Pumpkin & Pomegranate

I have been dreaming of this blog for some time now. For the past few months I have been rabidly reading the healthy food blogs of so many others. I had a blog before but it was a tad disorganized, and I didn’t have my own domain. Being a bit illiterate when it comes to such things I turned to a friend who knows a whole lot more than I do. I send out a huge THANK YOU to him for being so wonderful. He is my blog magician, and is happily hosting this little space of the web for me (and if anyone needs their blog hosted I can send you to my guru). He will also be the recipient of many a delightful healthy baked good in the future.

So welcome. This blog will be based on my continued research into healthful foods. I am sure I don’t have to tell anyone that “healthy” seems to be a tad relative when it comes to foods consumed. Much like religion and philosophy, there are so many differing opinions and beliefs. One diet shuns a certain food for being unhealthy, while another makes it the basis of theirs. The debate is seemingly endless. There are certain universally accepted ingredients that are seen to be unhealthy by all (except those who profit off of their sales), like high fructose corn syrup and trans fats. But apart from the few of those there are so many things that are debatable. I do the best I can and make my decision to eat or not eat certain foods based on the best information I have, and my own reasoning. Basically if something makes sense to me, I follow it. If it doesn’t then I don’t. I am no expert. I don’t claim to be one, but I used to see a nutritionist when I was very overweight, and was not able to lose the weight on her “diet”. When I changed the way I ate, and looked at it from a holistic point of view (and didn’t base it on the food pyramid) I was able to easily lose the weight. That’s right, the weight loss itself was EASY. It just takes work, a lot of willpower, and time. You HAVE to be patient.

This welcome has gotten far too long, let me say one more little thing and segue into the actual recipe.

I don’t count calories. I did it for one week during my weight loss just to get an idea of what I was eating, but then I got over that. It is too stressful and made me feel like someone was watching me, like I had to “behave”. Ultimately I don’t believe calories matter as long as you are eating the right nutrient dense foods. What I do take into consideration is the glycemix index. I don’t worry about it when it comes to fruit and non-starchy vegetables, but I do look at it when it comes to legumes, certain tubers, and of course any kind of sweetener. I do not omit ALL high GI foods, but I do try not to base my diet on them. For example, I do eat sweet potatoes, but I do not eat them at every meal.

On my search for a good reference for the Glycemix Index I stumbled upon Channa Dal (also called Chana Daal, Chana Daal, and Bengal Gram). Channa Dal is the desi variety of the garbanzo bean, and oddly enough has a much lower GI than the Middle Eastern variety. I am no scientist, and I have to say that David Mendosa explains it so much better than I can. So let me just say that I have created a hummus from the Channa Dal that is quite tasty. I don’t worry much about eating hummus in general because it does have a lot of nutrients, but it is nice to know that this version also has a low GI.

Here is David Mendosa’s GI List for reference.

I made a huge batch of this hummus this week. I froze half of it, but don’t know what I will encounter when I defrost it.

I also unfortunately did not pre-measure the dry Chana Dal, and only measured it after it had cooked. It either needs to be soaked for 8-12 hours (changing the water out a few times and picking out any stray hulls), then simmered on the stove for about an hour or until you can smash them between your fingers.

If you do not wish to soak them you can boil them in water for 5 minutes, then shut off the heat and let the channa dal sit for 2 hours before using.

Channa Dal Hummus

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked channa dal (reserve some of the cooking water for later use
• Juice of 2 medium lemons, or one very large one
• 4 cloves of garlic (I like mine VERY garlicky, lessen for your own taste or add more!)
• 2 tablespoons tahini (ground sesame seed paste)
• salt to taste
• reserved liquid from cooking (or olive oil, your choice)
• green olives to taste (I used garlic stuffed olives)
• paprika (completely optional)

Method:

1. Measure out channa dal into food processor.
2. Add garlic, lemon juice, olives, tahini, and some of the cooking liquid or olive oil.
   
3. Pulse in the food processor and add additional cooking liquid or olive oil until you get the desired consistency.
   
4. Garnish with paprika if desired.
5. Add salt to taste and pulse to combine.

I eat this hummus on raw eggplant chips that have been dehydrated in my little food dehydrator, or I use about a cup of it as a salad dressing. I go through these food phases where I cannot get enough of a certain dish, right now I am fully into my hummus salads. I use about a head of lettuce (or 2 hearts of romaine) about a cup of hummus, an organic red bell pepper, a couple of chopped carrots (or many baby carrots), 2 tomatoes, and of course more chopped green olives. Heaven. I probably reek of garlic right about now. Luckily the hot boyfriend likes garlic!