Tasty Foods: Zucchini Hummus

I'm tempted to run upstairs and whip up a batch of zucchini hummus just so I can take some photos for this post, but I'm out of avocados and there are no grocery stores open after 10 PM in SOMA (don't get me started on the EBAY Now ads that make ZERO sense to me.  Who goes to the park, thinks they are starting to burn and orders sun screen for delivery in about an hour????? By the time your sun screen arrives you WILL have a sunburn, I'm sorry to say.). 

Rod and Judy were awesome enough to share the recipe they served for zucchini hummus when we went over for dinner at their place the first time. I have to say, I like it more than "standard" hummus, and I really like hummus. 

Zucchini hummus is amazingly light and doesn't have the same heaviness that a bean based hummus has (though I guess you may be okay with that fullness). It's raw, it's vegan and it's delicious.  

I made two batches for our wedding. Originally I was going to make a double batch using the recipe from ibreatheimhungry, which is pretty darn delicious on it's own. It was the morning before the wedding and I had a couple of avocados that needed to be used so I decided to throw them in the mix.  

Zucchini hummus + Avocados = AMAZING!  

The original recipe is as follows.  I made it the first few times using my Ninja and it took a while to really break everything down and get it smooth.  We got a BlendTec (of Will it Blend? fame) and it made short work of the hummus (about 45 seconds).  Play with what you've got to find out how awesome this recipe is.  

It's amazing as a dip but I've also discovered how rad it goes with just about everything. Top a steak with it. Top a chicken breast with it.  Breakfast sausage?  It's delicious. 

ORIGINAL LOW CARB HUMMUS (from ibreatheimhungry.com)

Ingredients:

4 cups peeled & chopped raw zucchini

3/4 cups tahini (sesame paste)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)

1 Tbl ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until thick and smooth.  Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.  Pour into a shallow bowl and garnish with parsley, paprika and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.  

My modified version of this recipe swaps out the 1/4 cup of olive oil for 2 avocados.  The remaining ingredients remain the same as do the instructions.  
 
This was one of the first non-AIP foods I tried eating and it appears I can tolerate seeds (sesame paste), which made me really happy.  Cumin is technically not AIP friendly, but I was going a bit nuts and just wanted "regular" food. I haven't had any sort of noticeable reaction to this recipe, so it's in regular rotation. 
 
Speaking of AIP, I think I need to get back to being super serious about it. For days now, my sinuses have been swollen (they feel like they "pop") and I've had terrible headaches. I'm not sure if it's the pressure changes due to the rain or what, but I'm pretty miserable. Loosening up made getting through the wedding a bit easier, but I really need to isolate foods to find out what is tolerable and what is not (the sunbutter cookies I came up with last week were amazing. Hopefully they weren't the issue). 

We Are Finally Married!

I've been married a full week as of today!

Justin and I managed to pull together our wonderful wedding (with some help from some wonderful people!). We hit a few bumps along the way, but it ended up being a WONDERFUL time enjoyed by all.

We got married on Blind Beach (which may look familiar - it's the beach from the final scene of The Goonies).

The Goonies!

Our Wedding! 

I've always loved this beach, even before I realized it was the same beach as The Goonies. My family has been coming here for 20 years when we go on family camp outs.  We always stayed at Cassini Ranch, my brothers and I all had our first coffee at Gold Coast Coffee (I still drive there to buy my beans and my mom drives 3 hours each way to get hers!) and we go out here to remember my brother, Jesse, each year.

Justin and Cody went to the beach the day before the wedding to create a path that was more easily accessible so our grandfathers could make down to the beach (my gramps is 90!).  The morning of the wedding, Justin, Cody, Tre, and Nick went out and moved drift wood to make "pews".

Do Work!

It all went by so fast!  We made it through the ceremony and were taking pictures when the ranger showed up. Not sure what they said, but they bought us a bit of time to take more pictures before we needed to break it up.

Kerry (r) and Tre (l) handling things. 

As if the beautiful beach wasn't enough, this is where we had our reception.

The Raford Inn - Healdsburg, CA

Our wedding party and reception were hosted by The Raford Inn and I can't say enough about how awesome everything was. Dane and Rita are amazing hosts and their staff were delightful and so helpful. The property is immaculately maintained and the rooms are charming and comfortable. We had a wonderful time with our friends and families

Ultimately, I think I overplanned a bit (made some wonderful signs and decorations that didn't get used), but I'd rather over plan then under plan.

I'm going to do a post on The HeART of the Rogue Rabbit featuring the full stationary suite we developed for the event, including the super awesome 3D printed Save The Dates. I'm almost done with the Thank You cards that complete the full suite.

Thanks to everyone that came out and celebrated with us (and extra special thanks to those whose help was indispensable).