Menu

Tag : fast

The Sexiest, Easiest, Most Dee-lish Hummus (and Cheap, too!)

The Sexiest, Easiest, Most Dee-lish Hummus (and Cheap, too!)

This is a quick, homemade hummus recipe that is easy and tastes out of this world, not to mention cheap as hell and nutritious to boot – all of which are why it is so sexy. I’ve made it for unsuspecting guests, for parties…and sometimes I just make up a whole batch and eat it in one or two sittings over a good read.

It has just four ingredients: canned garbanzos, a little olive oil, one clove garlic and half a large lemon (or a whole small one):

Alison's Sexy Hummus Ingredients

  • 1 can organic garbanzos (15 oz or 425 ml)
  • 1 tb or 15 ml olive oil
  • 1/2 large or 1 whole small lemon
  • 1-2 sections of garlic (to taste)
*Note that I’ve not included tahini – neither you nor your wallet will miss it.

You’ll also need a blender or personal blender, such as the one I have…

Alison's Sexy Personal Blender

First, I spoon out the garbanzos into the blender and pour about 1/3 the liquid in with it. I also reserve 5 or 6 whole garbanzos as optional garnish for the finished hummus:

Hummus Needs Chick Peas

Next, squeeze the lemon into the blender:

Squeeze LemonOnce again, use about half of a large lemon (and note that mine had thin skin and lots of flesh to juice from) or a whole small one.

Then, slice up the garlic and add the olive oil (here, I’m eyeballing the olive oil, but if you’re looking for specifics, use a tablespoon, or 15 ml):

Slice Garlic Add Olive Oil

Now, swish or swirl the ingredients just a bit before blending. Place your blender’s cover on and blend using pulses until you get a uniform consistency…

Swish Hummus Ingredients Blend!

Pour and/or spoon out the hummus into a nice bowl or ceramic cup, as I’m using here, and refrigerate what’s left over:

Cup o'Hummus

This makes for a great party or dinner snack dip, or even a small meal when you eat the entire following plate yourself:

Plate o'Hummus, Crackers, Veggies and Pork Rinds

So, what on earth are pork rinds doing in this mix? Try them with the hummus – you just may really like them, especially if you’ve gone keto or follow another lower-carb/higher-protein set of eating habits.

This hummus goes with just about everything – I’ve even used it on salads, chicken, and on homemade pizzas to cut the cheese (pun intended – garbanzos may have you going a bit gassy!) amount in half so it lasts me a bit longer.

Hummus with Rice Crackers

Given that the olive oil was $4.99 for 16.9 oz, the garbanzos were $.99 for a 15-ounce can, the section of garlic came from a 50-cent bulb, within which there were a dozen or so cloves, and the lemon was $.75. So…here’s the price breakdown:

  • 1/2 lemon…. $.38
  • 1 tb olive oil..$.16
  • 1 section garlic…$.04
  • 15 oz can garbanzos…$.99

All told: $1.57 for about 15 ounces of homemade hummus … now, compare that to what you’re paying at the supermarket! They charge TONS for hummus you can make in about five minutes…and if you double the recipe, it’s $3.14 for about 30 ounces.

Have fun!

Bon appetit, stay safe…and eat healthy!
Alison

Versatile, Quick & Easy Braised Tofu Squares

Versatile, Quick & Easy Braised Tofu Squares

The first time I had braised tofu, it was at a local Chinese restaurant in Doylestown, Pennsylvania called Golden Chopsticks. It was served with a delicious veggie sauce on top. So heavenly – and so damn simple and inexpensive to make at home!

My favorite toppers for this quick and easy dish include tomato sauce and parmesan cheese, salad dressing, salt and vinegar – and ultimate fave Tasty Bite Indian Jaipur Vegetables. But really, any Indian or other sauce-based dish goes well with these delish golden-brown tofu squares, which resemble paneer, but with a snappy, crispy-soft texture that will have you making more batches of these on a regular basis.

They store quickly and easily into the fridge, where they’ll stay fresh for a few days – if they last that long. For meals and snacks, I take a few out, and pair them with whatever moves me – sometimes I julienne them onto an arugula salad and drizzle on some of Brianna’s awesome Creamy Balsamic dressing…or just place a few on a plate with some steak sauce, cut fresh carrots and perhaps a little cilantro on the side.

Not only are they easy and versatile, they only really have two ingredients – tofu and oil – in addition to whatever condiments you like:

Organic Tofu

Olive Oil Canola Oil

  • 1 package firm or extra firm organic tofu (usually just under a pound, or 400 grams)
  • Cooking oil of your choice (I mostly use canola* and/or olive oil…and use just enough to thinly coat the bottom of a skillet)
  • Condiments of your choice
*Canola oil was chosen for its low saturated fat profile (and as a money saver). Choose any oil that is right for your purposes, but be wary of the saturated fat content.

You’ll also need a skillet, a sharp knife, a stove or fire…

Iron Skillet

…and a small, broken, much-loved and handle-less spatula of your choice. I kid you not, it makes turning these little squares over in a hot oily pan a piece of cake:

Fave Broken Small Spatula

First, set your stove burner to just about medium, then open up your package of tofu and slice it…I usually slice it long-ways in half first, then into sevenths width-wise, then blot the squares on a napkin to shorten the cooking time…

Initial Stove Setting Cut Tofu

Blot Tofu

After blotting the tofu squares for a few minutes, carefully place them into your heated and oiled skillet:

Place Tofu Squares in Pan

I find that 14 squares fit perfectly into my 10-inch / 25.4 cm iron skillet…

14 Tofu Squares in a 10-inch Iron Skillet

Let the squares cook on medium heat for at least 5 minutes, if not 10. The first side can take some time to cook to the desired texture because tofu has a high moisture content.

When you start to see the browning of the squares at the bottom edge, that’s when it’s safe to lift these little babies up without tearing them apart to check for doneness:

Browned Tofu Bottom

If you don’t wait until you see the browned edges, you risk breaking up the squares quite a bit. A little patience goes a long way!

Take your broken small spatula and gingerly lift up the browned-on-the-bottom square like so…

Check the Doneness of the First Side

If your squares look solidly golden-brown like in the picture below, they are ready to turn over!

Crispy-Soft Perfection!

Cook the other sides of the squares for several more minutes, keeping a close watch on them. Usually, the second sides take a little less time than the first.

2nd Side Cooking

Keep watch until you see the brown bottom edges again. When both sides are done, they are ready to be removed from the pan…

Finished Braised Tofu Squares

Serve them on a plate…sometimes I just eat them plain, or with a little salt and vinegar (if you find soy or tofu hard to digest, some vinegar really helps)…or even a healthy dusting of cinnamon and stevia:

Plain Braised Tofu Squares

These are quite good by themselves, the crispy-soft texture contrast is just fantastic!

Delicious Braised Tofu Squares!

…and these little beauties are a hit at parties (and poker games, as I found out around two months ago during the holidays).

They are wonderful with tomato sauce (or even steak sauce) and served on a pine-needle green plate…

Braised Tofu Squares Know How to Party!

Dip Them in Tomato Sauce...

…they also pair very well with salad dressings, and are a great topping for salads…

Great with Salad Dressing

…and with one of my other faves, Tasty Bite Indian meals!

Fantastic with Indian Food!

Any way you use these, they are a very tasty time saver…keep them in your fridge for when you want some quick, delicious protein!

Enjoy!

Yours in Great Health,

Alison

Chocolate Chip Almond No-Nos

Chocolate Chip Almond No-Nos

This fast, easy and naturally sweet, but very low carb and low fat chocolate chip cookie recipe uses two of my favorite things, almonds in the form of almond flour, and chocolate chips. These are not just any chocolate chips, however – they are sugar free, nothing but 100% chocolate, and amen to that. For a while, baker’s chocolate had to suffice – along with time spent chopping it up, which wasn’t pretty.

Sugar, along with sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners and other additive sweeteners like agave, are so overused in our food supply that it is truly rare to find an unadulterated, unsweetened product like Pascha Organic Dark Chocolate Baking Chips, which are 100% cacao, and nothing else. These chips are unsweetened, nut free, wheat and gluten free, and dairy and egg free as well as free from soy.

A product of Peru made for the Pascha Chocolate Company in Toronto, Canada, I found my curiosity piqued and visited their site to see the bag of chips on their front page along with that ever-so-important tagline: One Ingredient. One of their site’s main menu categories is “Free From.” It’s what I look for most of the time these days, simple things without all the BS in order to keep the “cup runeth over” diseases and syndromes at bay.

Recommendation made, so let’s get to the recipe, which is super quick and easy. You’ll need:

Chocolate Chip Almond No-Nos Ingredients

  • 250 ml fine almond flour (I use blanched almond flour)
  • 2.5 ml baking soda
  • 1.25 ml sea salt or Himalayan salt
  • HEAPING 2.5 ml spoonful monk fruit powder
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 egg white
  • 10-15 ml *canola oil (or other fave oil)
  • 2.5 ml vanilla extract
  • 1 small handful 100% cacao chocolate chips, to taste…and a little goes a long way!
*Canola oil was chosen for its low saturated fat profile (and as a money saver). Choose any oil that is right for your purposes, but be wary of the saturated fat content.

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a medium-sized mixing bowl, like so…

Chocolate Chip Almond No-Nos Mix

…and mix all ingredients until the dough is uniform:

Chocolate Chip Almond No-Nos MixedChocolate Chip Almond No-Nos Mixed More

 

 

Next, add in your delicious, decadent-without-the-shite chocolate chips. Enjoy these photos…100% Cacao Chocolate Chips Added

…I could take an extended, slow, sensual bath in this stuff…

Chocolate Chips Added Closer

…and I’d do it all day if I could stave off my chocoholism for long enough. But, having preheated the oven to 375 Fahrenheit degrees on a hot day, I gotta get back on track here.

After mixing in the chocolate chips, take two regular flatware teaspoons and spoon out the dough in small dollops – about 2.5 cm or an inch or so in circumference each – onto a baking sheet or whatever you have available. As all my other baking sheets are out on other projects at the moment, I’m using the oven’s broiling pan, which turns out to be better than the baking sheets I’ve been using. It has enamel instead of that chemicalized non-stick material that is now lodged in all our body tissues, is better than that crappy non-stick anyway, and it also makes for a great contrast with the little No-No dollops. They kind of look like little space cookies, don’t they? Cute!

Space Cookies - Chocolate Chip No-Nos on Broiler Pan, Ready to Bake

Bake these at 375 for 10 – 12 minutes, remove them from the oven and scarf them up before anyone else sees them! These are a great low carb way to answer the chocolate chip cookie craving, which is absolutely fierce and must be answered. The good news: These are entirely BINGEable – I have eaten half the batch in one sitting and had no blood sugar issues at all. I’ve found them to be priceless while working on reducing insulin resistance, often eating these on the days I’m not doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) when I find myself craving something sweet, filling and “carby” tasting.

The tally here is about 16 of these dee-lish little gems:

Finished No-No

I’m also cooking up a gingerbread version of these…I’ll add that variation in when it’s passed the taste test. Enjoy!

Yours in great health,
Alison

Simple as Hell Holy Guacamole

Simple as Hell Holy Guacamole

I’m always looking for quick, simple and inexpensive ways to make the good stuff on the go, so here’s one fer ye! It’s a very cool, fast and easy guacamole recipe using readily available & easily found ingredients, straight from your – or your Airbnb host’s – fridge and spice rack. Great when craving something real on the road, or when you need a quick and healthy snack without much fuss.

SAH-Guac-Ingred

Gather ye thy holy ingredients:

  • One Ripe Avocado (Small to Medium)
  • 1/4 Fresh Onion (or 1 TB Dried Onion Flakes)
  • 1/2 Heaping Teaspoon Cumin Powder
  • 1 – 2 Dashes Cayenne Powder
  • Scant 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

I try to use all or mostly organic stuff in my cooking and always encourage others to do the same. In a cereal bowl (or similar), cut, skin and mash up the avocado. Save the seed! You’ll need it if you want to refrigerate any leftover guac…according to livescience.com, science does seem to support that keeping the seed with the guac will prevent some browning, and as well, thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, spewing facts regarding the uber-nutritious avocado:

Few people know that the avocado is an ecological anachronism, that it most likely evolved specifically to entice the tastes and the large gullet of the now-extinct giant ground sloth.

Cut Avocado Mash Avocado Keep the Seed

Now that that deadly sin is out of my system, next you’ll want to dice 1/4 of a fresh onion, which equates to approximately 1/4 – 1/3 cup. FYI, if you’re using dried onion flakes, the 4:1 rule applies – in other words, you only need about a quarter the amount of dried onion to get the same taste result. Given that 1/4 cup equates to 4 tablespoons, using 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes will do it. As always, trust your taste buds and adjust accordingly.

Quarter Onion Dice Onion

Briefly mix the onion into the mashed avocado:

Add Onion to Avocado

Next, add in your heaping 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder…

Add Half a Teaspoon Cumin

…followed by 1 – 2 dashes of cayenne pepper and a scant 1/2 teaspoon sea salt…

Add Cayenne Add Sea Salt All In

…and you are ready to do the final mix!

Final Mix

Next, get ready to serve thyself this Simple as Hell Holy Guacamole. Sometimes I eat it straight up, but here, to show some degree of civility, I’ve used lentil chips, which provided a really nice, light contrast to the guac…enjoy!

Serves: 2 normals, or one Alison Lorraine. Can be stored in the fridge for a day with the seed, but it’s best to use this up asap.

Guac-and-Lentil-Chips

Yours in Great Health,

Alison

10-Minute Kale at Kel's

10-Minute Kale at Kel’s

Kale is the green’s green – thick, hearty, and full of nutritional value. And like any self-respecting green, it tastes like one. At least until you add a few simple things, then everything changes. Flavor happens. People start asking you to “make that kale thing you made that other time,” and all sorts of good stuff that’ll lower your karmic debt.

Hell, it’s one way to get some meaningful veggies down your throat!

I cooked this at my best friend Kelly’s house in Pennsylvania. She, like me, is always looking for better eats and health, and well, there I was. This simple dish will add flavor and pleasure to any meal, and is also a pretty good snack on its own.

All you’ll need are: 

  • One Bunch Organic Kale
  • 1 Tsp Dried or One Clove Fresh Garlic, Minced (Organic, if Possible)
  • 1/2 Tb Butter
  • Sea Salt

Kale at Kel's Ingredients

First, you’ll want to disassemble your bunch of kale and slice the leafy parts of the leaves off the stems, rip them into bite-size pieces and place them in a pan with just a little water, say a couple of tablespoons. The easiest and fastest way I’ve found to de-stem kale leaves: Use kitchen shears. They will save you time you will want to waste procrastinating on facebook.

But seriously, a good set of kitchen shears will keep the time spent and the lacerations to a minimum.

Rinsed Kale Kale Start Setting

Once the kale is in the pan, cover then heat it on a high heat setting to get the kale to start boiling. Kelly’s stove had knobs like this, so I used an 8 for a gentle boil.

After the kale has boiled for a few minutes and started to darken, add in your garlic, butter and a couple dashes of the sea salt, turning your stove’s heat setting down to medium:

Kale, Garlic, Butter and Salt Kale Simmer Setting

Cover the whole lot and let it simmer for several more minutes. I find that boiling and simmering for a total of 10 minutes works well – it softens the kale and mingles the garlic, butter and sea salt perfectly with it. I like soft kale, not the tough stuff, and I’ll take flavorful versus rabbit food anytime. Stir and taste test a piece when approaching 10 minutes to see if it’s the right amount of doneness for you.

Dee-lish! And a health-giving, colorful addition to any plate. Makes a great, hearty side for red meats, beans, and it’s great with potatoes and other starchy vegetables, such as squashes, or root veggies, like parsnips. Kale pairs well with things that have a sweetness about them, and that makes it one of the sweetest thangs 🙂 …so dig in!

Dig-In

Yours in Great Health,

Alison