Hearty Minestrone

Hearty Minestrone
makes 8 generous servings
1 can chick peas drained and rinsed
1 can red beans drained and rinsed
1 can italian style stewed tomatoes
3 carrots diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 small onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 zucchini diced
about 1 c cherry tomatoes
1/2 green pepper diced
1 t dried oregano
1 T kosher salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
8 c water OR chicken stock OR equivalent (aka Better than Bullion)
1 c V8 vegetable juice
2 T olive oil
4 oz cooked ditalini pasta

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium high heat.  Once hot add the onions, carrots & celery.  Sautee vegetables for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add garlic, stir well and sautee 1-2 minutes longer.  Once garlic is very fragrant  just before it starts to brown, add the tomatoes, juice & all.  Stir well to get the garlic up off the bottom of the pan.  Add everything else and bring up to a boil.  Once it boils reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 1 hour.  Taste for season before serving, adjust salt & pepper if needed.  When ready to serve place a small portion of cooked ditalini or other small shape pasta in the bowl and ladle the soup over top.  Garnish with grated parmesean cheese if desired.



Nutrition Facts calculated at Spark People recipe calculator 8 Servings Amount Per Serving Calories 188.3 Total Fat 4.5 g Saturated Fat 0.5 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 1,029.1 mg Potassium 491.5 mg Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g Dietary Fiber 5.8 g Sugars 4.3 g Protein 6.8 g

Hummus

Sometimes I feel like the last person to know about a good thing: this time its hummus. Oh sure, I've heard about it for years and thought, Gee that sounds delightful! I love chick peas and sesame seeds, so whats not to love about hummus? I even went so far as to make some once, with out a recipe, as is the Kitchen Witches style. The results were less than favorable so I didn't return to hummus land for a long, long time.

I scored a bag of Stacey's pita chips for FREE recently (thank you Stacey's facebook fan page). As luck would have it I was scrounging through my cupboards and discovered a can of chick peas. Just like that the spell was cast. I'd make hummus. But this time I'd figure out what I was supposed to do before just winging it, and maybe I too could get in on the hummus bandwagon, just as it pulls away from the station.


The results this time around, with a little research under my belt, were amazing. So good that I bought more hummus making materials and I plan on it becoming an integral part of my lunch time routine. My lunch sandwich will consist of whole wheat pita bread, 2 heaping tablespoons of hummus, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and feta cheese. Low calorie, lots of vegetables and meat free. Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

Hummus
makes 8 servings
1 can chick peas, drained, reserve 1/4 c of the liquid
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
1 t ground cumin seed
1 t kosher salt (more or less depending on taste)
few grinds pepper
3 T tahini
1 T EVOO



Put everything in the work bowl of a food processor. Run it for about 5 minutes, scraping down sides every minute, or until you have a very smooth and thick paste.



Really, that's it! If you don't have a food processor you could try to use a blender but honestly, I don't know if it'd work, this is a pretty thick paste so the blender might not process it properly. If you try the hummus in a blender please let me know how it turns out!


Nutrition Facts provided by Spark People recipe calculator
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 119.7
Total Fat 5.5 g
Saturated Fat 0.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 467.8 mg
Potassium 136.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 14.9 g
Dietary Fiber 3.1 g
Sugars 0.2 g
Protein 3.9 g