Suzy Eats

I love hummus, and I love pomegranate.  So I wanted to try a new dish….pomegranate hummus. It is a traditional hummus recipe with all the more flavor and healthy benefits. The pomegranate makes for a sweeter hummus taste 🙂 For all of the health benefits of hummus click here: http://suzyeats.com/all-about-hummus/. For the recipe see below 🙂

Ingredients

•  1 pomegranate
• 32 ounces of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 4 tablespoons of tahini paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup cold water
• sumac for garnish (optional)
• olive oil for garnish

Directions

1. Soak chickpeas in water over night.

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As you know, I am still out of town in DC. I wanted to share some of my older, first posts. This is one of my favorites…..YELLOW RICE

When I make a stew, I ALWAYS make “yellow” basmati rice as the side. My husband does not understand why I always make this “yellow” rice. He eats it, but with comments and smirks …. In other words, “why don’t you make “white” rice?”. Finally, yesterday, I realized that my husband thought yellow and white rice were two completely different types of rice. I realized that he must not be the only one who had that thought. So I would like to clarify that when rice is “yellow” it is because TUMERIC is added to “white” rice. The rice is actually not “yellow” by nature.

So what is TUMERIC???

Tumeric belongs to the ginger family. It is has been used for thousands of years.

I am also going to tell you why I ALWAYS make “yellow” rice:

1.  Its easy! I sprinkle 1 teaspoon of tumeric for 1 cup of rice.
2. It has antiseptic and antibacterial properties…(you can even use it directly on a scrape or burn)
3. It helps treat people who have psoriasis and can help with various benign tumors
4. It can help prevent prostate and breast cancer (there are numerous studies on this!!!)
5. Chinese medicine has been using it for 100′s of years for depression

There are more reasons why tumeric is one of my favorite spices but these are the main ones. I say sprinkle tumeric on everything. It can only help, and my husband is going to have to eat white rice when we are not eating at home

The Mediterranean diet is LOW in sugar compared to the traditional American diet which may explain why people who follow the Mediterranean Diet have less heart disease and fewer heart attacks.
Most of the sugar found within the Mediterranean diet is natural and comes from fruits and milk. There are many other sugars found in the American diet that are not as healthy.  I will be the first to say that I enjoy eating sugar and definitely do not recommend giving it up completely. What I do recommend is following the rules of the American Heart Association which is no more than 9 teaspoons per day for males and

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The THREE Mediterranean Snack Food Co. (http://www.mediterraneansnackfoods.com/)  baked lentil chips that we tested included cucumber dill, sea salt and sea salt & cracked pepper. For people on the go who are looking for healthy alternatives to traditional potato chips, these baked lentil chips are the answer. They will give you less fat, more fiber and a better taste. They are excellent for dipping, topping and snacking. I have to be honest when I first heard “lentil chips”, I was a little nervous but I can definitely say they taste amazing!!! and are healthy 🙂

Now what about the Olive Factor?

The Mediterranean Snack Food Co prides themself in old world tradition and value the nutritional balance of all their products. Why is this important? From a scientific perspective, lentils are much healthier than a traditional fried chip. They are all gluten free and provide an excellent amount of fiber. More fiber=less cancer and digestive problems. Baked lentil chips also have ~70% less fat than regular potato chips so choose wisely! 

If you compare lentil chips to your traditional brand of Cheetos….there are some major differences. Cheetos have more fat, a smaller serving size, more sodium and no fiber.

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So…I am still trying to lose those last 5 pounds and am definitely having trouble. One of my biggest downfalls is RICE!!!! I have yet to believe that your health is not affected when you eat “no” carbs. As I was making my tabbouli the other day…it hit me …. Bulgur is an excellent substitute for rice.

I grew up eating tabbouli at least once a week. It was definitely a staple in our family diet, but I never took the time to really understand the health benefits of the dish. So this week….I decided to dissect it and specifically look at bulgur since it is one of the main ingredients in tabbouli. 

Bulgur is also known as bulghur or bulghurl. Bulgur is made from precooked wheat berries and is a natural whole grain food. There are no chemicals or additives used when processing bulgur. It can be cooked very quickly and is an excellent substitute for rice because it has more fiber, iron, vitamin Bs (i.e. folate), and protein; it is also low in fat AND calories.  Read the rest of this entry »