Snack Food for Organizing Day!

I found this recipe in the Forks Over Knives weekly newsletter. Forks Over Knives started as a DVD and it's now a full fledged movement extolling the health and planet benefits of a vegan diet.  This particular recipe is from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton and I chose it because everybody loves hummus.  It's a great source of protein and you can dip your favorite fresh veggies in it and never lose a step while you tackle some big project like cleaning out your home office. I'm half Lebanese and I grew up eating hummus.  I'm always a little disgusted by the store bought variety because it's loaded with sodium and/or too dry.  It's best if you can whip up a good for you delight like this and control all the ingredients.  Speaking of control remember that overdoing a good thing turns it into a bad thing!  I'm trying to keep your blood sugar up and help you make good decisions.  I don't want to expand your waist line.

White Bean Hummus with Fresh Thyme and BasilFrom Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked cannellini (white kidney) beans (drained and rinsed if using canned beans)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 small to medium clove garlic, sliced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2½-3 teaspoons fresh thyme, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup fresh basil, torn or roughly chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons water (may not need, just to thin dip as desired)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except water, thyme, and basil.

Purée until smooth, gradually adding water as desired to thin dip and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Add thyme and basil and purée briefly to incorporate ingredients.

Chef’s Notes:

You can make this dip look very elegant. Try piping the dip into mini-bell peppers (cut in half), halved grape tomatoes, or endive leaves. Alternatively, spread it thinly on slices of bread with a layer of “shaved” cucumber (using a vegetable peeler to remove thin strips lengthwise off cucumber, before reaching the seedy portion). Cut crusts off bread and slice in strips or cut in shapes with cookie cutters.

Make a double batch of this hummus and store portions in the freezer. It thaws wonderfully!