roasted red pepper hummus and a milestone

this weekend was kiiiiind of a big deal because i officially reached the 50-pounds-lost benchmark.

so exciting, you guys!

here’s a picture:

me, almost 2 years ago; me 4.5 years ago on our wedding day

as embarrassing as is it to admit, i gained an even 50 pounds after i got married. crazy, right?

and it sucked.

all my clothes fit all wrong. i was always, always tired (and pretty depressed)… i got winded just taking the stairs in our loft. my doctor told me i had high cholesterol and high triglycerides. i felt awful! some people have asked what caused me to gain the weight, and i think it’s obvious here that i love food. i enjoy it — food is fun, it’s celebratory. that’s not a problem, exactly, but i also hated exercising, and without that foundation, i easily convinced myself to quit my gym membership not long after we got married. then i went through some personal stuff and started self-medicating with extra food. it went pretty quickly from there.

a couple years ago, i couldn’t take it anymore, and i finally went back to the gym; and found out that working out isn’t so bad, after all :) i made some mental health changes, too. i never should have waited so long! one of my gym’s mantras is “doing what we want, when we want.” and having the energy and ability to do that is pretty great!

it’s been a long road, and although each pound gone has been a victory, this particular milestone seemed so significant.

i have never been athletic and have always seen myself as the chubby kid. so i think one of my favorite moments of 2012 was coming in second place in the female burpee challenge put on by my gym over the summer. it was such an amazing feeling! i am good at burpees, man! and burpees are difficult!

every day that i walk out of that gym, i’ve done something i never thought i could do. i ran faster, i pushed more weight, i had better form. i squatted 300 pounds. i ran 150 sprints. i biked or rowed 10 miles. i helped pull a 3/4-ton pickup truck with a rope! things i never thought i would be able to do.

in the past, i’ve often celebrated my weight-loss successes with food. “let’s go out tonight to celebrate!” isn’t that bizarre? and ironic. i mean, to me food is festive — i celebrate every holiday, birthday, special occasion or get-together with friends with tasty food and plenty of it. i love that.

but this time — such as when i reached my 20-pounds-lost milestone and bought a new pair of jeans — this time, i went for a run. WHAT A TREAT RIGHT? it was 30 degrees! my hands and face were freezing. yikes!

but this was cool for me; because i used to despise exercise. i hated it, all of it. and to choose to do something like running, just because i CAN run, because it doesnt hurt the way it used to and because i have the strength now, to keep going — was a rad testament to how much i’ve really changed, mentally and physically.

so yay to that.

my husband, my friends and family, my trainers have been so supportive through my little journey, and i’m so grateful. my husband has encouraged me to keep going even if it means eating healthy (weird) stuff for dinner, or hanging out alone while i’m at the gym. he is amazing. once, my trainer took me aside and said “i know that you can do better.” i was tired from box sprints and kind of thought i was going to die, so his words angered me. i threw down my sweat towel and said “i’m TIRED!” but he was right! i did better, finished the sprints strong, faster than i thought i could have. i’m so glad he helped me believe that about myself.

anyway, i don’t eat right all of the time. but… most of the time. i eat sensibly and in moderation. i’ve started seeing food as a fuel for my body and not just something to enjoy. i work out hard, and afterwards i can splurge calories on dinner (and bourbon). usually when i want a cheeseburger, i have an apple. but sometimes, i have the cheeseburger — and fries. but i don’t let it stop me. i can sweat off that cheeseburger later! for me, i don’t want a life without cheeseburgers. it’s all about balance.

hummus is an awesome and tasty way to keep that balance… a delicious superfood! you can buy hummus at the store, but you haven’t really eaten hummus til you’ve made it fresh yourself, am i right? it’s amazing and my husband declared this the creamiest and tastiest i’ve ever made. (thanks, babe!) i like to spike a batch of homemade hummus with roasted garlic and roasted red bell peppers….the garlic flavor deepens and mellows as it roasts, and the bell peppers give a wonderful color and brightness.

for dipping, i like pita triangles, crackers, or vegetable crudites — carrot sticks or cucumber rounds, spears of fresh bell peppers, crunchy jicama sticks. hummus also makes an awesome spread on sandwiches or wraps, or maybe tucked in alongside some flafel in a pita pocket. yum!

i’ve been making hummus for so long that it almost seemed too boring a recipe to share. but it isn’t, and it’s easy and delicious! i like to add white beans to the garbanzos for a textural dimension. enjoy!

roasted red pepper hummus

yield: enough for a party appetizer and some for lunch the next day

 

note: we’re on a strict budget around here, so i started with dried chickpeas because they’re so inexpensive. this process takes some time, and since dinnersfowinners is all about easy and quick, i’ve included directions for using canned beans or dried. canned beans are a great time-saver — just make sure you rinse them well because they are packed in plenty of sodium.

• 1 head of garlic
• 1/2 of a 15 oz jar of roasted red peppers (and some of the liquids)
• 2 cans garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained and rinsed
• 1 can white beans (such as canellini), drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• juice from two lemons
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

if starting with dried chickpeas: place 1 1/4 cups of dried chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with twice the volume of water. let it sit overnight. drain, and then saute the chickpeas and 1 teaspoon baking soda in a large skillet for about 3 minutes (the baking soda helps reduce the gasseous effects beans can have on us!) add 1.5 quarts of water and cook at a simmer anywhere from 20 – 30 minutes, maybe longer, depending on freshness. they’re ready when tender, but not mushy.

wrap the head of garlic (unpeeled) in foil and place in a 450-degree oven for 30-40 minutes. (i like to do this while i’m already roasting something else in the oven.) once cool, remove foil and peel cloves. pop them into a food processor and let them get finely chopped.

add the remaining ingredients and process until very smooth, seriously like at least 4 – 5 minutes. taste and adjust seasonings: more salt and pepper? more lemon? sometimes i add more liquid if the hummus is too thick — more roasted red pepper liquid, or even some water.

store in an airtight container in the fridge, though i find it best served at room temperature.

maple-oat scones

oh my heavens. home from vacation, and first-day-back i thought it would be fun to work 11 hours at the office, go to the gym, have dinner and shower, make bread dough and prep the crock pot for tomorrow’s dinner, pack tomorrow’s lunch, finish laundry and read some blogs. what? is this my normal?

yes.

and our poor dog probably thought we gifted him to our bffs Joel and Molly while we were away for eight days. psych, Wallace! you are still our stinky puppy.

we had the best time in New York, visiting my sister Celeste, and her boyfriend Luis. Brooklyn is wonderful, the weather was delightful (sunny, but chilly), our Thanksgiving dinner party was a huge success! Celeste and I cooked for two days: mushroom stuffing; kale and brussels sprout salad; potato and fennel gratin; roasted sweet potatoes with coffee-bourbon-caramel drizzle (you HAVE to try making that beauty yourself!); Celeste made an incredible pork roast wrapped with prosciutto, kale, apples and mushrooms; she also made parker house rolls from scratch and i ate six million of them!! i made white bean dip and ginger-pomegranate champagne punch for the pre-dinner cocktail hour; and for dessert there were pumpkin panna cotta with candied hazelnuts and brown-butter apple pie. some of our guests brought delights such as Tibetan dumplings and seaweed salad, which were so good! (the amount of dumplings i consumed while in new york city numbers in the hundreds.. i’m positive.) we played catch phrase with our friends til 3am, and i ate more rolls and dumplings!

our Thanksgiving dessert plate

Celeste’s beautiful pork roast!

Thanksgiving sisters!

we also saw some sights, shopped some stuff, and ate a lottt. as far as celeb-sighting in The City (cause i know you care!), Jesse Eisenberg was totally on our flight over to NYC, and we spotted Katie Holmes both in Central Park and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we saw the Warhol exhibit. which was incredible! my favorite part: seeing the Avedon portrait of Truman Capote IN PERSON, like, i stuck my face right in front of it. since studying photography in college and shooting portraiture for a living, it was breataking to see Avedon’s beautiful work, up close. just absolutely astounding… Avedeon was really the master. i’m still dreaming about it.

my husband and me, waiting for the F train on a chilly night

Soho sunshine

we had a wonderful time.

as we’re trying to keep up with catching-up, these days i am drinking large, large amounts of coffee. which i think deserve a sweet treat alongside, don’t you agree? i bring you homemade oat-nut scones — easy enough for ME to bake! i’m not that great at baking (though i land griddle scones in the winning column every time), i’ll admit. and scones, especially the store-baked type, can be a dry disappointment, filling me with simple carbs and regret. i know! combine those symptoms with the $4 i have to spend on a coffee-shop scone?….

sad sophie.

these are so easy and just as delightful as a scone should be — soft, a hearty crumb, not too sweet and not too large (go ahead and eat a whole one!) oh yeah, and coffee’s best friend. we’re enjoying these as an afternoon treat when the fifth cup of coffee for the day sounds really perfect. i really like the chopped pecans, and the nuttiness brought by toasting the oatmeal. a maple glaze gives a simple, cozy sweetness.

i hope you had a wonderful holiday, and if you’re still being stared at by leftover turkey, may i suggest my favorite part of post-Thanksgiving? turkey pot pie!

enjoy.

adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

makes 8

• 1 1/2 cups oats (Old-Fashioned rolled or quick oats will work)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (pure or homemade)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 10 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces and chilled well)

toast the oats and pecans in a 375-degree oven (or if you’re me, in a dry skillet on medium heat, walking away just long enough for them to nearly over-toast — so keep your eye on ‘em) until browned and fragrant, and set aside to cool. if you’re smart and used the oven method, increase oven temp to 450 for baking scones.

whisk cream, egg and maple syrup together, pouring just about a tablespoon of the mixture into a small bowl for brushing tops later.

in a food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder and salt until combined. add butter pieces and pulse 12 – 14 times; look for pea-sized butter in the mixture, or thereabouts. add this mixture to oats/pecans, then fold in milk mixture, just until dough comes together. (here i became worried that the dough seemed much too wet — i was imagining a dry biscuit dough — but don’t fret! press on.) turn out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a large circle about an inch thick.

cut into 8 wedges and brush tops with remaining tablespoon of milk mixture. set at least 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake at 450 for 12 – 15 minutes, until golden brown.

devour while warm with a big cup of coffee, or cool for glazing.

for glaze, stir 2 – 3 tablespoons maple syrup into 1/2 cup powdered sugar and drizzle over scones.