Hello folks! This is my very first WIAW- What I ate Wednesday!

WIAW is a link-up of bloggers sharing some of their recent eats. The WIAW “party” is hosted by Jenn over at Peas & Crayons (she has some AWESOME looking recipes!) This week, I’m sharing some great recipes that we’ve made in the Cooper home over the last few weeks!

My new “cooking philosophy” is cook once, eat multiple times. I’ve been making a big batch of dried beans each Sunday for us to use throughout the week and any recipe that can be prepped ahead of time is my BFF. We’ve also been plowing through fruits and veggies (we ate 10 mangoes, a dozen bananas and 4 avocados last week!) Here are some of our eats (note, none of the photos are my own, if you click on the picture, it will take you directly to the recipe YUM!)

Recipes we Have Made

Gluten-Free Paleo Brownie Pie {Our Fifth House}

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I think I’ve made these 4 times now. They are delicious and simple and don’t require you to buy any chocolate. Plus, Carmel is a Kentucky blogger, I love reading blogs from places I’ve lived! They definitely satisfy a chocolate craving. The original recipe calls for honey as the sweetener, but we ran out of honey the second time we made them. I made some “date paste” and subbed it 1:1 for the honey. The fourth time we made them, I made about 1/2 c. of prune puree and 2 bananas (~1/2c. prunes, soaked in hot water, drained & blended with a little bit of the soaking liquid). My favorite version was the one using dates! I haven’t made the coconut oil frosting yet, but it would definitely take these to the next level.

Brown Rice & Quinoa Veggie Burger {The Fitnessista}

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These easy burgers were pretty tasty! Brown rice and quinoa make up the base, and zucchini and carrot add a punch of veggies. Since the ingredients are pretty simple, I’m excited to add in some extra spices and change-up the veggies a bit! I had the same problem as Gina (The Fitnessista), my patties fell apart pretty easily after baking. Next time, I’ll try pulsing the brown rice and quinoa in the food processor for a minute so that it sticks together a little better!

Healthy Chicken and Black Bean Casserole {Six Sisters’ Stuff}

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This was another winner! We didn’t use as much cheese as the original recipe called for. Next time, I think I’ll stir in a bit of reduced-fat cream cheese into the filling before baking (instead of using shredded cheese). We finished this dish fairly quickly, so next time, I’ll make a bigger batch!

Quick & Easy Chickpea Coconut Curry {Legal Nomads}

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This was another winner! I love how Jodi gives you so much room to play with the spices. She gives a list of spices and orders them according to “copiousness of use”. We doubled the amount of chickpeas and served the curry over brown rice + quinoa.

Packs a Punch Kale Salad

We’ve also been enjoying our own kale salad recipe. The kale has been looking a little bit wimpy lately, so I’m excited to use similar ingredients with a different green (spinach!)

Recipes to Try

2 Ingredient Cookies {The Burlap Bag}

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I’ve seen these 2 ingredient cookies floating around the internet, I just need to get my hands on some gluten-free oats to make them!

Lemon Polenta Cake {Top with Cinnamon}

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I’m intrigued by the idea of baking with polenta! I’ll probably never make this recipe, but it looks mighty delicious!

Gluten Free Green Pea Muffins {Angie’s Recipes}

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These look a little bizarre, but they also kind of look delicious. That little puddle on top is mozzarella cheese. This is a savory muffin, I think it might go nicely alongside a simple bowl of tomato soup!

• What are some of your favorite “go-to” recipes?
• Do you tend to make recipes that have lots of leftovers?

I love looking at recipes. We eat pretty much the same thing each week, but browsing recipes is one of my favorite pastimes. Thank goodness for Pinterest. What did a nursing mother do before the invention of the internet or smartphones!? We pretty much eat the same thing every week, but I’ve been trying to get a little bit more creative in the kitchen by using recipes that use the ingredients we purchase at the store on a weekly basis. I’d love to have smoked salmon with lemon-grilled asparagus alongside truffle-garlic mashed potatoes for dinner every night… but we’d rather save up $$ for vacations (and college), so we keep it simple.

Recipes We’ve Made (and liked)

Let’s start with cookies, shall we? I made a double batch of Peas & Thank You Totally Oatmeal Scotchies for our small group last week.

My cookies were not as pretty, but boy were they tasty.

• TIP: refrigerate your dough for at least 30 min before baking. I baked in batches and the last batch (that had been in the fridge the longest) was the least crumbly!
• TIP: don’t use thicker types of rolled oats (i.e. Trader Joe’s GF oats). I made a second batch with TJ’s oats and while they delicious, they are also a crumbly mess. The quick cooking Kroger brand oats (not instant and also not GF) held together better.

Last Sunday, I made a huge batch of Brittany’s Vegetable Lentil Soup.

It is everything I love in a lentil soup- hearty, warm and filling. Great job, Brittany!

We have also made this White Chicken Chili twice! It’s delicious with a squeeze of fresh lime!

This Chopped Winter Salad recipe from Real Simple is stellar. With chunks of sweet roasted butternut squash and salty feta cheese and kalamata olives, this salad is satisfying and packed with flavor.

I’ve been experimenting with 2-ingredient Banana Pancakes ever since I saw them on the Carrots ‘n Cake blog.

My favorite combo is 1 medium to large Banana [mashed], 1 Egg + 1 Egg White [beaten], a pinch of Baking POWDER, and cinnamon to taste. Mix your “batter” well. Heat a pan over medium-high heat, add some fat (cooking spray, butter or my favorite- Coconut Oil) and cook for 3-5 minutes on the first side (the top should have tiny little bubbles and should be pretty much set), and cook on the second side for 2-3 minutes. Serve with peanut butter. YUM

Recipes to Try

• Vegan, Sugar-Free Carrot Ice Cream. I’m looking for excuses to break out the ice cream maker…
• Wild Rice Salad with Miso Dressing we need more miso in our lives, STAT. And just take a minute to browse through the posts on Sprouted Kitchen- BEAU-TI-FUL.
• Butternut Squash Baked Ziti from my mommy friend Nicole at Making Good Choices.

I’m going to go eat some more cookies (seriously) while I browse Pinterest for dinner ideas! I’m guessing we’re not actually going to be eating anything new for dinner tonight, but at least I’ll have more dinner inspiration, right?

Do you have any recipes that you want to make? What are some of your go-to recipes? 

We had a sushi date night on Friday! Instead of going out and spending loads of money at a restaurant, we opted to make our own sushi at home!

There are a couple of things we LOVE about Sushi:

• Good sushi rice
• Pickled ginger
• The almost-drinkable dressing on the salads at the Japanese restaurants

Our favorite sushi rice recipe comes from The Rice Bible by Christian Teubner.  Alton Brown also has an awesome looking recipe: Sushi Rice.

We took a shortcut and used quick-cooking brown rice. We let the rice cool, and then added our rice wine, honey and salt in the correct proportions. We actually stuck the rice in the fridge to cool down faster as we prepped the veggies to fill our sushi rolls.

And because pickled ginger is one of our favorite condiments for sushi, we used the Quick Pickled Ginger recipe from My New Roots (and there’s an awesome tutorial for making quinoa sushi in that post as well!)

My New Roots has a great photo on the Quick Pickled Ginger post of how much space to leave when spreading your sushi rice on top of your nori (seaweed).

We added cucumber, carrots, avocado and thawed salad shrimp (drained VERY well) to our rolls.

Because our little Mini-Cooper needs loads of nutrients, we had a simple spinach salad alongside our sushi with an AWESOME Japanese Miso Dressing (which looks invisible according to the picture below. Invisible or not, we guarantee that it is DELICIOUS!)

Japanese Miso Dressing

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 TBSP Mayonnaise (we used Hellman’s Olive Oil Mayonnaise)
1 TBSP Orange Juice
2 tsp. Rice Wine
1 tsp. Miso paste
1/2 tsp. Honey
1/2 tsp. Soy Sauce (or gluten-free Tamari)
1/4 tsp. toasted Sesame Oil
1/4 tsp. Chili Garlic Paste

Mix all ingredients together. Add an additional 1 TBSP of Water if you want a thinner dressing. Chill and serve over your favorite greens.

There you have it! A homemade sushi date night! We hope that if you like sushi, you’ll take the time to whip some up at home (and at the very least, try making the salad dressing!)

Oh Sundays. We have a love-hate relationship. I love that Sundays are an extension of the weekend (which is sometimes non-existent due to work). I love that Sundays are days where we go to church and worship together. I love that Sundays are often “catch up” days. I hate that Sundays are the day before Monday. I hate that I often feel rushed and overwhelmed to do EVERYTHING on a Sunday (especially if it was a working weekend for us). And I hate that I seem to get really stressed or down on Sundays and I turn into a grump. No one (including myself) likes a grumpy Holly.

Next week, we’ll be headed back to school. Thankfully, classes start on Wednesday, so we have Monday and Tuesday to prep for classes to begin on Wednesday. This is Daniel’s last semester of college!!! Yippee! I’ll only be taking two classes again so I can continue working my regular schedule. That being said, today (Sunday) was a day of preparation, specifically- food preparation!

I’ve been keeping up with Budgeting/Meal Planning for a while now, and I make sure to use extra weekend time to make meals that will last in the fridge for those nights when we just need a quick dinner. Since I’m feeling particularly lazy on this Sunday, I’ll give you some GORGEOUS photos from the fabulous bloggers who gave me some great recipes for this week! I poked around online and found some fabulous recipes from Gina at Skinnytaste.com.

Skinnytaste.com Black Bean Soup

Daniel usually eats lunch on campus, and I’ll usually take leftovers if I’m working, or I’ll make an omelet with cheese and veggies (and some type of carb)  if I eat lunch at home. I made some Hash Brown Egg White Nests from Skinnytaste.com for a quick veggie and protein filled snack. I left out the ham from the original recipe, and I subbed in some Cheddar Cheese and Grated Parmesan for the Swiss cheese that the recipe called for.

Skinnytaste.com Hash Brown Egg White Nests

I also made some Chocolate Chip “Zee” Bars from Peas and Thank You to take for a sweeter snack! The “Zee” Bars taste great on their own, but I microwaved mine for about 20 seconds and spread a little bit of Natural Peanut Butter on top and it was a super delicious dessert!

Chocolate Chip Zee Bars

One more thing: Soup in a Jar. I usually pack Soup in a Jar for lunch twice a week on the days that I’m nannying. Served up alongside a gluten-free quesadilla or grilled cheese and a Chobani yogurt? Fabulous lunch! (sorry for the cell phone pictures, but you get the idea)

Put ingredients into a mason jar for ultimate portability: leftover rice, frozen veggies, bits of meat from last night’s dinner, herbs, a bit of broth or bullion, tomato paste, etc. Then, when it’s lunch time, just add some water, heat (in the jar with the LID OFF or pour into a mug/bowl), and eat! You don’t have to worry about liquids sloshing and spilling in your lunchbox or purse, and you can just give the jar a quick rinse when you’re finished!

Now that I feel prepped for the upcoming week, I feel less stressed and definitely less grumpy.

(cell phone pic from when we took my little brother Ice Skating outside in Downtown Lexington!)

Yesterday was a dreary and rainy day. We’ve talked about moving to Washington or Oregon, but I keep hearing that they’re rainy, grey places. I’m not someone who ALWAYS needs bright and sunny days, but I just don’t really care to be wet. Plus, rain+cold makes it impossible for me to get warm. I am thankful that today was a rainy day because I got to do a trial run of a few Thanksgiving recipes!

  

We only have “3 Thanksgivings” this year. The past two years, I think we’ve had at least 4 Thanksgiving celebrations to go to, so we’re happy to have one less! (We’re not having our “big family” Thanksgiving this year with my mom’s side of the family, we do it every other year!)

2009:

 

2010:

  

We decided to bring a veggie side dish to the Cooper Thanksgiving, and for some reason, I’ve had Brussels Sprouts on my mind.I found this recipe for Lemon-Roasted Brussels Sprouts and decided to give it a try. I went to three grocery stores yesterday to find fresh Brussels Sprouts (I found them at Meijer!)They turned out to be quite delicious! I made a half-pound for Daniel and I to share over lunch today. We both agreed that extra parmesan cheese was required! If you decide to use this recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts, be sure to add extra lemon, a healthy amount of parmesan and extra salt and pepper before serving!

 

I also found this recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole that I’m bringing to Thanksgiving at my mom’s house. The only substitutions I made was using buckwheat flour in place of the wheat flour in the streusel to make the casserole gluten-free. For my “trial” version, I ended up using a splash of regular milk, and I used less sugar.

 

When I make this on Thanksgiving, I may actually increase the amount of evaporated milk in the recipe as the trial turned out a little dry. I’m also going to add in some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, a pinch of clove) to the potatoes. And, as you can tell by the burnt pecans, I’ll try to keep a better eye on the casserole when it’s under the broiler  Daniel is also planning on making a dessert. A couple of years ago, he made an upside-down Pecan-Caramel cake thing, and a little while back, he made a Tres-Leches cake that was STELLAR! The boy can bake. I’m excited to see what he decides to make this year!

I just got home from a “Piloxing” class at the fitness center, and I am RAVENOUS! Running 14 minutes to and from the gym, with a 50 minute fitness class sandwiched in between will give a girl an appetite!

I have a brief hour before I have to go to work, so I whipped up a delicious, protein filled pancake!

Head over to Peas and Thank You, where Sarah (affectionately known as “Mama Pea”) used her genius to create some quick and easy protein-packed pancakes!

My alterations to the recipe:

• I used Chocolate Protein Powder (100% Whey)
• I added in 1 TBSP cocoa powder to amp up the chocolate flavor
• I added 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum to help soften the final pancakes
• I added 1/2 TBSP honey instead of the sweeteners listed in the original recipe

I topped my ‘cakes with a drizzle of honey and a packet of roasted nuts!

DELICOUS! Okay, off to work. Look for a kombucha post later this weekend!

This will be the final post about our St. Louis adventure. Did you miss a post about our trip?

• A post including an awesome WORKOUT that we did in St. Louis!
• What a Weekend! (Post about our trip to the ZOO!)
• St. Louis Trip- The Dogs
• St. Louis- The Schlafly Experince

Let’s recap some of the delicious things we ate on our trip to St. Louis.

For lunch on Friday, we decided to stop at the Jay C Food Stores Grocery in Princeton, Indiana. Jay C is a division of Kroger, so we were happy to see many familiar brands (and prices!)

We bought a “Manager Special” loaf of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread. ($4.59 marked down to $1.90? YES PLEASE! However, I should keep a $1 off Any Udi’s Product Coupon in my purse- this loaf would have cost under a dollar!)

We also bought a bit of Lemon Pepper Turkey and some Farmers Cheese at the deli.  We tossed a couple of packets of mustard and ketchup into our bag from the salad bar, and we also picked up some awesome neon-colored Gatorade G2 drinks. We had bananas and peanut butter in the car to round out the meal!

We ate on a flat rock that was outside of the Jay C’s parking lot. Classy. Silas enjoyed a few bowls of water, and we all had a lovely picnic lunch!

Friday night was our first night in St. Louis, and we were all pretty hungry when we headed to Schlafly for dinner.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was light, since Tyler, Daniel and I wanted to get in a workout at the playground at Lafayette Park. We had a “second breakfast” before we headed to the St. Louis zoo on Saturday afternoon.

We should have brought some more snacks along with us on our zoo trip, we were all pretty darn hungry after visiting with all of the animals!

A trip to Trader Joe’s was a must- we stocked up on some bananas, peanut butter, 2 Buck Chuck and some chocolate for our personal snack stash. And because Trader Joe’s is awesome- we had numerous free samples including: hot coffee, a free WINE TASTING, and some other yummy things that I can’t remember…We also hit up another grocery, Dierbergs, for the rest of the supplies for lunches and dinners.

On Saturday night, Tyler and Emily made Grecian Steak- thin cuts of Sirloin seared with Greek Spices and Olive Oil, topped with Feta and Olives. We had the Grecian steak alongside some blanched green beans and a glass of red wine.

However, before the delicious meal was served some high-class munching occurred- some homebrewed beer (made by Tyler and Emily’s friend) and a cheese tasting featuring Manchego Cheese and a Garlicy Salami from Trader Joe’s.

On Sunday morning, before we headed to church at The Journey (an Acts 29 Church), Tyler had a biscuit craving and he whipped up some delicious homemade biscuits. However, because biscuits are full of gluten, I happily dug into my bowl of oatmeal. We had a wonderful time worshipping together at The Journey, and we had a wonderfully relaxing Sunday. We spent time napping, we spent time by the pool as the boys talked theology, and we had a delicous dinner that I forgot to photograph.

Emily and Tyler made us quick and easy Black Bean Tostadas, but I think everyone would agree that the highlight of the meal was Jack’s Special Fresh Salsa. DELICIOUS.

I think that’s a pretty good wrap up of the meals that we had with our friends- but stay tuned for a delicious Vegetarian Chili recipe tomorrow! One huge last thank you to Tyler, Emily and Apollo for a memorable trip to St. Louis!

We have been eating a lot of legume+grain salads this summer. For the past few weeks, I’ve made a lentil and brown rice salad, but this week, I wanted to switch things up a bit. This recipe came together after I saw that millet was cheaper than quinoa this week in the bulk bins. I also had a strange craving for chickpeas, and we had some cucumbers in the fridge from a friend. After doing a little bit of poking around online, our Millet + Chickpea Salad recipe was born!

Millet + Chickpea Salad

This salad is a perfect summer salad- there is no mayo (ick), no heavy oil-based dressings and it packs a nutritional punch. Millet is a wonderful grain to add to your gluten-free pantry, and it can be cooked in a number of ways! This salad is flexible enough to allow for the use of different grains (brown rice, quinoa, etc.) and legumes (black beans, pinto beans, northern beans, etc.) Try adding different veggies (tomatoes would be fantastic in this dish)! This tasted delicious both warm and cold- it was a hit in our household!

Ingredients

• 1 c. Millet (toasted)
• 2 c. Water (optional- 2 cups veggie or chicken stock)
• 1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 Cucumber, diced
• 2 Shallots (or 1/2 of a red onion), diced finely
• 1 10 oz. package of frozen chopped Broccoli, thawed (or 2 c. chopped broccoli that has been blanched)
• 1 Batch “Summer Salad Dressing” (see recipe below)
• Salt and Pepper (or red pepper flakes), to taste

Directions

1. Toast millet in a dry skillet over medium heat until grains start to “pop” and the millet gives off a toasty aroma
2. Add 2 c. water (or broth) to millet, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat, or until water is absorbed
3. Meanwhile, chop your veggies. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and cook diced shallots until they are soft
4. Add veggies, chickpeas and cooked shallots to a large bowl
5. When the millet has absorbed all of the water, transfer to a large skillet and pour in your Summer Salad Dressing. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until thoroughly warmed through (you’re cooking the raw garlic in the dressing, this step is not necessary)
6. Gently fold all ingredients together
7. Garnish with fresh basil, red pepper flakes (just a pinch!) and a squirt of fresh lemon

Summer Salad Dressing

This creamy lemon-tahini dressing gets a flavor boost by adding in nutritional yeast. This is a less zesty version of the Simply Delicious Salad Dressing recipe. Feel free to use lemon juice as the main “acid” in this dressing, we subbed in some Red Wine vinegar because we only had half of a lemon in the fridge. This dressing would be a wonderful addition to lightly cooked greens (collard, kale), and it would most certainly mingle well with any other legume or grain! 

Ingredients

• 2 TBSP homemade Tahini (<– click for recipe!)
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 2 TBSP Nutritional Yeast
• 2 TBSP Lemon Juice
• 2 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 C. water (you may need more or less)
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, stir until smooth
2. Add more water if necessary to reach desired consistiency
3. Refrigerate any unused dressing (but for the millet salad, use it all!)

I read a good number of blogs. I get a LOT of recipe ideas from those blogs, but rarely do I ever make what the other bloggers make. Why not? Usually, I don’t have enough of the ingredients on hand. Additionally, I usually opt to get “staples” instead of fancy ingredients on my weekly grocery trip. Being on a tight grocery budget isn’t necessarily fun, but this week, some of my favorite bloggers posted delicious and economical eats! If you don’t care about recipes, scroll down to the bottom of the post for some silly zucchini squash pictures!

First up- “Roasted Pesto Potatoes” from Chelsey at Clean Eating Chelsey

Chelsey posted this recipe for pesto from another lovely blogger named Jenna at Eat, Live Run- so I clicked on over to Jenna’s site to check it out.

Here’s how we made our pesto:

Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• Big bunch of basil- about 1 cup, packed
• 2 garlic cloves (mmmm stinky!)
• 2 TBSP white miso (check out Jenna’s post for why miso makes this GREAT!)
• 3 “parsley ice cubes” (which I think equals like 1 full tablespoon of chopped parsley)
• 2 TBSP nutritional yeast

Directions

Put everything into a food processor and let it whir! Scrape down the sides as needed, add water as needed until you get the desired thickness!

I then followed Chelsey’s directions for roasting the potatoes- here’s our final product!

Another one of my favorite bloggers is Mama Pea over at Peas and Thank You. Mama Pea is always whipping up super healthy meals for her husband and two ADORABLE girls. Just to show you a glimpse of the “Pea-family”- here is one of the girls, Lulu singing “BAH BAH PICKLE”. (it’s the second video- although the first video is wonderful as well!)

Mama Pea has a recipe series called “Recipe Makeover” where she remakes a recipe that a reader requests! This week’s recipe? A remake of Trader Joe’s Spicy Black Bean Dip.

Click on over to see all of the step-by-step instructions- here’s what our version looked like (I seriously need some better blogging plates/bowls…)

I’ve got a few other recipes up my sleeve for this week (Cooper Originals!), but we’ll see how they actually turn out.

We’ve had a bit of “zucchini overload” this summer. I love zucchini, but we just can’t manage to eat EVERY veggie that comes off of that plant! Enter- OPERATION FREEZE:

Then, I found ANOTHER gigantic zucchini in the garden, and tried to convince Silas to pose with it for a photo- I didn’t have much luck.

And THEN, after a hot and sweaty Run on Saturday night, I found this giant (and proceeded to take self-timed photos using the garbage can as my stand):

…. and we’ll be eating zucchini all week….

Sorry we’ve been MIA lately. Life is busy. Daniel is taking 2 summer classes (an entire semester condensed to 8 weeks or so=LOTS of work). I’ve been busy working at the gym and hanging out with the triplets. I do have something rather exciting to share though!

For the past few months, I’ve been helping Martin Stein, CEO and President of UturnUptick Consulting, put together an eBook chock full of tips and ideas for successful business. After MANY revisions, cover designs, edits and e-mails, I am proud to say that Martin’s book, 99 Creative Ideas for Successful Prospecting is now available on Kindle, Nook and iBookstore! Martin (or Marty, as I know him) has been in the business world for over 30 years, and this book is his compilation of ideas, tips and advice pertaining to the world of prospecting.

Not sure what prospecting is? I had no idea either when I first started work on this project. To make a sale, you need a customer, right? Well, in order to find potential customers, you’ve got to get your name/business out there! This eBook is all about getting in front of the right people so that you can successfully sell your ideas, products or services. It’s more than just sales, it’s about making personal connections with people, and becoming the best that you can be! If you have any interest whatsoever, please, PLEASE check out this book! (Note: right now I only have the active link to the Amazon listing, but I’ll put up the Barnes&Noble (Nook) and iBookstore links soon!)

We’ve also experienced an abundant amount of zucchini from our garden, and this weekend, I felt the urge to make a delicious dip to eat with the tender, young squash.

I landed on a hummus recipe, and got to work. I decided to make my own tahini (sesame seed “butter”), and I think this hummus really shines because of that little extra step. And guess what? I made about 3/4 c. of tahini, and it cost $0.78 (plus whatever a drizzle of oil costs). But seriously, tahini for under $1? (If you go to the grocery, in the Mediterranean aisle, a 2.5 c. jar of tahini costs like $6)

Homemade Tahini

  

1. (optional) Toast your sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often until the seeds are slightly toasty and the scent of sesame fills your kitchen (although this is optional, I would HIGHLY recommend this step!)
2. Grind 1 c. sesame seeds (hulled or unhulled) in your coffee grinder until the seeds are pulverized into a fine powder.
3. Transfer the sesame powder to a bowl and slowly drizzle in olive oil until you get the desired consistency.

Homemade Hummus

(slightly adapted from this original recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained (save the liquid from 1 can of chickpeas)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely (I used jarred, sue me)
• 4-6 TBSP lemon juice (to taste)
• 4 TBSP homemade tahini
• 1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• black pepper to taste

Directions