Lunch- Homemade Hummus

I started the new year off,  like I usually do, trying to eat healthier and lose weight. With us having had eight months of unemployment in 2011 and the price of food, (Anybody else get nauseated buying groceries these days? Wow!), I need to find creative ways of  keeping my grocery costs down.

I prefer snack type lunches and hummus is a favorite. Over the Christmas holiday I had the pleasure of eating authentic hummus made by someone originally from Syria. It was delicious and so much tastier than any store bought that I have tried! I knew I had to learn to make it and I knew it would be cheaper too! So, I used my new favorite internet source, Pinterest, to try and locate an authentic recipe, I was not disappointed. Desert Candy had a detailed blog post on hummus and an authentic recipe. The picture of the finished hummus, with the drizzle of olive oil and cumin,  looked like the one I had previously eaten.

The recipe was not difficult at all, the only thing that was difficult, well not really difficult, just time consuming,  was removing all of the skins from the chick peas. Most of them come off pretty easy after soaking overnight and the rest were picked off after the peas were cooked. From what I had read about making hummus, removing the skins is necessary for smooth hummus.

I didn't have tahini on hand, in fact, I have not made hummus before now due to the price of tahini. I was craving that hummus and I seriously  thought about making a special trip to the store and getting tahini, but I am really trying to limit trips to the store and save money on groceries. I had a bag of sesame seeds in the freezer and decided that I would make the tahini myself. After the seeds were lightly toasted I made a paste using  a coffee grinder, (only used to grind flax and sesame seeds for bread baking). I added a little drizzle of sesame seed oil and then just a little of the water the chickpeas were cooked in. Thankfully that worked and now I will save even more by making my own authentic hummus!

It is so good! If you like hummus you should try this recipe!

Just for Fun!

With the limited amount of spare time I have right now I'm trying to get familiar with my new camera. Food shots have always been difficult for me. I could seldom get the lighting correct and my pictures were never very good.



I had fun practicing and trying to photograph some of the candy that reminds me of Christmas.



My favorite brand of chocolate covered cherries is the Cella's brand! It has the liquid center and not the white cream center that the cheaper chocolate covered cherries have. I had planned to photograph these, but not only are they my favorite, my husband and children love them as well. Next time I'll hide the box, (for more reasons than one)!



I've had the wonderful pleasure this week of watching this little boy and his sister. One evening he noticed the "choo choo train" ornaments I have on the tree. He had the most perfect expression of wonder on his precious little face. I was thrilled to capture this expression for his parents.

My schedule is crazy busy right now, and just in case there isn't another post before the 25th, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May you all experience the childlike wonder and excitement over each little blessing that comes your way during this special season of celebrating Christ's birth.

Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie

While they are in season, I've been stocking up on blueberries and freezing them. Blueberries are considered brain food because they are supposed to help with memory and even have anti-aging effects. I need that! They are very high in antioxidants and are so good for us. In my quest to eat healthier, I've been eating (or drinking) blueberries everyday.
I love smoothies for breakfast and after burning up so many blenders I finally decided to get a Vitamix, hopefully it will last a long time.

Here is my breakfast smoothie "recipe".

1 cup of orange juice (I like to use high pulp in smoothies)
frozen blueberries (a handful)
frozen grapes (a handful)
4-5 frozen strawberries
1 small frozen banana (I peel and freeze my bananas)
flax seed, ( I grind fresh daily)
honey, (according to taste)
3-4 ice cubes

Place ingredients in the blender, minus the flax seed, blend on high. Add ground flax seed and blend on high for a few seconds until it's mixed. (I don't like the texture if the ground flax seed is in the whole time.)

I use a variety of fruit, this morning I added fresh pineapple, a few days ago I used watermelon. Sometimes I buy bags of mixed fruit and use that and I will occasionally add wheat germ. You can also vary this however you choose using different sweeteners or none at all .

Indiana Sweet Corn

I'm trying to eat healthier and also eating more local produce. Eating locally is a good way to increase the nutritional value of our food. When foods are shipped from long distances they are usually picked before they are fully ripened and as soon as they are picked they begin to loose nutrition. A garden and fruit trees of my own would be the ideal but I don't have that, so in the summer I try to buy as much as I can from my local farmer's market.

The pineapple is not local but the rest of the vegetables and blueberries are and I also bought raw honey from a local beekeeper.

Indiana is corn country, it is the second largest producer of popcorn. So, all around where I live are corn and soybean fields. Indiana sweet corn is the best.
Here is something I recently learned from Natalia Rose, in her book The Raw Food Detox Diet, when corn is eaten raw it is not considered a starch but a vegetable. I had never heard that before. Everyone in my family loves raw corn, we all agree that raw tastes better than cooked corn. It is wonderful to cut off the cob and eat on a salad. You really don't need dressing when you do this either because the sweet milk of the corn is like a dressing. Yum! Does anyone else
eat their corn raw?