Weekday Meals: hummus

Given my hectic and rather dismal posts these last few weeks, I figured I'd do a double week day meal post this time around.  Check back later today for a quick lemon pasta recipe!  And as promised, it does not include salmon.  I made the hummus last Friday for a little post-finals celebration for Jason and myself.  I planned on documenting all of the meal components, but I was so busy in the kitchen {making zeppole, pan frying pork tenderloin, and checking on my polenta to make sure it didn't seize} that my camera never left the counter.  I did manage to get the hummus though.

Hummus is one of my favorite snack foods.  It's very tasty and pretty healthy.  You may not know this about me, but I'm very conscientious about the foods that I put in my body.  I do not like purchasing anything prepackaged, and I'm very leery of things like preservatives, stabilizers, and artificial anything.  So when I found a recipe for homemade hummus I knew I had to give it a whirl...because it goes in the food processor.  Get it?  Oh me and my terrible jokes.

Honestly the hummus recipe is just too easy to not make it at home.  Oh and it's cheaper.  And it's fast.

Win. Win. Win.

Ina Gartner's Hummus

(I halved the recipe.)

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 can chickpeas, drained but keep the liquid and add it as well.
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/6 cup tahini
• 3 tbl. lemon juice
• 4 dashes hot sauce

Directions (and here's the super easy part):

• Add all of the ingredients into a food processor.  Process until the mixture is smooth.  
• Serve with pita, crackers, carrots, celery, etc.

Sorry for the lighting in these pictures.  I didn't realize how bad it was until I loaded them on my computer.

I also make a spicy olive oil to drizzle on top.  It's easy too.  Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on low heat and a pinch or two of red pepper flakes.  Cook for a couple of minutes until the oil is fragrant, and before the flakes begin to brown.  Allow to cool slightly and drizzle on top of the hummus.

Check back later today for the lemon pasta recipe!