An almost 700 calorie vegetable sandwich?

Over the weekend I happened to stop at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and trying to make a good choice, I decided to get the Hummus Veggie Sandwich. It was described as: Hummus, Pesto, Provolone, Green & Red Peppers, Parmesan Tomatoes with Field Greens on Nine-Grain Wheat. The only substitutions I had was to leave out the tomatoes and substitute with banana peppers. That being said, the sandwich was delicious!

I knew I had to recreate it, especially since AFTER I ate it, found out that one sandwich was 668 calories, 25.5 grams of fat and 84 carbs!!!! So here’s how I recreated the sandwich. First of all, I made my own hummus from chickpea flour!

Chickpea Flour Hummus

• 2.5 cups of water
• ¾ cup chickpea flour (also called Garbanzo flour) 
• 3 garlic cloves 
• ¼ tsp. ground cumin 
• ¼ teaspoon salt • Juice of a lemon (or ¼ cup from bottled juice) 
• ¼ cup tahini 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil Bring water to a boil. Add chickpea flour and stir over medium-high heat for one minute.

Reduce to simmer and while continuing to stir, stir for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and cool. Then throw everything in the food processor and you are good to go. Since this is made from flour vs. the actual chickpea, it has a much creamier consistency – perfect spread for my veggie sammie!

So then I decided to Google a pesto recipe, and stumbled across something called zhug. Apparently it’s a Yemenite hot sauce and is used in a lot of Middle Eastern foods (which I still want to try – I’ve never even had a falafel before!). And I had all the ingredients at home – so it’s almost like a jalapeno pesto!

Zhug 

• 2 whole jalapenos (with seed, but you could take them out)
• 3 generous teaspoons of minced garlic 
• 2 handfuls of cilantro (no stems) 
• 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil

Mix in a food processor. Oh my gosh, this is so fricken good! The fresh smell of the jalapenos mixed with the cilantro – perfect!

Biz’s Hummus Jalapeno Pesto Veggie Sammie 

•  1 Arnold Thin 
• 1 tablespoon hummus (for one side of the bread) 
• 1 tablespoon zhug (for the other side of the bread) 
• Red pepper 
• Cucumber 
• Banana pepper 
• Lettuce 
•  229 calories, 9.5 fat, 6.2 protein, 34 carbs and 7.7 fiber! 😀

I will definitely make this again! The creaminess of the hummus and spiciness of the zhug melded so well with the crunch of the veggies! Seriously, if you try this, let me know what you think!

But now onto the winner of the First Day of the Month Giveaway Winner of the $60 gift basket courtesy of Cabot Creamery Cheese!

I hope I got all the recipes – please let me know if I accidentally left you out!

First we have Shannon who made Savory Pumpkin Bread Pudding:

http://tri2cook.blogspot.com/2009/10/natures-pride.html  

Next up, Katharina who made a Grilled Mango Chutney and Cheddar Cheese sammie.

http://ohonemorething.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/over-that-hill/ 

Next up is Errign (love her name!) who made Stuffed Shells

http://errign.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/stuffed-shells-recipe/  

Next up is Sophia who made Kobacha Mac & Cheese with Bacon and Zucchini

http://burpandslurp.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/im-a-shameless-cheese-whore/  

Next up is Natasha who made Poblano and Cheddar Cheese Soufflé

http://fivestarfoodie.blogspot.com/2009/03/poblano-and-cheddar-cheese-souffle.html

Then we have a few recipes I needed to type out: Randi made:

Broccoli Cheddar Double Stuffed Potatoes

• 4 baking potatoes
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• ½ to ¾ cup reduced fat Cabot Cheese
• 3 tablespoons light sour cream (she likes Daisy brand) 
• 1 – 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bake potatoes for one hour at 400 degrees. Let cool, slice in half, scoop out the flesh. Cook broccoli florets (no stems) until very soft. Mash with potatoes in bowl, add butter, sour cream and cheese. Save 2 tablespoons of cheese to sprinkle over the top. Stuff the potatoes with mixture, sprinkle reserved cheese and bake for 350 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the spuds are hot.

Pubsgal (a fellow diabetic friend!) made:

Green Eggs and Ham Casserole

• 3 seven ounce cans of diced green chilies
• 2 six ounce packages of thin-sliced deli ham
• 8 ounce shredded Cabot Pepper Jack Cheese
• 8 ounce shredded Cabot Jack Cheese 
• 1 to 1.5 cups nonfat milk 
• ¼ cup flour 
• 4 eggs (or one cup egg substitute) 
• ¼ teaspoon of salt

Spray bottom and sides of and 9 x 12 casserole dish. Put chilies, ham, and cheese in layers in the casserole dish (like lasagna). Mix milk, flour, salt, egg (egg substitute) until well combined. Pour over chili, ham and cheese layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, until center is set up and the top is golden brown.

Liz made:

Apple Cheese Pizza for One

• Small chunk of Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough 
• 1 to 2 laughing cow light original Swiss 
• One apple (she likes granny smith for this)
• ¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Roll out the pizza dough until it is skinny and flat. Bake it at 350 for 5 minutes. Then top with the laughing cow, apple and cheddar cheese and return to the oven until the cheese is melty and crust is crispy! Enjoy! Wow, so many of these recipes are tugging at my heartstrings (and my stomach!). I mean, you know I love spicy so I could have picked the Pablano and Cheese Soufflé, or the Green Eggs and Ham casserole. And hello, I love the apple cheddar cheese combo! Adding cheese to a savory bread pudding is genius, as well as the kicked up grilled cheese – never thought to add chutney and use sweet bread before! And who doesn’t love stuffed shells and stuffed potatoes?!

But there was one clear winner in my mind as soon as I saw it. First of all, she used an elusive squash I have yet to find in my neck of the woods – kobacha, which makes me think of Maggie every time I see it on anyone’s blog! And she added my second favorite squash zucchini, and used bacon to make a kicked up, all together original macaroni and cheese. Congrats Sophia! Email me your address at bdl319@gmail.com and I’ll forward that information – they will ship directly to you. I also have a small gift from me – as soon as I saw this I knew I had to have it, even though I think a while back I saw a post on your blog – now you have two slurp bowls! And I know how you like Hello Kitty!

And speaking of winning, look what Tony brought home today!  Congrats Tony!!!! 

Gotta scoot – so excited about tonight’s Office! This post is already too long, so I am not doing stats for the day, but I did do 35 minutes of level 2 of Biggest Loser boot camp dvd – it was hard, even Ali Vincent was out of breath! See you tomorrow night!