Tomato and black bean hummus

A few posts back I talked very briefly about the versatility of bean dips, and how you can add basically anything to them.
So here is a prime example: Tomato and black bean hummus!!



Alright... so I will be the first to admit that it looks a little like cat food... but it was so yummy!!

The recipe:
-1 large can of chickpeas
-1 large can of black beans
-half a small can of tomato paste
-juice from one lemon
-about half a teaspoon of maple syrup
-2 tablespoons of tahini
-between 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-half a teaspoon of chilli paste
-GARLIC

Blend everything until it reaches the consistency that you desire. For a runnier hummus, add a bit of water.

I get the feeling that I might be forgetting something from this recipe... but you get the idea (hopefully).

I think that I am going to try testing out different bean and seasoning combinations more this month, so get ready for lots of bean dips!!! om nom nom.

nori strips and hummus.

Ok, so this is one of my less fancy photos of food, but making a post without a photo seems silly.
I am not normally one for food with a lot of packaging, but a friend recently introduced me to these little snack packs of seasoned nori, and they are the greatest!
This weekend, I ate them like crazy. I also had made a bunch of hummus, so I ate them together, and it was even better. Woot!



Since nori is a sea vegetable, it's packed with all sorts of vitamins and minerals, as well as omega-3s (and 6s, but 3s can be harder to get).

My hummous isn't incredibly special, and recipes are abundant enough on the internets, so I won't bother posting one here. To your standard hummus mix, I added a HUGE bunch of basil, and probably about twice as much garlic as your average bear.

tofu! hummus! garlic!

tofu!
lately, i really love to bake tofu... in just about any kind of marinade.
this time, i took one out of VCon (which is where i seem to be getting everything that i cook these days...). I made the "marinated asian tofu", with the only modification being that i loaded it up with a ton of roasted garlic and some toasted sesame seeds.
yum!



I also pan fried some new potatoes with a bunch of roasted mushrooms and garlic, then served these both with a huge dollop of hummus (insert basic hummus recipe plus roasted garlic, chipotle and a bit of balsamic vinegar), and some shredded carrots.
Unfortunately for the hummus, I didn't have any raw garlic on hand, and the roasted garlic just didn't have enough oumf/umf/oumph (?). The lemons that I bought seemed to be a little lack lustre in flavour, hence the addition of balsamic vinegar. Sadly, it added more sweetness than kick into the mix. womp. Still delicious, but I would do things differently next time. (what can i say? it was my first time making hummus)



In case you didn't guess from this post, I love garlic... especially of the roasted variety.
One of the produce stores near my house sells huge bags of pre-peeled garlic on the cheap, so every now and then i grab a bag, toss it in olive oil and roast it. Then I put roasted garlic on/in everything... or you know, just eat it as a snack (yikes!). Occasionally, I will also add a mass of mushrooms to the mix, and then they soak up all of the olive oil/garlic goodness and taste absolutely divine. hurrah!