Talking About Food And Cooking

If you own a food processor, and are looking for vegetarian recipes that are packed with protein, then here are two fantastic recipes. The first one is a variation on the classic split pea soup. Bacon is omitted from the recipe in order to make it vegetarian. The second recipe is a simple hummus. Hummus is a fantastic addition to salads, falafel, or as a dip with crudités.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

Split peas are sold in bags near dried beans in your local grocery store. However, unlike dried beans, you do not have to soak them before cooking them. This cuts down on the prep time require to make this delicious soup. A half-cup of cooked split peas contains 10 grams of protein.

The recipe is very simple. First you will take 2 carrots, 3 stalks of celery and 1 Spanish onion and shred them in your electric food processor. Next, sauté them in a pan with olive oil and a clove of crushed garlic.

In a separate pot, cook 2 cups of dried yellow split peas in 4 cups of vegetable broth or water. Cook the peas according the directions on the bag. Reserve some liquid when it is done cooking.

When the peas are done cooking, pour them into the food processor along with the sautéed vegetables. You can also add turmeric, cayenne pepper, salt and lemon zest at this point. Then puree the entire mixture until it has an even texture. If you wish to give the soup a richer texture and some added fat, you can add a quarter cup of coconut milk when processing it.

Hummus

This is a really simple recipe to make and it has a ton of protein, 19 grams per cup, to be specific. All you need to make hummus is a can of chickpeas, a jar of tahini, a lemon, olive oil, and salt. You can get a bag of chickpeas in the same location as yellow split peas, but dried chickpeas need to be soaked overnight. The chickpeas in a can don't have to be soaked. You should check the sodium content of the canned chickpeas to make sure you are not getting too much salt if you are on a sodium restrictive diet.

Tahini is sesame seed paste and you will find it in glass or plastic jars. It's usually sold in the "ethnic" aisle at supermarkets, or else you will find it near the fancy nut butters (almond, walnut, organic peanut butter, etc…)

Take a can of chickpeas and drain out any liquid and then place the chickpeas in the food processor. Add a ¼ cup of tahini to the food processor along with the juice of one small lemon, and two tablespoons of olive oil. Process the mixture until it has reached the consistency you desire.  If you need to thin out the hummus, you can use more tahini and olive oil. Adding more lemon juice will give the humus a sour taste. If it is really thick, you could add a bit of water. If you choose low sodium chickpeas, then make sure to add salt when processing the hummus.