Hummus

If there's one snack that I can't get enough of, its hummus on pita. I recently went looking for an easy, basic hummus recipe. By "basic," I mean something that can serve, literally, as "base" for any type of hummus - roasted red pepper, chipotle, jalepeno, etc. This recipe definitely serves my purpose: its awesome on its own, and could easily be played with to add any ingredient you may like. The texture is identical to what you find in a restaurant, and the flavor is great, too - pretty garlicky, but if you don't like that, just reduce the number of garlic cloves.

Now, normally when I try a new recipe, I set out to find inexpensive ingredients (trying to save for a house, you see....) However, there is one ingredient in hummus, called Tahini, that is somewhat expensive. Some people say that you can either eliminate the Tahini or replace with a few drops of sesame seed oil (Tahini is, after all, essentially sesame seed butter.) But at the store, as I held the jar of Tahini in my hand with a pricetag of $10.99, I had to give in. Cooking is like candy to me. And sometimes, its ok to indulge in the things you love. The jar will last me for years, its imported from Greece, and when I try a new recipe, I want it to be the real thing.

So, whether you skip the Tahini for the sake of your checkbook, or indulge in it for the sake of living life to its fullest.... serve this hummus on warm pita with a sprinkle of paprika, and I promise that you'll have yourself a very healthy and delicious snack :)

Basic Hummus

2 (15-oz) cans of garbanzo beans, drained (set the juice aside, don't trash it)

3 TBS Tahini*

2 TBS lemon juice

sprinkle of salt

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 TBS olive oil

pinch of paprika and cumin

*can be found at health food stores, or at the grocery store in specialty goods, or near peanut butter

1. Place all ingredients in blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings as you prefer. Add reserved juice from the beans as you try to achieve a good consistency. I added about 1/3 C of the juice throughout the blending process.

2. Before serving, drizzle a bit of olive oil over hummus and sprinkle with paprika.