Well, it “cooled” down for a few days this week, but it didn’t mean that I turned on the oven and had a blast in the kitchen.  Work was a bit hectic, so I continued with the essential meals: fresh veggie wrap, salad, watermelon slush, and chips & salsa.  There were a few little surprises here and there, but I kept to the essentials.

The week before I was using some store bought hummus in my veggie wraps, so I opted to make some of my own for the upcoming week.  I intended to make two different types of hummus, but one turned out more like a dip.

Jalapeño Cilantro Hummus

You will need:

1 can of garbanzo beans

1/4 cup of fresh cilantro

1 jalapeño pepper, chopped (seeded if you don’t want that much heat)

2 T. oil (safflower is what I use, you can opt for whichever you like)

about 1 – 2 oz. of water

Open the can and drain the beans of the liquid, then rinse.  Make sure you shell the beans, because the hummus will then turn out smoother and creamier (I believe).  Or, you can just rinse the beans really well and put them into a blender or food processor.

After you shell your beans, add all the other ingredients into the food processor/blender:

Blender until smooth.  I like hot food, so I always include the pepper seeds.  If you feel that you’d like more heat to this you can always add a little cayenne pepper or green chile powder.

I used this as the base of my fresh veggie wraps so they stick to the tortilla.  Lots of cucumber, green and red peppers, red onion, and tomato.  YUM.

Chipotle Black Bean Dip

You will need:

1 can of black beans

1/4 c. of fresh cilantro

4 chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce)

2 t. of adobe sauce

2 T. safflower oil

1 t. green chile powder

3 cloves of garlic, minced (I actually used 5)

Put in blender or food processor until smooth.  Due to the consistency of the peppers, plus the adobo sauce and safflower oil, it turned into more of a dip/spread consistency.  Still super delicious!  Sorry, I forgot to take a final picture.

If you shop at Whole Foods I highly suggested trying their Vegan General Tso’s Chicken & their Cilantro Corn Fritters (?).  I’m not sure if they’re even called Cilantro Corn fritters, but that’s what they are and they’re insanely delicious.  One of my few non-vegan indulgences.

Before the week got hectic and hot, I did turn the oven on once and made a veggie pizza with a sauce I put together last minute:

1/4 c. pine nuts

2 T. dijon mustard

2 T. balsamic glaze

1/4 c. fresh basil leaves

approx. 3 T. fresh rosemary

1 T. safflower oil

Combine everything in food processor and blend.  I had topped this with broccoli, red onion, red bell peppers.

Yesterday, I made something pretty similar to Mama Pea’s Summer Succotash Quesadillas with Nacho Mmmmmm Sauce .  I had all the ingredients on hand and the Mmmmm sauce is a hit in my house!  This Nacho Mmmmmm sauce is really freakin’ delicious and now off limits, as my mom has claimed all leftovers.  Yup.

One of my nice little add in’s this week, fresh pineapple and carrot juice:

Even though I had a half day this week, it wasn’t a treat because I had to wait for 2 hours in a waiting room.  I finished reading Quitter, watched a few moments of a soap opera, took a nap, and then organized my book bag.  I was afraid I missed my name being called, but I still had nearly 45 min. left to wait.  During this time I decided I deserved a HUGE order of fresh pineapple & carrot juice from this little juice bar in the Reading Terminal Market.

Every weekend I’ll post about meals, food, recipes, place, etc.  It’ll be a lengthy post, but perhaps during the week I’ll get some mini ones in so this one won’t be too long.

What was your favorite thing you ate this week?

Any suggestions or recipes to share?