Cucumbers and Cilantro oh my. Day 9

Day 9!! I survived the birthday party, no wine, no pizza, no soda, no cheetos, no cake passed these lips.  I had a nice little snacked all packed and ready to go, but left it at home.  Darnit I was in for a challenge.  Luckily I had a nice bowl of  asapragus and quinoa minestrone before leaving the house.  I sipped on water all night and although all the goodies looked amazingly good, I passed on them all.  A big shout out to my friends for not over tempting me.  yay.

I'm super excited 3 people have expressed interest in the 10 day cleanse.  My friend, Kara and my parents.  My mom asked me to order her a kit for herself and my Dad...however, I'm not quite sure he has been let in on this little secret yet.  I'm so proud of them.  I feel amazing approaching Day 10 and I hope they feel the same soon, too!

Got up, sparked did the shred 1 workout, put some steel cut oats on to cook and did the core stretch...fun fact steel cut oat cooking time is the same as core stretch video.  fun!  Picked M up from her sleepover and got to creating in the kitchen!

I recalled seeing a recipe somewhere for cilantro cucumber hummus.  I had almost all the ingredients I needed at home and decided to give it a whirl.  I had dried cilantro in the cupboard...I imagine this would be waaaay better with fresh herbs.  Everything is better with fresh herbs!  (new goal: grow some fresh herbs.)

I gathered all the ingredients and got to work.  I had some garbanzos on hand from earlier in the week, chopped up a cucumber, reconstituted some dried cilantro in lime juice and threw it all together with some a lot of garlic.

Now, friends if you have a heavy duty blender such as the Blendec, try this at home.  Otherwise use a food processor to pulse the mixture until just blended (level one on blendtec) Or if you are in a pinch use a potato masher to mash all the ingredients and hand mix together, I'm way too inpatient for this method, so I use the good old Blendtec.  If you use your grandma's old oster you will surely blow the motor and that's just no fun for anyone.

Cucumber Cilantro Hummus

• 15oz garbanzo beans  
• 1Tbsp dried cilantro 
• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1Tbsp olive oil
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 cucumber, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic

Combine all ingredients in Blender, blend to desired texture and enjoy.  Its that easy!  Garnish with crushed red pepper and serve with cut veggies.  Would work great as a sandwich or cabbage roll spread.  Makes 4 cups 16 0.25cup servings.

Nutrition:  0.25cup (4Tbsp)  Calories 66  Fat 3.2g  Carb 8g Fiber 1.5g Protein 2g