I heart hummus

While Chris has been busy trying to scare the flyer boy (or girl) away with his shotgun (kidding!), I have been busy in the kitchen.  One of the biggest problems that we have is our addiction to plastic, it's almost unavoidable.  You can't buy cheese, bread, crackers, rice, or anything it seems without it!!  Or can you?

Last month, I was on a mission to find a good recipe for hummus, because we eat a large container of it a week.  Sorry about the garlic breath.  Since they run at about $6 a pop, it seemed like a great challenge to save some money, and reduce a little bit of our plastic consumption.  Now, I recognize that the plastic container is recyclable, but if you never have something that needs to be recycled in the first place, that isn't so bad.  At the very least, I'm not throwing away that little film that covers the container, and we're saving $5 a week!

I know what you're thinking, the ingredients that I  had to buy to make the hummus came in plastic.  The plastic bag of chickpeas, not recyclable, the olive oil, came in a glass jar with a non-recyclable top.  Yeah, I know, not so great.  Baby steps.  We're going to try and address those things later in this blog.

Hummus is one of those recipes that varies depending on your taste.  This version is adapted  from my favourite cookbook, Veganomicon.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy from your local library and see if you like it - a lot of their recipes are now in my regular meal rotation.

Hummus

4C chickpeas (or 2 15 ounce cans)
3/4C olive oil
3/4C lemon juice
3 Tbsp tahini
3-5 cloves of garlic
1/2C water
Salt and pepper
Spoonful of cumin
Lots of paprika
A little bit of cayenne pepper (or hot sauce)

Serve with everything!

Mix the ingredients together in a blender, or food processor.  The results will be smoother in a blender, but make sure you have a good one.  I killed the motor of the cheap one that I bought, so I'm back to the food processor.

The recipe isn't really exact.  I have also doubled the recipe, because I usually freeze half.  If you don't want to make this much, reduce the chickpeas to 2 cups, and olive oil and lemon juice to 1/4, etc... and add as you go.   You will need to taste it to make sure, and every time it is a bit different.  I also prefer using dried chickpeas, because they are a fraction of the price of canned.  But if you haven't mastered cooking your own beans yet, just stick with the canned.