Hummus is the perfect food. What can best these levels of protein and fiber? Hardly any carbs? No meat? Wait, it only costs one dollar to make a dozen servings? It takes minutes to make? You do not have to use an oven or microwave? Endless customizable options? Jesus ate it?

Hummus is an ancient food eaten during biblical times. Incorporating the garbanzo bean (chickpea), ground sesame seeds, and Mesopotamian spices, the dish has been eaten for eons. While donning a robe and manipulating a mortar and pestle is the traditional, more cathartic method of grounding the elements together, a food processor will be the only tool really needed to enjoy this exotic, yet simple dish.

The mistake of using a single large can of chickpeas is an error most first-timers will make. Go for dry. Although it is more instantly gratifying to open into a can of soft beans floating amidst a salty brine, go for dry. If using canned, the final hummus product will be done in no less than ten minutes. Grow wise and realize that dry is the advantageous option.

A standard bag of garbanzo beans will yield four batches of delicious hummus per preparation. This annihilates the canned variety, which yields only one-per-can. Bag versus canned is not even a close contest. Bagged chickpeas yield over half your daily fiber serving. It is good to stay regular. Canned beans offer you only 20 percent of colon-cleansing benefits. Both varieties should pack between 7-8g of protein.

The instructions for making hummus are as follows:

Take a bag of dry chickpeas, and rinse and drain 1.5 dry cups worth.

Look out for stones and dark brown rejects.

Introduce into slow cooker along with 4 cups water. (There is no science to this ratio, as long as the chickpeas come out of the cooker brown and soft. Jesus and Moses did not need measurements and technology to enjoy this nutritious dish.)

Proceed to heat them in a slow cooker overnight on low for 8 hours.
Douse two red peppers with olive oil and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes until they start burning.
Flip up and over once or twice while they cook.
Prepare the rest of the elements.

Gather several garlic cloves and procure bottles of lemon juice, tahini (sesame-seed paste), cumin powder, and pita breads.

Remove the peppers and place in a closed container, allowing the steam to break the outer skin down. Using the blender as the receptacle is ideal.

Rinse in cold water to allow easier handling.                                                                                                                                                                             Peel away the pepper skin, then rip off the stem to subtract the inner membrane containing seeds. Leave seeds in if you want a spicy hummus.

Remove as much water from the peppers as possible. Use a “salad-spinner” if feeling fancy.
Now you are ready for the genesis of a hummus batch.

Throw the peppers into the blender along with 2 to 5 garlic cloves, 3 tbs. tahini (sesame-seed paste), liberal splashes of lemon juice, and 1-2 tbs. cumin powder.

Blend this together before adding chickpeas.                                                                                                                                                                                       Once it is broken down and liquid, start adding beans. You may need a tool to fold the mixture around if blender blade ceases effectiveness.

If the mixture becomes too thick, and you want to add viscosity or want hummus-soup, introduce some olive oil.

Upon full assimilation, and when no full beans can be seen, transfer hummus into a storage device to be chilled.
The dish can be enjoyed cold or warm.

Pita is the most authentic device to transfer hummus from storage to mouth/body. Markets provide packs of ten for close to an American dollar. Heat one briefly in the oven until malleable. Now sit cross-legged in desert sands beside a camel to dip and consume whilst drinking mint tea.

The article Hummus: The Perfect Food appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) has announced that it has received a $9.3 million contribution, from an existing partner, providing further support through its Co-Pay Relief Program (CPR) for patients suffering from nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), breast cancer, colon cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and hepatitis C who are unable to afford their medical co-payments. These funds are currently available to qualified patients.

PAF’s CPR Program provides direct financial support for pharmaceutical co-payments to insured patients, including Medicare Part D beneficiaries, who financially and medically qualify. Since the program’s inception in April 2004, CPR has distributed more than $130 million in assistance to more than 50,000 patients nationwide who were unable to afford their pharmaceutical co-payments.

“The Co-Pay Relief Program was developed after PAF recognized extreme increases each year in the number of patients seeking pharmaceutical co-pay assistance, despite the fact they were insured,” said Nancy Davenport-Ennis, Founder and CEO of PAF. “Battling any disease is difficult, particularly now with the high out-of-pocket expenses that are routinely incurred by patients.

Thanks to this extremely generous donation, we will be able to offer an even greater level of support to patients seeking help with their pharmaceutical co-payments.”

On August 1, 2011, PAF announced a new operational model for CPR that serves more patients, provides enhanced service to both providers and patients through new technology tools, and allows for many more patient approvals. CPR donations are now released in total into each disease silo immediately upon receipt, rather than dividing contributions across a twelve month period.

CPR accepts all qualified new and renewal applications on a first come first serve basis with no limit imposed on the number of approvals issued monthly. CPR also accepts and processes all expenditures on a first come, first serve basis until the available funds in the entire silo are exhausted. Eligible expenditures may be submitted by patients, providers and/or pharmacists.

“We are excited about CPR’s use of state-of-the-art technology solutions to deliver a high degree of automation and efficiency to program users.

For example, electronic signature and file upload capabilities have been integrated into both the online application and the expenditure submission processes, including the capability for a user to fax documents which use a barcode based routing system,” said Beth Patterson, President of Mission Delivery, and Fran Castellow, President of Operations.

“These technological enhancements allow the patient, provider and pharmacy communities to leverage existing Electronic Health Records (EHR) or their Health Information Technology (HIT) to increase the speed with which their expenditures and applications are processed. In addition, CPR still has secure web-based portal access 24 hours a day, online assistance capabilities and live assistance via the toll-free phone number.”

Patient Advocate Foundation and its companion organization, the National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF), were founded on the principle that health care is a basic human need and shared social responsibility.

Annually, PAF receives thousands of contacts requesting information and assistance via their toll-free hotline, as well as online, with complete direct, sustained case management services provided to patients from all fifty states free of charge.

Image Courtesy  of    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patient-Advocate-Foundation/121863874508285

The article Patient Advocate Foundation Receive Great Support Through CPR Program appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.