Wasabi Hummus

Ten days before a three week trip to Spain and Italy, I had the brilliant idea to start a diet. But you are vegan, you ask? Of course, and I do eat many healthy things, but I also eat a lot of junk. Just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's healthy. Shall I give you some examples? My morning cup/s of coffee are coupled with about a cup of non-dairy creamer (which is mostly fat) and a very generous helping of sugar. I snack on those dangerously vegan things like Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, or Peanut Butter Zigzag non-dairy ice cream, and the worst culprit of all is the gratuitous amount of olive oil I use to drown the vegetable dishes that I make. I'm not saying that EVOO is bad, merely that when you start to use a quarter cup of it each night for dinner, then it may start to have an adverse effect on you. Not to mention my fair use of processed soy products which helped me through the initially uninspired years of veganism. I would have most definitely quit this eating routine without the ease of tofu, tempeh and soy milk. It is still a good way to sneak protein into your diet, but soy is also one of the most fatty vegetables.

So, here I was thinking about how I was going to live through Spanish tapas (which, btw are pretty much all meat or cheese) and I figured that it was the perfect time to cut out all the fat from my diet all together. No oils, less salt, no processed foods. Now, I know that there are critics out there that may laugh at my attempt to go even more healthy than vegan. I risk becoming a social pariah never able to enjoy a meal with her friends. Come on! I'm not going raw, just going lean for a few days. There are vegans of all sizes, and there is one thing that is true for most of us, we love to eat. So, for this impromptu diet I have been eating only things that come from the ground and that come to me in the form that they appear in nature like oats, rice, quinoa, vegetables and fruits. I'll be honest, it totally sucked at first, but I have been getting better at making incredibly flavorful things that satisfy any hunger pang. Today, I'm sharing one such recipe that I came up with that can easily be translated from hummus to potatoes!

WASABI HUMMUS

This is the BEST. No need for added salt, olive oil or anything but a cup of chick peas from the can or soaked and cooked and wasabi paste. If you have not been introduced to the versatile flavor of this Japanese horseradish, then you are seriously missing out. It is a perfect addition to spice up anything from mashed potatoes to stir fry and it gives this hummus a streak of heat.

Ingredients:
1 can chick peas drained and rinsed
1/2 C h2o
2 tsp wasabi paste*

Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Eat with sliced vegetables or pita chips.

*For full disclosure, you can't find tubes of wasabi paste in nature, but the paste has nothing artificial about it and you are using such a small amount. You can also use a fresh wasabi root and grate it for use in this recipe.