Roasted Red Pepper Hummus & Spaghetti w/ Chickpeas

Happy Monday...did you have a good weekend? I did, but as usual it wasn't long enough. I didn't get as much cooking done over the weekend as I had anticipated, but I did manage to cook some chickpeas, which is a big deal for me. I normally take the easy way out and use canned beans. I'm trying to make my meals healthier though. I had several reasons for cooking chickpeas over the weekend. The first reason was so I could make some roasted red pepper hummus, which I found the time to make...woohoo. :o) The second reason will come tomorrow.

2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 16oz can, drained)
1/4 cup toasted sesame tahini
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, chopped (I used Cento roasted red peppers in the jar)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. I like to put mine in the refrigerator for about an hour before eating it. It may be all in my head, but it seems to taste better that way. After putting mine in a bowl, I sprinkled a little paprika on top....just to make it look pretty. :o) It sure is good with homemade tortilla chips!


Saturday night for dinner I made spaghetti, and added chickpeas into mine for some added protein. For the spaghetti sauce I used:

3 cans of fire roasted tomatoes
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon organic sugar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Put two cans of the fire roasted tomatoes in the blender for a few seconds to make it a little more saucy and not as chunky. Add all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil and the cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring every so often. While the sauce is simmering cook the pasta. I used whole wheat pasta, but only had about half a box of the spaghetti, so I combined that with some penne. After the pasta is finished, drain and add it into the pot of sauce. Let that simmer for about 10 minutes to marry the sauce and spaghetti a little. After the spaghetti was finished, I scooped out enough for me added about some chickpeas to it. It made for a hearty dinner. :o) Oh...Tony made some garlic toast to go with it.....YUM!


~Peace~