Hummus

Guys, I am never buying store-bought hummus again. Big statement. But it is way less difficult to make than you think. This creamy, beautiful hummus requires two cans of chickpeas and not much else. It pairs well with tzatziki/cacik sauce and is a staple for any Mediterranean spread. It also has a lot of protein for those who are #plantbased. Admittedly, hummus is healthier when the dippers are cucumbers and carrots, but I have an inescapable addiction to Stacy’s pita chips so hummus, unfortunately, must be consumed in moderation in my kitchen. Highly recommend.

The key to creamy hummus is in how long you blend your chickpeas. The flavor is all in the toppers. Get creative and enjoy!

🍋🧄🍋

Lemony, garlicky, imminently dippable, and minimal.

what you need

2 cans (30oz) chickpeas

1 cup of the chickpea liquid from the can

1/2 cup tahini

1/4-1/2 cup good olive oil

juice from 1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

salt to taste

one hell of a powerful blender

For serving: chickpeas, cucumber, halved tomato cherries, drizzle olive oil, minced parsley, sprinkle of sumac and/or paprika and/or cayenne pepper

how to make it

Place chickpeas, half of the chickpea liquid, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and spices into your ‘one hell of a powerful blender.’

Puree on high for approximately 2 minutes, adding additional chickpea liquid after two minutes if the texture isn’t becoming smooth enough. The secret to smooth hummus is just to keep blending…

Taste for flavor and add spices as needed. Spoon your hummus onto a plate and spread it out drizzling with olive oil and adding your toppers. These can be cucumbers, thinly sliced bell peppers, small feta cheese crumbles, halved cherry tomatoes, roasted pistachios, and, of course, healthy sprinkles of sumac And cayenne.

Turkish Chicken Kebab

Bowls. I mean, how versatile. Perfect for weeknight dinner. Maybe you all have tried my Mexicali bowls made with homemade black beans. Consider this its Mediterranean best friend. Yogurt chicken is a Turkish staple. The probiotics and enzymes in the yogurt serve to tenderize the meat keeping it super moist and juicy. The chicken chunks are best marinated overnight though, if you are really feeling lazy like I was in this recipe, I simply used half a batch of tzatziki sauce that I had whipped up for snacking as the marinade.

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December 11, 2022 1 Comment

caesar salad sauce recipe one and a half slices

Caesar Sauce

This is an all-purpose, HEALTHY, creamy, herby, Caesar-esque sauce for dressing salad, for dipping vegetables, and, yes, even for chicken wings. And it has become a staple weeknight meal component in this house.

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January 16, 2021 5 Comments

Tzatziki

Tzatziki sauce is a staple of Mediterranean cooking. There are several variations on the theme to include the Turkish Cajik and Haydari sauces. The basic idea is to combine cucumber, dill, mint, lemon, or garlic in some meaningful way and use it as a dipping sauce. It’s great with fresh vegetables or pita, but also delicious as a dipping sauce for red meat as in a kofte or kebab. Authentically, at least for Cajik, the cucumber is grated and then pressed to expel water, but this version is a whole lot simpler. It was part of our recent Mediterranean dinner

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July 16, 2022 2 Comments

#measurelesslivemore

Sumac is a restaurant in an airstream in the middle of a field. And it takes a minute to get your food.

The way we live today, we don’t wait. We don’t stop. We don’t breathe deeply. And we don’t idle. Most of us aren’t in any sort of place we would want to idle anyway. Lately, I’ve been wondering,

“how did we learn it? That talent for insatiability.” – Margaret Atwood.

(keep going… there’s a playlist for you at the end of this post).

Everyone is running from place to place – especially in Tech. Trust me, I would know. Gym, office, lunch (Sweetgreen or some other expedited version of “healthy”), office, happy hour, home, kids’ soccer practice, takeout, sleep. Most of us are a little overweight, drink too much, savor too little. Our FitBits and Apple Watches count our steps and send us little firework emojis when we hit 10,000. We have meditation apps, calorie counting apps, water intake apps, apps for our menstrual cycles, apps for music to work to, sleep to, exercise to. We measure everything – so we can reduce calories, increase water, increase steps, reduce stress. Fucking sleep. There is actually a company whose slogan is “hack your metabolism.” So I ask again… where did we learn it? This talent for insatiability. This quest for ‘more.’

Everyone asks me what diet plan I use. Keto? Whole 30? Intermittent Fasting? 80/20? Everyone asks me what workout routine I follow. Cycling? Lifting? Cardio-centric? The truth is, there is no diet (nor will there ever be) and there is no routine. There is, however, a philosophy.

The philosophy is pretty simple. And you’ve found bits and pieces of it sprinkled across this blog before.

It goes something like:

Movement – start with Steph Rose at Phase6.
Hydration – two to three liters a day.
Nutrition, #eatfoodnottoomuchmostlyplants and nothing that comes in a package (Michael Pollan)
Rest, #measurelesslivemore (#mllm)
Balance, #equalpartsdisciplineandindulgence
Consistency – do it every day.

This is #oneandahalfslices

Everyone is looking for something that works – something that will make them lose weight, live longer, sleep sounder, be happier…

The diet that works and the changes that matter aren’t difficult. You don’t need a nutritionist, a therapist, or a personal trainer. You need this post, your own diligent mind, your own beautiful heart, and ecosystem of supportive, motivated, divergent thinking humans to spark your curiosity in a million different directions.

For a time, it has bothered me how much we think we “need.” We need a drink because we’re stressed, a coffee because we’re tired, lunch because it’s lunchtime, a vacation because we’re overworked. Oral fixation. Immediate gratification. Lately I’ve been centering around this concept. And it is remarkable how little we do, in fact, need, especially compared to what we consume.

“Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.” – Ayn Rand

My personal experience and observation is that when we live life unchecked, working as hard as we’re working, going as fast as we’re moving, we end up sprinting down a path of consumption, production, progress, and more. More of what? And why? To save? To spend? This place of progress is not always a place of growth if there is no center of gravity, sense of deliberate self, and genuine connection at the core.

“People want nothing but mirrors around them. To reflect them while they’re reflecting too … Reflections of reflections and echoes of echoes. No beginning and no end. No center and no purpose.” ― Ayn Rand

This is a mantra of the coming season. To require less. Smaller coffees, less frequent meals, maybe more steps and maybe fewer – not counted either way – but taken for the love of walking.

Remember the One Year Anniversary post? Yes, great recipes. But the season to come holds both recipes and a phase transition. From ‘supposed to’ towards authenticity. We are going to listen more and require less. Measure less and live more. You’ll find writing, exploration, deliberation, and a remarkable joie de vivre. In what we do, what we value, and how we live.

“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe, to know what he ought to desire, and to know what he ought to do.” – St. Thomas Aquinas

The thing is, Sumac has it right. Go slow, be deliberate, do what you love, think of others, inspire, appreciate, adore, #measurelesslivemore

Now, for those who have made it this far, either out of genuine curiosity or just really wanting to get to the music, I’ve got a summer playlist for you. Because people | have created | beautiful things and we should share them.

Music and food are such things.

Summer in New York – Sofi Tukker
Borderline – Tove Styrke
Parachute – Kyndal Inskeep
1000 Words – 0171
Insomnia – Daya
Magic – Sereda
Provenza – Karol G
Space Ghost Coast to Coast – Glass Animals
Astronaut – Mansionair
2000 Angels – Ben Khan
On My Knees – Rufus Du Sol
Lebanese Blonde – Thievery Corporation
Se Acabo – Beatnuts feat. Method Man
C.R.E.A.M. – Wu Tang Clan
Falling – Trevor Daniel
Him & I – G Eazy feat. Halsey
Die For Me – Post Malone
Facedown Domino – Mansionair
Dribble – Sycco
Synchronize – Milky Chance
Run – OneRepublic
Feels Right – Biig Piig
You’re Somebody Else – flora cash
Dancing in the Dark – Cannons
Kuliru – Beard of Harmony
Amerimacka – Thievery Corporation
The Sun – Mauve
Face Your Fears – OsMan
Sundara – ODESZA
Sundara Aftermovie

Bonus: Hear the Story of the Russian Cosmonaut

🛰️

Oktoberfest

October has always been my favorite month (for cooking, for being). Let me tell you why.

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October 30, 2022 1 Comment

Salt

“I have two lovers in life that I have never slept with. The city of Paris and potatoes.” – Francis Mallmann. The taste of empanadas, parrillada, and red wine came to flavor my adolescence, calibrating my tastes – both for food and experience – for something deeper.

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January 28, 2023 5 Comments

one and a half slices Christmas 2022 present package recipe gift

Happy Christmas 2022

Happy Christmas 2022 and a Rice Krispie Treat with #holidayvibes If you worked for me, with me, or with Merigold Analytics in 2022, chances are you got one of these in early December. These little boxes are filled with the stuff dreams are made of – stickers, marshmallows, and Oreo cookies. This Christmas season, OneandahalfSlices made layered rice krispies stuffed with Oreo, Biscoff, Graham, candy cane, and many, many, tiny marshmallows. We celebrated Christmas this

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December 25, 2022 1 Comment

Sumac

If you’re a Northern Virginia resident and looking for your next day trip out to the Virginia countryside, keep reading… There are two places in particular in Northern Virginia that live into the L O C A L theme extraordinarily well – one of those two is featured here today. The purveyors of Sumac, Northern Virginia’s newest local food pop-up kitchen in Sperryville, VA, are as down to earth as the stone fruits and cherries they are serving up this summer. Sumac (follow their Insta) was born from a love of local cooking.

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July 10, 2021 1 Comment

One Year Anniversary

The first year of OneandahalfSlices was one of immense learning and creativity. From instrumenting WordPress, to logo design, amateur phone photography, Instagram recipe reels, and posting tempo. As of this writing, there are 76 well-curated recipes – some of them as old as my personal culinary history and some of them new to me in 2021. To celebrate, I’ve got three things for you: 1) I asked my very talented and beautiful niece, owner of Liz Bakes, to make some custom OneandahalfSlices cookies for the occasion! 2) The Year in Review. The top 9 recipes from the first full year of OneandahalfSlices. 3) A powerhouse playlist for 2022.

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January 30, 2022 2 Comments

rabbit chicken cassoulet recipe simple one pot one and a half slices

Rabbit Cassoulet

Here we are with Protein #2 in our Protein Trio and it’s a bit of a non-standard one. We don’t often cook rabbit but… we totally should! It is more delicate than chicken with more flavor, but still not too gamey. Cassoulets are bean-based stews with a protein that can stew all day or come together quite quickly. They are hearty and Fall-ish, and I am thrilled to have this one on my table. You can make this with roasted chicken or a sausage if the rabbit is a stretch for you.

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September 22, 2023 No Comments