White Bean, Basil and Lemon Hummus

Happy New Year my friends!

I hope you rang in 2015 in a great way. I think this was the first year I chose to sleep rather than watch the ball drop. But I have to say, I felt great the next day. And THAT is the key to getting through a day with our active 2 and 4 year old kiddos!

We're all striving for healthy living in 2015, right? I thought I'd share a healthy and allergy-friendly recipe that's perfect to start a healthy new year:

White Bean, Basil and Lemon Hummus

It's a very easy homemade hummus that's also sesame-free. Perfect for Little Guy who has a food allergy to sesame. 

The recipe is adapted from a hummus recipe on a healthy-living and recipe website called Aloha. If you're looking for a fresh, delicious and easy homemade hummus recipe, this one is great!

You start off with all of these lovely ingredients:

Then in a food processor or blender, blend your oil, lemon, garlic and sunflower seeds until rather smooth.

And finally add the rest of your ingredients until you have a beautiful and creamy hummus.

I served it with these colorful veggies: Carrots, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

And also with some less healthy, but satisfying and salty snacks too.

So how do you really know if your cooking is a success?  By the reaction of your harshest critics: Your kids! 

Little Gal loved this hummus and decided to eat it with a spoon - no veggie or salty snack hummus-delivery system needed!

Recipe success! 

White Bean, Basil and Lemon Hummus
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Ingredients:

• 2.5 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 Tbsp raw and hulled sunflower seeds
• 15 oz. can cannellini beans, drained (my can included salt)
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 1/4 tsp salt (adjust this based on whether you use salted or unsalted beans)

Directions:

• In a food processor or blender, blend your oil, lemon, garlic and sunflower seeds until rather smooth
• Blend the rest of your ingredients, beans, basil and salt, until you have a beautiful and creamy hummus.

Top with sunflower seeds, tomatoes or pieces of freshly torn basil to make it pretty. Or eat right out of the food processor!

Looking for other healthy and homemade snacks? You might like to try these:

Simple Oat Date Bars: Vegan and Gluten Free

Hearty Nut Free Granola Bars

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Bites

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Easy Grilled Chicken Marinade from Linda Coss

One of the best parts of summertime is grilling out. It's easy (since the husband usually grills), it's healthy (usually) and it tastes delicious! 

If you love grilling as much as we do, you're going to love this easy summertime grilled chicken marinade recipe from Linda Coss.  Linda is a well-known food allergy expert, and author of a number of popular food allergy books. She recently contacted me with the good news that her popular cookbooks, What's to Eat? and What Else is to Eat? are now available in e-book format at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and most other major e-book retailers.

Her cookbooks offer recipes that are completely free of dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut ingredients. And boy are they good.

I encourage you to check out her cookbooks AND try this tasty grilled chicken recipe. I especially love that this marinade is homemade, full of healthy ingredients, and sesame-free. It's so difficult to find a store-bought sesame-free marinade. This offers a great option for families like us who can't buy marinade at the store!

Linda's Signature Grilled Chicken - photo courtesy of Linda Coss

Linda’s Signature Grilled Chicken

You’re going to love this recipe! This amazingly easy chicken dish has become one of my summertime standards, enjoyed by my friends, my children, and my friends’ children.

It’s “top 8 free.” And it’s delicious left-over for salads and sandwiches, too.

With summer barbecue season now upon us, I think your readers will really enjoy this recipe.

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Marinating time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 16 to 20 minutes

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

canola or vegetable oil for brushing on grill

Place vinegar, oil, lemon juice, and lemon pepper in a small bowl or measuring cup; mix well. Place chicken in a single layer in a large sealable plastic bag; add marinade. Seal bag and shake gently to coat. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Turn bag over, keeping chicken in a single layer. Refrigerate for an additional 15 minutes. (Note: If desired, can be marinated up to 24 hours.)

Heat gas grill, then brush grill with oil.

Place marinated chicken on prepared grill of heated barbecue. Discard excess marinade. Cover barbecue and cook for 8 to 10 minutes (note: If using a gas barbecue, cook over medium heat). Turn chicken over. Cover and cook for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a fork. Serve hot.

Makes 4 servings (1 chicken breast half each).

Note: Although this chicken is fabulous from the grill, it is not particularly good broiled. So if you live in a cold climate, save this recipe for barbecue season.

Recipe reprinted with permission from “What Else is to Eat? The Dairy-, Egg- and Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook” by Linda Marienhoff Coss, www.FoodAllergyBooks.com. 

Here are Linda's amazing books. You can buy the two cookbooks in print form, or in e-book format at Amazon.com, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and most other major e-book retailers!

What's your favorite recipe that's great on the grill?