I’ve already shared this sweet potato hummus recipe as part of a toast snack, but it’s so freaking good and I talk about it so frequently that I think it deserves its own blog post.

I eat it with pita chips and veggies, and also spread it on whole wheat sandwiches along with avocado, spinach and tomatoes. It’s delicious—I probably eat that for lunch at least four days a week.

Ingredients

Yields 2 ¼ cups

• 1 cup packed mashed sweet potato (about 1 large potato)
• 1 ½ cup chickpeas (about 1 can, rinsed)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Peel the potato and cut it up into chunks. Boil until soft when poked with a fork.
2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
3. Using a food processor, blend together.
4. Refrigerate until cool.
5. Serve.

It’s a crazy week over here because I’m moving tomorrow (I’ll talk more about that later) so I’ll have to add the nutrition info for this hummus another day.

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I’ve always enjoyed hummus, but since switching to a low-dairy diet (you can read more about that here), I’ve really come to love it. Like we used to hang out in larger groups and hook up every once in a while, but now we’ve gone full-on “Facebook official” with the relationship and Hummus takes me on dates and holds my hand and stuff. It’s serious.

I use hummus on sandwiches instead of cheese, and when it comes to dips and cracker toppers, I don’t even miss dairy as long as I have a bowl of hummus.

This zesty lemon artichoke hummus recipe packs a big punch with the flavor profile—we’re talking garlic, lemon and cayenne pepper. It’s amazing. But if you prefer a milder taste, just use 1 garlic clove instead of 2 and 1/8-¼ tsp of cayenne pepper instead of ½ tsp. After doing some Internet recipe research, I adapted mine from this one and this one.

Zesty Lemon Artichoke Hummus

Yields 2 cups of hummus.

Ingredients

• 1 can artichoke hearts (14oz can, which is about 6 hearts)
• 1 can chickpeas (15oz can)
• 2 cloves garlic (just 1 if you prefer milder flavors)
• 6 tbsp lemon juice (about 3 lemons’ worth)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup tahini
• ½ tsp cayenne (only use 1/8 to ¼ tsp if you prefer milder flavors)
• salt and pepper to taste
• parsley for garnish

Directions

1. Drain, rinse and dry and chickpeas and artichoke hearts. I’ve heard it’s best to remove the skins of the chickpeas to make a smoother hummus, but I don’t. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
2. Mix everything together in a bowl except for the parsley and ½ an artichoke heart (chop that up and use as a garnish). I like to mush my chickpeas with a fork because my food processor is small and, well, a cheap POS, so I find some pre-smushing helps the resulting hummus be smooth.
3. Blend in a food processor. Garnish with some parsley, the chopped artichoke and a little drizzle of olive oil.
4. Serve with pita chips, crackers or cut veggies, or use as a spread in pita wraps and sandwiches.

Nutrition Info

Serving Size = ½ cup

Calories: 260
–Calories from Fat: 142
Total Fat: 16g
–Saturated Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 260mg
Total Carbohydrate: 24g
–Dietary Fiber: 7g
–Sugars: 1g
Protein: 8g

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Confession: when kale first burst on the scene as the new “it” food, I thought it was a type of seaweed. I don’t know why, but I just assumed it came from the ocean and went with that assumption for … an embarrassing length of time. Let’s leave it at that.

Today this non-seaweed seaweed (I’m such an idiot) is one of my favorite green vegetables. I use it in my smoothies and acai bowls, and I eat a lot—I mean, a lot—of kale chips. Typically I’ll buy a carton from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s (my favorite is Vampire Killer Raw Leafy Kale from Brad’s Raw Foods). But kale chips (especially organic ones) are not cheap, my friends. It was high time I started making my own.

I had two main criteria: dairy-free and spicy. A burnt batch and a batch with about 47 times the amount of cayenne pepper that the human tongue can handle, I finally made some delicious homemade kale chips. And I think the tahini really ended up being the superstar ingredient.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch kale
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like your food)
• ½ tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250.

2. Mix all the ingredients (minus the kale) in a bowl.

3. Tear the bunch of kale into pieces, eliminating any thick stems. Keep in mind that the kale will shrink a bit in the oven.

4. Toss the kale pieces in the sauce mixture. For even coating, I find it’s easiest to just get messy and toss with your hands. Pour the mixture slowly over the kale chips because, depending on how big your bunch was, you may not need all the coating. You want the kale to be lightly, evenly coated. If it’s too saturated, it won’t crisp in the oven properly.

5. Lay the kale pieces out on a tray lined with parchment paper (they might not fit on one; do several batches).

6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Serving size = 1 batch
Calories: 
360
–Calories from Fat: 199
Total Fat: 22g
–Saturated Fat: 3g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 1294mg
Total Carbohydrate: 36g
–Dietary Fiber: 5g
–Sugars: 1g
Protein: 11g

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I can’t even form sentences right now. Seriously, I think my brain is broken. So, this post will be…special. And short. I went to the Pats game yesterday and was hanging out with a bunch of guy friends all weekend and three days of eating and drinking like a guy has me feeling…like a disgusting, smelly dude. I can’t wait to eat vegetables and shower daily and paint my nails and talk about clothes and celebrity gossip and my period and hair products and go to bed at 8PM every single night this week.

Anyway, when I talked about my Boozy Book Club last week, I said I’d post the recipe for the raspberry goat cheese crackers I served. They’re yummy snacks—the perfect mix of sweet and tart—and they look pretty, too. I got the idea for them here.

Ingredients

Makes about 25.

• 1 package raspberries
• Goat cheese, room temp
• Crackers of your choice (I used gluten-free rice crackers because gluten-free is, like, so hot right now)
• Mint leaves
• ½ a lemon
• 1 tbsp honey (plus more for drizzling)

Start by making the raspberry honey reduction syrup stuff (I can’t think of words. Brain broken). On medium-low heat, simmer ½ cup of raspberries, the juice from ½ a lemon and 1 tbsp honey. Mash up the raspberries with a wooden spoon and stir as it heats. You’ll know it’s ready when it starts to get frothy looking.

Smear the crackers with about a ½ tsp of goat cheese each (Ew. “Smear.”). Plop on some of the raspberry honey syrup stuff. Top with a whole raspberry. Garnish with a tiny mint leaf. Drizzle plate with honey.

Nutrition Facts

Serving = 3 crackers

Calories: 57.5
Calories from Fat: 20
Total Fat: 2g
Saturated Fat: 1.5g
Cholesterol: 5.5mg
Sodium: 50mg
Total Carbohydrate: 8g
Dietary Fiber: .5g
Sugars: 2.5g
Protein: 2g

“Serving size = 3 crackers.” Ha! I ate like 15 at book club the other week.

Do anything fun this long weekend?

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