Personal Training

Sundried Tomato Cumin Spiced Hummus + Tabatas

Posted on by Naomi
I feel like I have been a cooking machine lately. It is something about this time of year that really gets me to hunker down in the kitchen and get creative. I am so psyched you all enjoyed the Paleo Pumpkin Coconut Turkey Chili…did anyone make it? I still have some in my freezer and can’t wait to have it again next week! 

Speaking of next week…yes It is Hanukkah next week. No, I don’t celebrate Christmas I celebrate Hanukkah
And this is still what I feel like every year. Hanukkah falls on a different day each year (dependent on the Jewish calender) so when I am asked when Hanukkah is…I truly have no idea each year until about a week before. You see, in the Jewish religions, Hanukkah really isn’t of the utmost important of holidays; it is just made out and commercialized that way because it falls around Christmas time.  This is not to say that Hanukkah is not important, of course it is…but not as important of a holiday in the Jewish religion as say Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur

So back to the food. Are you interested in another recipe? This one is a great dish to bring to a holiday party. it is a twist on traditional hummus. I love hummus. I love making it from scratch. I have yet to find a brand of hummus that tastes truly homemade from Israel. I guess I am a little biased, because my father, growing up in Israel, always made it from scratch at our house growing up. Its such a simple recipe, really, but for some reason I still have yet to find a store brand that tastes authentic. Garbanzo beans, lemon, garlic, tahini, olive oil, parsley and paprika (oh and salt and pepper) But really, that’s it! 

So I took this ‘base’ of the simple hummus recipe and spruced it up a bit. I was going over to a girlfriends apartment for a holiday party, so I wanted to bring something not too heavy and a bit unique

I bring to you:


Sun dried Tomato Cumin Spiced Hummus
Yields: about 2 cups

Ingredients:

  • 1 can garbanzo beans (drained)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 3 T tahini (sesame seed butter)
  • 2 T fresh parsley
  • 1/4 C fresh lemon juice
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 T low sodium soy sauce or Braggs Amino Acids (or tamari)
  • 1 1/2 t ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 C diced sun dried tomato (I bought the kind packed in oil because they bring out way more flavor) You want to get them already moist if not, you can get them dried and let them sit in boiling water to soften up.
Directions
  • Combine all ingredients besides the sun dried tomatoes in a food processor. 
  • Blend until well combined. 
  • Add in the diced sun dried tomatoes at the end, and blend once more (the tomatoes didn’t fully get processed, but I actually LOVED that there were hunks of delicious tomato all throughout the dip)
  • Serve with vegetables, pita chip (recipe below) 
The ONLY Pita Chip Recipe You will EVER Need
Yields: A whole lot of chips!

Ingredients:
  • Whole wheat pita (or regular)
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
Directions
  • Stack a few pieces of pita together and cut in halves, then fourths, then sixths (should look like little slices of pizza)
  • Take apart each piece and lay out on a pre sprayed cookie sheet
  • Drizzle olive oil over the cookie sheet of pita wedges.
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste (I eyeballed it)
  • Bake at 350 degrees for about 7-8 min 
  • STAY CLOSE and check often, these burn very fast if you don’t pay attention!
I would be careful with these pita chips…you may find yourself eating the whole cookie sheet, especially right when they come out of the oven, hot and toasty.

Want a workout? Ok, then! Here you go

You all know I love metabolic style workouts, tabata, leg and upper body complexes and most recently I talked about “finisher” exercises to really kill it at the end of your workout. I LOVE these type of workouts because they are designed to really aid in fat loss and also help when trying to bust through a plateau.  The intensity is high, the work time is low…you work until you cannot work anymore and its freakin awesome. Tabata style workouts are also fun because you can get extremely creative when designed them. You can play around by utilizing different  equipment ranging from a barbell, to a kettlebell, to resistance bands, to body weight. Whether you workout at home, gym, basement or friends garage, there is a tabata workout that YOU can do. 

Remember Tabata? 20 seconds work/10 seconds rest….GET TO IT!

Tabata Barbell Complex: 4 Exercises (repeated twice)
  • Front loaded alternating reverse lunges
  • Barbell back row
  • Barbell push press
  • Barbell back squat
  • Front loaded alternating reverse lunges
  • Barbell back row
  • Barbell push press
  • Barbell back squat
Tabata Barbell Complex: 8 Exercises (each repeated once)
  • Front loaded reverse lunge (right)
  • Front loaded reverse lunge (left)
  • Barbell back row
  • Barbell Push press (stay standing push straight up, do not arch the back)
  • Barbell back squat (barbell rests on shoulders, deep, weight in heels)
  • Barbell clean and press
  • Barbell straight leg deadlift 
  • Barbell bench (lie on ground) or bench if close by
*note: 20 seconds of work with these exercises goes by VERY fast so focus on form and conditioning. This is more work on the endurance side than strength, so keep the weight light-medium and kick butt! You should not be loading the bar up as if you were doing traditional barbell back squats. Train smart, train hard!

Kettlebell/Bodyweight Tabata: 4 exercises (each repeated twice)
Kettlebell/Bodyweight Tabata: 8 exercises (each repeated once)
  • KB swings
  • 4 mountain climbers, 4 jumping jacks
  • KB goblet squat
  • Jump Squat
  • KB reverse lunge LEFT (hold KB in right hand straight up besides ear, overhead)
  • KB reverse lunge RIGHT (hold KB in left hand straight up besides ear overhead)
  • Burpees
  • Spiderman Push ups (alternating sides)
I would NOT recommend doing all of these tabatas in one session. This is way too high in volume and if you are truly working at a high intensity, you should be pretty fatigued after even going through 1-4 min tabata. I would pick one or two and either kick off your workout by starting with one and ending with one. OR you could end with two back to back. 

There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ here. Usually when I post workouts such as this, I receive many emails asking ‘when to incorporate tabata, what to eat beforehand, before or after the workout etc. Food wise-I would eat as you normally would before a workout. I don’t really see why you would eat any different…the key word being EAT. SOMETHING for goodness sake! When do incorporate? Like I said. Get creative! Kick off your workout with a bodyweight tabata and end with a barbell for instance. There are no limits!

ENJOY!

Question: Have you ever made your own workout and surprised yourself by how hard it was?


Naomi
Naomi