Ginger-Lemon Infusion + Curried Pumpkin Hummus

Just got home from teaching a great yoga class to a wonderful group of ladies. I am so happy to be teaching again!

Hit up Gold's before that for a round of (among other things) hack-squats, deadlifts, body-weight rows, bent-over rows and more fun than you can shake a stick at. Yummy.

Had a request from a friend-from-far-away to elaborate on a passing mention of things that were worth far more than a passing mention!

Lori had an I am Cozy (read: winter in a mug) at Cafe Gratitude the other night that smelled AMAZING. And despite my willingness to drive to Cupertino Whole Foods on a nightly basis to procure this concoction, if I did, I would be more broke than a new home-based business owner (wait...)

Hence, this:

Ginger-Lemon Infusion

2 cups boiling water
1" piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 thin slices of fresh lemon

Peel and grate the ginger (remember the freezer trick? now is the perfect time to apply.) so you have about 2-3 teaspoons worth and drop into the bottom of a french press.

Pour boiling water over the ginger and let it sit. For a while. 10 minutes or so, depending on how much ginger you like.

Plunge the french press, pour and squeeze in the lemon!

(Don't let the lemon sit in the water for long or the rinds will make it bitter) Add a little honey if you'd like- but the spicy ginger is amazing by itself!


Curried Pumpkin Hummus

1 can chickpeas, un-drained
1/4 c canned pumpkin
1-2 tsp curry powder (I love curry. Be judicious... some powders are really spicy)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic
1/8 c greek yogurt (optional - I'm dairy-free right now, so I used almond milk)

Pour off the liquid from the chickpeas and reserve, then rinse the peas, drain them, and dump in your food processor. Add pumpkin, curry powder, garlic, lemon juice and 2-4 Tablespoons of liquid.

BLEND! scrape sides. BLEND! scrape sides. Curse at blender. Scrape sides again.

(Skip this step if you have a food processor that is run by more than one gerbil-power. we have established that my car and our blender/s-blade processor have the same amount of torque. none.)

Scrape the sides and assess the consistency. Add in the greek yogurt (or almond milk). BLEND!

Assess the consistency again. Keep adding very small amounts of reserved liquid until you get the creamy delightfulness you want!

There are no pictures of this as I ate it. All of it. Use your imaginations.

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Also! I've been a total slacker and amateur blogger. Lori is hosting a giveaway to CSN stores over at What Runs Lori... go get you some!