Lena's Hummus and ZDad's Hummus & Veggie Sandwiches

Lena was an undergraduate student that worked with me who just happened to also be an AMAZING genius when it came to cooking (and health minded cooking). She would regularly bring me in portions of things she made and I would enjoy myself so much I'd get goose-bumps. Her family is from Lebanon, so she has a lot good influence from that region of the world.

Last week we bought hummus from the store and it tasted fine, but when we looked on the ingredient list it had at least a couple chemicals in it so we decided to try Lena's delish recipe! Her secret is removing the thin casings around each of the chick peas. You can do this by rubbing them around in a strainer and then when you boil them, skim them off with a slotted spoon. The more you can remove, the smoother the hummus will be (but I don't think it is necessarily bad if you don't have time for this step).

2 cans garbonzo beans (chick peas)- drain rinse well and boil for 20 minutes/remove thin casings around beans
Juice from 1 lemon (1/4-1/2 cup)
1/2 cup of Tahini (no oil)
Garlic to taste (I used 3 cloves)
Salt to taste
Add water to desired consistency while pureeing in a food processor (I don't have one of these so it was lumpy, but still good!)

Can serve this with cut up veggies or whole wheat mini toasts.

ZDad serves serves this in a whole grain pita pocket with roasted red peppers, alphalpha sprouts, cucumber, carrots, mozerella cheese and tahini. YUM! It has gotta be one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. The little ones liked it too!

Mac N Cheese (Taking it too far?)

I love mac n cheese, my husband loves mac n cheese and so does our toddler. We get those store brand boxes of elbows or spirals with the powder cheese packet.

First- I stopped using butter and started using olive oil.

Then, I decided to use only the powder packet and not the white noodles- replacing them instead with whole wheat noodles.

Finally- I added pureed broccoli to the finished product (I serve broccoli every night and lately I am the only one really eating it, so I have to get my guys to eat it somehow right?).

The responses-
*I loved it.
*Our toddler danced around and said "I like it. I like it a lot." and then he said "What is it?". I said, "mac n cheese" and he responded with a perplexed "ohhhhh" but proceeded to eat an adult sized portion.
*My husband saw me puree the broccoli and when he saw that I had added it to the already unrecognizable mac n cheese, he groaned "Oh I wish you hadn't done that!". He proceeded to look rather miserable for the remainder of the meal (which also included an unappetizing looking, but delicious tasting maple/soy sauce/garlic marinated salmon).

So do I repeat this or not? (remember- our toddler danced!!!).

P.S. I add pureed broccoli to our spagetti sauce sometimes too.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

This muffin recipe is WONDERFUL! I was really concerned b/c our son loves "breakfast bars" and I realized that they are actually fairly unhealthy, despite being vitamin fortified. I got this recipe from FoodieFarmGirl (Blueberry Bran Muffin Recipe), so I won't put the recipe here. My only change was to add 1 cup of chopped walnuts. This recipe uses wheat bran, oat bran and whole wheat flour- all much better for you than white flour. These muffins also contain milk and yogurt and use honey and molasses as sweeteners (no refined sugar). The advantage of "Blackstrap Molasses" is that it contains a rather large amount of iron and calcium. The blueberries added allow me to get a fruit serving into my son's breakfast as well. I thawed 1 and 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries and also added the juices that were left in the bowl after thawing. A brilliant and incredibly delicious ((to die for hot out of the oven) recipe and I can't wait until our little guy tries it

Meggan's Honey Lime Salmon with Summer Veggies

Meggan made this dish for us as we were all recovering from the arrival of our new addition. It was absolutely delicious and seemed to have special healing properties as well!

Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Honey
5 Tabs Lime Juice
3 Cloves Garlic minced
1-2 lbs Salmon
Pepper to taste
Lime Slices

3 Peppers (red, orange, & yellow)
1 Yellow Squash
1 Zucchini

Mozzarella & Parmesan Cheese for garnish

Cooking Instructions:
Marinate the Salmon in the honey, lime juice and garlic in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking dish.
Place the veggies in the baking dish, toss with olive oil and pepper and bake for 10 minutes.
Add the marinated salmon on top of the veggies and cover with slices of lime.
Bake for 25 minuTes or until fish flakes when poked with a fork.
Garnish with cheese.

Interesting Tidbits in Your Food???

(Image from http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050616/050616_mexicoBugFood_hmed_4p.hmedium.jpg)

My husband found the following info posted on the following website:
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/bugfood/bugfood2.htm

Are Bugs A Part of Your Diet?
Apple butter=5 insects per 100g
Berries= 4 larvae per 500g OR 10 whole insects per 500g
Ground paprika= 75 insect fragments per 25g
Chocolate= 80 microscopic insect fragments per 100g
Canned sweet corn= 2 3mm-length larvae, cast skins or fragments
Cornmeal= 1 insect per 50g
Canned mushrooms= 20 maggots per 100g
Peanut butter= 60 fragments per 100g (136 per lb)
Tomato paste, pizza, and other sauces= 30 eggs per 100g OR 2 maggots per 100g
Wheat flour= 75 insect fragmnets per 50g

Source: The Food Defect Action Levels: Current Levels for Natural or Unavoidable Defects for Human Use that Present No Health Hazard. Department of Health & Human Services 1989.

Does this bother you?

Zucchini Bread (updated 8/24/07)

We have been making this Zucchini bread a lot. The original recipe comes from "The Silver Palate Cookbook" and is very good. But I wanted to make it healthier since we eat so much of it. Here is the recipe with my modifications-really doesn't taste or look much different from the original recipe. I will continue to experiment with replacing more of the white flour with wheat, replacing more of the vegetable oil with applesauce and reducing the salt. If cholesterol is an issue, try substituting the eggs with cholesterol free egg product. Another idea that I might try in the future is sustituting some of the sugar with honey.

Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter for greasing the pan
3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce (all natural)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated unpeeled raw zucchini or yellow squash (I use 2 medium sized zucchini/squash)
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup shelled walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Butter a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
2. Beat the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla until light and thick. Fold the grated zucchini into the egg mixture.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together. Stir into the zucchini mixture until just blended. Fold in the walnuts.
4. Pour the batter into the buttered loaf pan. Bake on the center rack of the oven until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and cool completely on a rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

P.S. Since I substituted some of the oil with applesauce I reduced the sugar from the original recipe by 1/2 a cup (from 1 and 1/2 cups to just 1 cup)

Whole Wheat Honey Bread

Adapted from an “Allrecipes.com” recipe submitted by Melinda Halvorson.

I have been very frustrated with the bread available at our local grocery stores. Most breads that we had been getting (usually the “Arnold” brand) are high in sodium- something I never thought to check. Additionally, when I looked at all of the breads available, they had “high fructose corn syrup” and a number of preservatives. I finally found one bread that was lower in sodium, “Pepperidge Farm” “Farmhouse 100% Whole Wheat”, but still contains high fructose corn syrup, mono and diglycerides, calcium propionate and soy lecithin. Those sound an awful lot like things I can find on our chemical shelf in the lab. So I want to make our own bread. The first attempt was an utter failure (the flour was stone ground (too heavy) and had been in our pantry a number of years. The second recipe worked very well (with new flour), tastes good, slices well etc. I will experiment with gradually lowering the salt, but at least there are no strange chemicals!!!!

1 and 1/8 cups milk
1/3 cup honey
1 ½ tabs olive oil
3 cups whole wheat flour (gold medal)
1 ½ tsps salt (this is a lot for such a small loaf)
1 ½ tsps quick rising active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the bread machine and use the “White bread” setting for a 1 ½ lb loaf. When it is done, remove promptly and allow to cool before slicing. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge so it will not grow mold for a few days.