Year: 2018

Chocolate Hummus Recipe

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of chocolate.  Addicted, I’d say.  So when I learned of a new (to me) chocolate product, and a “healthy” one, I was pretty excited!  What is this healthy chocolate?  Chocolate hummus!

chocolate hummus

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.  See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Why I never thought of this on my own, I cannot say.  I have made chickpea blonde brownies, black bean brownies, and I love traditional hummus.  I enjoy all of them in their own ways.  And now I really enjoy that I can make an excuse to eat chocolate in pretty much every meal and snack.

I first tried Boar’s Head chocolate hummus.  It was pretty delicious, and contained no nasty chemical ingredients.  Right off the shelf, it was pretty healthy, and I do not feel guilty eating it.  [Ingredients at the time of writig of this post are: Steamed Chickpeas, Organic Sugar, Water, Sunflower Oil, Cocoa Powder, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt, Nisin (A Natural Preservative)] But, this contains a little more sugar than I’d like, I avoid purchasing products in plastic packaging when I can, and I knew I would want to eat this hummus much more often than I would want to bay $5 for it.  So, I set off to create my own recipe. I hope you enjoy!

Recipe

Makes  about 330 grams, which I divide into 6-56 gram servings.

chocolate hummus ingredients

Ingredients
  • 1 can black beans (1.5 cups), drained and liquid reserved
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 7/32 teaspoon pure powdered stevia extract (if using Kal stevia that comes with the little scoop, 7 scoops)
  • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
  • Reserved liquid to achieve desired consistency (I use 0-2 Tablespoons)
chocolate hummus ingredients in food processor
Instructions

I recommend using a powerful food processor like a KitchenAid or Cuisinart.  I use an older version of this KitchenAid one – the 3 cup insert works great for a single batch, and the larger 11-cup container is great for a double or triple batch.  You may be able to use a blender, but the finished product will not be as smooth. If attempting in a blender, make at least a double batch to get enough volume for the blender to work…and be prepared to scrape down the sides of the blender frequently.

  1. Combine all ingredients EXCEPT reserved water in the food processor. Blend until smooth. If needed, scrape down the sides to make sure all ingredients are well blended.
  2. If needed, add water ½ to 1 teaspoon at a time, and blend, to achieve desired consistency.
  3. Chill before serving.

Note that the hummus will thicken up when it cools in the fridge, so don’t worry if it seems too thin.

I ensure that I use or freeze within 5 days since there are no preservatives in this.

chocolate hummus in food processor

 

What to do with chocolate hummus?

I could probably eat this hummus by itself, but I feel it tastes better when using as a dip – like hummus was intended (in my opinion).  I love this dip with strawberries (lucky for me juicy, delicious organic strawberries were on sale at my local grocery store for several weeks when I was developing this recipe!). It’s also great on bananas, with pretzels, graham crackers, and I have a feeling it would make a nice substitution for Nutella for those folks who can’t eat Nutella or don’t like hazelnuts. I will be trying a peanut butter and chocolate hummus sandwich next time I whip up a batch of this stuff.

chocolate hummus

Cost

Boar’s Head Chocolate Hummus: $4.99 for 8 oz (226 grams) (fact check!)

Black beans, $1 (or, of cooked from dry beans like I do, $1.50 for 4.5 “cans,” or $1.50/4.5=$0.333)

Coconut oil, ($14.99/54 fl oz)x(1 fl oz/6 tsp)=$0.046

Vanilla extract, ($27.99/12 fl oz)x(1 fl oz/6 tsp)=$0.180

Salt, $1.48 for a 26 oz (737g) carton, containing 491-1/4 tsp servings. $1.48/491=$0.003 per ¼ tsp

Unsweetened cocoa powder, $7.99 for 23 oz (652g). 5 grams/tbps = 12g/batch. ($7.99/652g)x(12g)=$0.147

Pure powdered stevia , $22 for 3.5 grams (1820 servings of 1 scoop). $22/1820×7=$0.085

Granulated sugar, $5.79 for 10 lb (4,536g). 12g/tbsp sugar. $5.79/ 4536g x 12g = $0.015

Total: $0.81 if using dried beans, or $1.98 is using canned beans, to make about 330 gram batch.  This comes out to $0.135-$0.33 per 56 gram serving.  

The Boar’s Head hummus is $4.99 for 8 oz (226 grams), or $1.25 per 56 grams.

My hummus is between 11% and 26% the cost of the Boar’s head hummus (depending on if dried or canned beans are used).  A frugal and healthy choice!

 

Have you ever tried chocolate hummus? What kinds of food do you like to eat with chocolate hummus? Please share in the comments below.

Easy Sweat Stain Buster Recipe

I am all about saving money and the environment by buying quality items and trying to make them last.  Many times I have seen my and my family’s clothing stained, and I questioned whether I could clean and therefore salvage the garment.  In this post I share a simple, 3-ingredient recipe for removing the yellow stains that often plague the collar and armpits of shirts.  This sweat stain remover has saved me many garments and much money over the years!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.  See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Sweat Stain Buster Recipe

The most common cause of this yellow stain, that I often find on shirt collars and shirt armpit areas, is sweat.   But I also have found that the oily natural sunscreens can leave a yellowish residue on clothing, too.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love these natural sunscreens, but I now can use them without worrying about destroying my clothing as I protect my skin!

The Sweat Stain Remover Recipe
Ingredients

1 tsp Dawn Original Dish Detergent

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide (3%)

Sweat Stain Buster shirt - before
stained shirt collar
Using the Sweat Stain Remover

To use this sweat stain remover, I mix 1 teaspoon Dawn, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 2 teaspoons hydrogen peroxide.  Once I have the ingredients mixed together well, I use a toothbrush dedicated to laundry apply a small amount to the stained area.  I use the toothbrush to work the solution into the stained fabric.  If the fabric is thick or I just don’t feel like I am able to work the solution into the stain well, I sprinkle a little water to thin, then keep working it into the stain.

I allow this to soak on the stain overnight (12-24 hours) then launder as usual, without rinsing before putting the clothing in the washing machine.

NOTE about possible staining:  I have had Dawn stain light colored natural fabrics (cotton), so when using this solution (or any other that use Dawn) I wet the fabric with water first, add water to the Dawn solution, and only soak about an hour before rinsing.  I repeat the soak as necessary to remove the stain.

shirt soaking in sweat stain buster
entire shirt soaking in sweat stain remover

I have used this successfully on synthetic (typically polyester) garments with the long soak time, and still with success but more effort with natural fabrics.

Sweat Stain Buster shirt - after
shirt collar – stain removed!
How much do I use?

Well this is a tough question to answer.  It really depends on how big the stain is.  The recipe I have here is enough for about 3 shirt collars, but it depends how much of the collar is stained.  I mix this up in small amounts (hence, the above recipe) and if I have any left over I store it in a little container.  I like using a clearly labeled old pill bottle – it doubles as a storage vessel plus an extra barrier to keep kids from getting to the chemicals.

I once turned my white Columbia UPF40 button down yellow from natural sunscreen.  Pretty much all over.  I thought my shirt was ruined.  And unfortunately I forgot to take a “before” picture.  I think I made a 7x batch of this sweat stain remover to soak the entire shirt to try to make it white again.  It worked for the most part – there were a couple panels of a different fabric or different weave that stayed tinged yellow (the panels on each side under the arm pit and down to the bottom hem), but most of the shirt was bright white again after the soak and laundering!  It’s definitely wearable again, and I am thrilled that I was able to salvage this shirt!  I think it has many more seasons of life left, to protect this pasty-pale skin from the sun!

white shirt after soaking to remove natural sunscreen residue
white shirt after soaking to remove natural sunscreen residue
Cost

Again, cost depends on how much you need to use.  To make the sweat stain remover recipe above, it only costs $0.05!

I have found the best prices for these types of common household products to be at Walmart, grocery stores, or drug stores.  If you want to order online, the best prices I found were at Walmart.com.

Dawn Original Dish Liquid. ($2.00/14.6 fl oz)x(1 fl oz/6 tsp)x(1 tsp)=$0.0228

Baking Soda. ($.99/1 lb)x(1 lb/454 g)x(4.8g/1 tsp)=$0.0105

Hydrogen Peroxide (3%).  ($1.00/32 fl oz)x(1 fl oz/6 tsp)x(2 tsp)=$0.0104

Total: $0.0228+$0.0105+$0.0104=$0.0437 ≅ $0.05

before and after treatment with sweat stain buster

Do you have any tips or tricks to salvage dirty or damaged clothing – or other items?  Please share in the comments below!