A Vitamix Christening: Rosemary Pumpkin Hummus

I'm not sure a better combination of words exists than that. Maybe if I threw "wine" in there somewhere, it could get better. Mmm. Wine.

Anyway, my lovely husband has been hearing me harp on and on about a Vitamix blender for a few years now - especially after I went to nutrition school and learned more about the magic of juicing and smoothies. I mean.. it does everything. Especially when being compared to our 6-year old Magic Bullet or the CuisinArt Blender that got destroyed by a cat last year.

But alas - they are expensive. Really, really expensive.

So when Scot saw an online deal for 20% off a certified refurbished Vitamix through their website, he jumped all over that knowing full well it would win him super bonus points if this were my birthday gift. (Which it did. Until he convinced me a week later to get another dog.. so now we're even, heh.)

What I find amusing is the automatic connotation Vitamix has of being a "healthy" appliance - especially in today's green juice obsessed world. And the recipe book that came with the blender boasts that with your new kitchen toy, you can eat healthier than ever. Except, when you look through the book, half the recipes call for some sort of heavy cream or processed sugar of some sort. Umm.. no thank you.

via

So I was left with the decision of what to christen my new bad boy with. Or, more like: what ingredients did I already have that could be whipped together to make a tasty but healthy treat?

Well, I had chick peas. So I figured I could fudge the rest of the ingredients and make some sort of hummus - every health nuts favorite go-to protein-packed dip! (I must admit, I actually went through a phase a few years ago where I had so. much. hummus. that I got a bit sick of it for a while. I didn't start craving it again until a few months ago, and now I'm back on that MUST HAVE HUMMUS kick. I don't want it go away!!)

I also had lots of rosemary from the garden, so that was an obvious and easy add-in. Then I discovered some cans of pumpkin puree in the pantry.. and we all know how much I love pumpkin.

This could work!

*recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

A quick note: I decided to add in some roasted garlic (because hi.. roasted garlic). I didn't have any pre-roasted (and wasn't going to spend an hour waiting for a head to roast), so I quickly faux-roasted some pre-crushed garlic in a sauté pan for a few minutes, then combined everything. Magical, I tell you!

And then I proceeded to eat my creation with a spoon. No shame.

Do you have a favorite go-to hummus recipe? Do share - my Vitamix needs more use!!

A pre-cleanse "cleanse". Say what?!

So I had a fairly lovely holiday season. It involved a lot of wine. And food. (As most things in my life do.)

Cue: photo montage.

Now despite the good times, now that it's all over, I've been left feeling a bit.. at capacity. Generally blah (scientifically speaking).

I do my best to eat right and not over-do it, but I think I took a lot of the stress of 2013 and just dumped it into my holiday celebrations. Which is great - we all deserve to enjoy life in whatever way we want to. But my body just isn't used to it all. On top of that, I didn't go to yoga for about a month due to various circumstances (that I can justify all I want, but really, why couldn't I get my butt to at least a class or two?!).

All of this is to say that I have decided to do a juice cleanse.

Dun dun dun.