Recreating smoky hummus

  I've been on vacation the last week or so.

Aside from a couple of trips in to work for a meeting and weather coverage.

One of the things I did while I was on vacation was go eat at Chimera in downtown Tulsa.

It was DELICIOUS.  Almost everything on the menu was vegan or vegetarian.  I got a hummus sandwich that was possibly the best hummus I've ever had.

It was bright orange and had a smoky flavor.  I googled some recipes trying to find out how it was smoky and found recipes that had 3 options- smoked olive oil, smoked paprika and a few drops of liquid smoke.

I went with the option that I could find, in this case Liquid Smoke.  Reasor's did not have the other two options.

I gathered that with my chick peas, sesame oil, chili powder, cumin and lemon juice and went to town.

Immediately I noticed the chili powder gave the hummus an orange color similar to the Chimera hummus.

Upon tasting it, there wasn't quite the same smoky flavor, but it was pretty similar. I'm sure I'll keep doctoring it and seeing if I can get it perfect.

It will probably requires more trips to Chimera, aw shucks.

I put together a sandwich of my own with it, whole wheat thin bagel, the hummus, sliced avocado, sliced tomato, veganaise and it was pretty damn tasty.

The recipe-from this blog.

1 can chickpeas (15 oz), 1-2 tbsp canning juice reserved
1/4 cup tahini (from Kate- I used sesame oil b/c I was out of Tahini)
A few drops liquid smoke (begin with just a few and use more if you want more smoke flavor)
Juice of 1 large or 2 small limes
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
Dash cayenne pepper (I left this out because I'm a wuss) 

1) Place chickpeas in a food processor. If you want, heat them first, according to my chickpea heating instructions in the sweet potato hummus post!

2) Add tahini, a little bit (1-2 tbsp) of the canning juice that the chickpeas came in, and the lime juice. Process until smooth and creamy.

3) Add liquid smoke, salt, chili powder, cumin, and a tiny dash cayenne. Blend again, and re-season to taste if need be.

Food bullying?

Something weird happened to social media while I was watching the Democratic National Convention.

Comments from around the world popped up with comments about how bad Bill Clinton looked now that he's vegan and how much eating some meat would help him out.

For reference here's Bill's pic from his presidential days:

And here's a screen grab from the CNN interview he did talking about his diet change and his heart issues:

He looks basically the same now.

In that CNN interview Bill talked about his heart, he's had a quadruple bypass surgery and two stents put in and still battled high cholesterol and plaque build up, hence the diet revamp.

Just like a diabetic, Clinton had to change his diet because his body wasn't doing what it was supposed to, in his case making enough enzymes to control his cholesterol with moderate diet changes. He had to go full throttle.

As I've documented on here, I have my own cholesterol issues and the obvious autoimmune issues that forced me to make drastic diet changes.

Being in Oklahoma I'm used to getting lots of comments about not eating meat, it takes a great deal to annoy or bother me so I ignore most of it.  But it gets me thinking.

Is it OK to make fun of someone's diet or appearance because you disagree with their diet choices?

Is saying a vegan would look healthier if they ate some meat ok as long as they made the choice to not eat meat instead of being forced by health reasons?

Should we make fun of diabetics for not being able to eat sugar?

I personally could give a shit if people care that I don't eat meat or most dairy.  I don't make a fuss if I'm invited to eat someplace that I have to create my own meal (thanks, McGill's!) I don't get too annoyed when someone bites into meat in front of me and says 'mmm' pointedly.

Although I usually avoid spending time with that person again, mainly because I hate assholes.  But it's okay because I have a lot of other, better people who are conscientious about my eating habits and my reasons for those habits that I can spend time around.

This is just me, putting my random thoughts into a blog post.  I'd honestly never really thought of it as bullying, till I noticed it happening to more than just me and from all over the country.

Are food habits just another thing for people to pick on each other about?

MexiQuinoa

We're going a little recipe heavy this week.

You see, I bought a car.

So I'm on a budget and cooking more at home. Also, you know I'm fat and my cholesterol sucks so I need to eat healthy things.

So I broke out my handy vegan cookbook.

And found some healthy recipes to make this week.

First up was MexiQuinoa

* 4 cups water
* 2 cups dry quinoa
* 2 cups yellow corn kernels
* 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 can sliced jalapeno peppers, drained ( I skipped this) 
* 1 cup chunky salsa
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice ( I used lime)
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
* 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh
* salt and pepper to taste

Optional Toppings ( I didn't use any of these) 
* 1/2 cup diced bell pepper
* 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
*1/2 cup seeded and diced tomatoes
*1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

I cut the recipe in half.  Brought the water to boil, put the quinoa in and brought it back to a boil for 10 minutes or until the water was absorbed by the quinoa.  Then I set the quinoa to the side, still covered.


While it set I mixed all the other ingredients together in a large bowl, then mix it all together!  It's Mexican rice with quinoa instead! 


I cut the recipe in half and heated some up for lunch today.  2 WW points a serving and it was yummy and filling!

Oh Gwyneth!

So my best friend Gwyneth Paltrow is coming out with a cookbook.  And a country album.  And a lifestyle magazine.  She's the more pretentious Oprah (if that's even possible)... and I just can't stop loving it.

I even DVRd Regis and Kelly last week because Gwyneth was cooking.  She made something I couldn't eat but I did love hearing her talk about cooking and I totally admit I got a little teary when she started crying talking about how her Dad influenced the cookbook.  I still start crying almost every time I talk about Pops.  Daddy's Girls are like that long after Daddy is gone.  Trust me on this.

Waterworks aside this book is a pretentious mess waiting for me to read it.

So imagine my joy when my friend Katelin found a blog with the best lines from Gwyneth's new cookbook.

This is my favorite line-

"I'm not sure how healthy bacon is in general, but I know it's incredibly delicious." This week has been like water torture to avoid giving into my bacon craving.

I'm tempted to get someone to sit in my kitchen and eat bacon and tell me how good it is so that I can live vicariously through them.

I feel so much better knowing my best friend and former vegan Gwyneth Paltrow also loves bacon.  It's like a forbidden love.  Like the Thorn Birds in my kitchen. 

My other fave phrase- "Hippie Shame Spiral"  You KNOW I'm going to steal that one.

I'm what my friends lovingly (at least in my head) call a crazy hippie liberal. 

And yes, I baked cupcakes for a friend last week and used eggs... now I know I should be happy I didn't go into a hippie shame spiral. 

I also forgot my re-usable bags at the grocery store this weekend... and I had a little bit of a hippie shame spiral.  

I want to start a band and call it "Hippie Shame Spiral" I'll wear birkenstocks on stage every concert.

Cooking with Seitan!

I'm branching out in the world of Vegan cooking.  I picked up some seitan at the grocery store to try this week.

This reminds me of a delightful quote from Buddy Garrity on Friday Night Lights- "Seitan?  What in the hell is that?"

It's a wheat meat substitute that's more meatlike than tofu.  I found lots of barbecue and stew recipes with it that I will definitely try.

Some quick googling and I decided to make some seitan stir fry.

I gathered fresh green beans, broccoli, carrots and zucchini and cooked them in olive oil and garlic.

I love green beans in stir fry. 

The seitan I bought was pre-cooked so I really just needed to cube it and toss it in to heat up.

Then I tossed in 1/2 cup of brown rice and a couple tablespoons of stir fry sauce.

It smelled delicious, I had both my dogs sitting in the kitchen floor whining at me for a taste.  I tossed it into my bowl and settled down to test it and was pleasantly surprised.

Now I haven't had meat since January, I've had a bit of cheese and yogurt in the vegan months, sometimes out of necessity when I'm out, sometimes out of weakness, but this seitan tasted pretty damn close to meat.

It gave my normal stir fry more oomph and kept me full because of the boost of protein. 

So I still have half a package of seitan to use.. will have to pick my next recipe.



Maybe I'm Crazy....

But I think I'm staying vegan when the cleanse is over.

The diet isn't as hard as I thought it would be... I'm used to cooking and snacking healthy... and I feel like a new person.

I know.  Shoot me now.  But I promise not to be one of those people. 

But this new diet has really helped me get rid of the grogginess... exhaustion and short temperedness I used to feel all the time.

Plus... I've lost 5 pounsd per week since the big switch... I like to say it's because the sludge is falling away from my body.

I'm just hoping the veggie/meth face goes away soon.

Drinking The Kool-Aid

The cleanse continues... and I really like it!

Yeah, it's harder to eat on the go if I'm in a rush or starving without time to cook (hello 3pm today)  but I survived it and know to plan meals differently tomorrow.

I thought I'd be totally bummed missing dairy and soda and meat... and I do miss cheese and crave a soda once in awhile, but I really don't miss it much.

And I feel 100 times better than I did last week.  I have more energy, I'm getting more done... I'm like one of those damn Good Housekeeping articles about changing your diet and changing your life.

Well, except that I curse a lot. And I miss Vodka.

Today's Meals

Oatmeal with sea salt and honey

Zucchini Soup

Banana

Apple

Roasted Veggies

popcorn cakes with peanut butter

plus some OJ (fighting a cold) and some unsweetened ice tea from QT

Tomorrow... eggplant.  Looking for a vegan recipe now.

Cleanse Continues.

So I'm on day 3 of the cleanse.  For the most part I've stuck to it really well.  A little bit of caffeine in my green tea and a little bit of sugar in my stir fry sauce... but no dairy or meat or gluten or alcohol.

It really hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, I'm eating yummy foods and planning ahead to keep myself from getting hungry.  I do wake up starving, but my oatmeal or smoothie helps and I've been eating fruits and veggies till lunch time.

Physically I feel the same- half a headache that I'm sure is just caffeine withdrawal and indigestion... which is probably from the increase in green tea I'm drinking. 

Let's see if I can keep it up.

Oops-- here's today's meals

Green Smoothie breakfast

apple snack

hummus, falafel, zucchini soup lunch

popcorn cake with peanut butter snack

roasted veggie dinner.

Raw Lemon Pudding

Hello lovers... time for another installment of the Brigid's Vegan Challenge. This week I attempted to make Lemon Chiffon Pudding  from a site Brigit recommended because I'm a little obsessed with lemon desserts.

Seriously- I could eat lemon bars or lemon cake every day.  So I was excited to try this recipe.

The main ingredients- Avocado and Lemon juice.

 



You cut the avocado into chunks and put it in the blender with the juice of 1 lemon, some water and sweetener... I used stevia.  Then 2 Tablespoons of water.

Then blend till smooth.  I forgot to take a blender picture... but it was like that scene in Gremlins when they blend one of the bad Gremlins.  It could have been in Gremlins 2, I'm not sure. But I really flippin' love those movies.

Anyway blend it all up and then taste it... now my lemon must have been particularly potent cause my pudding was super tangy... but I put it in the fridge anyway and will be cutting the sweetness by eating with graham crackers.   Next time I'll taste the blended pudding before adding all the lemon juice.





Vegan Baking Experiment

So after busting my ass at the gym today I decided to do some baking.  Vegan baking to be specific.

For this contest on one of my fave blogs. 

After googling some options I decided to go with a Vegan Apple Crisp from this blog the only way I changed the recipe was to use canola oil instead of margarine. 

Then I gathered supplies and got to work.

Look how pretty!  Mems told me I bought the wrong kind, but I love Red Delicious and was too lazy to go back to the store to get the other kind... so I went with these.

And peeled and cored them.  I'm pretty excited I didn't peel my thumb this time.  It happens. A. Lot.

Then mixed it with sugar and flour... the recipe calls for cinnamon, but I'll let you in on a secret.  I hate cinnamon.

Then spread them out in my handy pyrex and let it set while I made the oat mixture for the crisp top.



I didn't want to use margarine cause I think it's gross and also not vegan, so I googled and found I could swap vegetable oil instead and ended up with 4 Tablespoons of oil to get the right crumbly consistency.

To the oven!  Yes it's angled on purpose to be artsy.

45 minutes at 350 in the oven and I had this... not as brown on top which Mems said was because I used oil instead of a butter substitute... but O. M. G. it was delicious.  I seriously went and got some more while posting these pictures.

It's not as crispy a crisp as I've ever had... probably more of an apple crumble... and next time I should use more apples... but I'm definitely leaving this recipe in my repetoire.