I took very few photos in London today.  Breakfast was a smoked salmon sandwich and skinny latte.

I had taken an egg salad to work to have for lunch and decided I wanted something else with it so I popped round the corner and bought a pot of Tuscan vegetable soup.

It came with some bread which I ate.  The soup was a little bland for me but full of vegetables so it was a healthy lunch, apart from the bread.

I left work on time and wanted to pack in a few extra vitamins while my supper cooked.  I picked 1 leaf each of chard, spinach and beetroot.  I cut the bad bits off 2 pears and blitzed the lot with some water and ice cubes.

This was not for the faint hearted!  With no sweetener in the form of banana or dates it was not that pleasant.  But so full of goodness I managed to get it down.  It did keep me going while I prepared the rest of my supper.

I began cooking supper on Sunday morning !

I wanted to make hummus with dried chick peas as they taste so much better then canned.  I found this article in The Guardian called ‘How To Make The Perfect Hummus’ and followed the recipe except I didn’t use Bicarbonate of soda.

Hummus

Ingredients:

• 200 g dried chickpeas
• 6 tbsp tahini
• Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed, or according to taste
• Pinch of cumin
• Salt, to taste
• Olive oil, to top
• Paprika or za’tar, to top (optional)

Method

• Wash the chickpeas, place in a large bowl and cover with cold water for 24 – 36 hours.  Change the water approximately every 8 – 12 hours.
• Drain the chickpeas, place in a saucepan, cover with water and boil for 1 – 2 hours until soft.  Check the water and top up if necessary.
• Drain and reserve the cooking liquid.
• Place about 1/4 of the cooking liquid in the blender with the Tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and 1 tsp salt.
• Add about half the chickpeas and pulse gently until combined.
• Add the remaining chickpeas with sufficient reserved water to get the desired consistency.
• Taste and season according to taste.

To serve you can add olive oil (not necessary) and paprika or za’tar.  I added neither and ate mine with celery and carrots.  It was delicious.

Home made Hummus is in a league of its own compared to supermarket pap.  And this one has no oil in it, except the oil in the Tahini.  It was sensational and I literally had to fight off the men in my house who were after my crudités or I would have starved! Make your own hummus and you will be amazed at the difference.