Bare Cupboards Equal Culinary Delights!

So I'm actually really bad at going grocery shopping on a regular basis. I might do it once a month or so and just pick up a few fresh things when I need them in between. So there's usually a point every month when my cupboards are empty and I get to look at what I have left, what's far in the back that I haven't seen since I moved into this house.

At times like these I get to be very creative! And it doesn't mean that the back of the cupboard food is any less healthy than the newer food! In fact creative cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. There was actually a time when I entertained the idea of a cookbook. I even had a name picked out! I was going to call it "Adventures With Knives: Meditations Outside the Recipe." I even thought that my sister might contribute a chapter or two on the many ways to fix Ramen or things to do with peanut butter!

Well I doubt there's a cookbook in my future, however, I can still share with you this really interesting, tasty, and versatile dish I made the other day. It doesn't have a proper name yet. Do you have one for it? I used it as a spread on some rice cakes, a dip for some chips, the filler for some quesadillas and I even threw it in as the glue for some stir fried vegis. I was going to try it inside a seaweed roll in place of sushi rice, but I ran out. Maybe the next time I make it.

So here is what I came up with:

1/2 cup of plain flax seeds soaked in enough water for a couple hours to become gummy but not runny
1 can of black beans
4 cloves or more of garlic
salt to taste
whatever spices appeal to you (I used oregano and some basil and maybe some celery salt? You could go Indian!)

Throw it all in the cuisanart and blend till you like the consistency. It will be kind of like a chunky, dark hummus. Lots of protein and omegas from the flax seeds. I didn't work out the nutritional info but it's pretty low in calories and fat and high in fiber since it's mostly just beans and flax seeds. You could add a little olive oil to make yours smoother.

What interesting recipes have you discovered by mistake?

To your health!

Rebecca Cowan
Producer and Host of Healing From the Roots
http://www.healingfromtheroots.com