I love this hummus with cucumbers, carrots and red peppers…but I also love to top salads and flat bread pizza with this yummy dip.

Black Bean Hummus
39 Calories in 2 Tablespoons

2 cans black beans, drained **PLUS 2 T of juice from can
2 T tahini
1 cloves garlic
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 t ground cumin

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth

It feels like just yesterday I was ringing in the New Year with Gavin, my brother and Katie…and here we are about to do it all over again! This year was FULL of wonderful adventures, great times with friends and family, lots of travel and tons of yummy food! So, in honor of this lovely year ending (and to stick with the theme of every stinkin’ TV show, website and blog) here are my favorite recipes from 2011.

Baked Eggs in Ham Cups

Braised Brussel Sprouts

Family Recipe Tomato Sauce

Toasted Zucchini Israeli CousCous

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Chili Verde

Butternut Squash Soup

Lemony Blueberry Muffins

Oatmeal Carrot Cupcakes

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

“Fried” Green Tomatoes

Carrot Ginger Dressing

Pumpkin Apple Stew

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pablano Corn Chowder

Pumpkin Cheesecake Torte

Baked Apple Cider Donuts

Fancified Deviled Eggs

Salsa is such a great, healthy way to add loads of flavor and brightness to pretty much anything. It punches up the flavor of eggs, makes an otherwise boring chicken breast interesting and delicious…serves as a fresh and tasty salad dressing, or obviously tastes amazing with chips and tortillas.

I love most every kind of salsa…but one of my favorites is tart and tangy tomatillo salsa! Y-U-M. The tomatillos offer such a nice, different punch…they set this salsa apart from regular tomato salsas…and roasting the tomatillos and a pablano pepper add a nice, smoky flavor the the salsa!

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

8 tomatillos
1 pablano pepper
1 clove garlic
1/2 large onion
1 t salt
1 t brown sugar

Preheat the oven to broil. Cut the tomatillos in half, cut the pablano in half and remove the seeds and cut the onion half in half. Place them all on a cookie sheet, seed side down, and spray the tops with cooking spray. Sprinkle everything with salt.

Allow it to cook until the tops turn brown and bubbly.

Now, just toss everything in the blender. Add the garlic, remaining salt, and brown sugar.

Blend for just a bit…be sure to not overblend! You want a nice chunky salsa. Now, pour it on whatever you like! If you want a little spice, throw in some jalapeno!

I am a Southern girl- so of course I LOVE fried green tomatoes…but I wanted to come up with a way to get the crunchy, slightly sour, fresh tasting goodness of a fried green tomato, but with out all of the added fat and calories that come with deep frying. I set out to make a “fried-ish” green tomato…and it worked…it got the Gavin Tarquinio stamp of approval!

Healthified Fried Green Tomatoes
1/4 C bread crumbs
1/4 C corn meal
1/4 C flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1 egg white
1/8 C water or milk (I used water)
3 medium size green tomatoes

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, corn meal, flour, garlic powder, slat and cayenne pepper. Mix everything together.

Next, on a plate, crack one egg (letting just the white fall to the plate) and 1/4 C water or milk. Use a fork and whisk together until it is combined well.

Slice the tomatoes to about a 1/2 inch thick. Coat both sides of the tomato with the egg white mixture and then dredge both sides in the bread crumb mixture.

Heat a medium non-stick skillet to medium and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Once the pan is hot, place a few (do not over crowd) tomatoes in for about 1 minute and then COVER the plan. Allow to cook about 1 more minute and then flip the tomatoes. Leave them uncovered while to opposite side cooks!

Now, for the AMA-ZING topping (I think this part is a MUST!) You know that I have a slight obsession with figs…and that I recently made some great preserves (you can buy fig preserves at any grocery store as well). So, I thought the tartness of the tomatoes would go well with the sweetness of figs…and be made even better with a little goat cheese and walnuts. It is not only good on the tomatoes but amazing on chicken or pork!

Fig and Goat Cheese Crumble
1/4 C walnuts
1/4 t salt
1/4 C fig preserves
1/4 C goat cheese (crumbled)

Gently crumble all of the ingredients together in a small bowl and then top the tomatoes…yum!!

Now, I am not typically a deviled egg fan. They seem pretty boring…and mayo-y and well, just not too crave worthy. But, a few years ago, Gavin and I were invited to JCT Kitchen for lunch. The people with us insisted on ordering the deviled eggs with country ham as an appetizer…if I would have known how amazing our appetizer would be, I would have been REALLY excited. But, I wasn’t, I didn’t have high hopes!

A beautiful plate of deviled eggs arrived at our table, and I reluctantly dug in. The flavor explosion that occurred in my mouth was a much welcome surprise…I was in love…and I knew that no deviled egg would ever measure up to these.

Since the JCT version are a little pricey…and since I now crave them, I decided I should try to recreate them!

I read some recipes online, tried to pick out the flavors in the JCT version, and came up with a recipe that I think is pretty close! They are creamy…with a nice added crispness from toasted proscuitto, and perfect for any party…or lunch, or snack! They are just plain good.

Fancified Deviled Eggs
12 large eggs
3 Tablespoons mayo (I used olive oil mayo)
3 Tablespoons room temp cream cheese
3 Tablespoons room temp goat cheese
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
1 large clove of FRESH crushed garlic
2 small Clausen pickles, diced really small (you can use others but these are definitely best!)
3 pieces of proscuitto
1 green onion (just the green part) finely chopped

Place the eggs in a large saucepan filled with water (one inch above the eggs) and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the water boils, turn off the heat and let the eggs stand of 10 minutes. Put the cooked eggs into an ice water bath until chilled, and then peel them!

Once the eggs are peeled, cut them in half, length wise and set the yolks aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the mayo, cream cheese, goat cheese, dijon, salt, pepper, garlic and pickle until smooth. Next, add the egg yolks and them, using an electric mixer, beat until creamy.

Now, place the egg whites on a serving platter. Fill a baggie with the yolk mixture (if you have an icing tip, insert it to make the filling prettier…if not, just cut off the corner of the bag and pipe it that way). Fill each white and them place the platter in the fridge to chill.


Next, place the proscuitto on a baking sheet and bake them in a 350 degree oven until crispy…about 7 minutes. Remove the prosiutto from the oven and allow it to cool. Then, break it into 24 jagged looking pieces.

Once the eggs are chilled, remove them from the fridge and top each one with a piece of proscuitto and a sprinkle of green onion.

The other day, Gavin and I went up to Lake Lanier to celebrate my wonderful friend Tricia’s homecoming. She has been living in Oxford getting her Master’s Degree for the past two years (yes, she is brilliantly smart) and, like me when I am in South Africa, she has been missing Mexican food like crazy…so her sweet mom planned a fiesta to celebrate her return!

I decided to combine my love for Mexican and my love for sweet corn and make a roasted corn salsa…that can also be served as a side dish! It is super super easy…and super yummy!

One of my American friends in SA marinated corn in lime juice and chili one night at dinner and it was so amazing…it became the inspiration for this dish!


Roasted Corn Salsa
6 ears of sweet corn
2 limes
1 t chili powder
1 t chipotle powder
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t cumin powder
1 t salt
1/2 C water
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 large tomato, seeded and diced

Put all of the ears of corn in a really large zip-lock bag or large baking dish. In a small bowl, add the juice of two limes and then put the skin of the limes in. Then add the chili powder, chipotle powder, cumin powder, salt and water. Mix together and pour over the corn.

Allow this to marinate for at least two hours…but you can do it the night before and let it sit over night! *If you are marinating the corn in a baking dish, make sure to rotate it so that both sides get some time in the juice.

Preheat the oven to broil. Place the corn on a cookie sheet and broil until the corn starts to char. **SAVE THE MARINADE! Then, flip the corn over and slightly char the other side.

Let the corn cool and then cut the kernels off of the cob.

In a large bowl, mix the left over marinade, the corn kernels, the onion, tomato, and green pepper together. Add salt to taste.

Serve with chips (I used Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn chips, because the color contrast is really pretty!)…or eat it with a fork!

I will post pictures from our service projects and dinners and things as soon as I have more time…but I figured I would share a quick, easy recipe that I made this week in the mean time. This is my South African version of hummus! It is a bit different because they don’t have chick peas here…or tahini…so I improvised with butter beans and it turned out great! It is a really low-in-calorie, high-in-fiber dish. The perfect lunch (served with pita and fresh veggies) or side dish served with grilled chicken, veggies and rice!

Butter Bean Hummus
80 calories per half cup serving!

2 cans of butter beans, drained
2 lemons, juiced
1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
a dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons water

Throw all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy!

I topped this hummus with fresh bruschetta (its really easy-I will post a recipe soon!) You can also serve it plain, or drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh basil. YUM!

Emeril’s Whole Wheat Pita Recipe:

1 ½ cups warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon

½ teaspoon honey

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

All purpose flour for dusting

Pour water into the bowl of an electric stand mixer with dough hook attached. Add yeast, olive oil and honey. Allow yeast to bloom until it begins to foam, about 5 minutes. Add flour, then salt. Mix on medium speed for one minute.

Turn the mixer down to low and mix for 2 minutes longer. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix 2 minutes longer. If at any point the dough wraps completely around the hook and is no longer kneading, turn off the machine, scrape the dough off the hook back into the bowl and return to mixing.

Transfer dough to a clean work surface and knead by hand for one minute longer or until you have a round, smooth, elastic dough. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a medium sized bowl.

Place dough into bowl and coat with the oil by turning over. Cover with a clean damp towel or plastic wrap and place in a moderately warm, draft-free place until doubled in volume, usually about 2 hours.

Position an up-side down 18 x 13 aluminum sheet pan or a baking stone on the middle rack in the oven.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Transfer the proofed dough to a clean work surface and knead it by hand until it is round, smooth and elastic, about one minute.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces, (2 ounces each) and shape into balls. Cover with a clean towel and allow to proof until expanded slightly in size, about 20 minutes.

Dust a clean work surface with all-purpose flour. Roll dough into 6-inch circles. You may stack them between parchment paper or clean towels.

Carefully and quickly place them in the oven directly on the baking sheet or stone. You may bake 2 or 3 at a time. Cook pitas for 2 minutes or until puffed. Remove with a metal spatula. Repeat with remaining dough. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Once cooled, pitas may be stored in a re-sealable plastic storage bag for up to 2 days.

Alternatively, the dough may me made a day ahead. After the dough has been kneaded and put into the bowl with the olive oil, place it into the refrigerator to proof overnight. The next day, pull dough from the refrigerator and allow it to sit at least 2 hours before proceeding with the recipe.

Yield: 16 pitas