Home-made Hummus

Hello beautiful!!

Hummus is such a delicious snack. But I hate buying it in the stores. I guess it's because I'm cheap. Oh well.

So I made my own.

I got a recipe from a friend, and then tweaked it a bit.

1 can chick peas, drained
1/4 cup sesame tahini
1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic
Salt
Lemon juice

• Put the drained chick peas in a pot, and add about a 1/2 cup water. Heat them through (as soon as they come to a boil, shut the heat off).
• Put the chicken peas, and some of the water (as much as you want) into the blender/food processor.  I put just a bit of water, and then saved some to add in later, if needed.
• Add the garlic, salt, and lemon juice (about a teaspoon of salt, and half a squeezed lemon) into the food processor and mix everything together.
• Add the tahini and yogurt, and mix again.
• Taste the mixture, and add salt or more lemon juice, to your liking.

That's it!

I cut out any extra Olive Oil, and by adding the Greek yogurt in place of half of the tahini, I was able to cut a little bit of fat, and add a little protein.  Not too shabby!!  The recipe makes about a cup and a half of hummus, so for 2 Tbsp per serving, you have the following:

Calories: 69, Fat: 3g, Carbohydrates: 7g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 3g.  2 Points Plus!

Enjoy!

I am the Queen of Carbs

I've been trying to eat a higher protein diet, with less carbohydrates.  As the self-appointed "Queen of Carbs," this is SUPER difficult.  But I'm determined to continue...carbs are my downfall.  And it's time I take matters into my own hands.

I'm making this very difficult for myself.  Not only am I continuing to track in Weight Watchers (I want to ensure that I'm staying within the set guidelines for my weight), I'm also tracking in My Fitness Pal.  Why, you ask?  Well, WW calculates points, but I can set up MFP to help me track how much protien, carbs, and fat I'm actually consuming.  If WW has a way of doing this, I don't know how to set it up.

I attempted to liken the number of points to number of calories, in order to make things as equivalent as possible.  I figured about 50 calories per point (this is difficult since points are calculated on fat, fiber, carbohydrates, and protein) and I was able to put a "calorie goal" into MFP.  Then, I was able to determine how many grams of Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat I wanted on a daily basis by logging in a percentage for each one.  I am currently following the P90X fitness and nutrition regimen, so the "Phase 1" part of P90X states that you eat 50% Protein, 30% Carbohydrates, 20% Fat.

THIS IS REALLY HARD!!

I'm finding it really difficult to find low fat high protein food that actually tastes good.  

Here is Tuesday's final food log:

So you can see my problem.  I still don't get enough protein, but go over in fat.  I understand that it's a very rigorous plan (50% protein is a lot), but I'm hoping to improve

I picked up a few things at the market which will hopefully help:
0% Fage Plain Yogurt instead of 2%
1% Lowfat Cottage Cheese
Ingredients to make homemade Hummus
Almonds and Pistachios (which may not work out - they're high in fat)

I need to find a better (good tasting) salad dressing that doesn't have so much fat.  I also need to start making breakfast with egg whites instead of whole eggs.  I know that will help with reducing the fat.  I also need to look for protein bars/shakes that are relatively low in fat/carbs, but can help with protein consumption.

However!  I'm happy with how my body feels, and will update soon!

The REAL Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

I recently posted that while I really didn't know how to make the perfect hard boiled egg, I was going to try some methods to get there.

Those methods went out the window this morning.  All it took was 1 simple change.  This morning, I made hard boiled eggs for Scott to eat when he got home from his workout (I also made a couple for me and my mom).  I decided that instead of letting the water come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 12 minutes (I got that method from watching the Barefoot Contessa on TV), I would just let them boil for 10 minutes.  As I mentioned before, cooking the the BC's way makes perfectly cooked yolks....But I lost most of the whites when I tried to get the shells off!

SO...The result of this morning's experiment??  Perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs....And the shells came off with no problem!!!

It's the little things that make me happy :o)

Perfectly cooked yolks

Beautiful hard boiled eggs!

Scott's breakfast this morning - hard boiled eggs, a toasted English Muffin and Strawberries

The Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

I have to warn you.  I don't know how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg.  I feel like I've seen a million different ways to do it, each one claiming to be the best way.  

My husband works out with a friend in the mornings (the do cross-fit together), and I've been trying to have eggs waiting for him when he gets home - he needs the protein as soon as possible after exercising.  So far, I've hard-boiled the eggs twice, and I've tried two different (but similar) methods and the result has been the same.  Eggs, cooked well (and by well, I mean that the yolk is not overcooked, and there is no yucky green line separating the yolk from the white).

My hard boiled egg, cooked to perfection!

It's safe to say that I've mastered the method to get eggs cooked properly.  What I HAVEN'T mastered is the method to get the shells off easily without getting the egg white caught on the shell (see picture below).

Hard Boiled Eggs.  While the center may be cooked to perfection, I haven't mastered the art of peeling the shells off.

So what's the big deal?  I want to be able to peel the shells off, without pulling off half of the whites.  That's the deal.  Let's start at the beginning:

I put 4 hard boiled eggs in a small pan and filled the pan with water (can covered the eggs with about 1 inch of water).  I put them on the stove, and set the stove to high heat.  As soon as the eggs came to a boil (almost a boil - I didn't want the water to boil too much and crack the eggs), I lowered the heat to low, and set the kitchen timer to 12 minutes.

Now here's where the variation comes into place.  The first time I made the eggs, I put the pot in the sink, and let luke-warm water flow from the tap into the pot, and eventually all of the water cooled down.  Then, I just put the eggs on the counter for Scott to eat when he got home.  The result was that the peels came off in tiny little pieces, and a lot of the whites came off with it.  They basically looked just like the picture above.  This morning when I made the eggs, I did the same thing, but then actually peeled the eggs right away.  I thought that maybe by peeling the eggs while they were still wet it would help.  Not so much.  I got the same result.

So after much online research on how to boil eggs and get the shells off easily, I've found some tips:

• Use old eggs.
• This struck me as weird as first, but I think I understand what she's saying.  If the eggs were just put on the shelf in the supermarket, they're really fresh....And apparently fresh eggs don't peel easily.  hmm.  seems weird.  But then I remembered.  How many times did our parents buy white eggs for coloring at Easter time?  How often did they sit in the fridge for a week before we colored them?  And then after we boiled them it was another week before we ate them?  And then I thought.....All those eggs were easy to peel.  So ok.  Maybe I should boil a bunch of eggs on Sunday.  Then Scott can eat them gradually throughout the week (within 5 days of boiling them), and they'll be easier to peel after sitting in the fridge.....OK.  It's an idea.
• Let the eggs sit in cold water (cold water filled with ice) for 10 minutes before peeling and then peel the eggs under running water.  
• This sounded pretty decent.  While they're in the cold water, steam will form between the egg and the shell.  When going to crack the eggs, do it under running water and grab a whole of the membrane when pulling off the shell. This is something I'm probably going to try the next time I make eggs for Scott.
• Add salt to the pot when boiling
• There was no reason.  They just said it helps to not pull whites off with the shells.  I could try this.

So that's only 3 things.... But they all have valid points.  I think the main thing is not to try all of these suggestions at one time.  If I get eggs that are easy to peel, I won't know which method was the best method (oooo the Six-Sigma-Black-Belt-Certified-Engineer is coming out in me.  Maybe I should set up a DOE??? haha).  I also don't want to try to fix the problem of difficult-to-peel eggs and then have yucky yolks, since my eggs are so well cooked already.  In any case, I will definitely try some of these methods and report back!

Let's hope to some good results!!!