Over the next few weeks, people are attending holiday party after holiday party.  I’m gonna plead with the masses here to give the old cheese ball a rest.  Even the most conscientious of eaters (myself included) consume more dairy and processed foods during this time that we would even like to think about.  This year, I am looking to bring healthy, tasty alternatives to holiday gatherings, starting with these whole wheat crackers and walnut oil hummus

My go to and flawless cracker recipe comes to you courtesy of The Kitchn.  And if you click on the link you will be about 40 minutes away from your own crispy delicious crackers.  For my version, I minced up some fresh rosemary and mixed it with sesame seeds, flax seeds and sea salt for the topping.  Simply brushing water on the crackers and sprinkling the mixture over top before baking not only gave the crackers a little extra flavor but they looked great too.

One other important point that the Kitchn makes, is that you want to prick each cracker with a fork before baking.  This is important if you want to make sure that your crackers are flat (though puffy crackers are equally delicious).

When I went through my panty to find garbanzo beans to make hummus I realized that I didn’t many left.  If you know me at all, you know that I would search for a substitute before heading out to the grocery store every single time.  I have been known to make shift my own buttermilk, replace eggs with flax seed and running out of olive oil and throwing coconut oil in a pan was the best thing that ever happened to my popcorn.

Lucky for me I found some Hutterite Beans in the panty.  Hutterites are a delicious heirloom soup bean that we grew at Cannard Farm in Sonoma.  I soaked and cooked the two bean types together with a few sprigs of rosemary.

Walnut Oil Hummus

1.5 cup beans (mixture of garbanzo and white beans)

1 sprig rosemary

salt

1/8 cup tahini

juice of one lemon

1 cup walnut oil

salt

paprika

fresh parsely (to garnish)

Soak the beans in water overnight, the night before cooking.  Rinse the beans and then in a small stockpot covered with water simmer the beans with rosemary and salt until tender (about 1.5 hours).

Place cooked beans in a food processor and add lemon juice and tahini.  Mix well.  With the food processor on, slowly add walnut oil to incorporate.  Add salt to taste.  To serve, sprinkle with paprika, and extra drizzle of walnut oil and fresh minced parsley.

Trust me, everyone will thank you for not bringing another cheese ball or fried something or other.

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