I Like Dessert Humm(o)us. Really.

Been rainy and dreary here lately, it's hard to imagine that spring will come. PB is waiting on test results so we can nail down what the exact issue is and I'm struggling on the see-saw of fibromyalgia - do too much, suffer but do too little, suffer and so on - but I'm trying to flow with it even though pacing is something I find so difficult. I can be quite impatient when I've set my mind to something! 

We're hoping to get some things done around the house this year, we bought it a couple of years ago (at very short notice) and we're slowly working towards getting things replaced/repaired/redecorated. Of course, that all costs money and so I turn to our food budget and pantry stocks to see where we can claw some away for the house fund. 

Pantry stocks revealed a big bag of dried chickpeas which I bought...the second half of last year? Maybe. Which calls for hummous! I love the stuff. On toast, as a dip, as part of a little mezze plate for myself...PB isn't so keen but that's okay, more for me!

My favourite savoury recipe is from 'How It All Vegan' entitled 'Holy Moly Hummus' there's also a store brand named as such but this homemade version is much better!

1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves minced garlic
splash of olive oil
2 1/2 c. chickpeas
3/4 c. tahini
1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 c. jalepeno, chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. salt

I typically leave the jalepeno out, sometimes I use a roasted bulb of garlic (no such thing as too much garlic!) and I have subbed the tahini with sunflower seeds which I've blended all together with great results. 

Fry the onion and garlic until onion is soft and translucent then dump everything into a food processor and blend to your desired texture. Delicious! 

Sweet/dessert hummous wasn't really a thing when I delved into the vegan lifestyle (many, many, many moons ago!) and I remember people reacting very skeptically to the idea - Chocolate Covered Katie was an early (maybe the first) blogger to produce a cookie dough hummous which was met with some derision on snark forums - but now it seems pretty common place and there are plenty of results that pop up on google. 

It seems like any cake/cookie dessert can be hummousized! As illustrated by A Virtual Vegan with her snickerdoodle hummus. I made this yesterday and had some with a sliced up granny smith apple - really yummy! I'm not going to argue that it's a health food but surely it's better than a pack of five cookies from a supermarket bakery? 

I've tried cookie dough hummus in the past - From My Bowl has a great recipe - and now I'm curious to try other kinds. Maybe a brownie one next?  

This week has been homemade pizza that I had with a dijon carrot slaw, changing my daily porridge to a banana and cinnamon topping and just keeping on with trying to incorporate better habits/choices. With my fibro, it's very much one step forward two steps back at times, but life is very much like that too and we continue, the best we can.  

  

Oh No, Bland!

So, the health issue husband was struggling with as mentioned in my last post is looking like an h pylori infection alongside a possible ulcer. It seems to be one of those lots of people have it, sometimes it becomes an issue type thing. It is treatable with medication (although anecdotally it sounds proper rough...) and diet changes can support healing which is a great outlook for recovery. 

However. This means bland. Bland food. This is difficult for my husband who loves flavour, spice and everything nice (he married me, didn't he?) but I've decided to wait for the test results before I pull the trigger on the dreaded bland. I'm still miffed about spending all that time and energy filling the freezer with spicy food before Christmas...argh! 

I've been logging my meals for the past few weeks, more for personal insight and to be more accountable, since my weight is problematic and I need to focus on positive changes for the future. 

Calorie counting can be a bit mentally challenging given I have an disordered eating past but I'm happy losing weight slowly and mindfully, gotta build that positive habits house brick by brick, right? At the end of two weeks logging, I had lost 1.5 pounds which is great. 

I'm not intending to talk much about weight loss on this blog. It's really quite boring, y'know? I just log my meals and hydrate as much as possible with my Emotional Support Adult Sippy Cup at this point. No pizazz. 

Interestingly, giving up coke zero has reduced my hand pain which makes me wonder if food logging will reveal any other trigger foods for my fibromyalgia. 

Anyway, my main health goal for the year is building stamina and endurance which is going to be another slow process but that's okay too. 

In cooking news, not too much to report - I made the turkey meatloaf from NYT Cooking which was a delightful introduction to that most American of dishes, made a small batch of cranberry and white chocolate cookies and a leek + bacon strata that used up a bunch of odds and ends from the fridge. 

Breakfast has been cinnamon porridge with a small handful of dried blueberries and I'm kinda obsessed with it right now. Just so good!