don't sleep on: hummus

Blog Challenge Day 8

I was thinking about today's post (and about some future ones I want to do) and I got the idea for a "series" of sorts called "don't sleep on." This series is going to highlight things that I've come across, realized, discovered etc. For example, I went back and reformatted my Google Reader post to reflect this new series because it fits perfectly with the theme. In the future I'll be telling you not to sleep on: music artists, songs, books, websites, events, etc.

This post was inspired by how awesome my lunch is today. Actually my lunch is awesome everyday because I pretty much eat the same thing: a homemade SALAD with spinach, lettuce, cucumber, celery, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and sometimes bell peppers, black beans and corn. But what really is clutch about my salads is HUMMUS. I cannot sing the praises of hummus enough. The funny thing is that hummus never touched my tongue until like a year ago. For real. This is particularly surprising because your average Joe/Jane Hoya (i.e., Georgetown student) freaking loves hummus. But every time I was offered hummus I declined...it just looked/smelled/seemed weird to me. (Aside: for some reason I used to have an aversion to certain foods which I had never tried. Recently I've been trying lots of new foods and I pretty much love everything. Perfect example: brussels sprouts...they're super yummy! They just have a bad rap because when you overcook them, they smell bad.)

Anyway, hummus is simply amazing on a salad. Plus chickpeas contain healthy nutrients including protein, manganese, folate, tryptophan, copper, phosphorus and iron, and are an excellent source of fiber. Some of you may be wondering how that works (as far as flavor combos) with certain salad dressings, but I just squeeze fresh lemon over my salads. You could also do olive oil/vinegar.

Of course, you can enjoy hummus with veggies, pita bread/chips or whatever your heart desires. It's quite a versatile spread. It also comes in several flavors so you can change things up and not get bored with it. My favorits are traditional garlic and roasted red pepper. The ones from Trader Joe's (the BEST grocery store) are BOMB. You can also make your own...I just haven't gotten around to that yet.

Do you like hummus? Ever put it on salad? Or anything else out of the ordinary? Do you have a go-to lunch or meal? I find that I generally eat the same things pretty consistently. I'll post about another one of my go-to meals (breakfast) in a future "Don't Sleep" post.

:-) Happy Monday!

P.S. GO HOYAS! We're playing Syracuse tonight. Big game!