Hummus, oh how I've missed you

I didn't give hummus up or anything, I just pushed it off to the side for some reason. I do that every so often-eat something until I can't anymore, and then when I re-introduce it, it's like heaven in my mouth.

Kind of like this beer:

When I went to see my doctor last week, she tested me for Celiac, which undoubtedly came back negative. I didn't really think I was Celiac, but when she took the blood I thought she was testing for all food allergies, not just Celiac. I don't think I'm "allergic" to gluten, I think I just have a problem breaking it down and digesting it. I took to trying spelt flour and was able to tolerate that very nicely, so GF bread is not a necessity...although I do like the almond flour bread from Food For Life.

Anyway, I told Dennis that if I come back negative for wheat allergies I will still continue to steer as clear from the gluten as possible only because I feel strongly that it has ridden me of my headaches (and they were constant) but I will NOT continue to avoid beer.

Obviously I will drink with caution-as I always do-but I decided to dive into a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on Sunday and man was it good. I can't wait to drink a Guinness, Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter. Easily my top favorite beers, not necessarily in that order. (depends on the day)

So my hummus-

I bought a big bag of garbanzos a while back with the intentions of making Channa Masala (which I did here.) Then I put them back in my pantry only to be neglected. So I decided to bring back my lost love.

I don't make hummus like the normal person does. When I was still a newspaper reporter in upstate NY, there was a deli that was exactly halfway between my house and my office. Every morning I went in and ordered a whole wheat bagel with hummus and tomatoes. I LOVED their hummus. My boss on the other hand...he hated it. Well, the smell that is. It was very garlicky and apparently it smelled up the entire office. I couldn't tell. ;)

I asked how they made it and adapted my recipe to theirs.

My favorite hummus recipe

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas (or canned but make sure you rinse them first!)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil (I just drizzle it in so I'm guesstimating here)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp cumin (I added this on my own. It makes a huge difference)
• Salt, pepper to taste

Throw it in your blender/food processor/VitaMix and go to town. So.Freaking.Good.

I know I know, traditional hummus has tahini. However, I've made it with tahini and I don't really love it. I like the cumin instead.

Workout:

Today I tried something different. I did kind of a sprint/stations type workout. I started out with 10 minutes on the elliptical at level 9-just enough to loosen up the legs and work up a bit of a sweat.

Then I moved over to the balance ball and did 1 minute rotations for 5 minutes of crunches and arm rows. Then I went to the treadmill and ran 5 minutes hard. Then back to the weights and did 1 minute rotations of lunges with 5 pound weights, arm raises, crunches, repeat.  Then back on the treadmill for 5 minutes hard. Two minute cool down. Lots of sweat.

Total time: 32  minutes. And it flew! Love workouts like this!

Enjoy your evening!