Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Because staying warm during the detoxification process is one of the most difficult things to do, I went searching to find some raw food that just might help tip the balance towards heat! And as luck might have it, I’ve stumbled across something that has done the trick two days in a row. I have to admit that if this is what it takes to help make the transition, I’m in.

After having researched a little and found that the reason why people get cold when they transition towards going raw is because the body goes through a detoxification process that ‘thickens’ the fluids in the body. All healthy raw foodists say that they don’t have a problem staying warm while eating raw, but most admit that during the transition phase, they need more fats. Knowing that both Sunflower and Sesame seeds are pressed for their oils, I figured I’d put that knowledge to use and find a way to include those oils in my diet.

Mixing together the benefits of sprouting, I started about a cup of both Sunflower and Sesame seeds and let them perform their magic for just over 24 hours. While Mother Nature helped these seeds transform themselves into amino acid power houses, I walked through the Saturday market and found a great deal on red bell peppers. It wasn’t until I got home and opened my mind to receive a creative recipe that I realized that I’d be combining the two to make:

Red Bell Pepper Hummus

When I first made this, I started with just the seeds thinking I was going to make some sprouted seed butter that I would simply gage down. Well, ok, it’s not that bad. But I wanted something good and it wasn’t until the mixture wouldn’t turn in the blender that I decided to add something with a bit more liquid in it. That’s where the red pepper comes in.

  • 1 cup Sprouted Sesame seeds
  • 1 cup Sprouted Sunflower seeds
  • 1 Tablespoon cold pressed olive oil
  • Little more than a pinch of salt
  • 1 large red pepper with the seeds removed
  • No more than 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Yes, you are going to want the cayenne pepper in this one! The powder is pretty cheap and most health food stores will sell you large amounts for a song and dance. Without the cayenne, this ‘hummus’ is just peanut butter with red pepper mixed in.

I love it when I blend things up for it’s not really important what the ‘input’ foods look like beforehand. Thus, I just ripped apart this pepper discarding all the seeds. No need for knife work here.

Notice that the ingredients stack up making this look like it’s going to really produce a lot. Unfortunately, there is a lot of air space so it only yields a couple cups.

I have to admit that this is the first raw food meal that I had that thoroughly warmed me up! You can bet that I’ll be making more of this as my body cleans out. As I come across others, I will make sure to post them for anyone else that happens to have a similar goal: Having warm hands on a cold winter day! Yep. I’ve always had c-c-c-cold hands and I’m looking to change that – naturally.

Zucchini hummus (and Raw Tahini)

Now that we’re at the end of the summer, the zucchini plants in the garden are in full production. It’s hard to keep up with all the fruit that they put out. Twice now, I’ve given away a number of large zucchini and I’ve even made zucchini chips!

But what I really wanted is to make the fruit into something that I can have as a lunch food – hummus – and not have it heavy like what’s made form sprouted garbanzo beans. And, as it so happens, today is a great day to try Zucchini hummus!

I poked around the internet until I found something that looked reasonable.  As it turns out, a video posted by RawFoodFamilyLife caught my eye.

Look!  Kids are eating it and actually having fun. I’ve got to say, from my point of view, these kids have no idea how well they are being taken care of!

In any case, I paused the video part way through and typed out the recipe.

Recipe:

  • 3 to 4 zucchini pealed
  • 2 to 3 teaspoons tahini
  • 1 squeezed lemon
  • 1 little glove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of cumin
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • Tiny bit of salt

From the looks of it, they just blend until it’s smooth and enjoy.

But it wasn’t that easy for me. I didn’t want to run to the store and pick up some tahini, so I surfed around a bit more to see if I could find a reasonable tahini recipe.  As it turns out, I found one that fit the bill:

Making Raw Tahini

This one was from GeekGoneRaw. I stumbled across a Creamed Sesame tahini dessert that I figured I could use the tahini part for my hummus.  I’ve copied his recipe here.

Raw tahini:
Sprouted sesame seeds
Raw and unfiltered honey, to taste
Cold-pressed coconut oil and sesame oil
Himalayan salt
(water)

Soak sesame seeds for 8 hours. Drain water, rinse thoroughly and sprout for another 8 hours. The seeds won’t actually grow, the idea is to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors, so that the calcium and other nutrients are better absorbed. Once this is done, place the seeds in a food processor or blender, add honey. Then blend in 50:50 coconut and sesame oil. Add salt. Taste and adjust. I like my tahini with a nice balance of savory and sweet. If you find that cold-pressed sesame oil is too strong in flavor, substitute for more coconut oil.

So the challenge is to get the tahini going so that I can make the hummus. If you read the recipe closely, you’ll see that it takes a while to get the sesame seeds to sprout. Thus, while I’m letting the zucchini grow, I started the sesame seeds.

After a day, I was ready to go.

Just so happened that I had everything that he called for the in recipe and, because there really wasn’t any measurements to follow, I simply added two cups sprouted sesame seeds, 1 Tbs coconut oil, 1 Tbs Olive Oil and 1 Tbs Honey. Followed by a little more than a pinch of salt.

Started with two cups seeds.

Added everything else to it and blended. I didn’t want to make too much, but I probably should have made more. It’s hard working with so little in the blender.  In any case, it turned out great!

I had company visiting that I got to try it. I offered up a small pinch, about the size of a peanut. She placed it in her mouth and the expression turned to pleasantly sweet . after a few seconds the bitters from the seeds kicked in and her eyes widened with an “Oh My God!” For a second, she thought that she’d been tricked and then realized that it was really good. Shortly thereafter, she was rattling off different things that would be good with it.

Me, well, I just wanted to add it to the hummus!

And I did.

Turned out a little runnier than I’d expected, but it’s got really good flavor. I love the cumin. I’m looking forward to my lunches this week.

Enjoy!