living the freeman life

Adam helping me make the hummus!

I had a little helper in the kitchen this morning as I was making some roasted garlic hummus.  Hummus has been a wonderful staple in our fridge, but I hated spending $5 every time I wanted to get an 8 oz container of it.  I figured since it was made out of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), it couldn't be that expensive to make.  So, I looked up a recipe on Food.com and have finally found a "go to" recipe that is easy, inexpensive, and super delicious.  It's a nice recipe to use as a base, and then add in your favorite mix-ins!  You can do this in a blender, but a food processor actually works the best.  Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Hummus

To roast the garlic, you'll need:

1 head of garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Peel the garlic head, leaving just one layer of the peel (to hold all the cloves together).  Cut the 1/4" to 1/2" off of the garlic head, exposing the individual cloves of the garlic.  Place on a 12" square of aluminum foil, and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Wrap foil totally around garlic head.  Place in shallow baking pan (like a pie pan), just in case it leaks while it bakes.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature.  Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into a small bowl and save for later.

To a food processor, add:

2 cans of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Bowl of roasted garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of tahini (ground sesame seeds, found at World Market)
1/2 cup warm water
Salt and pepper to taste

Puree for 1 minute, or until completely smooth.  Serve at room temperature with pita chips, vegetables, or use it as a spread on a sandwich instead of mayo.

Possible add-ins:

Crumbled feta cheese
Chopped basil (or other herbs)
Finely diced kalamata olives
Sundried tomatoes
Diced caramelized onions
Diced roasted red pepper
Chipotle Tabasco sauce


What would you add in?

Grins!