Les Eats

We love hummus! Our favorite kind to get is Asmar’s Extra Garlic Hommus which is a local brand here in the D.C. area. I always read the ingredients when we buy most anything and I noticed that hummus didn’t have that many so I thought I’d try making hummus at home & here is what I came up with.

[ Ingredients ]
- 2 cans cooked garbanzo beans (reserve 1 tablespoon garbanzo beans & 3/4 cup of the liquid)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (I use Lakewood Organic Pure Lemon Juice)
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 teaspoon salt (start with 1/2 & see if you’d like to add more)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- paprika (to taste)
- cumin (to taste)

[ Process ]
- place garbanzos, reserved liquid, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, & salt in a high speed blender or food processor & make sure to secure the lid
- blend until creamy
- transfer the hummus in a container (scrape
- garnish with reserved garbanzo beans
- pour olive oil
- sprinkle paprika & cumin

Serve with with whole wheat pita, crackers or raw vegetables like carrots, cucumbers & celery. If you’d like it not so garlicky, just leave in 1 garlic. Makes 3 cups.

Enjoy!

When I went to visit the Philippines a couple of months ago, I was introduced to breakfast smoothies by our fabulous Subic Bay hosts Corey & Mona. They used romaine lettuce, spinach or kale & whatever fruit they had at hand. I’ve been hooked since!  So (almost) everyday, O & I have smoothies for breakfast.

[ Ingredients ]
- 1 banana, peeled & sliced
- 1 apple, core removed & cubed
- 1 orange, peeled & cut into four pieces
- 1 cup of mango chunks (frozen)
- 1 cup of strawberries (frozen)
- 2 handfuls (or 3) of baby spinach
- 1/2 cup of coconut juice
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon lime juice

[ Process ]
- place all ingredients in a high speed blender & make sure to secure the lid
- blend until it looks like the picture above

Serves 2.

Enjoy!

No, not Creedence Clearwater Revival but Ms. Julie Yoder‘s yummy dish called “Cashew, Chick Pea, Rice”. I had the pleasure of tasting this dish at last Saturday’s Girls Rock! D.C. volunteer orientation. It’s super easy to make yet very satisfying.

[ Ingredients ]
- 3 cups cooked brown rice (J. Yo’s dish calls for 2 cups of wild rice but I had cooked brown rice handy)
- 1 can cooked chickpeas
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
- sea salt (to taste)
- red pepper flakes (to taste)

[ Process ]
- in a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, sea salt & red pepper flakes
- in a big bowl, pour all the cooked brown rice
- mix in chickpeas, cashews, sesame seeds & olive oil mixture

You can put more cashews, chickpeas & also olive oil if you like. J. Yo also recommends raisins.

Enjoy!

Happy new year! I’ve been craving my family’s chicken adobo but since O doesn’t eat meat, I thought I’d use the same ingredients but with tofu instead of chicken & voila! By the way, the cauliflower I used in this photo came from the farmers market. It looks a bit more yellow/orange but tastes the same as the usual cauliflower you find in the supermarket.

For the Tofu Adobo:

[ Ingredients ]
- 1/2 cup Datu Puti soy sauce
- 1/2 cup Datu Puti cane vinegar
- 1 block of firm tofu
- enough olive oil to coat your frying pan
- 1 head of garlic, chopped
- 2 pieces dried bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon peppercorn

[ Preparation ]
- to make the marinade, mix 1/2 a cup of Datu Puti soy sauce & 1/2 a cup Datu Puti cane vinegar
- slice tofu like you see in the picture above. A block of tofu usually yields 8 slices
- put the slices of tofu on a baking dish or any other container you have that can hold them & pour in marinade. I used a 6″ diameter Pyrex bowl with a lid & it fit the whole thing perfectly
- leave marinating for a few hours or even overnight

[ Process ]
- heat up your frying pan to medium high (I used an 8″ non-stick pan) & pour in some olive oil enough to coat the pan
- take out the tofu from the container but keep the marinade
- sauté 1/2 of the chopped garlic & then add slices of tofu on top (I did four at a time)
- lightly brown both sides of the tofu
- turn down the heat to medium low & pour on top of the tofu half of the marinade, 1 pieces of dried bay leaf 1/4 teaspoon peppercorn
- when most of the marinade has evaporated, transfer all the contents of the pan on a serving plate
- repeat steps 3-6 for the rest of the tofu

For the Steamed Cauliflower:

[ Ingredients ]
- cauliflower, cut up to serving pieces
- olive oil
- salt

[ Preparation ]
- find a pot with a lid that will fit your steaming basket or colander

[ Process ]
- pour enough water in the pot that it just barely reaches the bottom of the steamer or colander
- once the water comes to a boil, add the cauliflower and place a loose fitting lid on top to cover, make sure there’s enough room for the steam to escape
- usually this will be done by 6 minutes but poke your cauliflower to check
- when done, drizzle with olive oil and some salt

Serve together with steamed rice or the tofu can also be served on top of salad greens. Enjoy!

I got this recipe from my friend Dave (Happy Birthday!). He got the recipe from here except he adds chocolates & nuts to his version so I modified the recipe to how we make it at home. I made it a couple of times with chocolate soy milk & that was really yummy too.

[ Ingredients ]
- 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
- 1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped raw walnuts
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance organic buttery spread
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
- 1/4 cup almond milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

[ Process ]
- preheat oven to 350 F
- lightly coat an 8×4 bread pan with with margarine
- sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices
- cream together the margarine and sugars.
- add bananas, almond milk and vanilla.
- add the wet ingredients to the dry except for the chocolate chips & walnuts, mix well.
- add the chocolate chips & walnuts, mix
- pour batter into pan
- bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.

Enjoy (& try not to eat all in one sitting).

We didn’t have much in the fridge except for almost wilted salad greens & green beans that day, neither of which I wanted to go to waste so I put together a cold pasta salad dish that came out really yummy. I didn’t get to measure any of this as I was just winging it. Next time I make it again, I’ll be sure to have measurements for you.

[ Ingredients ]
- pasta (I mixed normal with whole wheat Farfalle since there was not enough of either)
- green beans (cut ends and chop into medium pieces)
- salad greens
- chopped fresh basil
- minced garlic (to your liking – we like garlic a lot)
- extra virgin olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt & pepper (to taste)

[ Process ]
- cook pasta per package directions
- when almost done, throw in the green beans then drain it in a pasta strainer, let it cool
- in a bowl, mix together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic, salt & pepper
- throw in pasta & green beans, mix
- lastly, throw in the salad greens & fresh basil
- let cool in the fridge for a little bit or eat right away. It’s up to you.

Enjoy

Last week, O told me he wanted to eat more garlic. I was looking through the pantry and found the bag of pasta from Trader Joe’s and decided to make a simple and garlicky pasta dish for us.

[ Ingredients ]
- 1 bag of Trader Joe’s vegetable radiatore pasta
- 1 bulb of medium sized garlic minced
- approximately 1 1/2 cups of mushrooms of your choice. I used a pack of fresh mixed “gourmet mushrooms” from Whole Foods.
- smoked sea salt (to taste – I used Maldon smoked sea salt)
- extra virgin olive oil
- red pepper flakes (to your liking)

[ Process ]
- cook pasta per package directions
- when done, drain it in a pasta strainer
- put the pot used to cook the pasta on the stove & turn up heat to medium
- when the pot is a bit warm, add olive oil
- add minced garlic, red pepper flakes, mushrooms
- after a couple of minutes, when it’s fragrant, add the pasta
- sprinkle smoked sea salt

Enjoy