A Sabra Trip (Plus Deviled Eggs)

This post is sponsored by Sabra hummus and the Tastemaker program.

Last week I had this very fun and surreal blogger experience.  It was the kind of thing that I never really thought would be offered to me when I started this blog.

The people over at Sabra hummus picked me to be a Tastemaker this year which meant two things:

1) They sent me more hummus than I can eat.

2) They flew me and a few other awesome bloggers out to the Sabra facilities in Richmond, Virginia last week to learn more about their products, get a tour, make some pottery, and eat our faces off.

The above photo is their fun lobby with astroturf and chip-like chairs!

I thought I’d write a bit about the experience and also give you all a simple and easy deviled egg recipe!

One of the first things we did on the trip was take a short bus ride out to an agricultural facility to learn more about chickpeas. To be honest, it was so hot that my brain melted and I forgot a lot of what they said, but I did get to eat a green, fresh chickpea.

It had a slightly bitter, but also fruity, taste. I’m surprised that you can’t find them like this in more places.

Most of the chickpeas Sabra uses for their hummus comes from the Pacific Northwest but they are trying to cultivate chickpeas in Virginia so they are closer to the processing plants.

When we got back from the farm tour, we had lunch which started with sampling all of their products.

Everyday at the Sabra facility, they start with a hummus tasting. The facilities there are LEED certified and so while we were tasting we used these nifty little biodegradable spoons instead of the plastic spoons. We also used plenty of chips obviously!

Tasting hummus is similar to tasting wine or coffee. There are some complicated flavors going on and it was interesting to have their head chef walk us through how to taste it correctly and what to look for.

Besides the hummus, we also got to try their guacamole, salsa, and some new Greek yogurt dips. The Greek yogurt dips were really delicious. My favorite was the onion which tastes a lot like the french onion dip that people like for sports games. Give it a shot next time you see it.

Then we got to have lunch even though I was already pretty full from all of the hummus and dips!

Lunch definitely had some interesting hummus uses starting with these poached shrimp with hummus and hot sauce. Perfectly cooked and wonderful.

Then we had some lamb kefta and quinoa salad for a main course and these really interesting hummus desserts.

It’s a hummus filling blended with chocolate and topped with caramel sauce and coconut in a fried wonton wrapper!

If you just ate the filling on its own, it tasted a bit odd, but if you ate it all together it was really delicious. I had more than one…

After lunch, we had a little downtime before the factory tour where we made some pottery!  To be honest, I was kind of confused about this activity and if I would like it because I do not fancy myself an artist.

But, I had SO much fun making my custom chip and dip set. I came up with a fun leopard print design. They are going to fire these for us and send them to us!  It was way fun making this.

Then we got to suit up for the tour. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take photos of the factory, but basically imagine a savory Willy Wonka factory. The cumin seeds tasted like cumin seeds! Everything smelled like delicious spices.

Don’t worry. I had to put on a beard cover also.

And here’s the full shot of the Tastemakers for this trip including Dan and Mandi, Maria, Gaby, Amanda, and Jenny.

It was a really fun few days.

As an unrelated side note, I actually did a Homemade Trials on Hummus two years ago and used Sabra in that trial because they are legitimately my favorite brand. I gave that verdict to the homemade version, but mainly based on cost. Sabra and the homemade version were very close on taste.

Deviled Eggs!

Ok. Let’s make something fun.

I love a good deviled egg and one way to simplify the filling is to use hummus!  It actually makes the filling really smooth and also makes it easy to customize flavors.

I just hard-boiled 6 large eggs by placing them in a large bowl with cold water. I brought the water to a simmer, killed the heat, and then let them sit for 14-15 minutes.

Then I just rinsed and peeled the eggs!

I halved the eggs and added the yolks to a mini food processor with some hummus, relish, oil, and salt and pepper. I actually made two different versions for my eggs, one with lemon and one with a supremely spicy hummus mix which is probably my personal favorite.

The deviled egg filling gets really creamy with the hummus!

Then I just piped the filling back into the eggs and topped the lemon version with some lemon zest and the spicy ones with dried red pepper flakes.

I also served them on my 70’s egg dish which is shaped like an egg.

I sprinkled some paprika on all the eggs also because that’s just what you do with deviled eggs!

That’s a good lookin’ deviled egg, correct?

It was a such a great trip and I’m really happy to be able to work with Sabra because I do actually think their hummus is some of the best around.

Have you tried Sabra hummus? Have any fun recipes you use it in? Leave a comment!