Raw hummus

I've always wondered what raw hummus would taste like so on the weekend I decided to make some :) There just happened to be a recipe on sproutpeople.org, which was handy, but it is essentially the exact same as making regular hummus - just use chickpea sprouts instead of cooked chickpeas.

I packed up some for lunch at work with carrot and kohl rabi to dip it in (the carrot tasted awful though - remind me not to buy organic stuff at woolies).

Anyway, it tastes pretty good, just like regular hummus, just sprout-y :P I will probably make it again, next time I sprout chickpeas.

I put the rest on warmed slices of pita bread, topped it with sprouted alfalfa (I buy in bulk at Mrs Flannery's for nothing - 2 tbsp of seeds made 3 cups of sprouts!) grated kohl rabi (I got one as big as my face at the markets for $1.50!) and baby spinach leaves. Tasted like the best salad sandwich in the universe.

I love alfalfa sprouts. They cost a fortune to buy at the shops but are so simple to make at home.

Eat me a rainbow

So I signed up for the Bridge to Brisbane 5km as a jogger! Ha! Started training again today, I managed 5km in 45 minutes, running for one minute then walking for two for most of the way. I'm loosely following the Couch-to-5k training program: here is the metric (for us Aussies!) version. I am condensing it a little bit to be ready by Sep 11 :)

Anyway after my sweaty run/walk, I did some awesome stretches and ate the rest of my brie cheeze on wholegrain rice crackers:

To tide me over while I made lunch:

Rice paper rolls filled with a farmer's market haul! Shredded kale, silverbeet, carrot and beetroot with thinly sliced kohl rabi, celery and tomato, with some chopped raw macadamias. I ate them with hummus. And it was damn tasty. obviously had a mandarin on the side - my supervisor at work has a tree and these are the third twenty billion kilo bag she's given me for free! So yummy. And they last for aggges.

Chili :)

The other night I made the Chacha Chili from the Skinny Bitch cookbook :) It's pretty delicious, and probabaly the cheapest thing to make in the entire book. It's gonna last us a while. The first night we had it with steamed pumpkin and brocolli with sweet chili sauce and a glob of hummus, and a few slices of grilled tofu that was marinated in red wine vinegar and soy sauce. Next time I will marinate it longer though, but it was a last minute decision. I drizzled all the leftover marinade over the vegetables and tofu. It was rather delicious.

Last night we had it with steamed sweet potato (I got a kilo bag at the fruit shop for 89 cents), brocolli (was on special for $2.99/kg at said fruit shop) and some carrots (always cheap :))

If you have the book, the recipe says to use 4 tablespoons of chili powder - pretty sure that's a typo - I used 4 teaspoons and it was almost too hot but not quite. It also took longer to cook than outlined in the recipe but I just left it there and it turned out perfect. I also used 100g dry soybeans instead of 100g of the kidney beans, to mix it up a bit. It works.

A very high protein meal. I'll have to use it, ha.

Make your own hummous! Hummus? Hommous? chick-pea spread!

Why? Because it's cheaper than buying a tiny little container of it at the supermarket. And it tastes better.

Hummous

Makes a fair bit

Ingredients:

2 cans chickpeas, drained (reserve one can's liquid)

3 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 large garlic clove, crushed

Black pepper

Parsley

Put the chickpeas (minus liquid), tahini, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and some black pepper in blender. Blend. Add small amounts of reserved chickpea liquid until desired texture is reached.

I like mine really thick. Add more pepper if you want, and quickly blend in the chopped parsley at the end. You don't really have to have parsley, but it does taste nice. Put it in a air tight container in the fridge. You can probably keep it up to two weeks, if you can make it last that long :) I can't.

I usually put on sandwiches or toast, or I buy rice crackers...but that's bad because I usually eat the whole packet. Use it as a dip with raw vegetables like carrot, celery, brocolli, cucucumber, zuchini, anything really.