Edamame Guacamole

I love avocados. I put them in smoothies, massaged kale salads, and, as of today, even on my face. Trust me, mix half an avocado with a bit of honey and your face will be rid of winter dryness and you'll be glowing for days. But, I digress - avocados are powerhouses for nutrition, and are an excellent source of monounsaturated fat. But making plain old guacamole would be boring. Sometimes I just like to play in the kitchen.



After wiping crusted avocado off my cheeks, I steamed some edamame on a whim and gave it a whirl. It turned out so much better than I hoped; the edamame was creamy and light, but still retained some of its crunchy texture. Their mild flavor is similar to that of an avocado, so the typical guacamole ingredients complemented the legumes beautifully.





This is a high protein, low fat, and fantastic alternative to guacamole. It's excellent for a party for ten or a snack for one. If you want to try something different or can't bring yourself to buy avocados the same price as your rent, then buy a bag of edamame, pour a bowl of tortilla chips and call it a day. Or a fiesta.


Edamame guacamole
Ingredients
- 2 cups shelled edamame
- 2t extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small tomato, diced
- 1 tsp cumin
- Fresh cilantro
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Steam edamame according to package directions. Place in a food processor along with garlic and pulse until it reaches your desired consistency. Place into a bowl and mix in oil, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and seasoning. Fold in tomatoes. Chill for at least an hour and serve!

Serves 4

Whirled Peas...Hummus?

I know, hummus is supposed to be made with chickpeas, but listen to me for a second. I woke up this morning and wanted to make baba ghanoush only to discover that my eggplant was mushy. I actually contemplated roasting it anyway, thinking that cooking it at a high temperature would kill any bacteria (I know, I know) but my rationality beckoned me to throw it away. So then I figured I'd make hummus, but I just wasn't in a chickpea kind of mood. So I tried thinking of a new way I could spin an old favorite. Many ideas later (including mushrooms) I remembered there were peas in the freezer. So I got to work, and created something pretty tasty.


Whirled peas hummus
Ingredients
- 3 cups frozen peas, thawed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 basil leaves, torn
- 1 tbsp parsley
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Throw everything into a food processor and...whirl...until smooth. Chill until serving.




I know this isn't very hummus like, but I want it to be hummus so that's just what it's going to be. It's sweet, herbaceous and has a color that instantly put a smile on my face. Why eat a bowl of beige chickpea hummus when you can have a beautifully bright green spread that tastes great on veggies and pita and my fingers? The answer is obvious.

Now I'm going to sip some tea, watch the (original) Iron Chef, and begin concocting my next Desserts for Moi endeavor. Ciao!

Blog announcement: Organically Me has a new look! I was up until 1AM working on it and I'm quite happy. More pages to come as well.

Gone Greek

Last night I cooked dinner with the guy from this post. I had been craving Greek/Mediterranean food for no reason in particular, so I knew that I needed something inspired by my craving for our menu. Everything turned out really well and definitely hit the spot.


First was homemade hummus and super delicious pita. I don't have the hummus recipe because he made it, but it was a pretty basic hummus. This is my first time having it homemade and it's SO much better. I'm going out and buying a tub of tahini just so I can make it at home from now on. The pita is from a farmer's market and is super soft and unlike any other pita I've had. I'm just thankful I got to take some some leftovers!





We also prepared seitan and vegetable skewers. Once again, there isn't a great recipe for this because I mostly just winged it. I marinated uniform chunks of zucchini, eggplant, crimini mushrooms, and seitan cubes in (approx):

- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 shallots
- Handful of parsley
- A couple tbsp fresh oregano
- S&P
- Pinch red pepper flake

Then popped them in a 375 oven for about 20 minutes. I drizzled the skewers with some of the leftover marinade when they were done cooking. We both liked it more vinegar based than oil based, but feel free to adjust it to your liking.

However, my personal favorite of the meal was:


A beautiful martini glass full of kalamata olives - one of my new loves.

I definitely dipped into the leftover pita and hummus (and finished the olives) for dinner tonight. Must get tahini!