Monthly Archives: November 2011

Avocado Hummus

Way back when in August, I had the pleasure of attending a demo by Frito Lay before the kickoff of the Healthy Living Summit.  This event was awesome as I explained before.  I finally got my lazy ass around to making one of the recipes that we received after the event, and now I’m going to share it with you all!  Yay!  This recipe was my absolute favorite of the ones they provided and has made me rethink my entire relationship with avocados.  So, here you go!

Avocado Hummus

Electronics needed: a 3 or more cup food processor, or blender that works similarly

Ingredients:

  • 3 small avocados
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp tahini
  • 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • Pinch of ground coriander

Directions:

Cut open avocados and scoop inside flesh into food processor.  Add in all other ingredients.  Pulse blend until smooth.  Done!

This recipe is so easy to make!  Cleaning the avocados is really the longest task in preparing this dish.  Money saving tip:  I bought the organic spices because I found they were actually cheaper (at Giant for any PA people) than the regular McCormick’s brand spices.  I saved almost $3 on just one of them so be sure to do a comparison if your grocer has a whole food/organic section.  The consistency of this will be a little less solid than regular hummus.  I may blend in chickpeas the next time to firm it up a bit.  Serve with your favorite veggies or crackers and enjoy!

Scott felt this tasted very similar to guacamole but with a cumin kick to it.  I’m going to cause some jaws to drop and admit I’ve never had guac so I really cannot personally contribute to that statement.  Guac weirded me out for the longest time, but now I think we can be friends.  ;)

Storage Tip:  Since avocado tends to brown after being processed, I recommend serving this the same day or the next after prep (store in fridge).  I scooped out some for lunch this morning and the top layer was just the slightest browned, but mixing it up blended it right back in.

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I made it to the gym for the third day this week.  My legs have been super sore making me walk super awkward for the past day and a half.  I took it easy and did 35 min on the elliptical then did the 12 min ab circuit workout Planet Fitness provides.  I’m hoping for sore abs tomorrow.  I’m also happy to say Mother Nature heeded my grumblings and the weather is cooling down.  I even put B101 on my radio for the drive home.  Let the Christmas-ing begin (this weekend)!

This Weather Sucks

While it was awesome to go for a walk on the beach this weekend, I am sitting here at my desk pouting about the weather today.  I’m sorry, but it’s almost December.  Slightly humid and rainy is not what gets me in the Christmas spirit and until Mother Nature reacquaints herself with a calendar, I’m on holiday hiatus.

It’s a good thing I already planned to head to the gym again today.  I made it yesterday and did this sweatfyfest workout inspired by this sweatyfest workout:

I split up my cardio by doing 15 min on the elliptical at level 11, reverse mode before lifting, then doing another 15 after on level 12.  I felt pretty darn good afterwards.

Speaking of Christmas (this post is random), I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing in regards to getting ready or buying presents.  I clicked through the 50+ Cyber Monday emails, laughed at Old Navy’s promo code (HUGECYBER har har I’m 12), and then bought nothing.  The deals just weren’t that crazy awesome and anything I would have bought would be for myself which defeats the purpose of present shopping for others.  I also hear the weekend prior to Christmas is the best time for deasl, so let’s hope that’s true and I’m not crying/peeing my pants in hours long lines on Christmas Eve.  :)  I’m actually considering baked goods as gifts which may seem like a cop-out.  Everyone I’ve asked “what do you want?” says, “oh I don’t want anything!”  I guess I’ve said the same (though bags of flour are fine!) so guess what?  You get cupcakes.  Or cookies.

Personally, I enjoy edible gifts.  A box of Nerds with a bow stuck to it would be just fine with me.  I’m trying to clear out excess crap and go for quality over quantity.  This has lead me to having about 20-30 pairs of jeans I am going to Ebay soon.  If you want a discounted pair of J Brand size 28 Doll jeans, hit me up.  ;)

So in conclusion, holiday shopping is a meh, this weather can suck it, and gym workouts are saving my ass right now.  Hooray!

How is your Tuesday/holiday shopping/life going?

 

A Beachy Thanksgiving

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a long Thanksgiving break from both work and blogging.  I checked up on people’s stuff, but mainly I took it easy and I feel completely refreshed and ready for the next week.  Prepare yourself for a big recap post ahead!

Thanksgiving this year brought us down to slower lower Delaware with Wednesday night being my 10 year high school reunion.  Thanks to a large effort by yours truly, we had the reunion at the Dogfish Head Brewpub.  I was a little nervous about how the evening would go, but I think it was a great success.  We only had about 30 people come, but DFH’s staff did such a great job making us feel welcome and preparing amazing food for us.

Yum!  I enjoyed a hamburger slider, crab dip with pita slices, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, bacon-wrapped scallops, and fresh fruit.  Their crab dip is probably my favorite and the scallops were perfect. I also enjoyed three different, delicious beers.  I started the night with my favorite IPA, the 90 Min.

That was the last pic (before I polished off the beer) I remembered to take that night.  Ack.  Need to get better about that.  I also had the Pangaea and the Palo Santo Marron.  I’d not had the Pangaea before and I really liked it.  Spicy flavor with floral hints in the aroma.  It was tasty.  We closed down the place and then hit up Summer House down the street to dance off all the food we ate.  I had a total blast and I think everyone else did as well.  Great success!

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Thursday we leisurely made our way over to my mom’s with a ton of desserts in tow.  I had the pumpkin cheesecake I made as well as a batch of sweet potato cupcakes with whipped cream and cinnamon on top.  I used this recipe from Annie’s Eats, but had to nix the marshmallow frosting as I ran out of time on Wed morning.  We had a ton of good food at dinner and I still think my mom’s stuffing is the best ever.

Scott brought down a growler of a homebrewed black IPA his coworker gave him.  It was really delicious and not only did I enjoy it, but also my mom and three younger sisters.  A definite hit with the ladies!

The desserts were also a huge hit which was a total relief.  I had to puree my own sweet potatoes for the cupcakes, so I was worried how they came out.

 

Good stuff.  We settled into a nice food coma and made a fire out in my mom’s chiminea.  We definitely need to get one of those when we get our own place!  My sister’s dog Bo was even in his own little food coma.  Hah!

After the fire died out, we went back to our hotel and relaxed while watching TV before passing out.

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Friday we had to head out of town, but with the weather being so nice and warm, we made a stop at Wawa then parked in Bethany to go walk on the beach.

  

This was much better than Black Friday shopping, that’s for sure!  After a pretty long walk and some cheesy couples pictures…

 

We stopped at an ice cream shop for a root beer float and an iced mocha.  We made our way back up to PA with no traffic issues at all.  We had hoped to go house hunting on Saturday, but sadly it ended up falling through.  Instead we enjoyed a nice date night to the Olive Garden and then saw The Muppets!  I absolutely loved the movie and if you were any kind of fan of them as a kid, go see the movie.  There are some hilarious cameos scattered throughout.

Today we really didn’t do much, but made some bangin’ burgers for dinner.  I was inspired by a recipe page I tore out of Real Simple magazine with 10 ideas for hamburgers.  We wanted to make the avocado, sprouts, and cheddar burgers, but the avocado was not ripe enough.  Instead, I put red leaf lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, cheddar, and sandwich sliced pickles on top of my burger.  Scott threw some sweet peppers on his.

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Completely hit the spot.  Now off to enjoy the rest of the evening of football!

How was your Thanksgiving break?