Sweet & Savory Thursday ~~ "1/2 & 1/2 Hummus"

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 - 15 oz. can Garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 - 15 oz. can Cannellini beans, drained 
• 1/2 cup lowfat plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. hot sauce (I used Cajun Sunshine)
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. garlic pepper seasoning
• Balsamic vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Drain and thoroughly rinse beans in colander.
• Place beans in food processor.
• Add yogurt, lemon juice, hot sauce and garlic pepper seasoning.
• Puree until smooth.
• Place in serving dish.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• Drizzle with slight amount of balsamic vinegar.
• Serve with veggies, apple slices, pita bread, flat bread, chips, dill pickles, green olives, or other items of your choice.
• By adding a swirl of balsamic vinegar before serving, it seems to provide a tasty balance.  
• On a personal note, the flavor of this hummus was more enhanced when eating it on apple and veggie slices.
• This is a great dish to serve at the start of an evening with family or friends as the 1/2 and 1/2 hummus seems to disappear much quicker than the normal variety.
• Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Here's to happy dining & healthy eating!

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Sweet & Savory Tuesday - Presto with the Pesto!

                                                        


INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups fresh basil leaves
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
• Dash of kosher salt, optional

DIRECTIONS:

• When selecting fresh basil, make sure to remove any seed pods which have formed in the very top of the plant

• Place basil leaves inside food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped
• Add the garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan Cheese
• Process until smooth

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• Prepare noodles (I used spelt noodles, but spinach noodles would be delicious as well), and serve with Pesto

• Pesto is great on pizza crusts, slices of baguette bread or fresh tomatoes, crackers, mixed with sour cream to be used as a veggie dip, and on rolls the herbal river.
• Pesto can be frozen and eaten at a later date.

If you have other serving suggestions, I would like to hear from you!  Please leave a comment.  We enjoy hearing from our blog readers.

Happy Dining & Enjoy the herbs of summer!

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Sweet & Savory Friday ~~ 4th of July Spread

INGREDIENTS:

• Two 15-0z. cans Cannellini Beans
• Two Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Two Tbsp. diced garlic
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup Boar's Head Horseradish Sauce
• 1 tsp. freshly ground kosher salt, optional

DIRECTIONS:

• Rinse beans thoroughly with water and drain in colander
• Place inside food processor
• Add all other ingredients
• Blend until smooth

Serve with crackers, bread, or condiments of your choice.  I used three grain sweet potato crackers, tomatoes, and greens.

If you are looking for a different spread for your Fourth of July spread, try this one!  It's delish!

Happy Dining & Happy 4th!

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Sweet & Savory Thursday ~~ Guest Food Blogger Anna Crisman

As a Christian wife and mother, it is my desire to inspire and encourage you with the richness of God’s many blessings! At LifeBellissima.com, I blog on a variety of topics that are near and dear to my heart — family life, homeschooling, organic food/recipes (which of course includes chocolate!) and our many adventures in the country with a tabby cat, several rabbits, and seven Rhode Island Red hens!

I love the flavor of candied pecans as well as the combination of chocolate with pecans, so I’ve tried to incorporate all three flavors into this new muffin recipe. These are great for a snack, light dessert or sweet breakfast. I hope you’ll give them a try and let me know how you like them!

Honey Pecan – Chocolate Chip Muffins

*I prefer to use all organic ingredients

1 cup pecans, finely chopped or pulsed in a food processor

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon coconut sugar

2 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup vanilla almond milk

2/3 cup raw honey

6 Tablespoons coconut oil, softened

1 Tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup chocolate chips

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

-In a food processor, pulse together the pecans, cinnamon and coconut sugar. You can also finely chop the pecans and mix together in a small bowl.

In a food processor, pulse together the pecans, cinnamon and coconut sugar. You can also finely chop the pecans and mix together in a small bowl.

-In a stand mixer, with a hand mixer or by hand, gently whisk together the eggs, vanilla almond milk, honey, coconut oil and vanilla until combined.

-Gently blend in the flour, baking powder and salt until incorporated into the wet ingredients.

-Gently fold in the pecan, cinnamon, coconut sugar and chocolate chips by hand.

-Fill muffin liners or cases approximately 2/3 full, and bake for 13-15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

-Garnish with chopped pecans and shaved chocolate, if desired.

Enjoy!

Please stop by Anna's blog and take a tour:  http://lifebellissima.com

Happy Eating & Reading!

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Sweet & Savory Thursday: Humdinger Hummus

So is the Chickpea or Garbanzo Bean actually a bean, a pea, or a fruit?  All I know is that it is beyond delicious and does not come from a chicken!  J

               

Sheila’s Humdinger Hummus

• 2 – 15 oz. cans Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
• 2 -  heaping Tbsp. minced garlic
• 3 -  Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 -  Tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 –  tsp. cumin
• ¼   cup water
• 2 – tsp. freshly ground kosher salt, optional
• 2 – Tbsp. hot sauce (I prefer Cajun Sunshine)
• Dust with Hot Hungarian Paprika

Directions:

• Rinse Chickpeas in colander.
• Place all ingredients except paprika inside food processor and blend until smooth.

This scrumptious concoction can be spread on crackers, pizza dough, bread, or veggies.  It can also be added to salads, hamburger patties, or thinned into a sauce to use when preparing other dishes such as hummus and spaghetti noodles.

Question:  What other suggestions do you have for ways in which to prepare or serve hummus? I would enjoy hearing from you.

Happy Reading & Eating!

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Sweet & Savory Tuesday: What's The Secret Recipe In Sheila's Soup?

   

Do you believe there’s a lot of psychology with respect to the color, texture, and appearance of food?  About a decade ago, I was asked to help with a large wedding reception in another state.  My job was to stand behind the buffet table heavily laden with brimming serving trays and refill the containers when they were near empty.  Since most caterers have an artistic and creative flair, the one preparing this spread was no exception. SCC had cooked up a couple of scrumptious sauces to go along with the two meat entrees and a colorful salad.  When it came time to clean up after the bride, groom, and their guests had departed, the two sauces and salad were virtually untouched, despite the fact that they were delicious.  Why, you might ask?  It was probably because of the overall appearance of the ingredients. So, before you reject this hearty winter soup due to its color ~~ read on!

Sheila’s Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried green split peas
• Approximately 8  - 10 cups of water
• 1 cup finely chopped carrots
• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 cup finely chopped onions
• 1 cup cubed ham, optional
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• Salt and pepper, optional

• Directions: 
• Carefully sort through the peas to remove small rocks or other debris.
• Rinse peas in a colander.
• In a large saucepan or stockpot combine the peas, water, carrots, celery, onions, ham, bay and thyme leaves.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, skim the top surface if it becomes “frothy”, cover, and summer until peas are tender (which is approximately 3 hours).

• 
  
•     Sheila’s suggestions:
•          I usually double this recipe as it freezes well.
•          I cook the soup in a crock pot for approximately 4 hours on the high setting as opposed to cooking it in a stockpot on the stove top.
•      Using the food processor, I blend the carrots, celery, and onions together to where they are almost to the puree stage before adding them to either my crockpot or stockpot.  This seems to help the overall consistency of the soup once it is finished.
•      Since I don’t always have a bone-in ham, what I have found to be the easiest and fastest is to purchase an 8 ounce package of the already diced up ham.  Some grocery stores carry these handy dandy containers wherein the ham has been cut into about ½ inch cubes or some are about ¼ inch cubes.  If you can score the small cubes, they cook up quite nicely in the soup.

The Secret Ingredient:

·        The dried thyme leaves really enhance this recipe!  Years ago I made a large container of this soup and took to a family engaged in the middle of fall harvest.  The husband, who originally could not stand that “gaggy green soup”, could not get enough of it!

Suggested Condiments:  (I would suggest experimenting with these to see which ones you might like.  I would not use all of them at the same time!!!)

•     Diced tomatoes or salsa
•      Large dollop of sour cream
•        Fresh cilantro
•        Coriander
•        Seasoned croutons
•        Parsley

Achieving the consistency that you might like in this soup might be a fun exercise.  My husband likes thick soup, you know, the kind that you could throw against the wall and it would stick.  I like it just about the consistency of water.  So my goal is the Happy Medium.  Works every time!

If you have a variation to this hearty winter soup, please leave a comment below.

Happy Reading & Cooking!

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