Chef Tina Makes Advocado Hummus

Time sure flies when you're having fun in the Yankee-Belle Cafe! This is my last Chef in Residence post. Missy Tippens will be back next Friday! Thanks, ladies for having me.

This week I'm making avocado hummus from a Cooking Classy recipe shared by my daughter. My only variance is that I omitted tahini, and it's still delicious. Topping it off with EVOO is yummy!  I am the only one in my house who eats this stuff, so it's all mine and I love hummus with pita chips or celery sticks.

Tahini is a Middle Eastern paste or sauce made from ground hulled sesame seeds.

You may use your food processor for this. I use my Ninja! 

Avocado Hummus

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, well drained
2 medium ripe avocados, cored and peeled (13 oz before cored and peeled)
3 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for serving if desired
1 1/2 Tbsp tahini
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice (be generous-one lime is enough)
1 clove garlic, peeled (one clove is perfect)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cumin (Do not omit)
1 - 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves, for topping (optional)
Red pepper flakes, for topping (yum!)

Directions

Pulse chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, lime juice, and garlic in a food processor until smooth, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I did a scant 1/2 tsp salt and about 1/8 tsp pepper), add cumin and avocados and pulse mixture until smooth and creamy, about 1 - 2 minutes longer.

Serve topped with more olive oil if desired and sprinkle with cilantro and red pepper flakes. Serve with pita chips or tortilla chips.


Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

Delicious. This is a great party dip too. Prepare the night before. Let it chill and take it to a party at work or elsewhere. 

Hummus fans seem to be pretty black and white. Either you like it or you do not. How about you??

Tina Radcliffe is a two-time Golden Heart finalist, a two-time Carol Award finalist and a 2014 Carol Award winner. Her 2015 release, Safe in the Fireman's Arms, is a Holt Medallion finalist and a Bookseller's Best Award finalist. She is a hummus lover who currently resides in Arizona.

Her current release, Rocky Mountain Reunion is available. And you can preorder her next release, Rocky Mountain Cowboy.

A little of this, a little of that, and some peanut butter

I don't want to spoil the run of peanut butter treats this week - so here you go.

Jan mentioned breakfast bars in the comments of Jill's post yesterday. I thought of these.

I haven't made them yet, but I'm definitely going to.

No-Bake Chocolate-Coconut Protein Bars

I'll update this when I make them.


Okay, back to the regularly scheduled post.

One of the things I find most challenging about healthy eating is finding the energy to cook something after a long day of teaching and tutoring. There's no way I'm going to eat what I cook for my husband - I'd weigh a ton. (He does very physical work and needs the calories) But cooking a second, healthy meal... well let's just say that more often than not, it doesn't happen.

That's why I love finding something healthy and easy. Monday night was crazy - first day back at school after Easter break, teaching, tutoring, and then a long parent meeting. It was almost 7 by the time I got home. I was starved, but I wanted something healthy.

I had beets in the frig.

I bought a sweet potato.

I had mini-pitas (low-sodium ones).

I have sprouted lentils that I love and that only take 5 minutes to cook.

There was some baby kale for my smoothies and I had a fresh container of hummus.

Inspiration!

I sliced the sweet potato, drizzled the slices with extra virgin olive oil and put them in to roast while I walked the dog. When we returned, I sliced the beets and steamed them while I showered.

Invigorated by a shower and the amazing scent of roasted sweet potatoes, I cooked the lentils, then mixed in the hummus, layered the kale on the pitas, spooned the hummus/lentil mix on top and warmed it all together a bit.

The beets and sliced potatoes went on the side but I piled them up when I began to eat.

Delicious, healthy, and most of it cooked while I was doing other things.

Best part?  Leftovers tonight so I have time to eat before the meeting at church!

What I learned on my vacation

ManO and I like to travel, in part, because we know the world is a lot bigger than our little neck of the woods, we love learning and trying new things. So every time we go on vacation I take a bit of time to reflect on what I've learned from our adventures. Indulge me.

1) Books make everything taste better. Who knew there was a restaurant/book store in Atlanta's airport? Cafe Intermezzo, great place to spend a long layover.   

ManO at Cafe Intermezzo where I stared at the books, I mean, into his eyes.

  2) Unexpected ingredient combinations rock.  We always try to go to one stellar restaurant to counteract all the places with prepared food. With my allergies, the fresher the better and good restaurants know fresh.  But when we went to Biga on the Bank, set along a quieter side of the San Antonio Riverwalk, I didn't expect one of their appetizers I chose as my entree (that is how you dine stellar and not break the bank, the money bank, that is.)  Homemade hummus, giant Texas shrimp, lamb sausage, and olive tampenade, plus a few spices I am still figuring out. I would have never thought of hummus as a base. And yes, I'll be trying this at home.

3) I  have a calling as an artist encourager.  ManO and I collect art on our trips the way some people collect tee-shirts or coffee mugs. But I didn't realize my choices were being guided until this last trip. On our trip to Paris, I bought a painting from a woman in the artists' square at Montmarte. I speak French so we chatted a while about her inspiration for the little autumn river scene. As we left, I saw several other artists gather around her and hug her. "You've finally sold a painting!"

When we were in Wyoming, after visiting Yellowstone, we found the local artist's co-op (you don't have to break the bank to tap into the art scene either).  I told ManO I was obsessed with buying a painting to reflect our time in the park. A buffalo, a dead tree, and mountains. I had to have a painting with those elements. Who buys art that way? Me apparently.  We turned into the back gallery and there it was. A lovely framed watercolor of, you guessed it, a buffalo, a dead tree and mountains. I was thrilled. We took it up front. The cashier (another artist, because that is how co-ops work) said, "Oh, I am so glad you bought her painting. She broke her back and has been really down. This will perk her right up."

Now, in San Antonio, we found a local co-op in La Vallita, a group of galleries right on the Riverwalk. We went in there three times and I spied a painting of a quiet turn in the Riverwalk. But I didn't get it. The next day, by the time I realized that painting was haunting me, we didn't have time to get it and get to the airport.  ManO knew I was miserable and I called the gallery when I was home. It was a cooperative effort for them to email me a picture of the correct painting, contact the artist. What did the cashier say when I thanked her and the guy taking the picture for their efforts? "Oh, I know she will be so happy. She hasn't sold anything in a month."

Now you are free to wonder about my ability to pick paintings. But I don't. Especially when the artist, an elderly woman who lives outside of San Antonio, called to let me know she had mailed the painting. She was so thrilled I was excited about her work.  I got the message from her but I've also gotten the message that I don't exactly pick my own paintings. 

A sweet little painting of a quiet Riverwalk turn.
 

  So, what about you? What do you learn on your summer vacations? Have you had any epiphanies, brought home recipes, or just content yourself with a new favorite coffee mug?