Cheers for Chickpeas – Garbanzo Beans

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Welcome to the first post in my new blog series, “Health and Wellness Wednesday.”

I’m on a wonderful adventure cruising down the road to optimal health and well-being. Wow, what a difference to actually feel good and have a normal, active life! Adios, brain fog and chronic fatigue.

I’m excited to share my journey and what I’m learning with you. My three-year-old grandson, Grasshopper, is chemically sensitive to foods and things in the environment.

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Ninja Doll, Me, and Grasshopper

His mother has been playing detective, putting all the pieces of the puzzle together to eliminate and avoid things that compromise his health, and she’ll be writing some guest posts here.

As caregiver for Grasshopper and his little sister, I play an important role in working with his parents in a united effort to help him.

Many of these posts will highlight Grasshopper’s progression, plus my daughter and I will share about our own journeys to health and fitness with the hope that others can benefit from our experiences.

For this first post, let’s focus on a super healthy recipe.

I should let you know up front that I hate to cook, and if it isn’t simple, I won’t attempt it.

Homemade Hummus

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Hummus is made from chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans. Whatever you call them, they’re an amazing food that can be eaten alone, in soups, salads, curries, and other dishes.

This is a fairly easy procedure, and considering how nutritious and healthy chickpeas are, it’s worth the effort. Here are some of their benefits:

  • Helps you feel fuller so you eat less in between meals
  • Helps regulate blood sugar
  • Great source of fiber that aids your digestive system
  • Supports the cardiovascular system and can help lower your LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides
  • A good antioxidant
  • Good source of protein

For more details, check out The World’s Healthiest Foods link,

Ingredients you will need:

DSC039831 teaspoon tahini
Juice from one lemon (or lime)
Two cups cooked chickpeas
¼ cup olive oil
Dash of sea salt
5 peperoncinis
¼ cup peperoncini juice (from the jar of    peperoncinis)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup water

You can buy canned garbanzo beans (already cooked), but first you might want to read about possible health issues HERE and HERE.

I got my dry garbanzo beans (about three cups) from the bulk bin at Sprouts.

DSC03955First, rinse them. Next, presoak them for about eight hours. I soaked mine in the fridge overnight. For the quicker method, read about it below.

Presoaking helps reduce raffinose-type oligosaccharides. Say what? Basically, it will help minimize flatulence. Presoaking also cuts down on cooking time.

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While soaking, the chickpeas will absorb water and expand.

Rinse, then place in a pot and fill with water about one to two inches above the chickpeas. Bring to a boil.

 

DSC03965If any film/foam bubbles up, skim it off.

DSC03968Turn the heat down, cover partially with lid, and simmer approximately an hour and a half or until the chickpeas are soft. If all the water is absorbed before they’re fully cooked, add another cup of water and continue cooking until they’re done.

Quicker method of soaking according to The World’s Healthiest Foods: Boil the beans for two minutes, take pan off the heat, cover and allow it to stand for two hours. They recommend soaking for at least four hours minimum, though.

You can also cook them in a slow cooker on high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 8 to 9 hours. Cook until they’re tender. Read about it here.

Or cook in a pressure cooker about 45 minutes. Read about it here.

Rinse. Pick out any loose hulls and throw them away.

In food processor, blender, or Nutribullet, add tahini and lemon juice and blend together.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. If the mixture is too thick, add more water or other liquid (such as peperoncini juice). That’s it!

DSC03988Use for dipping chips or vegetables or as a spread.

My hummus turned out pretty good. Next time I’ll use jalapenos instead of peperoncinis.

It tasted better the next day, so setting in the fridge overnight helped bring out more flavor.

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Because I like spicy foods, I added some of the remaining chickpeas to the jar of peperoncinis to marinate them in the juice.

Later, I added them to my salad, and they tasted great! Actually, fantastic!

A brilliant idea. Try it!

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One cup of chickpeas is about 270 calories.

Chickpeas can be stored in the freezer for up to six months.

 

Other Recipes:

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/hummus-for-real-recipe.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/hummus-recipe.html

DSC03985For roasted chickpeas, go here.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/557013-how-to-roast-dry-chickpeas/

If you roast them, keep an eye on ’em. I baked mine at 350 degrees for 35 minutes and some burned. Darn!

As you can see, I’m new at this and have a lot to learn. It’s going to be a fun journey. I hope you’ll be a part of it and share your thoughts.

Do you like chickpeas? Have you ever made hummus? Do you have a favorite chickpea recipe to share with us? Any tips? Favorite healthy seasonings?

If you enjoyed this post, I’d love it if you would sign up to receive future posts. Fill in your email address in the Subscribe window near the top of the right-hand sidebar.

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20 Responses to Cheers for Chickpeas – Garbanzo Beans

  1. Great recipe for hummus, Lynn. Love that it’s grain-free. I will try it this weekend. No chips in this house. We will dip broccoli and other veggies. I make a wonderful soup I got off of Carrie Vitt’s blog using garbanzo beans, and we use the garbanzo flour for pizza crust, patties to use in tacos (grain-free) and other things. SO glad that we have changed the way we eat. YaY!!! Don’t forget to keep an eye on stuff in your oven. *snort* 😉 xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

    • Wow, Robyn, you’re making all kinds of wonderful dishes with garbanzo beans. You’re such an inspiration! Uh, yeah, I’ll keep an eye on things baking in the oven from now on. Will set the alarm on my phone for when I’m not in the kitchen! 🙂

  2. I love hummus, but have never made it. Too easy to buy it at the store, and there are good brands without a bunch of added junk. But what a fun thing to do with the grandkids! Also good tip on the soaking. My daughter (who loves to cook) made an Indian dish with tons of chickpeas once, and while yummy, it had some unfortunate effects on my husband, LOL.

    • Hi Jennette! You’re right, it’s easy to buy hummus at the store, and they sell some tastier varieties than the plain old hummus. That’s great that your daughter made an Indian dish with chickpeas. Soaking them will help cut down on unfortunate effects! *wink*

  3. Hummus is great and we have made our own. A lot less oil and calories. My wife has finally trained me to eat them in salads as well.

  4. Hey, that’s really cool that you’ve made your own hummus, Alex. I never would have thought of it until my friend mentioned she makes her own, so I wanted to try it, too. I love them in salads, especially if they’re marinated. Good for your wife getting you to add them to your salads, too!

  5. Hey Lynn, this is a wonderful idea! I skimmed through earlier, but it turned out to be a hectic morning. This moving thing is driving me nuts. That said, I love Hummus. Well, actually, both Bill and I do. And what a great recipe. You mentioned on FB something about organic. I would imagine that you could find organic chickpeas out there. Although that may require Whole Foods, although most Sprouts are carrying more and more organic foods. Bill really likes adding chickpeas to his salad which is a good way to increase protein in our diet. Just remember that in order to make raw humus, you will want to make sure that you don’t heat up the chickpeas past, I think it is 118 degrees, so that you don’t lose all its nutritional value. You would apply the same thing to nuts also. That’s why roasted nuts are really not good for us. When we heat our food, any food, we cook all the vitamins, etc out of it. (Although I know you cooked the chickpeas by accident. That so sounds like something I’d do. lol) Looking forward to Wednesdays now! 🙂

    • Lynn Kelley says:

      Karen, I wish we had a Whole Foods closer to us. I think Sprouts will have more and more organic options as more people switch over. I just hope they dong gouge on the pricing. If they do, I’ll shop somewhere else!

      Great point on the temperature. I’ve heard about that. Makes sense about roasted nuts.

      Thanks so much for stopping in. It’s so nice to see you here!

  6. Patricia says:

    I love hummus! Thanks for the wonderful post and recipe ideas.

    Patricia Rickrode
    w/a Jansen Schmidt

  7. Phil’s dad has made hummus for us before. I’ve never heard of peperoncinis before. I take it they add some flavor. I’d be tempted to add smoked paprika maybe. Great idea for a series, Lynn. Good luck with your grandson’s diet.

    • That’s cool that Phil’s dad makes hummus, Catherine. Peperoncinis are a bit spicy, but not nearly as strong as jalapeños. I’ve never heard of smoked paprika. Thanks for the tip and for the good wishes with grandson. It will take time.

  8. Yum! Peperoncinis would be wonderful in a hummus. Hubby usually makes our hummus with our own sun-dried tomatoes which gives it a sweet tang, but I’ll mention peperoncinis to him. 🙂 That’s so great you guys are getting healthy together as a family!

    • Hi Teresa! Yes, see if you like peperoncinis in your hummus. Sun-dried tomatoes, home grown, sounds delicious. I bet they’d go good with the peperoncinis. Let me know how you like it!

      Yes, it’s wonderful that we’re sharing ideas and recipes and getting healthy together. Some of us more so than others! 🙂

  9. Robin says:

    My husband often makes hummus for us – our three favorites are black olive, siracha, and garlic. He makes a basic batch & then divides it into thirds to make three different flavors – something for everyone!! We do use canned garbanzo beans though 😉

    • Hi Robin! What a treat to have you visit my blog. I like how your hubby makes a batch of hummus, then divides them into three parts and adds different flavors to each. Great idea! I haven’t tried siracha. Will have to check into that. Thanks for for stopping in!

  10. I miss chickpeas… They were a casualty of my most recent round of allergy testing, along with all of their legume cousins.

  11. Lindsay, that’s such a bummer you can’t eat chickpeas or legumes. Darn. I hope you’ll be able to eat them again someday. Seems like food allergies are always changing. Thank you for coming by!

  12. Thank you for your post and healthy suggestions. So sorry about your grandson’s problems. I am chemically sensitive to certain things as well and understand it can be a real issue.

    • Hi Connie. Sorry to hear you’re dealing with chemical sensitivities, too. It’s rough going, and I think there will be more and more people dealing with this issue, thanks to all the junk that’s in our food. 🙁

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