The kitchen. It’s where I do a majority of my… standing.
Standing and staring.
Standing and staring and spreading cream cheese onto Wheat Thins.
Standing and staring and eating cream cheese and Wheat Thins until I come up with a recipe and post idea.
If you were a fly on my kitchen wall… well, I wouldn’t like that very much… but you would probably think that a) I have very few brain cells firing with all of the standing and staring I do and b) I have an unhealthy relationship with cream cheese.
You might be right about the brain cells… I won’t argue that the standing and staring is a strange process. But the cream cheese? Yea… I’ll admit I have a bit of a problem with cream cheese and crackers. I’m trying to break the habit with chick peas and olive oil and mint and parsley. I think it’s working. I really think it’s working.
Delicious. Delicious. Crazy delicious. This spread is hummus meets pesto meets lemon meets delicious.
Ooh… and it’s totally healthy too. Dang!
This spread is creamy without the cream, a little tart, a little herby and all sorts of satisfying. On warm spelt tortillas… it’s my new favorite thing. For serious.
Chickpea, Mint, and Parsley Spread
Martha Stewart Living, May 2007
1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4 small garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup fresh mint, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
fresh ground black pepper
warm pitas, bread or crackers
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until very soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and let cool for 15 minutes.
Put the chopped mint and parsley into the bowl of a food processor. Add salt, pepper and lemon. Add the chickpea mixture. I have a smaller food processor and did this in two batches, dividing all of the ingredients in half and blending it twice.
With the machine running, blend all of the ingredients and add the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil in a slow and steady steam, allowing it to emulsify. Spread can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or transferred to a serving dish, drizzled with olive oil and served with warm pita or warm spelt tortillas (pictured).
Gretchen Noelle
This looks yummy! And can I tell you something funny? I was visiting someone before Christmas who was planning a party. She was talking about what to make and said something about one of your cakes, “you know, by Joy the Baker” and I couldn’t help but smile. I love coming across foodies who stalk other foodies. :)
arugulove
This looks delicious. I get sick of serving hummus at parties, it just seems so boring. This looks like a great alternative.
Sues
My friend made this for a recent party and I was sooo pleasantly surprised by how perfectly the flavors went together! I could have eaten the whole dish of it, but didn’t want to be rude, so now I’ll have to make it myself :)
megan
oooh, it looks good. I love hummus so I bet I would love this. My husband would probably not like it at all, but that’s ok. I’ll bring it to work and eat it for lunch every day! yum :)
Shauna from Piece of Cake
As a fellow mindless spreader of cream cheese on crackers, this recipe intrigues me!
And maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I also do the mindless spreading of butter on saltines. So country.
Heather @ chiknpastry
ooooohhhh…. hummos meets pesto? that’s my kinda spread ;) not that i am opposed to cream cheese, but i definitely should lay off the fat for a while!
Erika from The Pastry Chef At Home
Hummus meets pesto? Yes! I make somthing similar to this only without the mint and onion…but this…well this looks delicious AND good for you! I haven’t been eating enough good-for-me things lately.
ps: I wish all my kitchen standing involved less dishwashing…
Kadie
Mmm … cream cheese … on pretty much anything … but especially on garlic toast/crackers with some green olives on top. De-lish!
Thanks for the spread recipe – can’t wait to try it! Hopefully it will tame my love of cream cheese (and help me shed some pounds) in ways that Laughing Cow Lite has not!!
Terresa Wellborn
Not sure about the spelt tortillas. The ones we used to buy from TJs always went moldy on us way too fast. Probably b/c we didn’t have a good parsley spread to eat ’em with.
Do you like Rosemary Triscuits? They are our current fave cracker.
Cate
The timing on this is so perfect! I cooked up some chickpeas the other day to make hummus, but then realized I was out of tahini and I’m far too lazy to go buy some…but I have everything needed to make this in my fridge right now!
Deanna
This does sound great. I will try this!
Jessi
Oh, yes please! I love lemon and hummus and herbs! Perfect :)
Kelly Taylor
Love! Can’t wait to make it in my new food processor!!
Erin H.
Cream cheese + wheat thins… glad I am not the only one. Then there’s cream cheese on toast. Cream cheese on carrots. Cream cheese on my spoon.
I like chick peas too. And I have some left over from a salad. Time to pick up some mint and parsley at the store on the way home. Because I never got around to planting that herb garden…
Katrina
This looks really interesting. Gonna give it a go next time I find myself bored.