Keeping up with the hummus consumption in my home requires making large quantities. It’s a staple food for us, and we often take it to potluck suppers or church home group to share. I’ts always a hit, and as a result several folks have requested this recipe.
Ingredients
2 lbs
dry garbanzo beans
1/2 cup
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup
lemon juice
1/2 cup
water
In a large Crockpot, soak the dry beans in 8 to 12 cups of water for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. Discard soak water and add fresh water, making sure beans are covered over with at least an inch of water. Cover and cook in the Crockpot on high approximately 8 hours. If you’re in a hurry, these can be cooked on the stove-top instead. On the stove bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until done. In either case check occasionally to make sure beans remain covered and add hot water if needed. Beans are finished when soft enough to mash against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Discard cooking water. Place beans in a colander and rinse in cold water until they stop bubbling off gas. (This isn’t absolutely necessary, but recommended if flatulence is an issue. You can get rid of the gas before or after consumption, your choice.) Reserve about two cups of beans and pour the rest back in the cooking pot and add olive oil, lemon juice and water. Purée using an immersion blender, moving the blender up and down vertically throughout the pot rather than using a stirring motion. Continue this until a smooth paste is formed and all beans are mashed. Add the reserved beans and purée until smooth. If you have difficulty achieving a smooth paste after all the beans are incorporated, you can add a tablespoon or two of water to get the desired result.
Divide up the base into 8 pint size containers and freeze several for later use. This recipe makes approximately 12 cups of base, so you will end up with 1 1/2 cups per pint container. This leaves enough room to stir when adding spices.
Now that you have your base made it’s time to get creative. Take one of the pint containers and add maybe Cajun or garlic and herb seasoning mix to taste. When using a purchased spice blend, it is important to start with it, then add the salt and pepper to taste because the mix often has some salt/pepper in it already. Experiment with spices by adding one spice at a time until you get a sense of how much tastes good.
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per 2 Tbsp Serving
Calories
45
Calories from Fat
15
RDA*
Fat
1.7
g
.03
%
Saturated Fat
.2
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
.4
g
Monounsaturated Fat
.95
g
Cholesterol
0
mg
0
%
Sodium
2.6
mg
0
%
Potassium
84
mg
2
%
Carbohydrate
5.8
g
1.9
%
Dietary Fiber
1.7
g
7
%
Protein
6.8
g
14
%
Alcohol
g
Vitamin A
0
%
Calcium
1
%
Vitamin D
0
%
Thiamin
4.1
%
Niacin
1.1
%
Vitamin B6
3.9
%
Phosphorus
5
%
Selenium
1.4
%
Vitamin C
.9
%
Iron
3.3
%
Vitamin E
1.6
%
Riboflavin
1.8
%
Vitamin B12
0
%
Manganese
11.6
%
Copper
9
%
Magnesium
3.4
%
Zinc
4.1
%
* Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) - the minimum daily intake level of a nutrient considered sufficient by the Food and Nutrition Board to meet the requirements of nearly all (97–98%) healthy individuals in each life-stage and gender group.
Friday, June 10th, 2011,
by janeofalltrades,
Filed under: Recipes| |
No Comments
I keep meaning to share some of my staple recipes and I’m starting with this one because it is undoubtedly my new favorite! There was a time when I ate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups like they were going out of style. This smoothie hints at the Reese’s flavor well enough to satisfy me…and it’s good for me! Packed full of nutrition and flavor, I expect this no sugar added dessert (snack) will keep me on track whenever I get the taste for chocolate.
Ingredients
1 cup
Silk Pure Almond Milk, unsweetened
1 tbsp
Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter
1 tbsp
cocoa powder
1 medium
banana, frozen 1″ chunks
4 packets
Truvia natural sweetener
ice cubes
Combine the above ingredients in a blender. Add enough ice cubes so they protrude above the milk, or adjust the amount of ice to achieve your desired consistency. Run the blender on high until the ingredients churn smoothly. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories
252
Calories from Fat
104
RDA*
Fat
11.6
g
17.8
%
Saturated Fat
1.8
g
.09
%
Polyunsaturated Fat
2.9
g
Monounsaturated Fat
6.3
g
Cholesterol
0
mg
0
%
Sodium
13
mg
0
%
Potassium
15
mg
0
%
Carbohydrate
45.9
g
35
%
Dietary Fiber
6.7
g
27
%
Protein
6.8
g
15
%
Alcohol
g
Vitamin A
21
%
Calcium
46
%
Vitamin D
50
%
Thiamin
5
%
Niacin
22
%
Vitamin B6
40
%
Phosphorus
18
%
Selenium
5
%
Vitamin C
14
%
Iron
11
%
Vitamin E
77
%
Riboflavin
50
%
Vitamin B12
125
%
Manganese
46
%
Copper
45
%
Magnesium
31
%
Zinc
31
%
* Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) - the minimum daily intake level of a nutrient considered sufficient by the Food and Nutrition Board to meet the requirements of nearly all (97–98%) healthy individuals in each life-stage and gender group.
Thursday, May 12th, 2011,
by janeofalltrades,
Filed under: Recipes| |
No Comments
During Sunday morning worship many people shared how God moved in their lives during and after the storms last week. A good friend of mine told how his parents’ house was flattened, yet his father rested beneath the floorboards with a seriously broken limb until help arrived. When he was found, a Bible lay open on his head to Job 14, where a highlighted portion stood out, saying, “his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass…”
When he read it, I felt that verse was meant for me, too. Wednesday morning I found myself driving in the midst of the day’s first storm. I was heading towards my downtown office location via Rossville and East Lake. The further I went, the worse the weather became. About the time I passed by Walter A. Wood Supply it seemed foolish to continue, yet difficult to return.
Not 500 yards from where I decided to turn back, the road I had just traveled was impassable. Two alternate routes also were obstructed by downed trees and power lines, so I proceeded down Rossville Boulevard with caution. Every intersection was hazardous due to the knocked out traffic lights blowing sideways with the wind. Off in the distance I saw a beautiful shower of sparks when a transformer blew up.
There was a moment during all this when I recognized the perilous conditions around me, yet strangely I was calm. Nothing remained but to trust that God would bring me safely home, either to my earthly home or to a heavenly one. I was keenly aware of how my life and breath were entirely in His hands.
But there was an even more important realization in that moment. In the preceding tumultuous days, I had not been living in this trust. I was carried away by strained emotional difficulties that demanded my attention instead of resting in the knowledge that God is in control. This is when my sponsor would tell me to get back in the wheelbarrow, stop trying to run the show and just do the next right thing. When I surrender, sanity returns.
After many detours I finally made it home, none the worse for the wear. The best part, though, is that I finally had peace about the unresolved conflicts of previous days because in that moment, I finally let go of the outcome. I am still in the midst of this personal storm, but God is taking care of me in it.
I heard a gentle knock at the door followed by my mother’s soft call, “I don’t know what time you were planning to get up, but it’s 6:15am now.” My senses were electrified and I hurried out of bed with only 45 minutes to make it to the start line. Soon I was in the passenger seat eating Greek yogurt and Grape Nuts with my tall black coffee while my husband steered our car through sluggish traffic.
Minutes later with Moultrie Middle School dead ahead, my husband paused at the stop sign while I exited the car and headed into the crowd. The air was cool and crisp as the sun blazed into my eyes. After making a preparatory stop, I made my way into the corral at the rear of Wave E. I was surprised to find myself next to someone with whom I attended high school but hadn’t seen in years. It was calming to pass the time catching up with her while we waited for the race to begin.
Soon the sound of the starter pistol cracked through the air and the first wave was off. Nearly 40,000 people crowded together, packed tightly like sardines in the corral. This was the first year that waves were started in three minute increments, and so it was about twenty past the hour when our wave crossed the start line. We shuffled forward as one unified mob, spreading out slowly as each person found his pace. Participants cheered as we crossed the start line.
I ran at an easy clip to the base of the bridge, relishing the sharp bite of the air as it hit my lungs. Spectators offered enthusiastic encouragement from the sidelines as runners moved past. I slowed to a quick walk up the incline to prevent re-injuring my plantar fascia.
Upon cresting the top of the bridge, the Pandora station on my cell phone began playing Chris Tomlin’s Indescribable and it felt as though my heart would beat right out of my chest. I looked up to the top of the majestic towers and into the clear blue sky, then out across the harbor waters glistening in the sunlight as I ran across the flat top. Suspended above the earth and a little closer to heaven, I felt grateful to God for the good health I experience today.
It is not only the physical changes, but also the emotional and spiritual health that God has miraculously restored to me in the last two years. I never dreamed a day would come when I could stand in the midst of such a crowded place without panic. Yet on this morning there was no room for fear. Instead I felt alive, full of gratitude and joy.
For me this race was a spiritual experience, a triumphant victory that will remain an Ebenezer for the rest of my life. Thus far God has helped me, and when times of struggle come, this day will serve as a reminder of His ever-present help. The greatest blessing, however, has been in the journey, learning to know Him and enjoy His presence.
Everyone knows troubles are part of the world in which we live. But how do we weather them?
I’ve felt a bit like a casualty of war over the last few weeks. The shocking revelation that I am entangled in an unsafe relationship yet again knocked me back off my feet. While I’ve had a heightened awareness of my issues, I still needed an outside perspective to expose the more serious nature of my situation.
Through this state of affairs I have been amazed at the changes in my life as compared to several years ago. The sole fact that I am able to recognize a problem is progress, but more than that I am thankful to have different coping mechanisms today. Seeing my situation as a place of vulnerability and guarding against falling back into old patterns of unhealthy and sinful behavior is a different response than I would have taken before.
In the past I would have gone into hiding. I would have reached for a pint of my favorite ice cream and a pack of cigarettes. Perhaps I would have stayed up late numbing out with computer games, filled my mind with unhealthy thoughts, or participated in other behavior that is not God-honoring. I would have used any and all available means to avoid feeling the intensity of my pain and fear.
This time I did pull back from the immediate situation, but instead of isolating I reached out to the safe people in my life for support. I sought trusted counsel for help in determining a proper course of action. I kept up my meeting attendance and spent time with my sponsor. I surrounded myself with godly friends who would listen while I mentally processed what was happening. I did not hide what I felt from others. I leaned into my pain and pursued a more appropriate solution.
Because of all these things, today I do not have to act out; my way of life is different. I am learning how to truly take care of myself and be responsible. I am learning to live life on life’s terms. Is it perfect? Certainly not. But my progress is showing.
For many years I succumbed to the belief that a magical day would come when all conflict would cease and I would live in perfect harmony. But this is not to be here on earth, for conflict is the fire by which I am transformed. Who would dare submit to change unless some difficulty motivated him to do so? Without conflict, I could not be the person I am today, nor would it be possible to be made into the image of Christ. My desire to live in harmony is not foolish, but rather is my heart longing for the kingdom of heaven.
Two years ago in early March 2009 my husband and I went to a Christian seminar together. This was his first time at the conference, but I remember my father taking me to this very same seminar twenty years prior. Then a teenager passionate for God, I found the messages very moving. Over time they were forgotten. Hearing them again as an adult my first reaction was, “Oh, If only I had listened.” I cried buckets of sorrowful tears into my pillow each night in the knowledge that as a teenager I had plainly heard key principles from God’s Word, yet forsaken them during my early adulthood years.
In spite of my grief over past poor choices, I tried to listen anew so as not to make the same mistake again. The speaker shared many remarkable insights throughout the week, but one in particular was my big take away. He repeatedly said, “I don’t know a single person who overcame habitual sin without first memorizing Romans 6-8:15.” He spoke often about memorizing Scripture, but nearly every time he mentioned this passage as being key.
This was quite the claim he made. I’m sure some people do overcome habitual sin without memorizing this passage, but I certainly hadn’t.He made this claim with such frequency and fervency I could not dismiss the idea. Maybe I just couldn’t ignore it because I was trying to tackle multiple addictions with little measure of success.Since there was nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain, I decided to accept his challenge.
It took only a few weeks to memorize, but I spent a lot of time pondering it afterward.In the morning while getting ready for work, during my daily commute, and when I turned the lights out at night I played the words over in my head.At first this was just to make sure I could remember, but along the way it began to have new meaning.As I applied the concepts to my very real struggles, the words breathed life into my soul and brought encouragement to my heart.I started to see these struggles from a spiritual perspective and to seek a spiritual solution.
Remembering Romans has been another key component in my recovery from addictions and overcoming habitual sin. It is interesting to note that right after I began this memorization I stopped smoking. Tomorrow it will be two years to the day since I quit.Three months later I reached another major milestone in my recovery, and in another three months I began my weight loss journey.At no time prior to this was I able to keep all these balls in the air simultaneously.In my own power I failed every time.This success is surely the redemptive power of Christ at work in me.
This morning we sang a Matt Redman song during worship and it was all I could do to keep playing my instrument. I just wanted to stand and raise my hands! My spirit was lifted heavenward in gratefulness to God, for He radically rescued me and changed my life forever. These lyrics echo the cry of my heart today.
The more bound up in addictions I became, the further into my solitary cave I withdrew. Over time I disengaged from most non-familial relationships. Then, my spouse was a truck driver and we rarely saw each other. My “at-home” co-workers were spread across the nation and I’d never met any of them. The only reason I needed to go out was for groceries, so direct human contact in my life was minimal. My church attendance was purposely infrequent. All this merely served to handicap my feeble attempts at getting well, and my soul was slowly suffocating to death for lack of community.
The twelve-step fellowship was the first community where I began to come out of isolation and form relationships. Since I was in essence housebound, my participation began primarily through telephone meetings. There I found many people struggling with the same problems I was. As I learned to practice rigorous honesty, other people spoke into my life by sharing their experience. This community brought light into my life that kept me going in an otherwise very dark time. The unconditional acceptance I received in this arena made it possible for me to take risks in other circles.
My presenting crisis drove me to seek help through my pastor. He referred me to an experienced Christian therapist who helped me identify and face issues that were underlying my sinful behavior patterns. At her direction, I began participating in a therapy group with other women who shared similar struggles. This was my first experience with transparency in a face-to-face group. We shared our triumphs and failures with each other and walked together through the painful pieces of life we previously refused to uncover.
Soon I started testing the waters with building relationships at church. While it was difficult, I waded through my fear and began showing up regularly for services. Not long after, two women met with me for a weekly Bible study. After carrying on with these things for a season I began attending other church functions that featured a social element. In November 2009 I went to my first all-church retreat, and in February 2010 I went to my first church women’s retreat. My heart was panic-stricken in showing up to these events, but the rewards have been incredible. It was through these that I began to form genuine friendships.
Early on it became necessary for me to seek full-time employment. Moving from the comfort of telephone relationships, both in my work and recovery communities, to interacting live and in person for forty-five hours per week was terrifying and emotionally exhausting. I find it interesting, though, that my work organization has an unusually acute awareness of God’s relational nature and His design of us as relational beings. I think it is as a result of this awareness that my colleagues have been both understanding of me and inspirational to me. All of them have been extremely influential in my quest for a healthy lifestyle.
I am finding that relationships are a key component to long-term success on this journey. First and foremost, I need to have a relationship in right standing with God, for it is my life’s blood and out of it all other relationships flow. I am learning, too, that He plants godly people in my life and flows through these relationships to me. They are a means of grace by which God transforms me from the inside out.
Not many days go by without someone asking me, “How did you do it?” At times it’s unclear whether the person wants to hear about the mechanics underlying my weight loss, or if they want the deeper truth. Just such an encounter happened recently over lunch with a co-worker. We chatted about the various modifications to my diet, how I began exercising and the health crisis that started it all. Then she asked about the other change. She wanted the deeper truth: spiritual transformation is required!
There are numerous unsuccessful attempts in my past. Some efforts fell flat from the start and others showed early promise but withered six months to a year later. They all had something in common: I was trying to do it alone, in my own power. I was the captain of my ship and master of my own fate. My experience, however, demonstrates this to be a recipe for chronic failure.
There are many things in life over which I am utterly powerless. I am not a fit ship’s captain and mastering my own fate is a certain path to destruction. As Paul says in Romans 7:15-16, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” It is just so easy, to do the wrong thing, think the wrong thought, eat the wrong food! Somewhere along the line, sinful habits were born. The more I indulged in them, the harder it became to say no. Eventually I was unable to resist at all. Yet each time I would be astonished at my thought or action and hate myself for failing.
The spiritual change and healing began in other areas of my life before I recognized my powerlessness over particular foods. I was so terrified of having any genuine relationships that I was reclusive. Then my rebellious heart went kicking and screaming to church. There I kept to myself and refused to form friendships. After that my angry spirit resented having to procure a full-time job. It seemed the whole world was against me and I hated everything. Nearly every one of the blessings in my life was something I initially despised.
The truth is the whole world wasn’t against me, it was me fighting against the love of God. Looking back, I see how God tenderly put me in a secure setting for the journey. He placed me in a church fellowship that doesn’t hide the fallen nature of humanity and encourages the confession of sin. He supplied a Christian counselor, therapy group and twelve-step fellowship that all have been safe places to be authentic. He provided me a place of employment that proclaims the brokenness of all creation and the redemptive power of Christ. He gave me positive peer pressure through co-workers that spur me on in healthy pursuits, both physical and spiritual. He brought me genuine friends that share their journeys with me and hold me accountable. Today I cherish every single one as a gift from God.
These blessings remain an integral part of my growth, and this is only the short list! I’ve come to realize this business of spiritual transformation is a lifelong journey. It amazes me how God created a perfect environment for the healing that already has happened and what is yet to come.
