Z's Kitchen » vitamix

Basic Reduced Fat Hummus

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:51:53 +0000

I love hummus, but have avoided it in restaurants because of the amount of olive oil used. While it’s true that olive oil is considered a “good fat”, I still don’t want excessive fat in my diet. When I made hummus at home, although it tasted great, I never got the same smooth consistency that the restaurants offered. Now, I am getting that extra smooth hummus by using beans cooked from scratch and making the hummus in the Vitamix instead of in my food processor. I cook the beans longer than the suggested time, so they are softer than I might otherwise want for most recipes.

This makes a great dip for carrots, celery, cucumber sticks, pita wedges or tortilla chips. It’s also great spread on a pita or other sandwich. One of my favorites is toasted whole wheat bread spread with hummus and topped with cucumbers, tomatoes and some sprouts or a thin slice of avocado. Here’s my basic hummus recipe, but the ingredients are very flexible, so try whatever variations sound good.

Basic Reduced Fat Hummus

15 ounce can of garbanzo beans
OR 280 grams of garbanzo beans cooked from dried beans
2 T tahini
4 T lemon juice
1 T minced garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt, optional
1/4 tsp pepper

Blend all ingredients until smooth. This should keep well in the fridge for up to 4 or 5 days, but ours doesn’t usually last that long.

Z’s Almond Milk

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:12:33 +0000

In an attempt to make an almond milk that my family liked and that didn’t have some of the additives we were seeing the the store bought varieties, we came up with this. If you don’t have a vitamix blender, you might have to use more nuts or less water. With the vitamix and soaking the nuts, we get a nice, thick milk using less than most recipes call for.

Z’s Almond Milk

1/2 c raw or blanched almonds
2-3 brazil nuts or a small handful of pine nuts
1-2 medjool dates, depending on how sweet you like it
a few drops of vanilla extract (optional)
dash of salt

* Soak all ingredients for at least 2 hours. I usually leave them soaking for 8 hours or even overnight in the fridge.

* Put everything in the blender container (including the soak water) and add water up to the 1 liter mark.

* Start blender on low, quickly ramp up speed and switch to high. Run on high for 60-90 seconds.

* (optional) Pour through a strainer and it’s done. I set out a large bowl and place a metal colander type of strainer over it. Line the metal strainer with the muslin and pour milk through it. Gather up the sides and squeeze any remaining liquid through the strainer. What’s left will be almost a play dough consistency of almond bits. This can be composted or added to muffins or smoothies.

This recipe makes slightly over a quart and is good for 4-5 days when kept in the fridge.

Almond note: If you use blanched almonds, you’ll get a whiter milk since they don’t have the skins. Another option, although time consuming, is to squeeze the almond slightly, in order to slide off the skin. I did this once in an attempt to see if it made a difference in flavor or color. The flavor was almost the same and the color was lighter than my usual creation.

Strainer notes: My first strainer was a cotton/muslin blend that came in as a tofu making kit. I used it for years until it started to develop holes. Now I am using some muslin bought from the fabric store. If you choose this method and find that your fabric store has different thread-counts of muslin available, you’ll probably want the lower thread count. We use about an 18″ square size. Another option is to purchase a nut milk bag. I have one, but prefer the end result of the muslin.

Mango “Ice Cream”

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:50:40 +0000

We make a lot of our frozen desserts in the Vitamix. Here is one that’s been a favorite for the whole family. It is not as creamy as traditional ice cream, but much creamier than fruit sorbets. The texture is very smooth and somewhere between soft serve and hard ice cream. If you’re used to lots of sweets, you might want to add some agave syrup or sweetener of your choice. I’ve been using a few drops of stevia when I make it for the Little One (age 3), but for myself, it is sweet enough with the natural sugars from the fruit.

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Mange “Ice Cream”

16 ounces frozen mango
3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
1 ounce cashews (a small handful)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
8-10 stevia drops (optional)

Put everything except for the mango into the Vitamix. Start on low and slowly adjust to the high speed. Run until the nuts are totally smooth. (If you don’t run this for long enough, you’ll have gritty ice cream.)

Stop the Vitamix and add the frozen mango. Restart the blender again and ramp up to high speed. Use the tamper to press the fruit into the blades. Within 30-60 seconds, all of the fruit will be blended and your ice cream is ready to eat.

Tip: In the hot part of summer when we’re making this dessert often, I make up the liquid portion and keep it in the fridge. Then when it’s time to make the ice cream, just put in a little more than 3/4 cup of the liquid base, add the fruit and dessert is ready in less than a minute!

Serving ideas: I put a scoop of ice cream in the middle of a dessert plate and line the outer edge of the plate with sliced strawberries or bananas.

Mix-ins: If you like chunks in your ice cream, you could put one of the following in on very low speed after the ice cream is otherwise done.

Coconut shreds
Mango chunks
Strawberries
Macadamia nuts
Diced pineapple

Nutritional Information Per Serving: 108 Calories; 5g Fat (34.7% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 8mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

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Brazil Nut Milk

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:13:46 +0000

Today I made Brazil Nut Milk for the first time. My journey into alternatives to milk started with soy milk and then rice milk. These were the only options sold in the stores I visited so many years ago. Over time, more milks have shown up on the shelves. I have seen soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, hazelnut milk, oat milk and even hempseed milk. Some of these don’t fit my budget, so I decided to try making them myself and have been rather successful.

Why Brazil nuts? Well, why not?! I’ve been making a lot of almond milk lately and was ready for something different. It turns out that I may like this better than almond milk or at least I was ready for a change! The brazil nut milk is creamy and has a mild, but sweet taste. We’ll be making this one again and again.

===== Brazil Nut Milk =====

2/3 cup Raw Brazil Nuts
2 Deglet Noor Dates (or 1-2 Medjool dates)
Water
A dash of salt
3-4 drops vanilla extract

Soak the nuts and dates in water for several hours.

Pour nuts, dates and soak water into the vitamix container. Fill with water to the 1 liter mark or less if you like it extra creamy. Blend on high for 90 seconds.

Pour the nut milk through a nut milk bag, cheesecloth or other fine strainer.

Stir in a dash of salt and a few drops of vanilla extract (optional).

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