Green Lentil Hummus-Let’s Get Clean

I just went on a 3 day trip from Colorado to Arizona.  Friday, we drove the whole duration, Saturday we stayed and visited with family and Sunday we made the trek back.  It was long and at times seemed never-ending.  Especially with my 2 year and 4-year-old who just wanted to get out and use their legs!  In fact, Aiden, my 4-year-old asked at one time if he could get out and run on the side as we drove…..oh my goodness how awful.  Sad but hilarious.  Anyways, with road trips comes gross “road” food.  I am actually proud because not once did we have fast food!  So that was a plus.  But we did have Denny’s two mornings in a row and our beloved In-N-Out one night which we do not consider fast food as it is too good to be fast food.  And we don’t get it here in Colorado so that is allowed at anytime when traveling.  We were lucky enough to eat amazing Mexican food (I had the best shrimp fajitas of my life in Albuquerque New Mexico at a Seafood eatery called Marisco’s Vallarta, amazing food and amazing service!  One of the best shrimp cocktails I have ever had, authentic).  Truly, I don’t remember the last fresh vegetable I ate (no, the sautéed peppers and onions in my fajita do not count).  So I have decided to cleanse and detoxify my body of all the yuckies I have put into it this weekend and do a 9 day cleanse called Clean by Alejandro Junger, M.D.  I had done this cleanse last January, but I did it for 21 days.  It was intense but I had never felt better in my whole life and since then I have lost weight and felt happier and had more energy.

I am having my first shake this morning and have taken out ALL of my detox supplements and have swallowed more pills of oregano oil, milk thistle, etc. than anyone should.  But ultimately I will feel better.  It will be very difficult but so necessary.  Here is a recipe from that cleanse.  I am going to bring it to a party this Saturday and hope people will like it.  This is one of the “approved” snacks I can eat while on this cleanse.  And I love it.  I also love my organic apple and almond butter snack…

Happy Clean cooking!

Ingredients

3 cups vegetable or organic chicken stock/broth
1 cup green lentils
1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
sea salt to taste
vegetable and apple slices for dipping (I prefer organic baby carrots)

Preparation

1. In a medium saucepan, combine chicken stock, green lentils, and bay leaf, bring to a boil and then cover and let simmer until lentils are tender, roughly 40 minutes and then boil uncovered until most liquid is gone, take out the bay leaf and let it cool a bit.
2. Transfer to food processor and blend with garlic, tahini, lemon juice until smooth, adding sea salt and other spices (cumin and paprika) to taste.
3. Serve warm or at room temperature with the vegetables or you can make and store in the fridge to use as needed throughout the week.

High Altitude Adjustment

• Increase stock/broth to 3 1/2 cups
• Cooking time may take longer

Compost

• Lemon and garlic trimmings

Recycle

• Green lentil bag, tahini jar, spice containers (if you have used the end of)

Reuse

• Eat hummus throughout the week