I made two different kinds of soup and some black bean hummus to go with a veggie tray for a potluck today.
Black Bean Hummus
I got this recipe from a search engine online. I don't like tahini so I've been looking for a good hummus recipe that doesn't use it. I think this turned out pretty good...Gerald said "yuck" when he tried it though...
* 1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained (garbanzo beans)
* 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* 2 tsp cumin
* 1 tbsp dried parsley
Blend all ingredients in a food processor and refrigerate to chill. It's that simple!
I know everyone won't like hummus, so I also mixed up some ranch using plain Greek yogurt as the base instead of sour cream. I think this hummus would be really great with pita chips or as a spread in a pita sandwich. You could play with the flavor by adding different spices. Next time I think I will add some jalapeno and cilantro for an extra kick of flavor.
I figured that if all these veggies don't get eaten at the party today I will just take them as snacks to work this week or steam some for dinner.
Chicken Veggie Soup
I baked a whole chicken yesterday for us to have for lunch. I love using the carcass and making chicken stock for soup, so that is what I did after we ate some of the meat from the chicken.
I put the chicken carcass with some meat still on it in the crock pot on low with some water for about 5 hours. Then I picked the chicken off it and tried to fish all the bones out. I added a bag of stir fry veggies with noodles, the other half of the bag of frozen peas and carrots that I had from the other night, some more stir fry veggies from the big Costco bag I had, some onion, garlic and soy sauce. I let that cook in the crock pot for about an hour or until it was hot all the way through. I also stirred in some pepper and some extra spicy Mrs. Dash.
This soup doesn't have a ton of flavor but I also didn't want to add a bunch of salt to it. You could definitely add some more soy sauce or other seasonings to falvor it up some more. Overall, it is pretty good though. The noodles in the one bag of veggies are a nice compliment instead of it being just shredded chicken and veggies...yet it didn't add a ton of carbs since there aren't a lot in the bag.
Lentil Soup
Lentil soup has always been one of my favorites. I don't like the runny version you find in cans...I prefer it thicker like stew. This is really easy to make too. It is delicious to use smoked ham hocks as well. Or, you can easily make it vegetarian by leaving out the meat and using vegetable broth instead of the beef broth.
* 1 small diced onion
* diced carrots (I'd guess it is about 2 big ones, I use a handful of baby carrots)
* 2 stalks celery-diced
* 1 large tomato diced
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1 bag of lentils
* diced turkey ham (optional)
* 2 SMALL Yukon potatoes-diced
* reduced sodium beef broth-1 quart
* water
* cumin
* coriander
* pepper
* maggi
* vinegar
Heat the oil in the bottom of a pot. Add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook until tender (4-5 minutes). Add the rest of the ingredients (except the vinegar and potatoes) and a few cups of water. Bring to a boil. I usually boil it hard for about 10 minutes, but keep stirring it and watch the water level to it doesn't all disappear. Reduce the heat, cover and continue cooking for about half an hour. Stir in the potatoes and cook for another half an hour. Once it is about done, stir in some vinegar to taste...it really brings out the flavor, so don't skip this step!
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