean, this IS the lady that dreamed up Peanut Butter Bacon Hummus. After gathering my balls courage, I finally came up with a recipe for Guacamole Hummus. It’s pretty gosh-darn good if I do say so myself. Why wouldn’t you combine the two best dips ever?!
Note: My recipe includes THE secret for achieving perfectly smooth hummus. 😉
Check out Anna’s Luxurious Hummus below, and then hop on over to her blog for my Guacamole Hummus.
I first met Laura at a food blogger conference in San Francisco. Coincidentally it was a conference of hummus, sponsored by hummus giant, Sabra. The first night of the conference we all got absolutely bombarded with hummus. The grand finale offering was hummus dessert, which the world might not just be ready for yet. I’ll leave this to Laura as a “Strange But Good” challenge.
Anna is in the middle
I’m Anna from Banana Wonder. The six-foot spawn of a Greek mathematician and Californian hippie, I’m fanatical about almond croissants, pretzels, and most importantly, hummus. I am addicted to making and eating hummus! Ever since I got my first mini food processor five years ago, I have not stopped. The mash-ups are countless!
On this occasion, I made the most luxurious hummus ever. It’s hummus in a tuxedo and vegan snake-skin boots. It’s got cashew cream, velvety cannellini beans, white truffle extra virgin olive oil and black truffle salt. Creamy, rich, and downright elegant, this is the treat yo-self hummus.
Now, you may be thinking, but hummus is made with chickpeas… ok, ok, so sometimes I blend up other beans with tahini and to me it’s still hummus. Feel free to make it with chickpeas. I do love chickpeas, but I find white beans made an even smoother, creamier dip.
Truffle oil embodies the dip, giving it body and depth.
Truffle salt boosts the above.
Cashew cream. Well, it’s kind of like butter…
Peep Laura’s Guacamole Hummus over at bananawonder.com!
Combine cashews and water, let stand for about 10 minutes. Blend until smooth in a processor, blender, or whatever you emulsify in.
Add garlic, tahini, olive oil, salt and vinegar and blend until smooth.
Whirl in the beans until smooth.
Finish with extra cashews and olive oil if you choose.
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I emailed Anna as soon as I read this to complain that I’m out of truffle oil. Looks like a trip to Whole Paycheck is in my future…
What is your favor hummus flavor?
Do you like to make your own hummus or prefer the store-bought?
Stress does funny things to people.
Or it makes you find odd things funny…
I’ve been traveling this week and with the possibility of more travel looming and a bunch of personal stuff on the horizon, the stress level is high.
So I looked for the humor. Turns out, all I needed to do was look down… and then coin my new favorite hashtag: #meetingfeet.
You know you’re in Florida when an exec rocks the sock-less loafer look.
Those would be beer mugs on this business leader’s socks.
Speaking of stress, my friend Kat is stress-free after the Bar Exam!!! I am so proud of her – I can’t even imagine having the discipline to get through all that.
Today she’s sharing her relaxation strategy and a couple of quick-yet-awesome recipes. I cannot WAIT to try her Thai Coconut Hummus! But I’ll let her tell you about it…
Thank god the bar is over!!!! It was not fun, and I hope I never have to take it again. Unfortunately, bar results don’t come in until October 28 or so. Yeah, that seems like a LONG time. But, “patience is a virtue,” and I guess it gives us some time to get over the trauma of a two-day, four-session, exhausting marathon of a test. (Editor’s note: It is downright cruel for them to leave you hanging so long!)
One text I got in the middle of the first day was, “You’re 25 miles into the ultramarathon,” and that’s how it felt… taking it a few steps at a time, leaving whatever happened in the first parts of the test behind to focus on success in the future.
After the Ultramarathon (the Bar Exam), it was time to start letting go of the built-up stress, tension, and the parts of me that really aren’t so pretty when I feel so overwhelmed.
Two days after the exam, I took off to the beach for a long weekend! It was wonderful to get away, and not study! I got to read for fun on the beach, meditate, collect seashells and just let go anything weighing me down. (Editor’s note: Most deserved trip ever.)
Reading on the beach at sunset. Heaven!
It was also fun! We found a dog beach, where our newest rescue, Scout, was able to go swimming and play with all the other dogs!
I had never seen anything like it. There were probably over 50 dogs that I saw, all playing, swimming, rolling in sand, and enjoying the day.
By the end of our first day at the beach, I may have had 1st or 2nd degree burns on my butt and back. No, this is not a joke. (Editor’s note: Ummm… why did the sun see your arse?!) My back-side has not had a lucky summer…. between poison ivy and now not being able to sit due to a sun bum burn! But I was still so happy to get away.
In my bar recovery regimen, I also need to give a shout out to the cuddle bugs, the animals in my life. They are the most wonderful beings who help ground me, and who love me unconditionally, and I do not know how I could have survived the bar without them! Scarlett and Echo are my kitties (Echo turned 5 on Saturday). And then Gracie the golden, Murphy, and Scout the lab.
I love them!
Before I took the bar, I had no time for any fancy meals or kitchen projects, so I kept it super simple. Here are two super easy, fun recipes that allow you to enjoy delicious food, when time is not on your side.
Preheat oven to 425.
Top pizza and bake ~15 minutes, or until your cheese begins to brown a little.
Devour.
This is a meal I had several times while studying through dinner.
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and eat!
I’ve been snacking on this with raw beets, carrots, chips, gluten-free tortillas, and anything under the sun! It’s light and flavorful. A new staple.
And now that I’m done, it’s time for more adventures!
I have a few trail runs in California in the coming weeks, and some adventures to wrangle (Editor’s note: What adventures?! I want to wrangle…) before I really get serious about working full-time! 🙂
***
No, I didn’t crawl under the table for the sock shots. I just casually held my phone down. 😉
How do you recoup after a long stretch of go-go-go?
What’s your favorite quickie meal when you’re too busy for a big-deal meal?
Freedom.
It makes me happy.
After a week of boring, #stinkypee eats, lean white protein and asparagus are NOT What I Ate Wednesday.
My post-competition trip to Whole Paycheck Foods was the stuff of dreams. I had a list and nothing but time.
2 hours later I emerged from Whole Foods almost $200 poorer and without a single piece of meat in my cart. I even skipped the bacon (the line at the meat counter was too long).
Of course I had to fuel up properly before making this epic grocery trip. Toad in the Hole made with P28 High Protein Bread and a local farm egg. Cooked in truffle oil and topped with sriracha. Welcome back, #yolkporn.
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I’m so happy to get to post a semi-normal What I Ate Wednesday! I say semi-normal because It has been a busy day and I didn’t get to be quite a funk with my foods… and I went to an election night gathering… so I had a bug ‘ol treat dinner. Woot!
Also different is how my meals are labeled. No “Meal 1, Meal 2,” etc. this week! I ate a proper Breakfast-Lunch-Snack-Dinner. I’ll have another meal plan soon, but these are my days “off” before we start training again. I hate to admit it… but I kind of missed eating more meals!
Check out my semi-good habit eats below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see how everyone else ate on Election Day.
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Somethings will never change. I started out with my morning cocktail (mix of Apple Cider Vinegar, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos).
This was followed by my TVP “Oatmeal” done up apple pie-style. I add apple pie spice and mixed in fresh apple at the end. Topped with a peanut butter drizzle and cinnamon.
I brought my leftover’s from last night’s dinner to work. Roasted brussels, cauliflouwer, and baby bellas. I tossed then in salty fish sauce, red peppe flakes, and coconut oil pre-roasting.
The noodles are kelp noodles. I heated them in hot water to soften and toss in a pad thai-ish sauce. I’m enjoying my freedom from measurement, but here are the ingredients for the sauce:
Still trying to get my protein in (and because I wanted them), I had a bag of Veggie Pizza Protein Puffs from Kay’s Naturals. I ordered online; click here to find them and get 20% off your order.
Pumpkin hummus, cauliflower, and edamame.
Eating carbs mid afternoon still feels so scandalous!
I spent the evening with my friends Todd and Jeff watching the election results like some people watch football games. If people watch football with Malbec and cookbooks…
Election Day = pizza night! Mellow Mushroom pizza (side note: I worked there in college for a hot minute) with meatballs, red peppers, and feta cheese with a side salad.
Look at this plate and that glass of wine above. Then multiply it by 2. It was a 2x dinner.
A celebration bowl of pumpkin ice cream (real ice cream – full fat and yummy) topped with a crumbled cinnamon muffin and chocolate syrup.
***
The protein count for the day: KIDDING!!! I have NO idea. Freedom from numbers.
What’s the most you’ve ever spent on groceries?
Did you do any election night partying?
I can be so predictable.
If only my life could be predictable…
Allie was in town this weekend for a training session with my trainer… excuse me… OUR trainer. 🙂
She came in Friday night and since we are on the same nutrition plan (minus the sodium restriction for her) so I volunteered to make dinner. Obviously, I made cauliflower crust pizza.
We had a little pizza-topping party. Allie’s (in the back) had a veggie burger and asparagus. Mine (in the front) had tomato sauce, sauteed kale and red pepper, butternut squash, and chicken.
And then we went to Whole paycheck Foods where we bought pumpkin hummus. I also got a kombucha on tap. Typical bloggers.
When we got back home I made PB & Ceggs (Peanut Butter & Carrot Eggs – the vegan tofu version). I won’t bore you with yet another pic of those.
The next day we woke up and I had what will probably be my last runny egg before my competition before we headed to the gym for a leg session and posing practice. Obviously, we were armed with a cooler of smoothies, proteins, and veggies.
This was the most predictable 24 hours 2 bloggers could have. And it was a BLAST.
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The unpredictable was just as fun. We trekked up the highway to my hair stylist, Karen at Lava Hair Studio (I drive an hour to see her – that’s dedication). Allie got a trim too – how cute are those blunt edges?! Karen decided brown with red undertones were the way to go for the show – I have NO vision; I always ask her to do whatever she think would be cool. I think she made the perfect color choice!
Annnnnd… then we had my last supper. Last cheat supper, that is. Allie and I met new guest blogger Kat at STG Trattoria,
We started with a bruschetta of butternut squash, ricotta, and arugula. It was supposed to have cashews but they didn’t make it on our plate. It was good… but the added crunch and richness of cashews would have made it better.
For our main, Allie and I split a pizza. Yes, more pizza. This was an Italian-style crust and was topped with ricotta salatta, sweet onion, mint, and lamb sausage (Allie ordered her half sans lamb). The lamb sausage was was flavorful without being over-powering or greasy. I loved the char on the crust; however, the middle was a big soggy. It was a solid effort. You better believe there wasn’t a crumb left!
Of course, I couldn’t pass up one last dessert. Our chocolate mousse was topped with whipped ricotta, macerated strawberries, sea salt, and olive oil. This may have been my favorite part of the meal – the mousse was dark, letting the strawberries provide much of the sweetness. The olive oil and sea salt on top was absolutely perfection. I love a dessert that is rich without being painfully sweet.
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Workout Recap
I’m starting to freak out a little. Watching other people prep, I never understood why they were so obsessive and worrying over every little detail… and then I woke up Sunday morning feeling guilty about the last cheat meal and began reading every body building forum I could find. My abs are not wonderful. They have always been my most-hated body part. I blame genetics and a really short torso.
After talking myself off the ledge, I went to the gym and had a great workout. Apparently 100 daily (assisted) pull-ups develop the muscle under your arms as well as your back. Excuse the bewildered look. It was a tough arm day.
Workout Recap (10/15 – 10/19):
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OMGOMGOMG… less than 2 weeks!!! I bought my bling this weekend too. 🙂
Are you loyal to a hair stylist?
What would your last cheat meal be?
I have ants in my pants.
There is so much to look forward to over the next month-ish! Tomorrow I leave for the Blend Retreat (I cannot wait to meet so many of my favorites!!!), next weekend is the Food & Wine Festival in Atlanta, then I’m getting may hair cut/colored at Lava (it’s a big event in my life), then a massage and facial… and THEN I’m headed to Argentina. Whew!
This weekend is also amateur weekend Cinco de Mayo. In honor of that shenanigans, I bring you a hummus and a salsa in one.
Don’t be alarmed my it’s green-ish hue. I didn’t put spinach in it! This salsa-hummus is packed with cilantro (my apologies to cilantro-sensitive readers), garlic, and a serrano pepper. A few tablespoons of salsa sets off the Mexican flavors.
How did it take me this long to combine my favorite condiments?
This would be good in just about anything: with chips, used in a layered dip, on tacos, as a schmer on a bagel with avocado slices… in a train, on a plane… 🙂
For WIAW yesterday I used it in a collard green wrap.
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Open the chickpeas and drain about half of the liquid out of the can. Pour the peas and the remaining juice into a high-speed blender or food processor.
Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, adjusting spices as necessary.
Yield: 1 cup
***
I could eat Mexican-ish food every day for the rest of my life.
Do you have vacation plans this summer? Where are you traveling?
What is your favorite condiment?
I drink a lot…
…of KOMBUCHA!
At $3 a bottle, it’s an expensive habit. When Stacy Tweeted to tell me about a deal on OpenSky (click for invite!) for a Kombucha Home Brewing Kit from Kombucha Brooklyn I jumped at the opportunity.
My kit came with a jar, tea bags, sugar, and my very own scoby. The instructions were idiot-proof easy to understand… with very little effort I’m 14-28 days away from home-brewed kombucha!*
*I fully realize that you can brew Komubcha without buying a kit. Still, $30-something to get started is still less than what I spend on the stuff at Whole Foods. And I actually DID it.
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Two weeks ago marked the beginning of the Green Giant Veg Pledge to add an additional cup of veggies to my daily eats. Despite some terrible food choices over the weekend (french fries happened… I can’t say I regret it), I’m back on track this week and greening it up with everyone for What I Ate Wednesday!
Jenn @ Peas and Crayons is hosting What I Ate Wednesday this month in the theme of veggies:
Check out my veggies below; then click here to see how everyone else incorporated extra servings.
After a quick tabata-style workout found on Pinterest, I needed to cool down before getting in the shower. Don’t you hate when you’re still sweating AFTER getting out of the shower?
I slurped down up a little Liquid Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie topped with hemp seeds while I got a head start on work email.
Massive collard greens are everywhere in Georgia grocery stores. Traditional Southerners cook them with things like ham hocks.
Not me! I use the greens as raw taco shells!
I filled my “tacos” with raw asparagus, carrots, celery, cucumbers, red pepper flakes, and a massive amount of my new favorite hummus. The spinach-flavored hummus is made by a company called Roots. Not sure how widely available it is, but I found this a Whole Foods. The rest of the container was enjoyed with some Sesame Wasa crackers on the side.
Unpictured was the daily Kombucha, a piece of dark chocolate, and handful of cashews.
Baked is my favorite way to do tofu. The outside gets all crunchy and the inside becomes marshmallow-fluffy.
Tonight’s dinner was a Baked Sesame Tofu with lemon roasted asparagus and an heirloom tomato.
Tomato season has arrived down South! That was the sweetest tomato I think I’ve ever had. I made the mistake of cutting the tomato too early… only 2 little slices remained to go with dinner.
What was left of my tom was delicious with the light spice and nuttiness of the tofu marinade. Recipe to come tomorrow!
It was a healthy post workout dessert – a chocolate protein shake topped with cereal. Packed with spinach, of course.
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I can’t believe I didn’t like tomatoes until a couple of years ago.
How are you doing with the Veg Pledge? Have you been incorporating an extra veggie serving each day?
Have you ever brewed your own Kombucha? How about beer?
Endive Boats are the perfect party salad.
Boats make salad a finger food!
Last Christmas when I catered this party I served endive boats rather than a salad dish. They went over really well, so I decided to make a spring version for the wedding shower.
This spring version contained raspberries, raw asparagus (thin stalks), and pecans. Over the top I drizzled a light raspberry vinaigrette.
A lot of people are surprised by raw asparagus, but it is quite tasty. In season, the asparagus is especially sweet and the crunch it added was perfect.
The raspberries were just a tad sweet, but still have an early-season tartness that was well-balanced with the fruity vinaigrette and rich, nutty pecans.
Like the deviled eggs, there weren’t any leftover by the end of the party!
Recipe at the bottom.
Last week I announced I was taking the Green Giant Veg Pledge to add an additional cup of veggies to my daily eats. Many of you said you would join me… have you been doing it?
Jenn @ Peas and Crayons is with her What I Ate Wednesday theme for April:
Check out my veggies below; then click here to see how everyone else incorporated extra servings.
Do you ever wake up starving? Having followed the P90X workouts this week, I cannot get enough food!
Carrot Cake Smoothie:
The veggie-theme was full force at lunch today. I had a conference call, so I ate it in two parts.
Part 1: A slice of whole wheat multi-grain bread from the farmer’s market with my Chipotle Corn Hummus, raw asparagus, zucchini, and carrots.
I brought the veggies to work in that carrot bag. The bag was almost empty, so I piled my asparagus and zucchini slices rather than wasting another baggie. I’m a total hippie.
Part 2: Garden Lites Cauliflower Souffle
Tasty, but I may have over-microwaved it.
With my 2-part lunch, I didn’t do much snacking… there was the daily Kombucha with raspebrries, a Think Thin, Wasa flatbread, and unpictued stuff (nuts, 1/2 cupcake, cereal):
It was a pizza night at a favorite pizza joint, Double Zero. You cut the pie with scissors and they have one of the best Italian wine selections in ATL. My pie was tomato, mozzarella, arugula, roasted garlic, and chilis.
Spring Endive BoatsAssemble endive leaves evenly across a large tray. Divide raspberries, asparagus pieces, and pecans evenly among boats.
Lightly drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette just before serving.
Serves 30.
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I was going to post that mac ‘n cheese recipe… but I had to go endive for the veggie theme! 🙂
How are you doing with the Veg Pledge? Have you been incorporating an extra veggie serving each day?
What is the best thing you’ve eaten so far this week?
