Summer is HERE

Hey y'all!

First off, *Happy Summer*.  It's here.  It's actually felt here since May, but this past week, it's official!

Spring 2016 has flown by in a whirlwind of baby & more baby.  The little man has grown so much in the past few months and I have been busy trying to think of activities to keep him busy.  By the way... to any potential moms... the summer seems to super charge children.  Some nights he is up until 9 pm and then awake at 6 am.  Help me, help me, help me.

Some days we're just trying to get through the day and some are more fruitful.  Today was one of those.  I managed to whip up some homemade hummus and a Greek rice salad that I am deeply in love with.  Repeat after me:  the more feta, the betta'.   Seriously.

I'm going dedicate this post to my favourite hummus recipe.  I will work on a blog for my Greek rice salad next!  

The Best Hummus

I love LOVE hummus.  It's versatile as both a snack and condiment.  Sure, it's easier to grab a container of it from the grocery store, but you get a bunch of unnecessary ingredients in store bought hummus...plus, the whole listeria scare. 

So here you go.  For hummus to be truly successful and smooth, you need to use a good blender to make it.  I have a Vitamix, but a Blendtec or Ninja would probably work just as well.


Ingredients

• 1 15 oz can chickpeas (drained & rinsed) or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas 
• 1/4 fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup well-stirred tahini
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• salt to taste
•  1/2 TSP ground cumin
• 2 to 3 TBSP water
• paprika

The trick is to let the tahini whip up a bit on it's own.  It creates a lovely smooth texture. 

Directions Add tahini and lemon juice to blender.  Allow to process for one minute on their own.  Slowly add garlic, olive oil, salt and chick peas.  Add water slowly to reach desired consistency.  Blend until smooth.  Once in serving dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle paprika on top.

Notes
*I personally do not enjoy the taste of cumin so I do not add it! 
*I love the taste of lemon so I add a bit extra lemon juice
*I grab my tahini from Fortinos
*Any food processor/blender can make hummus.  The higher end machine though, the smoother the product.  Chickpeas can take quite a bit of blender to work out that grainy texture.

*If you want to avoid using tahini, try adding another smooth substance like avocado or even natural peanut butter

Enjoy!

Soup & Bitterness

Of the few things I take seriously in life, work is one of them.

My parents have instilled a strong work ethic is me.  How they did, I don't know.  Maybe years of no-nos and  finger wagging, but there it is... Work ethic. 

I feel horrible calling in sick when I'm not that under the weather.
I hate walking away from unfinished work at the end of my shift.
I don't like chaos and confusion around me.  I like things neat and orderly.

These aren't so much good qualities as they are characteristics of my Type A, anal retentive personality.

Regardless...
I have high expectations of myself when it comes to work.  Admittedly, every once in a while I will slack off during my shift, but usually I time manage well and get everything done in a top notch manner.

Problems start when I have that same expectation from my co-workers.
If I make the effort to work extra hard and to be thoughtful about their needs, I expect the same treatment in return.

That is where things go horribly awry.  When a co-worker lacks any interest in being helpful or sensitive to another's needs, things get bad.  Bad bad.  I've started holding a grudge because I feel that I've gone out of my way to make their job easier, but it isn't reciprocated fairly.

After involving management with our issues, I had high hopes that the issues would be resolved fairly after we were given a chance to speak our minds and air our differences.  That didn't happen.  It seemed as though only one side was taken and it wasn't with me.  Needless to say I walked out of our meeting feeling very let down and discouraged.

It's hard to maintain a good attitude about work when you feel that your opinions are worthless.  
It's hard to maintain a good work ethic when you see people around you getting away with doing the minimum.
It's hard to maintain a good relationship with these people when all you want to do is shake them and make them see the light.

Thus, I am left feeling somewhat bitter about the entire situation and unsure about what to do next.

Find a new job?  Return to school?  Suck it up and wait it out?  

Two things are for sure:  

I don't want to get caught in this web of anger and bitterness

and

It's time for a change.

In the meantime...

I've always loved soups and have been envious of those who can concoct a delicious one.  I had actually never made my own soup (other than something from a can) until this past Easter.

It turned out like this~

It looked a bit mashed up and weird in that photo, but trust me, it was delicious.  I was so proud of my first soup.  Lentil and rice with carrots and celery, flavoured to taste.

Then, this past week I attempted a new recipe:  spinach & lentil soup.

(I've been trying to eat healthier-low carb-so I've been all about the lentil soups.)

This is how it turned out~

It was absolutely fabulous!

So, because it was so tasty, I am going to leave the recipe below for any of you soup lovers to attempt.  I doubled the recipe because I like matching a large batch to eat for a few days.  


Spinach & Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 4 cups brown lentils
• 4 TSP olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 20 English spinach leaves, stems removed, leaves finely shredded
• 4 TSP cumin
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 4 TBSP finely chopped coriander (cilantro)
• 2 TSP finely grated lemon zest

Rinse lentils and place in pot with 10 cups of water.  Bring to boil and then simmer for an hour uncovered.  Rinse, drain, set aside.

In a separate pot, heat the olive oil.  Add the garlic and onion and cook until golden.  Add the spinach and cook for a further two minutes.

Add the lentils, lemon zest, 4 cups of vegetable stock and 4 extra cups of water to the pot and add in the coriander and cumin.  Simmer for 15 minutes before eating.

***

Easy peasy!  I made a couple changes to the recipe and added some fresh parsley and bay leaves to the pot for extra flavour.  As well, I will note that there were definitely too many lentils when I had finished boiling them, so you could probably cut down the amount to 3 cups.  

My boyfriend promised me we'd invest in a good food processor soon, so I am excited to start making creamier soups!

Peace & love.