Before we get down to delicious business, I want to thank all of you who read and commented on my last post! The genuinely sweet and supportive comments from all of you out there are part of the reason I continue to blog! I want you to know, you each make my day, every day, and put a huge smile of my face constantly!

I also want to set something straight. NSN and I are not going anywhere! I was just voicing my frustration, while thanking each of you for being you and keeping me inspired. So rest assured, you can’t get rid of me that easily!

Anyways, let’s talk bagels. Everything bagels to be specific. I have a very serious, lifelong love affair with those carb-a-licious bad boys. I even wrote about this love of mine a long time ago when I posted a recipe for them, here. To me, they are appropriately named, because they are everything to me. I could eat a dozen, in one sitting. Plain, slathered with cream cheese, or full blown into a lox n’ bagel sammie, doesn’t matter. I just want and need them in my life.

My waistline, however, begs to differ, and does not share this love of everything bagels as much as my eyes and stomach do. Since hitting my 30’s, my metabolism has made it obviously clear that it would like me to break up with my beloved, fabulously seasoned bagels, because it no longer wants to keep up with its part of the love affair… you know metabolizing the carbs.

So, it got me thinking. How in the world can I get my fix of everything bagels minus all the carbs? It didn’t take long for me to turn to one of my healthier favorites, hummus. After a little creativity and waving of the culinary wand, I am bringing you this mash up of a recipe – Lox & “Everything” Hummus.

But, before we get to the actual hummus, I want to discuss chickpeas. While canned chickpeas are totally acceptable to use in a pinch, they lack the flavor and perfectly creamy texture of dried chickpeas. Plus they are about twice as expensive. I don’t know about you, but if I am going to pay more for an item, I expect it to taste better, not worse, than its cheaper counterpart.

I’m sure most of you use the canned variety, because who has time, or remembers, to soak the chickpeas in advance? When I have a craving for hummus, I don’t want to wait until the next day to get my fix. Well, my friends, I have a solution to your problem. Enter the slow cooker (aka Betty Crockpot). Simply dump the dried, non-soaked chickpeas into the pot with an onion, some water, salt and walk away for 3 hours. When you return you will have perfectly cooked, tender-rific chickpeas. Easy peasy. So do yourself a favor and skip the canned crap.

Now for the hummus, this seed speckled “everything” hummus is to die for. It is luscious, silky, rich, creamy, a tad garlicky, a touch tahini-tastic, supa-smooth and perfectly seasoned. I ate the entire first batch of this, by myself, within 2 days… and the recipe below makes about 3 cups. So yea, I went to town on this hummus. #NoShame.

But, after the first batch I decided I wanted to play around with the lox and everything bagel sandwich concept. So I decided to load the top of the hummus with all the accoutrements of the lox and bagel sandwich and boy-oh-boy-oh-boy was that a freggin’ delicious success. The “everything” hummus crowned with the lox, capers and shallots is a serious flavor bomb. Don’t ask me how quickly I ate this lox n’ loaded hummus, because it was so quick I couldn’t time it. #StillNotAshamed

This loaded lox and “everything” hummus is perfect by the forkful, slathered on some bagel chips, stuffed in an avocado, or atop a bed of lettuce. Regardless of how you decide to devour it, I pinkie promise you are going to absolutely love it! Until next time, Cheers – to having “everything” and eating it too!

-xoxo-

Cheyanne

You might also like:

N.Y Style Everything Bagels

Garlic & White Pizza Hummus with Baked Zucchini Fries

Jalapeno Popper Hummus

Japanese Dressing inspired Hummus