Hummus

Can I just tell you how much I Lover (with a capital L) hummus? I do. Very much. And not just as a dip. Hummus makes the perfect filler for a sandwich. Yum-o-yum. I'd be salivating while writing this if I wasn't eating one of these sandwiches at this very moment!

If you don't like hummus, I'm sad for you. But if you do, try out this recipe for homemade hummus (much better than that store bought stuff, and you know what's going in).

I'm not sure what I haven't shared this with you before. It's good stuff.

The Recipe: Hummus

2 cans (or 2 1/2 cups cooked) garbanzo beans

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 c olive oil

1/4 c lemon juice (add more if necessary)

1 tbsp tahini

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Serve!

Sometimes I add the olive oil a little bit at a time until I get the consistency I'm looking for or you can do this with the lemon juice. Sometimes I like it thick, other times I like it creamier. It's perfect for dipping veggies or pita wedges. And sandwiches!

Hummus sandwich

2 slices whole wheat bread

2 tbsp hummus

3-4 pickle slices

2 slices tomato

handful of spinach

1 small mushroom

Chop the mushroom into thin slices. Spread hummus on both sides of the bread, add tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and pickles. Put it together and let the noshing begin.

This is a great, healthy alternative to peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese (our options are limited as vegetarians!). Yum. Well, what are you waiting for?

PS. I would have posted a picture, but I finished off the sandwich by the time I finished this post. It was just that good.

Veggie Kabobs

Since we're starting to get more vegetables from the garden, I decided it was time to up the ante in the meal department. I thought and thought about what to make and kept going back to veggie kabobs, so WA-LA! veggie kabobs.

First, I had to locate and dust off our indoor grill. We got it as a wedding gift and I'm embarrassed to say we've never used it (but, hey! we've only been married 2 years. Not bad, right?). I then had to locate the directions (because you know they are NEVER with the item, at least not in my world) and we got it going.

I made a marinade for the veggies to soak in for an hour beforehand. Looking back I wish I'd let them soak longer, like overnight, but they were still fab (because if they weren't I wouldn't be sharing them with you).

Recipe: Veggie Kabobs

What you need (serves 2 peeps):

12 mushrooms

6 shallots (chopped in large chunks)

1 medium zucchini (chopped in chunks)

1 medium summer squash (chopped in chunks)

3 yellow pear tomatoes

3 brown berry cherry tomatoes

1 small eggplant (peel and chopped)

Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp teriyaki soy sauce

2 tbsp Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing/marinade

1 tsp Tastefully Simple garlic pepper seasoning

1 tsp Weber Kick'n Chik'n seasoning

Soak 6 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes. Prepare marinade in a large, shallow dish with a lid (Pyrex glass cake pans with lids work well). Place vegetables in marinade and toss until well coated.

Place in fridge, for 1-2 hours (or overnight), tossing the veggies every 15 minutes (don't worry about tossing if left overnight). After 1-2 hours, place veggies on a wooden skewer, alternating vegetables so that each skewers has several of each veggie. Place skewers on preheated grill. Cook for 10 minutes, turning skewers every so often and lightly brushing with leftover marinade.

You can also grill any leftover vegetables you have. Remove skewers with tongs and serve with rice (BROWN!).

Yum. Despite waiting for the marinade to soak in, this was really a quick and easy meal. Remember that we used an indoor grill, though. It takes about 10 minutes to preheat.

What I learned: Chop the shallots! As you can see from the pictures, I did not. And they were not done enough to be the kind of onion I eat. I don't eat raw onions, and those were still pretty raw. So chop them! To ensure they get cooked. Ours got thrown back on the grill (chopped) and we gobbled them up later. Make sure to peel your eggplant, if not sometimes the skin gets tough when it's grilled (depending on the type of eggplant).

Play with the marinade. I made mine out of things I had on hand. I was out of lemon juice or would have thrown that in, too.

Serve it with brown rice or whatever other carb you have on hand. We eat a lot of stir fry around here so rice seemed like the obvious choice (and I had it in the leftover section of the fridge).

Since we don't eat meat, we often forget we have a grill. After these, I'll remember and with an indoor grill, you don't have to wait for nice weather to do it!

Health Challenge Tip #5

#5: Eat the real stuff.

Eat real sugar! There. I said it. Now before you say WHAT?! I'm not saying to eat 40 tbsp of it a day (although lots of people do). I'm saying to stop using all that fake stuff and go with real, honest-to-goodness sugar. Use raw if you want to, but stop using Splenda, aspartame, dextrose, any artificial sweetener out there. Aspartame pretty much slipped through the cracks onto the market (from what I've read, a lot of sketchy stuff that went on with that process).

While artificial sweeteners seem like the logical choice because most have zero calories, they are made from chemicals. Yes. Chemicals and because most are relatively new, we have no idea what these chemicals are doing to our insides.

Telling yourself that you're doing your body a favor by eating a sugar-free (artificial sweetened) piece of candy, cake or bowl of ice cream is a lie. Quit lying to yourself. And quit eating stuff that's sugar-free. Our society likes to get on a kick with fad diets so OF COURSE food companies jump on it and say ooooh, everyone's eating sugar-free these days. Let's make sugar-free EVERYTHING. The problem is, it isn't natural or sweet free. You still crave more sweets and don't even get me started on what artificial sweeteners do to the digestive system.

How do I know? I've been there. I was a sugar-free faaah-reak until I got preggos with Sweet P. Then I read Skinny B*tch, Bun in the Oven and tossed all my sugar-free stuff out the window...including my gum! I still don't chew gum like I used to and avoid artificial sweeteners.

Whoa there. I didn't say to run straight for the processed food aisle. There's not much real sugar in those either. Most are loaded with high fructose corn syrup (not to be confused with sucralose...table sugar) and other sweeteners like maltodextrin and dextrose.

So when it comes down to baking, use the real stuff. Raw, powdered, white or brown. Or better yet, substitute NATURAL sweeteners like honey, maple syrup (the real stuff, not that pancake syrup) or agave nectar.

Of course, you're better off eating NEITHER, but if you just can't ignore that sugar craving (and an apple just ain't cutting it). Eat the real stuff. Chances are it'll leave you satisfied and not reaching for more because your body feels gipped. All sugar-filled food should be eaten in moderation and in minimal amounts, choose healthy options like fruit or whole grains instead.

Wave bye bye to fake sugar. Your body and your digestive system will thank you.