Homemade hummus and granola bars

Let me just start by saying Chef Bob is truly a master of his craft.

He made 4 quiches from scratch Friday afternoon to freeze and eat later. He left one out to serve immediately and I snagged a bite of a slice before I realized it had bacon in it!

It was certainly delicious, but I swear, sometimes I think Chef Bob tries to trick me into eating meat. Once I noticed the bacon and freaked out he said I “should have known how he cooks it” so I didn’t need warning that it wasn’t vegetarian. Oh, dad. I love you anyways, but sometimes…

After spending the night cuddling up to this sweet face and studying for my personal training exam, I woke up so relieved that I did my last long run on Saturday.

(Sleepy Mosely.)

It was a gray, drizzly day here with approximately 1000% humidity. So clearly my only option was to spend the day researching recipes and making a mess in the kitchen. First I needed to fuel.

(Green Monster that made me want to gag. At least it looks pretty…)

I’m determined to find ways to save on my weekly grocery bill, as one could be easily fooled into thinking I am buying for a family of four based off of how much I spend. But that is just not the case. In reality, I am only feeding moi and thus my bill has to be cut down somewhere. While looking over last week’s receipts, one item in particular jumped out at me. A $7 jar of hummus that I polished off in 4 days.

I knew I could easily make this at home if I just stopped being lazy, so I took to the Internets and came out with 2 recipes to try out: A classic hummus and Gena’s sweet potato version.

Last night I soaked a huge batch of chickpeas in preparation for the massive amounts of hummus I was about to make. Then I broke out Chef Bob’s 20 year old food processor.

(Emmie is a beast.)

As I said, I made two batches today. I figured I was already trashing the kitchen so I may as well go to town. They both turned out great. Gena really has a knack for creating tasty raw and vegan dishes. Her sweet potato hummus does not dissapoint. Chef Bob even ate some, so you know it’s legit.

I now have enough hummus to feed a small army (aka myself for one week) at the fraction of the cost of any store bought brand.

(“People let me tell you ’bout my best friend…”)

Finger lickin’ good.

After the hummus extravangza went down, I switched gears and created my very own granola bar! I drew inspiration (cough, necessary ingredients, cough) from Anne’s Five Minute PB Granola Bars. This girl knows what’s up. With just a few modifications and a bit of elbow grease, I whipped up some irresistibly healthy treats!

As soon as I snapped my photos (so proud of my little point and shoot today!) I put the mixture in the fridge to set. I’m going to cut it into bars later tonight. It was all I could do to not eat the whole pan at once!

That’s not to say I didn’t sample the finished product.

Whew, this has been one busy and productive weekend. I’m going to wind down with a quick recovery run and foam rolling. Then it’s time to judge other people’s dresses watch the Oscars!

Question: Did you make anything delicious today? Share!