Creamy Hummus

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Ingredients

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/4 C. lemon juice (more to taste--I used more)
• 1 large garlic clove (roughly chopped)
• 1/2 t. fine sea salt (to taste--I used more)
• 3/4 C. tahini
• 2 to 4 T. ice water (use more to get the consistency you want)
• 1/2 t. ground cumin
• 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno (finely chopped, optional)
• Garnish with your choice of toppings (chopped parsley or cilantro, harissa paste, extra olive oil, kalamata olives, toasted pine nuts, cayenne pepper or paprika)

Instructions

1. Drain and rinse canned chickpeas. Put the chickpeas into a pan with the baking soda and enough water to cover the chickpeas by a couple of inches. Bring the water to boil and boil for 20 minutes. (Lower the heat a bit if the boiling water begins spilling over the top of your pan.) After 20 minutes of boiling, your chickpeas will be very soft. Drain them in a colander and rinse with cool water for about 30 seconds. Set aside.
2. Put lemon juice, garlic and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Process until the garlic is finely chopped and then let the mixture sit in the bowl for at least 10 minutes for the strong garlic flavor to mellow.
3. Add the tahini to the garlic mixture in your processor bowl and blend until the mixture is thick and creamy. Stop the processor and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. If you need to (I did), add a bit more tahini oil or olive oil to emulsify the tahini mixture.
4. Drizzle the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, into your hummus until you get an ultra smooth consistency. You want your mixture to be light-colored and creamy at this point.
5. Add the ground cumin and drained chickpeas to the bowl of your processor. Blend. Drizzle olive oil into the bowl until the mixture is very smooth and is the consistency you want in your final product. This should take about 2 minutes.(Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you need to during this process.) You can also add more ice water (by the tablespoon) as you blend to get the consistency you want.
6. Taste hummus for seasoning. Add more salt, lemon juice and/or olive oil to get the consistency you want. I added in some finely chopped fresh jalapeno also.
7. Spoon your finished hummus into an attractive bowl or onto a platter. Garnish as desired. Drizzle with more of your best quality olive oil.

Greek Rag Pie

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Ingredients

• 3 1/2 ounces soft unsalted butter
• 1 box frozen filo pastry (thawed) (You will use about 10 oz. of the filo)
• 9 oz. feta cheese
• 2 t. grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 t. fresh thyme leaves (or more)
• 2 large eggs
• 5 ounces full-fat milk
• 1 T. sesame seeds
• Good-quality clear honey (I used strong-flavored avocado honey but Greek thyme honey or orange blossom honey would be wonderful)

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and then remove it from the heat. Brush the bottom of an 8 to 9 inch square baking pan with butter.
2. Use several sheets of filo to line the bottom of the baking pan with a layer to filo. Arrange the filo in the pan so that it goes up the sides of the pan and hangs over the edges of the pan.You will fold the filo "overhang" over your pie at the end of your preparation. Brush the filo with butter.
3. Use about 1/3 of the filo sheets to partially fill the lined baking pan with filo. This is where you rip or scrunch the sheets into little "rags." You can just wad them up in your hand and place them in the pan. Once you have placed the filo rags into the pan, sprinkle half of the feta over the filo. Then, sprinkle 1 T. of the Parmesan over the feta. Sprinkle the feta/Parmesan cheeses with some fresh thyme leaves. Pour about 1/3 of the melted butter over the filo/cheese filling.
4. Using another 1/3 of the ripped or scrunched filo sheets, fill the baking pan with another layer of the filo. Add feta, Parmesan and fresh thyme as you did to the last layer. Pour more butter over this layer.
5. Finally, using larger pieces of the remaining filo, make one last layer of the pie adding the remaining feta, Parmesan and fresh thyme.
6. Fold the filo that is overhanging the sides of your pan over themselves around the edge of the pan. Pour the remaining butter over the top. (I used a pastry brush to help me distribute the butter.)
7. Use a sharp knife point to make two cuts down and two cuts across the filo-packed tin. You want to create 9 squares. This can get a bit messy, but the filo pie is very forgiving when baked.
8. Beat eggs and milk together and pour over the contents of the baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining thyme leaves and the sesame seeds on the top of the pie. Let the pie sit on your counter for at least 30 minutes at this point. If you want to wait for a couple of hours to bake this, cover the pie and store it in your refrigerator.
9. Bake the pie for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F in a heated oven. Your pie is done when the pastry is golden-brown and puffed and the inside is set. Let the baked pie sit on your counter for about 10 minutes to cool and solidify. Drizzle a generous amount of honey over the top of the pie, cut into servings using a serrated knife and serve warm with extra honey for your guests to add to their portions if they like. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs.

Nutrition

Calories

2590 cal

Fat

190 g

Carbs

118 g

Protein

96 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Penne Alla Vodka

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Ingredients

• 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (drained with juice reserved)
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1/4 C. finely chopped onion
• 1 T. tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1/4-1/2 t. red pepper flakes
• Salt
• 1/3 C. vodka
• 1/2 C. heavy cream
• 1 pound penne
• 2 T. chopped fresh basil
• Grated Parmesan cheese (or Asiago)
• Slices of fresh mozzarella

Instructions

1. Put half of your tomatoes in your food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Chop remaining tomatoes into 1/2-inch pieces (discard cores). Using a large measuring cup, combine blended and chopped tomatoes. Add reserved juice from the tomatoes to the cup until you have 2 cups of tomatoes and liquid.
2. Saute onion and tomato paste in oil over medium heat in a large pan. You want the onion to be soft and the whole mixture to be slightly browned. This will take 5 to 7 minutes. Add the minced garlic to the hot pan along with the pepper flakes (to your taste--a little goes a long way here) and cook briefly until the garlic is fragrant.
3. Add tomato mixture and salt to the pan with the onion mixture. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in vodka. Return the pan to the heat and simmer at medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes--until most of the alcohol is cooked off. Add the cream and cook for about one minute until the creamy sauce is hot.
4. Prepare penne. You want it to be cooked al dente. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and drain the pasta. Return the drained pasta to the pot and toss the pasta with the sauce. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes to let the penne absorb some of the sauce. Add (or not) reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce.
5. Stir in basil. Season with salt and pepper. Top with grated parmesan and slices of fresh mozzarella . Cover the dish with foil that has been sprayed with vegetable oil spray and bake in the oven for a few minutes until the mozzarella melts.
6. Garnish with chopped basil or chopped parsley.

Nutrition

Calories

1873 cal

Fat

83 g

Carbs

204 g

Protein

41 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info