Summer Supper & Round 2 of Smoothie Quest 2012

Summer is in FULL swing and last night it was just waaaaay too hot to cook and my husband, who loves to BBQ, flatly refused.  I didn't blame him.  On top of the heat, we had pretty much had complete junk food for lunch so there was no way I was resorting to take-out for dinner.  Solution?  Hummus, veggies, and smoothies.  YUM-O.

What started as a simple hummus recipe of:

1 c canned garbanzo beans

1/4c sesame seeds (or tahini if your blender won't pulverize the itty bitty seeds)

1 clove of garlic

1 T cumin

1 T olive oil

1 T lemon juice

salt to taste

that I just dumped into my blender until it was a good consistency . . .

turned out to be entirely too bland (nasty really).  So, I opened my fridge and started digging through the latest CSA delivery box, finding these gems to add in:

1/2 avocado

2 small serrano peppers

(and a little more salt and olive oil)

and the result was:

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY! 

A bit spicy, balanced with the creaminess of avocado and garbanzo beans.  Foodiva Heaven!  During this recipe discovery I also learned that salt is a absolutely vital component of hummus, whereas olive oil is not so much.  Interesting for me, since I have always associated hummus with a rather high fat content. 

I sliced up a platter of red and yellow peppers, carrots, celery, and cucumbers for dipping and you would have thought it was a pile of deep fried pita chips it went so fast!  There is something so incredibly satisfying about seeing your family (including a notoriously picky 4-yr-old) muching happily on homemade, whole food deliciousness.  Mission accomplished for the evening.

Dessert brought about Smoothie Quest: Round 2

After an earlier trip to the local farmer's market, I had an abundance of produce that was just begging to be smoothified.  My daughter sat at our kitchen table and started calling out ingredients, which consisted of:

Grapes
Strawberries
Blueberries (she absolutely insists on blueberries in her smoothies)
Raspberries
Bananas

No doubt, a delicious blend of fruit.  Though the berries are extremely low in fructose and have a low glycemic index, the bananas and grapes don't really jive with my smoothie ideal -- see "Smoothie Quest: Round 1" post from a few days ago.  (Note: grapes are a super easy way to ensure enough liquid is produced for the smoothie base, so still often find their way into my smoothie mixes.)   I still needed to up the veg factor, so on a hunch, I threw in:

Cucumber
Alfalfa Sprouts

Weird right?  At this point, we should call it the Kitchen Sink Smoothie.  Yes, that's what I think I'll call it.

(On a side note, before I flipped the switch on this smoothie, I was once again struck by how really beautiful food is that God makes.  Every color of the rainbow was in my vitamix . . . it's amazing to me. Perfection.)

Moving on . . . the resulting smoothie was not only beautiful in it's own right, it was shockingly delicious!  The sprouts were completely pulverized, so left no stringy bits, while they also served to cut the sweetness of the grapes.  The freshness of the cucumber highlighted the lovely berry mix . . . all in all, my new favorite!  And my baby girl?  Well, she was quite proud of herself . . .

She is known for loving to help in the kitchen, and having quite the imagination, but is not so adventurous when it comes to her palate.  She prefers milk and water ("I don't like juice, Mommy"), so even getting her to try these smoothies has been a challenge (strange, I know).  Letting her choose all the ingredients and seeing Mom and Dad chug down the yumminess apparently won her over though. . . .

And she even garnished her Kitchen Sink Smoothie with a slice of lemon.  That girl :) 

All in all, it was a happy night.  Raw, whole food preparation on a hot summer day and actually having my family enjoy it -- BLISS.  Foodiva bliss, that is!