Hummus

Hummus is almost an everyday snack food for many many people. I have no idea why, but it is so damn addictive, I've never even thought that (apparently) I can be in deep love with beans. There are so many ways  to make the huge variety of spreads and dips, with different kind of beans, not chickpeas only,  even though at the end it's not exactly hummus, but still delicious.

I'm trying to keep it on a healthy side, but I am OK with store-bought hummus. However my preference goes to one brand among others: "Sabra hummus". If you read its label, it won't question you as many other competitor brands with lots of 0_o?? ingredients. There is also a nice mediterranean store at 39th and 9th ave, where you can buy a simple hummus in a can, and then mix it with olive oil and lemon juice at home before serving.
Here is my attempt to make hummus.
I followed an easy path and made it with canned chickpeas (yes. being lazy).
Unfortunately, using the wrong source of information and having no practice I got a very bland and runny hummus.
However! I was quite persistent aka  pissed that I didn't manage to cook such a simple thing as a hummus and fixed my mistakes and got REALLY GOOD hummus at the end.

Here are few mistakes I made:
1. Not enough garlic. Hummus is not a hummus without a garlic in it (don't add too much though..)
2. Too much liquid.
3. Lack of spices.
If you already added too much liquid, try to thicken it with the chia and flax seeds.

Homemade Hummus:
1 can of chickpeas
2 tbsp reserved liquid (from the can)
2 tbsp tahini
2 medium garlic cloves
3 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
pinch sea salt
1 tsp cumin
fresh parsley for decorations
Method:
Dry the chickpeas and reserve their liquid. Pulse the chickpeas in a blender, slowly adding garlic, tahini, lemon juice, reserved liquid and olive oil. Blend until you have the desired texture: you can regulate it from more coarse to the silky smooth. And that's basically it. Spread it on toasted pita, dip mini carrots and celery in it (fingers will work too).

No need to stick to my ingredients list, as it varies to your liking. Mix in whatever you want to, and make a very exclusive and your very own bowl of unique hummus. Go on and add bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, basil, paprika, dill,zaatar, mushrooms, turmeric, pine nuts, olives,and many many other favorites of yours. Pick the consistency you prefer: skip half of the liquid if you like more stiff hummus or add more olive oil with lemon juice to thin it out.

The idea is to keep those basic ingredients together (along with proportions): chickpeas, liquid from it, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. And then only the sky is a limit :-) Play around with it!

Snack choice: Granola

Granola was on my to do list for a pretty long time. Everyone cooks it. Everyone raves about it. Everyone says it's very easy to make. OF COURSE I kept it in mind and was dying to try to make my own.

And finally I made my first batch of granola! Yay!
Now I can't stop eating it. Aside of the fact that it is homemade and obviously healthy, it is also crunchy, sweet, salty, chewy, yummy....in one word: addicting.

There are tons of homemade granola recipes. You can adjust them to your liking.
Here is how it works:
oats, nuts, dry fruits, shredded coconut (dry ingredients)  + oil, sweetener like honey or agave, almond butter or PB and water (wet ingredients) -> bake -> do not touch and let it cool completely =  nom nom nom!
I like my granola chewy and refrigerated.

 I keep experimenting so I can find my perfect granola formula.
You can add fig jam for sweetness, or substitute honey with maple syrup if you like it really sweet.

Homemade Granola:
Dry ingredients:
1/2 cup oat flour (blend oats in the blender until you get flour consistency)
1 1/2  cup oats
1 1/2 cup nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, you pick) sliced or crushed
2 cups dry fruits (apricots, cranberries, raisins, apples, pineapple, etc)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chia seeds (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup almond butter
4 tbsp raw honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a big bowl mix all dry ingredients.
In a small saucepan melt coconut oil, butter, honey and vanilla together. Make sure it is all well combined and melted. You don't need to boil it.
Pour wet ingredients over the bowl with dry mixture. Mix it all together.
Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper and spread your future granola on it.
Bake 25-30 minutes, until nice golden color.
Let it cool completely before cutting into bars.
You can refrigerate them, or just keep it in your snack jar, it wont last long anyway :-)

Rich Dark and Nutty Brownies

If you are a fan of a dark chocolate you  will probably adore these  brownies.
I am more on the milk chocolate side though, but I felt like dark chocolate one day (you know...there are some days when you know particularly what you want. Precisely.  Like: Celery and Hummus today! Or a Brie day!).
So few days ago was a dark bitter chocolate day.

I found the ingredients pretty cool: no white flour, sugar, 5 eggs though...(but you can substitute some with egg whites, as it says in the comments), and no chocolate (good quality unsweetened cacao powder instead)

The texture and consistency of this brownies was rich, like a cake, moisturized enough,  not wet as the original source claims. Very-very-very dark chocolate  flavour with the  little walnut bits.

I used the honey as a sweetener instead of maple syrup. I also tend to add half less than it says in the recipe. So I ended up with really not sweet, but bitter chocolate taste.  And it wasn't bad at all!
Unlike my husband's statement, which is: "All desserts should be sweet".  I think my lovely husband just can't accept the fact that his wife is a genius in the kitchen (hahaha) and creates something genuinely new (or dumb).
So to make sure I am right, I brought my brownies to work, to ask for my boss's opinion and (not surprisingly at all) he fully agreed with me regarding the nice and rich taste of this dessert.

For the topping I used chilled nonfat Greek yogurt, which I gently mixed with vanilla. And fresh berries on top.
After you refrigerate brownies,  the whole thing becomes even better!

This is the gluten-free, sugar-free recipe click here. I didn't make a lot of changes (just added crushed walnuts), so please reference to the recipe in the original source.

I REALLY hope you enjoy these brownies! But make sure that you make them on you Dark Chocolate Day! :-)