Hooray for Hummus

A few weeks ago I volunteered to serve food at a dinner benefiting the local humane society. At the end of the night, they were about to throw away a bucket of hummus so I intervened and took it home. Let me make this clear: By bucket, I don't mean a little tub. I mean a big honkin' gallon of hummus escorted me home and took up a quarter of my refrigerator for the next week!

I love hummus. Which is a good thing, considering how much of it I've had to eat lately. It's a great protein-packed food that I grew up eating (Mom served her homemade hummus with lemon juice. SO GOOD!). I've had to take that love and be creative. So, just call me Bubba Hummus (like Bubba Gump, get it???) and enjoy the fruits of my creativity ... here are the recipes I created in an effort to use all that hummus. (I did, too!!!)

Baked Hummus: These cookie-like biscuits taste super awesome. But are a bit tricky on the mind. Because they look so much like peanut butter cookies, my brain kept expecting that taste when I bit into them. Otherwise, they are great on toasted pita.

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 18; Calories: 51.1; Total Fat: 2.7 g; Cholesterol: 0.0 mg; Sodium: 132.4 mg; Total Carbs: 5.0 g; Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g; Protein: 2.3 g

Hummus Soup: This is a GREAT base for a protein-happy soup. Seriously, it's a favorite of mine for Meatless Monday. But I think it would be amazing with lamb, beef cubes or chicken also.

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 6; Calories: 226.2; Total Fat: 9.5 g; Cholesterol: 1.7 mg; Sodium: 810.1 mg; Total Carbs: 27.9 g; Dietary Fiber: 7.4 g; Protein: 9.4 g

Tuna Hummus Salad: This has to be one of my new favorite lunches. I bought little 1/2 cup freezer bowls and divvied up some of the hummus that way. I take a cup out at night, let it thaw while I sleep and mix it with a can of tuna and all the goodies I can think to add and have the yummiest, low-calorie, high-protein tuna salad ever.
And check out this spin-off I created just this week: Tuna Hummus Stuffed Peppers

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 2; Calories: 172.4; Total Fat: 6.6 g; Cholesterol: 30.0 mg; Sodium: 622.0 mg; Total Carbs: 11.3 g; Dietary Fiber: 4.3 g; Protein: 20.1 g

Hummus and Spinach Stuffed Chicken: Out of every recipe I made, this is definitely my favorite. The hummus and peanuts combine to make a wonderful nutty crunch perfectly balanced with the spinach. I am not a fan of chicken, but this is so good even I crave it! Oh, and it has about a day's worth of protein in it too!

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 4; Calories: 348.3; Total Fat: 8.3 g; Cholesterol: 136.8 mg; Sodium: 303.4 mg; Total Carbs: 7.1 g; Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g; Protein: 59.3 g