Classic Hummus

Alas, it's that time of year again--school has begun.  I've got myself a full schedule at Cal State LA and so far, my classes are tolerable.  It's the drive that is brutal: 33 miles each way, four days a week, the first class beginning at 9:50am, which pretty much seals the deal that I'm driving in morning traffic.  However, despite all that, I've enjoyed the feeling of a new school year at hand.  I've already met many interesting and cool people in my classes, yay!

Now, enough about academics!  Let's get to the food!  With all the driving and limited time I've got now, I've found myself making meals and things to eat ahead of time.  The last thing I feel like doing after a long day at school and a grumpy time in traffic is to spend hours cooking dinner.  Trust me--I've never really mastered the 30-minute meal, so, prepping has been pretty big for me lately.

However, today is Sunday, the day of rest but for me it means football and prepping food.  I made my fabulous Shrimp Ceviche early in the morning to nosh on while watching the games and studying.  And then, because on Friday I finally bought myself some tahini, I decided to make a true hummus.  As I was putting the labels on this recipe, I thought, "Wait, is that it?  That's it?  That's all that I put in?" and sure enough, it was.  

My recipe is a basic hummus with garbanzo beans, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, liquid from the beans, and a little salt.  That's it!  It's absolutely normal to jazz up your hummus, though, with ingredients like different spices, roasted red bell pepper, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, eggplant, pumpkin, spinach, and so much more.  I can't wait to experiment around with it because not only is hummus super delicious and flavorful, it's also incredibly nutritious for you.  

To accompany this hummus, I made black pepper pita chips by slicing up pita bread, massaging olive oil over the pieces of bread, grinding lots of fresh pepper over them, and then baking them.  The peppery crunch of the chips with the smooth and the creamy, the tangy lemon, the nutty from the sesame... you're going to be really happy as all of these factors make for a wonderfully, tasty combination. You can also use it as a spread or a dip for vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumbers, raw zucchini sticks, and so much more.  Hummus is very versatile. 

If you do not have a food processor, then you can easily make this in your blender, too.  Or, even a Magic Bullet.  You have absolutely no excuse from making hummus and waking up your taste buds!  

Hester's Classic Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 28-ounce can of garbanzo beans or 2 15-ounce cans
• 1/4 cup garbanzo bean liquid
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup tahini 
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• paprika and more olive oil for the top
• extra garbanzo beans (can be reserved from the beans used for the hummus)
• pita bread, sliced into pieces
• freshly ground black pepper

1. Drain your canned beans and reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid.  Then, rinse the beans and shake off excess water.  Add the beans, reserved bean liquid, lemon juice, salt, olive oil, and tahini into a food processor or blender.  Puree until smooth.

2. Add hummus into a shallow bowl and make a well in the middle.  Add a little more extra virgin olive oil into the well and add the whole beans.  Sprinkle some paprika over your hummus. 

3. To make the pita chips, preheat your oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with foil and add your pita pieces to it.  Drizzle olive oil over the pita and massage into the bread.  Sprinkle the black pepper all over, making sure most of the bread has pepper.  Bake for eight to 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

4. Enjoy the black pepper pita chips with your hummus!  

Everyone into the pot.

Why pay all that money for bagged pita chips when you can make your own?

Crunchy!

I'm always in awe from the addition of paprika because it totally adds great color :-)