Healthy Snacking with Tahini-Free Herbed Hummus and Baba Ganoush

I've decided that I wanted to lose weight, hopefully in a sustainable way, so I went back to the Nutribullet diet. Sorry, no photos of that because no matter what I mix, my smoothie always comes out green.

The premise of the Nutribullet diet is you make a smoothie from fruit and vegetables (spinach and cucumber work best if you don't like the taste of drinking veggies - their flavors are mild enough to be masked by whatever fruit you mix in) and you take it as a meal replacement. The key is ensuring you use it to replace calories for one meal and not take it as additional calories.

I've tried stretching it further by taking mine for brunch. But for that to work, I needed low-calorie smart snacking solutions within the day for me to make it to dinner without feeling like I'm starving to death so I can eat sensibly or as I normally would.

While searching the net for ideas, I discovered that you could also use the Nutribullet to make healthy dips like my favorite Hummus and Baba-Ganoush and there are actually recipes where you can make them without Tahini (which is difficult to buy in the Philippines, and which also add calories to your dips).

After two attempts, I finally got my recipes just the way I want them. It's very easy to do so you can just mix it up, stick it in the fridge and voila! you have a healthy snack whenever you start to feel hungry.

Tahini Free Baba Ganoush

Ingredients:

1/3 cup parsley 

4 medium sized eggplants - grilled, skin removed

1 clove garlic

juice from half a lemon 

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Just mix everything in the Nutribullet then you're good to go. Eat with healthy chips or carrot/cucumber sticks if you really want something healthy.

Tahini Free Herb Hummus

Ingredients:

1/2 cup parsley 

1/2 cup basil

*Recipe called for 1/4 cup Tarragon (but I just put in more basil instead because I didn't have any)

1 big can chickpeas or garbanzos (450g) 

1/3 cup water from the canned chickpeas

1 clove garlic

juice from half a lemon 

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Just mix everything in the Nutribullet then you're good to go. Eat with healthy chips or carrot/cucumber sticks if you really want something healthy.

I personally like the Ritz Corn and Wheat Baked Chips or Carrot Sticks to go with my healthy dips. Seems to have worked too because I lost 1.3kg (close to 3 pounds in the first week). Now, the challenge is just making this part of my lifestyle, after our vacation in Europe of course! just saying.