Make some hummus!

Let me be clear about this:  I love hummus.  There's not a whole lot of ingredients in hummus that I don't like individually, so when you combine them all together I believe magic happens.  So when I found a very diet friendly version of hummus (not that it's all that unhealthy to begin with) I had to try it out.  After a time or two, I think I found the perfect way to make it!  Then again, you might find another recipe that you like more...

Hummus is so easy to make that I really do recommend you try it at least once.  All you need is a blender and a knife. 

My Own Personal Favorite Hummus
6 servings
2 Weight Watchers Points per serving

Painfully absent from this family photo is my ground cayenne pepper.  Sorry.  He was hiding in the cupboard because he was afraid to make the other guys look bad.  Also, please note that while the recipe calls for 3 cloves of garlic and I included 3 heads of garlic in the photo this does not mean that I put three heads of garlic into the hummus.  Although I did think about it. 

The cast of characters:
1 15 ounce can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of water
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
cround cayanne pepper (optional)

First step, rinse and drain a can of chickpeas.  People, these things are cheap.  I picked mine up at a middle eastern market for 59 cents per can.  After you rinse them, leave them in the sink to dry while you gather up the rest of the ingredients. 

Next up, if you're like me you might want to measure out your 1/2 cup of fat free plain yogurt.  I'm going to stress that word: plain.  Not vanilla.  Not blueberry.  Not stawberry banana.  Plain. 

Now, for my favorite part.  Garlic is coming to this party!  He's bringing two of his friends!  That's right folks, it's a three clove recipe.  I think four is too much, two isn't enough, but three is just right.  Originally I read that you should crush the garlic up, and then someone told me to heat it in olive oil to cook off that bite that fresh garlic has.  You know what I told them? 

Kick rocks!  I want my garlic to be rough and rowdy!  So I gave those three cloves a rough chop and I didn't heat them in no stinkin' olive oil! 

But don't listen to me, if you wanna heat it or crush it or burn it with a blow torch then be my guest.  You're the one that has to the eat the finished product. 

Next up you're gonna start throwing the whole kit 'n kaboodle into your blender or your food processor or your mortar and pestle or, well nevermind. 

The lemon juice, the water, and the olive oil are already in there but they tend to run down into the bottom so you cannot actually see them in this shot.  Trust me, there in there. 

Once it's all in there, step back and stretch.  This is the hardest part of this whole recipe.  You think I'm kidding you?  Well just let me warn you, if you aren't properly warmed up then you might seriously injure your finger during this next step. 

Are you ready? 

Did you stretch? 

I hope you took a warm up lap. 

It might tire you out. 

Okay you've been warned. 

There they are; all of the ingredients are sitting there.  They're all uncomfortable and pushed up against eachother and thinking "What is going on in here?  Where am I?" 

Okay maybe they aren't exactly thinking, but you get my point.  They're no fun this way.  So what are you gonna do about it?  You're gonna take the pointer finger and you're gonna PULSE!!! 

That's right folks, pulse about 10 or 15 times and you end up with something chunky like this! 

If that's what you want, then stop there. 

But for me, I give it a quick stir with a spoon and then I pulse another 10 or 15 times.  Don't blend the stuff into paste guys, a little chunk is good.  Just ask Mike.  He likes me and I've got a little chunk. 

I crack myself up. If you all start calling me "hummus" as my new nickname, I won't blame you.

Okay so from there, you grab your favorite pita chips, tortilla chips, crackers, veggies or just a spoon and you dig in! 

Let me show you what I did with it about 5 minutes after the pulsing had stopped. 

That's right, I put it into a little ramekin and hit with some cayenne pepper which we all know means that I had to say BAM!! as I did it.  Except Mike was watching tv in the other room so it was more like a bam.  Then I threw a stalk of celery and half of a bell pepper on the plate and I scarfed it down! 

That part is all optional, of course.  But whatever you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Eat happy,

Kipp