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! 

2026: The Year I Will Be Making Many Recipes from NYT Cooking

So, this is the new year...and what have I done?

I defrosted the freezer early December last year then prepped a couple of dishes: feta and sweet potato enchiladas and a chickpea curry from recipe tin eats. Great! Actually, no. The husband had been dealing with some stomach pain/acid reflux for a while though we couldn't figure out what was triggering it specifically. Off to the doctors we went and he was diagnosed with an ulcer (need ultrasound to pinpoint it but sounds like an intestinal one...) and sent off with some medication and strict order to give up carbonated sugary drinks. 

Now, it's no secret that our neurodivergent household loves its fizzy trash water and I decided to also give it up in solidarity but I tapered while my husband quit cold so we didn't have to throw out what we had in house. Withdrawal was a bit rough for each of us but I'm glad to have done it. Even when buying lidl's own brand, we were spending nearly ten pounds a fortnight on it and honestly, there's better stuff to spend that money on. We're always working towards a mindset of quality over quantity and this mission fit that aim.

As husband worked through the medication, we pinpointed that oily/fatty foods and spicy foods where bothering him so we're had to cut back on that...now, what did I spend time just before Xmas doing? Filling the bloody freezer with spicy food. Sigh.  

As to the post title, for Xmas I treated myself to a subscription to NYT Cooking which was heavily discounted to nine pounds (which I've kinda paid for by giving up coke zero! Hurrah!) and so far there hasn't been a bad recipe in the bunch. The slow cooker chilli with beer has been very adaptable to making it a bit milder but still flavourful and the sheet pan mushroom parma is also highly recommended. 

Would I pay full price for the subscription? Hmm. For nine pounds it is a bargain and not such a loss if I end up not cooking regularly from it but at full price? I think I would have to be making a few new recipes a month from it to justify it. As I've bought this subscription, I've banned myself from buying any foodie/cooking magazines so we'll see how it goes. 

Today I had the energy for some baking so made the biscotti recipe from Budget Bytes which turned out okay. It lacked some of the steps/instructions I'd expect from a biscotti recipe and it's definitely a more American take on it. It took a while longer in my oven and I still ended up leaving them to dry out a bit more in the cooling oven. I added 1/3 cup each of sliced almonds and dark chocolate chips. Next time I'll probably try the King Arthur biscotti recipe which has some neat tips and tricks for getting a better result. That said, the budget bytes one is a good pantry basics recipe. 

Hopefully this week I'll have enough energy to make some marmalade - cheating a bit by using Ma Made as the base - but making preserves was such a fun past-time for me before fibromyalgia became undeniable so if this helps me return to it, I'm happy. I'm going to fancy it up some with a splash of our wedding whisky and give some jars to the people who were there...a little under a year ago, it feels much longer!

 

Farewell Spooky Season!

Healthwise I've haven't been puttering along so well the past week - flares and C-PTSD flashbacks/night terrors are a horrible combination - so food hasn't been remotely fancy, in fact, one evening last week we had McDonalds (trying out world heist menu stuff which was fine) and then Monday night we had it again. It's not ideal and I tried to make best choices possible but I'm not going to keep beating myself up about it. This happens incredibly rarely considering we're a neurodivergent, chronically ill household. 

It didn't help with good decision making that we were low on easy frozen options such as prepped burritos, etc so after the fast food extravaganza I made some bean, cheese and brown rice burritos using the pinto beans and brown rice recipes from Amy and Jacky. 

I find my rice turns out better with a 1.25 cup of broth/water but otherwise follow the recipes as they are. The pinto beans in particular are great and a low-cost meal option - we use them for burritos, enchiladas, burrito bowls and nachos. 

PB assembled sixteen burritos and ten went to the freezer, six to the fridge. The freezer is very full at the moment but mostly with meal parts rather than all-in-one stuff and it's a chest freezer which makes organising/meal planning a bit of a pain. One day we'll be able to remodel the kitchen and bring in our beautiful american style fridge freezer combo in from the garage...

Feeling a bit naughty after our fast food/eating out spree, I remembered I wanted to try the Bistro Broccoli Chowder from Appetite for Reduction which is an excellent cookbook for anyone wanting to increase their veggie intake. It read like it would be very flexible and easygoing so I raided the fridge, roughly chopped and threw everything into the slow cooker on low for eight hours. 

Originally it's prepared on the hob but spoons are in short supply so slow cooker it was. I used dried dill instead of rosemary, dairy milk instead of vegan and less potatoes/more parsnips because that's what we had on hand. It is incredibly difficult to go wrong with a basic veggie soup though - and a soup this did become thanks to my immersion blender - my chunky chopping was too chunky for a pleasant chowder anyway. Really wholesome and warming, we had some baked-at-home rolls and sliced cheddar with it on Wednesday and there's plenty in the fridge ready for the rest of the week. 

Heading into the chilly times now...