This Middle Eastern dip is traditionally made with chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Prepare and refrigerate it a day ahead; let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with a lemon wedge and fresh parsley sprig, and serve with Rice Chips or Vegetables.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Hummus

5 cups (serving size: 2 tablespoons)

Ingrediants:

• 2  (15.5-ounce) cans no-salt-added chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz can cannellini beans (or other white beans), drained
• 2 whole garlic heads, roasted
• 1/2  cup  water (I used 3/4 cup – it was too thick for me)
• 1/4  cup  tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt (I used 1 teaspoon)
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper (I used White Pepper and about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary

preparation:

Remove white papery skin from 2 whole garlic heads (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap each head separately in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins.

Place garlic pulp, Traditional Hummus, and 1 (15-ounce) can rinsed and drained cannellini beans (or other white beans) in a food processor; pulse 5 times or until chopped (I used my blender). Add all other ingredients; process until smooth, scraping down sides as needed. Stir in chopped fresh rosemary.

CALORIES 45 (40% from fat); FAT 2g (sat 0.3g, mono 1g, poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 1.8g; CARB 5.3g; FIBER 1.2g; CHOL 0mg; IRON 0.4mg; SODIUM 81mg; CALC 16mg.

Laura Zapalowski, Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2008

My first snack:

Roasted Nuts!

I went to Costco and got an array of nuts to try out both raw and roasted.  We found out quickly that my hubby is allergic to Walnuts (opps!) but everything else he really liked – here is what I got:

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Cashews (don’t roast just add afterward)
• Pecans
• I skipped Pine Nuts because they were too expensive for my budget at the time.

I came home and roasted them (Almonds, Pecan, Walnuts) in the oven (single layer) at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  They I turned off the oven, let them sit and dry out inside the oven for 30 more minutes and then cool with the oven door open for another hour.

I put a bowl of nuts on Caleb’s desk and he ate them throughout the day – so happy!  The extra’s went into a tupperware so that I can refill his bowl daily.  A total success.  My 15 month old also really really loved the Pecans – she sat on the kitchen floor munching for quite a while.  Good day in finding a new favorite for our household!