Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Something to Hummus about!

When I was pregnant with my children – all three of them- I had gestational diabetes. For the first one it was diet controlled, the second it was needles and needles of insulin – seven times a day-, and the third it was diet controlled again. What I’ve found though is that I still have issues with maintaining my blood sugar. If I forget to eat, or eat the wrong combination of proteins and carbs I will have a hypoglycemic episode then all hell breaks loose and I will eat everything in site to quell the shakes, and it is intense. I feel like I look like a junkie out of control. It is the most awful feeling.

Thankfully, since this disorder has become a lifestyle, the dips happen infrequently, only 3-4 times a year, and I live day to day without having to really think about it any more. But most often, when I think about protein in my diet, the options are always so fatty which makes a low fat diet impossible. Nuts are fatty too, but it’s the good fatty stuff so I allow myself a handful once in a while. Meat however, is crucial to my diet. We balance chicken, lean pork and lean beef almost evenly and then we will occasionally substitute in fish (love it) and tofu (learned thru trial and error to make it correctly and now love it too!). Cottage cheese is relatively low fat and high in protein as is yogurt. And then legumes, like chickpeas, today's feature protein!

So, I’m always looking for new ways to pack a protein punch, balance my carbs and still make it healthy. One way I have found to balance things out is not to eat refined carbs too often. I’ll have bread maybe 2 times a week. The rest of the carbs we get come from whole grains (bulgur, wheat, rice, oats, quinoa), and vegetables and fruits. And best yet, it works! It takes my body the same amount of time to work on digesting the grains as it does the meat that I have paired with it, so that way the carb sugars are entering my blood stream at a more controlled rate and I won’t have a spike that leads to the inevitable dip that turns me into a gorging psycho.

One of the tastiest snacking treats that I really enjoy is hummus. It is so simple to prepare. You could eat hummus for a week, and if you’re uber creative, maybe even a month without repeating your ingredients beyond that of the base recipe of chickpeas and olive oil. If you eat it with whole wheat pita wedges or even homemade chapatti, you are adding in carbs to balance the whole thing out. And what’s great is that it is so decadent that you feel like you’ve had a treat without having to reach for something else and it’s so versatile that when you’re switching out the ingredients you don’t get bored.

Basic Hummus (Printable Recipe)
  • 2 - 10 ounce cans of chick peas (drained, rinsed and drained again)
  • 2-4 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 6-8 tablespoons of olive oil
  • A dash of salt to taste

1.      Pulse the beans in the food processer until broken down.
2.      Add the lemon juice and mix until blended.
3.      Turn the processor on low mix and then drizzle in the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time until it is the consistency that you like. (Just remember if you are going to add ingredients that are juicy, make this step a little thicker than you would like the finished product.)
4.      Stir in the optional add in's (below) 
5.      Season with salt and serve.

Add in’s
Roasted Red Pepper
  • 2 chopped roasted red peppers
    • You can find these whole, usually in the Mexican or Italian section of the grocery store, packed in water. There are usually 3-6 in a jar.
  • 2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon smoke paprika

Spinach and Feta
  • 1 cup frozen chopped spinach
    • Defrost and place product in paper towel and squeeze until you can’t get any more water out. Then chop it a little more.
  • 2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
  • ½ cup crumbled feta
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

Thai Kick
  • ¼ cup fresh basil chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh garlic
  • 1 minced birds eye chili or 1 tablespoon chili paste
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 green onion chopped

Italian
  • ½ cup fresh basil chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh garlic
  • 4 teaspoons grated parmesan

Roasted Garlic
  • 6 tablespoons roasted fresh garlic
    • To roast your own garlic, take a large clove of garlic and slice of the tip of the bulb so that all the cloves are exposed. Drizzle into the cloves about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and bake in a 300OF oven for 1- 1½ hour. Cool. Then the cloves will squeeze out whole. Mince. You can roast a lot at once and then keep them in the refrigerator in a glass jar with the cloves covered with olive oil.

Greek Olive Tapenade
  • ½ cup chopped mixed olives
  • 1 teaspoon fresh garlic
  • ¼ cup crumbled feta
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
  • Drizzle of extra olive oil

Fiesta
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon fresh garlic
  • 1 teaspoon chopped white onion
  • ¼ cup crumbled Queso Cheese
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon taco seasoning

5 comments:

Savoeun V said...

Love this, especially the add-in section! I had Greek Olive Hummus this entire week with toasted pita. Everyday I would top my pita with something different :) I'm still waiting for the pasta, bacon, cabbage and onion recipe :)

The Cookworm said...

Right! Due to my perfectionist issues, I keep changing the Haluski recipe (cabbage, bacon, onion, pasta), so I haven't put it down on paper yet because I'm afraid the next one I make will be even better. :( The last time I made it it was AWESOME! to me, but the kids disapproved. They like it better the old way. So maybe I should stick with the tried and true version.

Savoeun V said...

Maybe put both recipes up - a kid recipe and an adult recipe?

Karen P said...

Yum, I buy hummus from Trader Joe's like it's going out of style! Guess I should make my own. ;)

The Cookworm said...

KP, You would save a mini fortune! You just have to invest the time. And it's fresher than the store bought stuff that ususally has preservatives and additives.