Making Your Own Hummus Is a Reason to Live

I love it.

 I'm serious.  I made hummus today.  In addition to standard ingredients like chick peas, olive oil, and salt, I added plum tomatoes, garlic, and hot sauce.  It is red, and it is very good.  Why would anyone kill themselves when they can make any kind of hummus they want?  It just doesn't make sense.  These are some of the ingredients I plan to use in hummuses of the future: spinach, kale, parsley (Yes, the next batch might be green.), onion, leeks, mushrooms, and spicy peppers.  And there will be more.  Making a green one with veggies like kale, parsley, and spinach will be key.  I tend to get stuck in ruts.  I'm in one now.  Even though I've been doing well eliminating refined sugar and processed foods from my diet, I've really only consistently been eating carrots, split pea soup, hummus, and corn.  So, technically, pretty much the only veggie I've been eating are carrots.  The hummus is a great opportunity to break out of that rut.  I love hummus.  I know I like it with spinach in it, because I've bought the spinach and artichoke variety of it several times.  I'll just have to make sure to buy organic spinach, because spinach is one of the dirty dozen.
Everyone who cares about their health and that of others should know about the dirty dozen.  They are the fruits and veggies that tend to soak up the most pesticides.  It is recommended that, if you eat any of them, you should only choose organic varieties.  According to PBS' website, this is the dirty dozen:      

• celery
• peaches
• strawberries
• apples
• domestic blueberries
• nectarines
• sweet bell peppers
• spinach, kale and collard greens
• cherries
• potatoes
• imported grapes
• lettuce

Split Pea Soup

Do yourself a favor and make some split pea soup from scratch.  It's very easy and inexpensive: even when you make it with organic celery and carrots, like I do.  Buy a 1-lb package of dried split peas and dump them in a pot.  Put enough water in (It's easy to find out exactly how much online, etc., but I never measure.), and put the burner on high to boil.  Then chop up 3 stalks of celery and 3 carrots while waiting for the water to boil.  Put them in with the peas.  Once they boil, turn them down to a simmer, and put a lid on the pot, and leave it ajar so steam can escape.  Simmer it for at least an hour.  I have never overcooked it, and I have cooked it for 3 or more hours.  After all, you probably want the peas to disintegrate and turn into mush, I know I do.  Anyway, it's cheap, filling, great to eat during winter, and, most importantly, it is comprised of  healthy whole foods.
I can't help thinking about my book, so I can't help blogging about it either.  I think it is good.  Go ahead and buy it for 5 American dollars and read it on Kindle, a smartphone, or tablet.  Here, again, is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HQSO9RO There's a lot of interesting stuff in the book.  It's funny, entertaining, yet it also deals with the recession and how I've had a hard time since then: as have a lot of people.
I continue to feed whole walnuts to my squirrel neighbors.  At least one of them recognizes me and pretty much chases me.  I believe she sees me as a walnut dispenser, but that's fine with me.  It's great to see a squirrel hopping toward me.