Green Pea Dip Two Ways or, The Journey of a Thousand Miles

Happy New Year!  I figured I'd start this year off a little differently and tell you a little story about myself, something I don't often do on this blog, and especially not about this topic.

Throughout most of my childhood and all of my adult life I have been overweight/fat/obese.  Normally I don't write about it on my blog because at the end of the day I want this blog to be about food, but today is going to be one of the exceptions.  Don't worry, you'll still get your recipe.  If this is TL;DR feel free to scroll down to the bottom and follow the jump for it.

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to know me in real life (or maybe that makes you lucky?), I have recently undergone a lifestyle change.  Actually, lifestyle overhaul is more like it.

At the end of October 2012 I went to a Women's Expo event to watch my beautiful niece in her first runway show.  As luck would have it I won a $459 gift certificate to a local gym.  I have never been into gyms, but I figured I might join one if it was free.  The gym called me a week later to set up an appointment for my tour and so on November 6, 2012 I joined a gym.  Something tells me I'm never going to forget that date.

With my membership came several weeks of free sessions with a personal trainer, also something I'd never thought I'd be interested in, but what can I say?  I'm a sucker for free.  So with a healthy dose of skepticism I began working with a trainer. 

I think a trainer was exactly what I needed.  Sure, he was there to show me how to use the weight machines, correct my form, and count my reps for me, but I think the best thing for me was the accountability and encouragement from somebody who does it for a living and knows what he is talking about.

Since November 6 I have been going to the gym an average of 4 times a week, either for training sessions, by myself, or with one of my amazingly supportive friends/co-workers.  It feels weird to be writing that sentence about myself, but it's completely true.  In the past several weeks I have found that I have more energy and I actually look forward to going to the gym.  I have even gotten up early on the weekend (which admittedly is 9am for me) to go workout.  Yep, I've become one of "those people".

The other big factor in my lifestyle overhaul has been my diet.  I started using a free app/website called Lose It!, where I track my foods and exercises daily, and socialize with others who also have goals to lose weight or be healthy.

I don't have any plans to turn this into a fitness blog or one that only features healthy recipes.  Yeah, my daily eating habits have changed, but I still love spam casserole and chicken french, so I'm gonna keep posing recipes like that, even if they are decadent as hell.  I mean, have you seen the series I did on the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies??  Talk about sugar overload!  Occasionally I want to also throw in some recipes that are healthy, too, but A Dash of Nutmeg's focus is still going to be on food that is just plain awesome.

So, now to the food.

 

Green Pea Dip Two Ways

I have read before on the internet that canned green peas can make a reasonable stand-in for avocado if you want to make some better-for-you guacamole, so not so long ago I decided to try it out and I have to say that it's really quite good.  Sure, it doesn't taste anything like avocado, but if you're the type to put lots of other flavors in your guac I bet you won't even notice!  I split up the can and made two different kinds for recipe development, a Spicy Lemon Green Pea Dip (pictured on the left) and a Garlic Pepper Green Pea Dip (on the right), but if you only make 1 of them the recipe makes 2 cups of dip.

Spicy Lemon Green Pea Dip

1 can green peas
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp sriracha
zest and juice of 1 small lemon

Garlic Pepper Green Pea Dip

1 can green peas
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
pinch of lemon zest

Instructions (for both dips)
Drain the can of peas (drain completely if you want chunky dip, or leave some of the liquid in if you want a runnier consistency) and mash them with a fork until all of the peas are completely smashed.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well to mix.

So there you have it, a quick and simple recipe and a little story about me and the single step I took that unknowingly began my journey of a thousand miles.  Thanks so much to my friend and fellow fire wife, Sarah at Mom Running on Empty for helping me with this post; to my awesome trainer Gus for, well, being an awesome trainer; and to my friends, family, and co-workers for being so uber supportive!  Have a great 2013 everybody!