Zucchini Hummus

Here's another inspiring summer squash recipe. My plants are still going strong although I have started to notice the squash bugs presence. It won't be long before they start to die off, but I'm okay with that. I recently was inspired by a recipe for summer squashummus.

I started out by sauteeing about 5 cups of chopped zucchini. No need to peel the squash first, just saute until nice and soft. Added it to the food processor with 2 Tablespoons tahini, along with 1/2 teaspoon salt, about 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, 4 garlic cloves, and 1 Tablespoon lemon juice.

Pretty tasty. It is definitely more liquid like than the hummus that I'm used to, but it was fabulous with my no-knead overnight bread dipped in it.

Triple Dip

In my previous life where I ate whatever I wanted to and didn't really care about the way it affected my body I used to love The Triple Dip. This was a creation in college that my best friends and I used to enjoy pretty frequently while dining out with college student coupons. We would order a free appetizer of cheese dip and with it would order for salsa and ranch dressing. This became our triple dip: tortilla chip dipped into super greasy cheese sauce, salsa, and ranch dressing. I think I could have made an entire meal out of it and probably did back in those days. Although I loved my college life, the food that I put into my body was far from nourishing or beneficial. However, thankfully right after college I was introduced to the world of nutrition when I pursued my year of service as an AmeriCorps member and actually taught nutrition. 

Recently I recreated the triple dip in my very own kitchen and think that it blows the old triple dip out of the water. First of all, I've discovered these amazing sprouted tortilla chips, Simply Sprouted, at several health food stores. I've tried the black bean and the blue corn and they are both great. Next comes the homemade hummus that I had created.

Very estimated hummus measurements:

1 cup chickpeas

1 cup soaked and drained raw almonds

Fresh garlic, I think 2 cloves

1/4 cup tahini

Lemon juice, 1 T

Olive Oil, 2 T 

1/2 t. Salt

1 t. cumin

Water to thin

When I wasn't quite satisfied with just the chips and hummus I decided to add some color and zing with the pesto that I've had in my freezer/fridge since last summer. I make my pesto with roasted almonds, basil, garlic, and olive oil. Pretty basic.

Then to top it all off a nice piece of cheese goes on top. I used the last laughing cow cheese wedge that I had in my fridge. It was pretty devine if I say so myself!