After a butt-kicking workout in my flower-filled garden in Australia this evening, I was feeling great- exhausted, but great. Sometimes a greatness like this makes me feel like I’ve warranted eating an entire cheese-covered pizza to myself and knocking back a few nice beers, but tonight I wanted to continue my healthy streak. It’s no secret that I love dips, and hummus has become one of my specialties. Looking through my cabinets and fridge, I decided to kick it up a notch and add a creative flare to plain ol’ garlic and lemon hummus. What better way to do this than by adding kale?! Let’s be honest: kale makes everything better (probably because it just makes you feel so damn good).

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: none

Ingredients:

• 400 g chick peas (I used canned, but feel free to soak your raw ones the night before and boil them for about an hour)
• handful of Kale
• half of large carrot, peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro (coriander)
• 1 freshly squeezed lemon
• 2 pinches of paprika
• dash of salt

Method:

Add all of the ingredients except paprika to a food processor- you can also add them to a bowl if you’re using a hand blender. Pulse for 2 minutes and, using a spoon, spread your fresh hummus into a soup bowl using a circular motion. You don’t actually need to serve it this way; it just looks nice. Sprinkle paprika in a circle around the middle and garnish with cilantro.

Yields 2 servings