Preschool Cooking Class- Hummus

Alexa and Caroline at the Small Scholars Cooking Class.

Miss Cathy's class of four and five year olds had a great time talking about whole foods and making hummus.

My kids love this as a dip for carrots or cucumbers or as a spread on whole wheat pita. We tend to double or triple the recipe and it keeps well in the fridge for up to two weeks. You can always add a bit of olive oil if it starts to get a little too thick.

Everybody Loves it Hummus

1 can organic garbanzo beans – rinsed and peeled
1 clove garlic
2 tbp fresh lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
3 tbsp tahini
½ tsp sea salt
Aprox ¼ cup water (add a little at a time to get the right consistency)
Aprox 2 tbsp really good tasting olive oil

· Throw this all in a food processor and mix until smooth or put it all in a bowl and mix it up with an immersion blender (just a little more effort but it works great).
· Adjust the amount of oil and water for texture and taste
· Optional add-ins: pepper, cumin, paprika (the kids tend to like it better without these)
· You can easily double or triple this recipe
· An easy way to peel the beans is to rinse them in a colander then put them in a bowl of water while you peel them. The skins tend to float to the top. You can just skip the annoying task of peeling the beans if you want to do this super fast but the texture is a lot smoother when they are peeled. Don’t worry about getting every single one if it is driving you crazy.

Extra bonus- making hummus at home saves money! Especially if you want to make it organic.

Reducing the Noise...and Tuning in

Do you ever get mad at yourself for craving something you "know you shouldn't have"? For most of us it is usually sugar, right?

But our bodies are amazingly intelligent, aren't they? Your heart beats, your blood circulates, how many incredible things does your body do for you without you ever having to think about it?

And yet...when the craving for something "bad" hits, why don't we trust ourselves? Why don't we recognize that our body really does know what it is doing?

I'm going to post more soon about cravings but for now I'd like to suggest something to consider:

If our bodies are super intelligent, then the messages they send us about what we need have real value. But what if our interpretation skills are a little off?

What if our body says....REST! And we hear...SUGAR! (Because, probably, we're too busy to rest). What if our body says...SLOW DOWN! And we hear...COFFEE! (Again, sorry, too busy!).

In her book Healthy Living from the Inside Out, Mariel Hemingway talks about "noisy foods". Noisy foods are processed sugar, caffeine, and chemical additives.

Take a moment to think about the possibilty that the noisy foods you are consuming might be interfering with your ability to correctly interpret what your body is saying. What if you could reduce the noise a bit and tune in to what your body is really trying to tell you?

More on cravings soon. In the meanwhile, I will be working on reducing the noise in my body and my house tomorrow since the impending snow storm here in Massachusetts may mean the kids will be home from school!

Here it is..The Granola Recipe

Since I gave this granola as Christmas gifts, I have had countless requests for the recipe.

I have been trying to figure out why it is so fantastic and I am really not sure. Maybe we are so accustomed to eating things that have been in a box for months (or, yikes, much longer!) that having something this fresh and homemade is just simply an incredibly welcome treat.

My great friend (and cousin by marriage), Fabiana Esteves, gave me this recipe. Fabiana is a graduate of The Natural Gourmet Cooking School in New York and is a great teacher and cooking inspiration to me. (As an aside, she and her husband Fabio are also incredibly generous hosts, letting me crash at their apartment every month while I am attending school in New York. But, this generosity is, I think, a part of the big picture of who she is and the love she brings to her food and her friendships).

I made a small change to the recipe (substituted Coconut Oil for the Canola Oil she uses- you can try either) but, Fabiana deserves all the credit.

Be warned...you may not be able to stop eating this!

Fabi’s Fab Granola

2 cups rolled oats
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup chopped hazelnuts
½ shredded coconut
½ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
Pinch of sea salt
½ tsp cinnamon (optional)

· Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
· Spread on a jelly roll pan (it will be very full but it seems to cook best when it is all on one pan)
· Bake at 275 degrees for 45 minutes (turn in the pan at 20-25 minutes)
· Different nuts can be substituted,
· Use as many organic ingredients as possible

Happy New Year

I'm keeping it simple in 2008. My resolution? Just be really good to myself. Whatever that means each day, I intend to tune in and really treat myself right.