Culinary Marriage

Man, its been a while. I've been super "busy" or should I say, I've been super lethargic lately. It's a combination of that and the fact that I haven't made much lately that was worthy of posting. But this. Oh, this is a marriage between chipotle and sweet potato. Both of which are on the top of my favorite foods (or ingredient) list. I'm serious about this. The sweetness of the potato and the smoky heat of the pepper is to die. Doesn't hurt the colors also look lovely together as well! Hummus is SUCH an easy food to make, it's hard to imagine buying it. The flavor combinations for homemade hummus are like, infinity plus 1. 

Sweet Potato Chipotle Hummus
((makes about 1.5 cups)


3 cloves garlic
2 cup chickpea
1 sweet potato (about 3/4 cup mashed)
2 T cashew butter (or tahini)*
2.5 chipotle peppers
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t smoked paprika
1 t salt


1. First, make sure you've cooked both the chickpeas and sweet potato.**
2. Get out your food processor and toss in the garlic and pulse to chop. 
3. Add remaining ingredients to food processor and buzz until all is combined. You may need to add a bit of water to loosen hummus.
4. Store in airtight container after you've dished yourself out a hefty serving!


Note: I approximated the amount of sweet potato above because the batch I made was exceptionally sweet. Adjust to your taste. 


*I made cashew butter from raw cashew. Add cashews to food processor and buzz until butterized. I do not particularly care for tahini and also don't know how I'd use an entire container of the stuff. 
**I buy dry beans and soak them overnight then cook them on low in a crockpot for 8 hours on low. Bake sweet potatoes in a 400 F oven for about 45 minutes until tender. 




And what better to dip into your hummus than chips? What about homemade chips?? Or are they crackers? I don't know..and I don't care. These were ever so slightly sweetened and earthy tasting, in a good way. Aaaaand they're a cracker-chip you can feel good about eating. 




Whole Wheat Flax Cracker Chips


60 gram flax seed
120 gram whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1 T honey
1.5 T coconut oil (melted)
~1/3 C water


1. Heat oven to 300 F. 
2. Pulse seeds in food processor.*
3. Melt coconut oil and honey together in microwave.
4. Pulse all ingredients except water in food processor until combined.
5. In a slow stream, add water just until dough comes together.**
6. Turn dough onto floured surface and roll very thin. 
7. Transfer dough to a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, turing once halfway through so you achieve even browning. 
8. Allow to cool and break into regular cracker size pieces. 
9. Dip into your favorite hummus!


*Nutrition from broken flax seeds or milled flax seed is more easily absorbed. They're packed full of good compounds but aren't accessed when whole. 
**Do NOT over mix the dough. When water and wheat flour are combined, it starts to active the formation of a gluten matrix. This is good in breads because it gives breads chew, but who wants that in a cracker?!? Not me. 

Because cooking consumes approximately 127% of my thoughts, I've been thinking about other hummus combinations. Lemon + thyme. Apple + peanut butter. Can't wait to experiment. As far as I'm concerned, hummus must have: chickpea, fat (tahini, cashew butter, olive oil), salt, spices/herbs and flavorings. 

Actually, I lied. Cooking has NOT been consuming my mind lately, this has:

Oh and this:

This too:

Cruzin and boozin in two dayzzzzz. OH.MY.GOD.

HOORAYYYYYYYY!!! Now to sleep soundly and dream of the Caribbean. :D

-S