Search Results for: beet hummus

roasted beet hummus

Let’s talk about snacks, shall we? Do you guys have a favorite go-to snack?

One of my all time favorite snacks is hummus and I probably whip up a new batch every couple of weeks. The hubby likes to have snacks before dinner and the kids just like hummus in general – one likes to dip the veggies in and use the vegetable like a spoon (he gets his OWN bowl) and the other kid likes to eat it directly out of a bowl with a spoon (she gets her own bowl too.)

But after awhile plain old chickpea hummus gets a little boring and so yesterday we played around with a few variations to get some different flavors for our hummus. One was mixed with some pesto, which was delicious but made for a not so pretty picture. Another one we mixed with roasted red peppers which was also very good but we ate it all before I could get a picture (I say “we” but I mean “kiddos.”) And then I happened to be roasting some red beets for dinner and I threw one into the food processor along with all the hummus ingredients and TA-DAH!!! Roasted beet hummus was born.

Well, it was born on this blog, but the recipe has been around for awhile so it’s not like I invented the wheel here or anything…just made some yummy dip for your veggies and such.

But good it is – and vibrant pink might I add – but with all the yummy flavors of hummus that you’ve come to cherish so much. So if you are looking for something fun to make next time you need a dip, this one’s for you.

XO,

Jenn

roasted beet hummus

makes about three cups

1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons tahini

the juice of one lemon

salt

black pepper

1 roasted beet, roughly chopped

2 cups cooked chickpeas

extra virgin olive oil

Place the garlic in the food processor and pulse until the garlic is broken down. Add the tahini, a squeeze of the lemon, salt and pepper to the processor and blend to combine. Add the beet and chickpeas and blend to combine (you will probably need to scrape down the sides of the processor while you are blending) and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture turns into a dip-able consistency. Taste, and adjust seasonings/lemon as needed.

my notes: If you don’t like beets, just omit them from the recipe and make a regular hummus. You can experiment and add all sorts of things to your hummus, and you can even make hummus out of other cooked beans if you don’t have any chickpeas on hand. This recipe will keep about five days in the fridge.

soups vegan- vegetables vegetarian

roasted red beet soup with toasted quinoa and dill

One of my favorite parts of winter is eating all the beets that I can get my hands on. Most of the time I just roast them and then eat them plain, or pickle them for later, or just toss them into a salad with some crumbly goat cheese and fresh baby greens. But the other day I found myself with more roasted beets than I knew what to do with so I decided to make soup.

Now, if I check my recipe page I can probably confirm what I already suspect – I have a thing for soup. But here’s the deal, soup is a great way to fill up on fiber rich vegetables, while also not breaking the bank. It’s a win-win in our household and every weekend I make at least one batch of soup that we can all enjoy throughout the week or throw into the freezer for the nights that I don’t feel like cooking. (see this post for batch cooking ideas)

Now, back to the humble beet.

Beets – you love them or hate them but what you can’t deny is that they are packed full of all the good stuff. The beet and its greens are both an excellent source of folate, vitamin A and K, and a very good source of manganese, copper, and potassium. Beets are high in fiber, which helps with satiety and regularity. Beetroot juice is one of the richest dietary sources of antioxidants and naturally occurring nitrates. Nitrates (not to be confused with nitrites!) are compounds which improve blood flow throughout the body—including the brain, heart, and muscles.

Annnnnnddddd, studies have shown that the high levels of unique antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents found in beets contribute to a reduction in the risk of many types of cancers.

Sounds like you should go eat your beets!

There’s are so many ways to enjoy beets – roasted, steamed, pickled, as a noodle (recipe here), in a salad, on toast, as a chip, in hummus (recipe here), in risotto, juiced for drinking or for adding to smoothies, or in a soup that we are making today.

This roasted beet soup is as delicious as it is beautiful! And this gorgeous soup is so quick and easy to make – just roast some veggies, add some broth, puree and top with some toasted quinoa and fresh dill. A healthy and vitamin packed dinner is served!

XO,

Jenn

roasted red beet soup with toasted quinoa and dill

recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma

makes four servings

6 medium sized red beets, trimmed, leaving 1 inch of stem, and scrubbed of any dirt

4 ounces Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed of any dirt

extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

1 medium garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup chopped celery

4 cups vegetable broth

salt

black pepper

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh dill

1 cup toasted quinoa (recipe below) (I use this brand)

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

Put the beets and potatoes in a baking dish and drizzle with three tablespoons olive oil, turning them to coat well. Add 1/2 cup water to the baking dish and cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Roast until the beets are easily pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and remove the foil. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel and coarsely chop them. Allow the potatoes to cool and set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add two tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and celery and sauté until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the beets, potatoes, and broth and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

Using a food processor or blender, process the soup to a smooth puree. Serve warm or, for a chilled soup, let cool to room temperature, transfer to an airtight container, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with the toasted quinoa and dill and serve.

My notes: You can make this soup with any type or color of beets, or even use a mix of beets and other roasted root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, or potatoes. When peeling the red beets I would recommend wearing some latex gloves so that you don’t die your hands red.

toasted quinoa – recipe how to from ancient harvest

If you’ve never toasted quinoa, you may be surprised by the depth of flavor and delightful texture this simple step can add to your favorite gluten-free ancient grain. Whether it’s part of the process or the entire cooking method, toasting can turn your quinoa into a brand-new culinary sensation.

Sound like something you’d like to try? Here’s how to properly toast quinoa – and what to do with it, once you’ve done just that:

First, know that if you are using a brand other than Ancient Harvest, you may need to thoroughly rinse your quinoa to rid it of its natural coating of saponins, which is known to leave a soapy, bitter taste. At Ancient Harvest, we pre-rinse our quinoa so that you can skip this step.
Heat a big, heavy sauté pan on medium low.

Add (or leave) some water to the quinoa so that it is moist, and put a cup of the wet quinoa into the heated pan. (Make sure not to over-crowd.)

Using a wire whisk, quickly stir the quinoa around in the pan as it begins to toast.

Once the water is absorbed and the quinoa begins to pop, you will know that it is drying out. Keep whisking until the grains of quinoa start to brown. It will transform before your eyes and begin to smell nutty – and that’s when you know that your quinoa is toasted.

Toasted quinoa may be stored in the refrigerator, in an airtight container once it has cooled, so it can be helpful to toast enough at a time to use for multiple meals throughout the week.

appetizers beans and legumes vegan- vegetables

hummus four ways

All-righty sports fans, there’s a big game coming up – do you know what you are making for your game-day eats??!!?

How about a super easy and healthy hummus and veggie platter? And how about instead of just regular chickpea hummus we make four different kinds? Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

Let’s make a roasted beet hummus with a bit of dill and tangy lemon zest, and serve that with some rainbow radishes, radicchio and purple carrots….

Next, how about a spicy black bean hummus with roasted red peppers and sesame seeds? This one would be great with some daikon radishes and yellow cauliflower florets….

Oh, and let’s make a white bean hummus with curry and toasted pine nuts!! We can serve this one with yellow bell peppers and some crunchy endive spears…

And last (but certainly not least) something green – edamame and avocado hummus topped with furikake (a Japanese seasoning mix of roasted and shaved seaweed with toasted sesame seeds) and served with sliced cucumbers and baby romaine leaves…

Sure, you could make just one and have a great party. Or, you could make all four and score a touchdown!!! Ha! See what I did there??

Happy game-day eats to you!

XO,

Jenn

hummus four ways

for the roasted beet hummus – get the recipe here – top with 1/4 cup diced roasted beets mixed with 1/4 teaspoon of fresh, chopped dill

for the spicy black bean hummus

makes about three cups

1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons tahini

the juice of one lemon

salt

black pepper

1 teaspoon minced jalapeno pepper (seeds removed)

2 cups cooked black beans

extra virgin olive oil

Place the garlic in the food processor and pulse until the garlic is broken down. Add the tahini, a squeeze of the lemon, salt and pepper to the processor and blend to combine. Add the jalapeno pepper and black beans and blend to combine (you will probably need to scrape down the sides of the processor while you are blending) and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture turns into a dip-able consistency. Taste, and adjust seasonings/lemon as needed.

Top with 1/4 cup roasted and chopped red bell pepper mixed with 1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

for the white bean hummus

makes about three cups

1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons tahini

the juice of one lemon

salt

black pepper

2 cups cooked white beans

extra virgin olive oil

Place the garlic in the food processor and pulse until the garlic is broken down. Add the tahini, a squeeze of the lemon, salt and pepper to the processor and blend to combine. Add the white beans and blend to combine (you will probably need to scrape down the sides of the processor while you are blending) and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture turns into a dip-able consistency. Taste, and adjust seasonings/lemon as needed.

Top with 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (this is my favorite brand) mixed with 1/4 teaspoon curry powder (I use this curry powder)

for the edamame-avocado hummus

makes about three cups

1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons tahini

the juice of one lemon

salt

black pepper

1 medium sized avocado

2 cups cooked edamame

extra virgin olive oil

Place the garlic in the food processor and pulse until the garlic is broken down. Add the tahini, a squeeze of the lemon, salt and pepper to the processor and blend to combine. Add the edamame and avocado flesh and blend to combine (you will probably need to scrape down the sides of the processor while you are blending) and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture turns into a dip-able consistency. Taste, and adjust seasonings/lemon as needed.

Top with 1/4 cup furikake (there are many different blends, but this one is the most versatile)

beans and legumes grains mains vegetarian

curry hummus and black rice collard wraps with lemon-yogurt sauce

Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t work out. Instead of this wrap that you see here…this post was almost about a ruby salad that I had been dreaming about over the last two weeks. My thought was simple – shredded radicchio, dark baby greens, roasted beets, quinoa, blood orange segments, chopped Kalamata olives, maybe some toasted pumpkin seeds…definitely crumbly feta cheese over the top…and then I got a cold and ended up laying around for a week nursing my sore throat and feverish body with lots and lots of body-healing soups and stews and all things cold medicine.

Then fast-forward to a week later and here I was this very morning in the kitchen, finally cracking into all things “ruby salad.” My knife was slicing, the salad spinner was spinning, the oranges were segmented and the beets were roasted. Salad greens lined the big white bowl and made a great base for the layered look – one thing on top of the other (similar in style to this salad seen here) until it was perfect and picture ready.

Except it wasn’t. The salad was completely and totally flat. I mean, the salad itself wasn’t flat – but once it got under the camera and lights….bleh. Is bleh even a word? Well, bleh it was – word or no word.

Then I tried another route and threw everything in a big bowl and tossed it together – you know, to try again to get that depth in the shot. But instead of depth, I just got a bowlful of purple mess. Everything was covered in everything else and it was even worse than before. So I promptly dressed it with the blood orange vinaigrette and ate it for breakfast.

It was a delicious breakfast-y salad, if you are into those kinds of things…but it was ugly. And ugly is okay, because the funny thing is my stomach doesn’t judge on appearance and my body was more than happy to eat something healthy that wasn’t soup.

Even though I failed this morning, I’m not beating myself up over it because there are lots of things that I can’t do…

I can’t sing to save my life. I can’t even hum a tune. I think I must be hum-deaf.

Under whatever color my hair might be today, it’s all grey underneath. All. Of. It. Yes, even that part in the back.

I am not a patient person. I try. I really do. But I’m impatient about my own impatience.

I have a phobia of sytrofoam. My teeth hurt and I get goosebumps just thinking about that horrible material. I can’t even be in the same room with it. I know, it’s weird and I’m okay with it – just get it away from me asap.

I cannot make rice. Ever. It’s either under-cooked or burnt. Watery or “over-roasted.” I’ve never even heard of roasted rice before…but I can make it. Just saying.

I am afraid of the ocean. More specifically I believe that the movie Sharknado is actually based on a true story. Yes, really….scared!!!

So after I failed this morning I moved on… rummaging around the fridge looking for inspiration and something yummy to feed the family for lunch. I had a bit of leftover black rice from a thai coconut curry meal + a bunch of collard greens just hanging out in veggie bin minding their own business + we always have hummus on hand for a quick snack + the carrots were looking a little tired + what to do with that package of microgreens + oh and always an avocado ripening on the counter, looking for a good home.

Hmmm…

Just a quick little lunch made out of leftovers and some of this and that and whatever else sounded good.

And it was amazing!! And I want to share it with you – Crispy roasted carrots, curried hummus, creamy avocado, spicy microgreens and black rice all layered on each other, drizzled with a lemony-yogurt sauce and wrapped up in a collard leaf. Let’s do lunch – it’s one of the things I CAN do.

xo,

Jenn

PS No I didn’t cook the rice – the handsome hubby is the house rice maker, thank goodness!

curry hummus and black rice collard wraps with lemon-yogurt sauce

1 cup curry hummus, recipe follows

1cup cooked black rice

1 bunch of collard green leaves, washed, trimmed of the ribs, and cut into large rectangle-shaped pieces

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1 bunch of microgreens, or other greens, washed

1 cup lemon-yogurt sauce, recipe follows

Lay the pieces of collard greens out on a clean cutting board. Spoon a bit of the curry hummus into a line in the middle of the wrap. Add some black rice on top of the hummus, followed by a roasted carrot or two, avocado slices, microgreens and a drizzle of the lemon-yogurt sauce. Fold the collard green over the filling, tucking the sides in and under the middle. Cut in half and serve a bit of the lemon-yogurt sauce on the side for dipping, if needed

makes about four wraps

for the curry hummus

1 cup cooked chickpeas

1 tablespoon tahini

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 garlic clove

1 lemon

salt

black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Place the chickpeas, tahini, curry powder and garlic in a food processor and pulse until roughly combined. Squeeze a bit of the lemon juice, a pinch of salt and black pepper and pulse again. Then, while the food processor is running, drizzle the olive oil into the mixture slowly and until the hummus reaches the perfect creamy consistency. Taste it and adjust the lemon, salt and pepper as needed.

for the roasted carrots

eight carrots, washed and trimmed/peeled

extra virgin olive oil

salt

black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the carrots on the parchment paper, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top, add a pinch of salt and pepper and toss everything to combine.

Place the carrots into the oven and roast until almost fully cooked – about 15/20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

lemon-yogurt sauce

1 cup nonfat greek yogurt, coconut yogurt, or almond yogurt

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

salt

black pepper

the juice of one lemon

water

In a medium sized bowl, add the yogurt, dill, parsley, pinch of salt and pepper, and stir everything to combine. Add a little bit of lemon juice to the yogurt and some water, and stir to combine. Taste it for seasonings and adjust as needed. The sauce should be somewhat pourable – you might need to add some more water to bring it to pourable consistency.

beans and legumes mains

socca wraps with hummus and avocado

This weekend I lived off of these socca wraps.

I had them with fluffy scrambled eggs topped with the very last of the garden tomatoes, and then again for lunch with some thinly shaved carrot and cucumber with tahini sauce and cold tofu, and then once more for dinner baked with mushrooms and squash and goat cheese.

I might have even snuck in another bite or two before bed.

I’m telling you, I couldn’t stop.

These crepes are light and fluffy but completely filling at the same time. Yum.

Oh, and they are healthy. Double yum.

Top with your favorites and enjoy. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after dinner if the mood strikes.

socca wraps

recipe inspired from this post on como.come.cami

1 cup chickpea flour

1 1/2 cups water

In a bowl, stir together the chickpea flour and water. Cover and let sit for at least 8 hours or overnight so that the flour absorbs all of the water.

When you are ready to make your wraps, heat a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Spray with non-stick spray and pour the batter into the middle of the pan. Immediately swirl your pan to get the desired size of wrap and place the pan back on the heat. Turn the wrap over once you can see that it is set and there are small bubbles along the edge of the crepe. The wrap is finished cooking on the second side once you are able to move the pan around and the wrap does not stick to the pan.

toppings

You can use almost any topping on these wraps but here’s what I used: hummus (recipe below), beet hummus (recipe below), chickpeas, goat cheese, arugula, shaved fennel, lemon, chili pepper flakes, cilantro, kalamata olives, avocado

notes:

The wrap recipe makes about five 8-inch wraps or ten 4-inch wraps. I used a 1/4 cup measure to make the 8-inch wraps and a 1/8 cup measure to make the 4-inch wraps. The wraps can be made the day before you want to eat them, just wrap them tightly in plastic and keep them refrigerated. You can add fresh herbs to the wrap batter too – I added thinly sliced chives to half of the batter in this recipe and ate those with my scrambled eggs and tomatoes – delicious!

chickpea hummus

15 oz can of chickpeas, drained

1 tbsp. tahini

1 lemon, juiced

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup water

salt and pepper

In a food processor, add the chickpeas, garlic, tahini and lemon juice and pulse a few times to just combine. With the processor running, drizzle the oil into the hummus, followed by the water. Add salt and pepper and taste and adjust as needed.

beet hummus

Take half of the hummus from the recipe above and mix in one roasted and grated beet.