Easy Hummus

Part of my senior internship is requiring me to teach a nutrition education class to patients who are mostly low income and/or homeless. Or at the very least very insecure about home and food. 

They may be experiencing hardships in trying to find healthy food to eat. If they have food to eat, the cooking areas and utensils may be limited.

So my goal is showing them how they can fix yummy, healthy food when they have a super limited budget and may have very little experience or equipment when it comes to preparing food.

One of my favorite easy to prepare snacks is hummus. It only requires a few ingredients, of most you usually have in your home. No real prep work as you're just throwing a bunch of stuff together and mushing it together. The only problem is that most people usually make it with a blender, food processor, immersion blender or something similar. The people I will be talking with may not have access to these handy dandy items.

So I came up with an easy peasy hummus that requires nothing but your ingredients, a plastic zipper bag, and something to smash with (your hands, a rolling pin, can of veggies, etc...).

Easy Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon cumin

1-2 teaspoons Salt Free Seasoning Blend

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 tablespoons water (more if needed)

1. Open, drain and rinse one can of chickpeas. You can either leave the skins on or take them off for a smoother hummus.
   
   2. Put all the ingredients, except for water, into a plastic baggy.
   
   
    3. Smash. I used a rolling pin and palm of my hand for about 6 minutes to get it to look like this. If the hummus looks dry add water to the bag a couple tablespoons at a time. Smash until it looks like peanut butter.
   
   
    4. Either place in a fridge for later or put into a bowl with a side of veggies or pita chips and enjoy. Hummus is also great to use in place of mayo or miracle whip on sandwiches and wraps.
   
   

My hummus turned out a bit rustic looking due to leaving the skins and probably could of used a touch more water to make it creamier. However it looks, it tastes delicious and hits the spot for a snack or lunch.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 47 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  165 Calories from Fat  51

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  5.7g 9%

Saturated Fat  0.9g 5%

Cholesterol  0mg 0%

Sodium  10mg 0%

Potassium  329mg 9%

Total Carbohydrates  22.5g 7%

Dietary Fiber  6.4g 26%

Sugars  4.0g

Protein  7.1g

Vitamin A 1% • Vitamin C 3% Calcium 4% • Iron 13%

Nutrition Grade A

Nutrition data is based on 12, 2 tablespooon, servings. Such as if you were to use the hummus for dip with friends or sandwich spread.

Thai Barley

I'm being really generous with the Thai label.  I thought I had some curry powder so that I could of made some sort of curry paste to put into this recipe.  I didn't, but I did have a lot of seasonings commonly found in Thai food so I added those. The result was a pretty good side dish.  Thai Barley could also be a main dish for a meatless night (use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth for a vegan dish).

Thai Barley
1 cup of pearl barley
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 med. onion
3 cloves garlic
2 sticks celery
4 med. potatoes
1 can of corn
1 can of peas
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp turmeric
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 cups water

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil, add barley.  Cover and simmer for 35 minutes
2. Dice and saute garlic, onion and celery
3. Dice potatoes
4. Add 2 cups of water to barley, and then add onion mixture and potatoes.
5. Add all the seasonings
6. Stir well and add corn and peas.
7. Cook until well heated

This dish had mixed reviews with my bunch.  I liked it, Hubby didn't try it, Daughter said she thought the flavor was weird and only ate half her serving.  The boys all picked at it and didn't tell me one way or another if they liked it or not.  Barley is brand new in my household and before tonight no one had tried it before.  I think it will be good for a side once in a while. Especially since it's a pretty cheap dish.  The barley was only 0.82/lb, potatoes were bought at 3.50/10lb, celery 1.29/bunch, onion/1.50 a bag, garlic 1.00/2 heads.  If I was to try and figure the cost I could reasonably say it would of been around 0.25 a serving (give or take a penny).

nutriontal data:
Calories: 378
calories from fat: 27
Total fat 3g
saturated fat 2g
trans fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 443 mg
Total Carbohydrate 81g
dietary fiber 15g
sugars 5g
Protein 11g