This paleo friendly roasted tomato cashew hummus is creamy and decadent without the beans.
More tomatoes. More roasting. It’s getting a little broken record-ish over here, huh? Sorry. Except not really.
I don’t think I’ve really come outright and said it on here, but I’m doing a little paleo/SCD experiment in these parts. Besides a couple forkfuls of pasta, a bite of an apple cider donut and a Sunday afternoon ice cream cone, it’s been 16 days of strict no dairy, no legumes and no sugar. So far, I’ve determined two things:
1. Dairy and I might not be as bff as I thought (this is only slightly problematic as I have a shelf full of greek yogurt in my fridge right now) considering I think I’ve lost a pant size from lack of bloating alone.
2. I miss hummus. Like, a lot.
I don’t really understand the whole “say no to legumes” thing that paleo advocates much beyond the fact that they have phytates and apparently that’s bad for you. I’m playing by the rules for a month just to see what happens, what changes I see and how I feel, but I struggle to understand this one. Did cavemen know what the hell a phytate was? I doubt it. Beans were around then, who says they didn’t eat them? I need more convincing on this.
Hummus was my go to afternoon snack. It’s a lovely way to get in veggies without having to boringly munch on raw ones and I needed a replacement stat.
Enter cashews.
When you soak ‘em (soak your nuts, ha) they turn soft (double ha) and almost resemble a bean texture wise, so it actually results in a pretty similar consistency to hummus once you whirl everything around in the food processor for a few minutes.
Roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes, and basil just seal the deal.
Oh, and add 1 triscuit to that cheat list up above. Oops.
Roasted Tomato Cashew Hummus
Ingredients
- 4 plum tomatoes, quartered
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- salt & pepper
- 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 3 hours
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1/4 cup packed basil leaves
- 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a baking sheet.
- Toss tomatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, honey and salt & pepper in a large bowl. Spread out onto baking sheet.
- Cut off tips of garlic cloves, drizzle in olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on baking sheet with tomatoes.
- Roast for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Place cashews in food processor and process for about 1-2 minutes until smooth.
- Add in all remaining ingredients and process for another minute until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Season with more salt & pepper to taste.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
LOL to your Ha and Double Ha. LOL Gina….
Triscuits. Dip. you had me at hello.
Yuuuum. I don’t think you should apologize for roasted tomatoes. No harm in it if it means getting to enjoy something delicious such as this! I love the use of cashews here… sometimes I just don’t want another chickpea. Rare occurrence, but it happens.
I was just having a conversation with someone about the paleo diet and saying I didn’t get the no legumes thing (among other things). Granted, I don’t know a lot about it, but the whole “eat like a caveman” thing doesn’t make sense to me. Wouldn’t they have been scavengers, spent a lot of time running to hunt their food, and eaten meat very sparingly (given that they would have had to hunt it down with rocks/spears)? And the meat they did eat would have been a lot different than what’s available at grocery stores today…
Paleo musings aside, I love your idea for cashew hummus. Definitely a nice alternative to chickpeas. :)
I felt that way before too, just didn’t get it but after some reading, I see it’s points. The legumes thing though is the one I’m kinda hung up on. I’m just not totally convinced and to be honest, it probably won’t be a lasting thing for me. I want to give it a full fledged shot and see what I think at the end. It’s been good so far in that I’ve realized cutting my dairy intake back is probably for the better. As for the meat thing, “they” say if you have access to grass fed organic, eat the fatty cuts, if not and it’s just store bought meats, stick to leaner cuts so that kind of makes sense…
My boyfriend eats paleo and I’ve been attempting to try it for the past two days, it’s tough! But your blog is a great source of inspiration to cook this way… Even if it’s just for him ;)
I love that this is made with cashews! As a fairly new vegan family, we go through A LOT of hummus and having an alternative like cashews would be a welcome change every now and then. Add that to the fact that our tomato stores are overflowing and this is a win-win!
What a fun take on hummus! Good luck with the paleo diet! Better you than me ;)
This looks amazing! Considering I have cut out gluten of any kind, dairy, sugar (for the most part) and all processed foods, I cannot even imagine having to cut out legumes, they are my saving grace a lot of the time. Can I ask why legumes are cut out of the pale diet and/or SCD? I honestly don’t know enough about either but I am definitely curious.
Great idea using the cashews instead of chickpeas though, super creative, it looks so delicious!
Great question, Beth. Honestly, all I know from what I’ve read is that it’s b/c they have to be cooked to eat. They also contain phytates and lectins which inhibit nutrient absorption and cause inflammation. That being said, this is probably the one area that after I do this month long experiment, I’ll go back to eating occasionally. I see the benefits of limited/no dairy, I’m just not grasping the bean part though.
I hear a lot about soaking nuts, I haven’t tried that!!! Maybe this weekend. OJ, I was going to say something gross but I won’t! Anyway, your hummus looks amazing and i love that it is made with cashews over chickapeas. I am quite intrigues by this recipe and I can see myself making it for the long holiday weekend!!
Good for you! I don’t think I could ever get even close to Paleo! I figured from your Instagram posts that you were doing that though :)
I love grains too much! Love this idea for a “hummus” replacement though!