Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: Nutrition Unplugged

by The Meal Makeover Moms on June 1st, 2009

janet helm hummus

When my 9-year-old daughter Leah was in preschool, she ate a lunch of hummus with pita bread almost every day.  Her preschool had a peanut-free policy, so I was constantly on the lookout for Leah-friendly lunches other than PB&J.  Hummus is made from chickpeas (AKA, garbanzo beans), which are packed with good nutrition — things like fiber, protein, folate, and iron, and they’re a vegetable for goodness sakes!  What more could a dietitian ask for?

Cedar’s hummus is our go-to brand, but lately it just hasn’t been a big hit with my family.  So when I found a recipe for homemade hummus on one of my favorite nutrition blogs, Nutrition Unplugged, I decided to give it a try.   Janet Helm, a fellow dietitian and mom of twins from Chicago, is the host of Nutrition Unplugged, a blog devoted to helping her readers make sense of the latest nutrition news.  I figured that if Janet’s kids liked the hummus, mine might too.

girls-eating-hummus

I am happy to report that Leah and Carolyn gobbled up Janet’s hummus. Leah said, “Mom, please make more of this!”  The hummus had a fresh, lemony flavor and a creamy texture (I pureed it really well in the food processor), so I definitely plan to make it again very soon.  It tasted better than the store-bought hummus we typically buy and was less expensive to make — the recipe yielded 4 cups at a cost of about $5.00 compared to $3.49 for an 8-ounce container.  Since Janet’s hummus was so well loved by my girls — and the neighborhood kids that stopped by for a taste — Nutrition Unplugged is this month’s recipient of our Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award.  Here is Janet’s easy-does-it recipe:

Dipping pita chips in hummus

Hummus (from Nutrition Unplugged)

  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
  • Two 16-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2/3 cup tahini, well stirred
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • Water (as needed)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Optional garnish:  whole chickpeas, toasted pine nuts, chopped parsley, paprika, cumin or sumac

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the water and garnish in a food processor and process until smooth. Add water to thin hummus to the desired consistency (about 1/2 cup).  

2. Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with additional olive oil to keep the hummus from crusting, and add garnish. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with pita chips.

On her blog, Janet writes:  Even though we like the plain garlic/lemony version best, we will often experiment by adding different ingredients including canned chipotle in sauce, roasted red peppers, chopped jalapeno, olives, cilantro or pomegranate molasses.

Here are a few additional cooking notes from the Meal Makeover Moms’ kitchen:

  • I used extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt. 
  • I’ve never added water to a hummus recipe, but it really made it nice and light. 
  • We served it with crunchy pita chips and red pepper strips, but fresh pita bread or any other veggies would be great too. 
  • Draining and rinsing the canned chickpeas lowers the sodium by about 40%. 
  • Soaking and cooking your own dried chickpeas would save even more money if you are so inclined.
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2 Comments | Filed Under Awards, Beans, Snacks, Vegetables 

2 Responses to “Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: Nutrition Unplugged”

  1. Nutrition Unplugged | More Praise for Chickpeas on June 2nd, 2009

    [...] to learn that my hummus recipe won a “Healthy Meal With Kid Appeal Award” from the Meal Make Over Moms’ Kitchen, a great blog by two fellow dietitians Janice Bissex and Liz Weiss.  Check out their article, [...]

  2. Lorraine Antosiewicz, MS, RD on June 3rd, 2009

    Thanks for this great Hummus recipe and prep tips…can’t wait to try it.

    I’m making the Cheesy Beany Roll-ups for dinner tonight.
    It’s become a family favorite.

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