Peanut Free

Growing up in a household where one of my sisters was deathly allergic to nuts of any kind, I have grown accustom to being especially careful while handling legumes of that variety. My mom never cooked with pine nuts, or baked with almonds however, once in a while a tub of smooth peanut butter would make it's way into our house and evidently my sister's life would be on the line. I really have no idea how since peanuts were the most deadly, but whatever the reason, we had it from time to time and the 5 of us would enjoy every last bit. We would put it in ice cream, on apples, and obviously on toast, with it's cohort honey. Naturally, this brought chaos to our already chaotic, 4-daughtered family as honey toast was the breakfast of choice for the allergic sister Jen. We always tried our best to put the honey on first, and even use two different knives for each condiment, but somehow our memories failed us and time and time again Jen would find a tiny bit of peanut butter in the honey. This was a problem for two really good reasons. First and foremost the health of our beloved sister, but secondly, when teenage Jen got upset you did not want to be anywhere near it. This being said, over the years I have become extremely meticulous about my avoidance of any sort of peanuts for both of those especially dangerous reasons. Now, a married lady, with a husband in the same situation as my dear sister, I will dare to say he's lucky to have a wife who is so experienced in accomodating to this specific dietary restriction. He does take it a step further though, no legumes at all. No peas, no lentils and no chickpeas for this guy. Consequently, I've learned to avoid those few items when cooking for him, but for someone who doesn't like to eat a lot of meat it leaves few options for a filling dinner without those two prime alternatives. Navy beans have become a staple which leads me to a dip that my blender and I created this afternoon.

Navy Bean and Sweet Potato (faux) Hummus

1 can of navy beans (drained and rinsed)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
1/3 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of water
4 cloves of garlic, diced
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the sweet potatoes, garlic, and a bit of the oil with the lid on for about 12 minutes or until soft stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse navy beans and put in the blender with oil, water, lemon juice and spices. Add sweet potatoes when they are done and blend it up!

I really like rosemary with sweet potatoes (and in general) so I bought rosemary and onion flatbread crackers from Superstore and they taste awesome with this dip.

Enjoy!

Love,
V. xo