Evening snack: Hummus Brussel Sprout Wrap

I promised myself I'd eat clean today. I worked hard at the store, did a mild work out and ended up with 800 calories left if I intended to break even. Because I can't lose any more weight.

Yesterday I didn't reach my protein goal so I started today with a spirulina protein shake. Then at 9 a.m. I had breakfast/lunch: a small piece of zaatar bread heaped with very generous amounts of romaine and spring mix, some hummus, a touch of Bulgarian feta, and a little baba ghanouj. 

I punched out of work at 3 pm and got a nonfat unsweetened green tea latte (matcha in skim milk) for a snack/afternoon pick me up. I received a venti, so that means my calcium is in good shape today and the milk adds to my protein count.

Dinner was one serving ham, about a 1/4 cup tropical fruit (see previous blog entry) and about 3/4 cup boxed mac and cheese.

So for my snack I made Brussel sprouts. Put 12 of them in a six inch wrap with 1 ounce spicy gouda, less than 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan and-- get this-- 2 tablespoons hummus. 

It was so good. And I washed it down with a green apple Angry Orchard hard cider.

A little bit of everything thing

Last night I walked to the neighborhood "corner store," a place full of candy and oddities.

I got a soursop smoothie that child and I split as part of our massive but healthy breakfast before she heads out to the amusement park with her grandparents.

This coupled with big glasses of water and the following constituted our "this might be all the fruits and veggies you get for the day" breakfast:

- medjool dates 

- half a banana, sliced in banana split fashion to serve as bread for peanut butter and imported Turkish "crushing nuts" with honey (crushed nuts = pistachio, hazelnut, apricot kernel and peanuts)

- salad tacos, both with one six inch flour tortilla and about 1/2 cup of iceberg garden salad mix and 1/2 cup green and crisp salad mix and about 3/4 ounce Bulgarian feta. Hers had Annie's Goddess dressing. Mine had hummus.

Monday adventures

In an effort to get back into the kitchen, I decided I would stop at Bottom Dollar as part of my morning errands. The selection of Bottom Dollar was completely due to location. I wanted to do my morning errands on foot.

My husband took the car to work and so I walked the children to school (as I do every school day). I continued from there (in the rain!) to Minuteman Press where I dropped off the last issue of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group newsletter for the 2012-2013 season. I will not be resuming duties in the fall.

I need to move forward. 

So I stopped at Bottom Dollar with $12 in my pocket. My checkbook has $50 left to make it until Friday...

I spent $3-and-some odd cents. Head of fresh broccoli, corn tortilla chips and a bag of Fresh Express iceberg garden salad mix.

I came home and made hummus. Got a little too much lemon juice in there, now it's runny. Have no more chick peas to mix in. Nor do I have tahini. I'm tempted to mix in some of the calamata olives left and some of the olive tapenade from Wegmans. Tossed in some zaatar seasoning. I could add roasted red pepper dip. That could work...

Got some harissa and zaatar bread from the freezer. Maybe I'll make couscous with raj el hanout. 

Today will produce some fine adventure...

Mediterranean Feast

It's close to 100 degrees. I did a lot of work today, and it's my husband's busy time of year at work. So I opted for zaatar bread and feta for dinner from Forks Mediterranean Deli.

Now, the busier they are in that slice of heaven, the more I buy. Today I went in for their cold pressed extra virgin olive oil from Beirut, feta and their homemade zaatar bread. I didn't see their homemade zaatar bread so I got their bakery zaatar.

I got a pound of fresh Greek feta ($5.94). They also have Bulgarian and French feta.

Zaatar bread was $3.75 a pack for 2 approximately 12-inch breads. I got two. They freeze well.

The olive oil was $5.99 for 16 ounces.

Then I started adding on:
- hummus, about a pound, $4.31
- madjool dates, more than a half-pound $3.90
- 6 pieces of baklava, $3.36
- less than a half pound of roasted red pepper dip (mouhammara), $2.41
- pitted camaratta olives, 1/4 pound, $1.44
- dried strawberries, about a 1/2 pound, $3.57

Farmers' Markets

Today, my family and I went with my friend Gayle to meet other friends, Kev and Tracy, at the Collegeville and then Phoenixville Farmers Markets.

I spent a total of $39, which includes some contributing to parking and a almond milk/ green tea/ some sort of wheat grass iced latte.

$9 went to Iced by Betsy for some incredible cupcakes.

Got a canning guide and free recipe booklet from the folks that make Ball jars. It has recipes for apple butter, salsa, chutney, pickles, even barbecue sauce.

Got cucumbers, zucchini, zesty white and regular carrots. Lime hummus, wow did that have an unusual fresh flavor and it wasn't made with tahini. Had to buy some ($5) to try and replicate it in the future.

But the real winner for culinary creativity was the lady who made kale-zucchini-cream cheese dip. $6 for 8 ounces. Expensive, but another combination of flavors I had to enjoy. And I'm a minimal connoisseur of kale.

When we got home, we made a giant platter: cheddar, pepper jack, Calandra's fresh mozzarella, crackers, toasted Archer Farms multi-grain bread, cucumbers, carrots, the kale dip, the hummus, strawberries, figs from Forks Mediterranean Deli, unsalted cashews, leftover lamb shawarma from the deli... Oh! And greens and sorrel and fresh dill and fresh parsley all from my garden.

And between my husband and I, we conjured a sandwich of toast, kale dip, greens/sorrel, cucumbers, a touch of Annie's Cowgirl ranch, dill and a thin layer of mozzarella.

Hummus

I bought tahini last night so now I'm excited to make hummus:

In the food processor:

• one can chick peas, drained
  
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/2 teaspoon four-color organic peppercorn
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• a drizzle sesame oil
• 3 roasted garlic cloves
• generous amounts of parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  

My previous hummus recipes:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/search/label/hummus

Hummus lunch

Apparently my husband wanted hummus for the celery we had in the fridge, but didn't tell me until the stalks had gone limp. So, we're taking hummus (the roasted red pepper, parsley hummus I made yesterday) and Ritz crackers, pieces of everything bagels, and carrots.

Hummus

I hope I already posted my normal hummus recipe because today's was a thrown-together affair. I threw into the food processor:

• one can chick peas. They should be drained well. I apparently did not drain mine well enough. So my hummus is a tad runny.
• roasted red peppers. I added close to a cup
• fresh parsley from the garden. Yeah, it's now November and I still have parsley growing in my backyard.
• one large clove garlic
• one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• two tablespoons, or maybe a little more, lemon juice. The juice of half a fresh lemon might be perfect, but I don't have a lemon
• one heaping teaspoon cashew butter. A whim.

And normally one would add tahini or toasted sesame seeds but I forgot them.

Forks Mediterranean Deli

This may be my best blog entry ever by the time I get done. I stopped at Forks Mediterranean Deli on the way home, and simply that is a story in and of itself. When I worked at the news editor at Lafayette College, I went to every Hillel Society function because they had the best falafel I had ever tasted and hummus to die for... And finally, the Jewish chaplain leaned over to me, after a year or so, and said "Angel, I get the platter at Forks Mediterranean Deli."

A love affair was born. I don't get there nearly as often as I should, maybe once every four months. I'm planning on homemade chicken curry soup for dinner and for some reason thought "falafel."

Now, on many occasions, Edmund, the owner, has falafel in the case all by itself ready to go. Not tonight. So I asked him. "Can I have some falafel to go with dinner, no sandwich." Of course he said sure and told me he normally puts three patties on a large sandwich, how many would I like? We settled on eight.

I have $10 in my pocket. I look at the wall. A falafel platter is $5 or $8. A large falafel sandwich is $7. How much would eight falafel patties cost? I rationalized a small shopping spree to justify use of my bank card. After all, it's such good food. All homemade and since he has groceries... I can apply it toward the March grocery budget.

So my daughter and I shop.

We buy:

• dried papaya
• random dehydrated fruits and veggies (including green beans and I have no idea what else)
• hot wasabi snack mix
• sesame nut brittle
• nougat candy and apricot nougat candy
• hummus
• whole wheat mini pitas

Then he asks my daughter what kind of candy she likes. She likes the jordan almonds, but he was out of those. He feels terrible he doesn't have any. He went back to check on our falafel. (He makes it fresh.) When he comes back, he insists on giving her some of her next favorite. She picks the sugar coated chick peas, which are really good.

The bill came to $26.09. The irony is: The falafel was $4. But I never feel guilty about money spent there. The food is too good. (And cheap.)

My daughter says she wants to work there, and Edmund told her he'll pay her in food. I laughed and said he'll lose on that deal. Then she gave him a big hug.

Staff meeting

Perhaps this is off topic. I host staff meetings several times a year and I am responsible for food. When I started, I was told we alternated between Subway and pizza with a budget of $30/meeting. We have about ten staff members. My staff range from college students to teachers to retirees so it's a challenge to find something palatable for everyone.

The meetings are at 6 p.m. so for some people, it's dinner. That includes me.

When I ordered pizza the first time, I discovered that the employee who'd be with the program the longest cannot eat wheat. So that also rules out Subway. Subway and pizza did not impress the adults either. Plus, getting accurate figures on who would attend made guessing how much food to get difficult. Too much food was going to waste. I asked for suggestions and got none.

So, I started focusing on ideas for food that my wheat-intolerant employee could eat. And on munchies that could stick to your ribs since some folks had dinner before had and some did not. And what I wanted for dinner.

Last time, I went to Giant (the grocery store of choice for our office) and got oranges, raisins, cheese and crackers. This time, I had a budget of 20 dollars. I got crudités (a small platter of celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and cucumber), organic baby carrots, mixed nuts, Spinach dip, hummus, cheddar cheese (I thought I got Muenster too but I bought two cheddars, oops), triscuits and gluten free spring onion rice crackers. The platter was demolished!!! Everything but some triscuits, a couple carrots and three cherry tomatoes disappeared. Even the executive director commented that it looked delicious.

Oh-- and the cost: $20.13

Homemade Hummus

My daughter had another huge bowl of cream of wheat for breakfast, followed with some of my homemade granola at 9 a.m. We stopped by her daddy's office and got invited to share the leftover covered dish items from the luncheon yesterday, which included my spinach dip. Primarily, my family enjoyed ham and spinach dip (though I didn't touch the ham). My daughter ate at least a cup, if not two, of spinach without dipping it in anything.

My original plan for lunch had been peanut butter and jelly on the potato wheat bread my father-in-law gave us last week and carrot sticks with blue cheese dressing and fruit juice to drink. But the surprise lunch out got me thinking... I want hummus for dinner.

My husband bought sesame bagels over the weekend at the grocery store so hummus would be perfect. The carrot sticks will also go well. And the green pepper I bought a while ago will be a nice addition.

I discovered my hummus recipe online about ten or so years ago. A guy had made a chart of hummus and its variations. The basic recipe is as follows:

In the food processor, blend:

Three cloves garlic, minced;
16 ounces chick peas;
1/2 cup lemon juice or juice of 1/2 a lemon (I used all);
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (fry briefly in skillet until aromatic) and/or tahini (I forgot the exact volume of tahini but I would say at least a tablespoon or two);
1 teaspoon salt;
1 teaspoon olive oil;
1/4 teaspoon cayenne;
cumin if desired;
parsley if desired.

Chill thoroughly before serving to allow flavors to blend.