Much to the revulsion of my husband, I love hummus. I’m not sure what he doesn’t like about it. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to crack open a can of chickpeas and eat them like candy. So, my taste for hummus seems natural to me. The problem is that, at $6.00 for an 8 oz. container, I can’t afford to indulge as much as I want. The solution was to find a fast, easy hummus recipe that I could make at home but not give up any of the flavor of the hummus I was used to buying in the store.

Most of the recipes I found online involved sesame paste or tahini, which is no less impossible to find in my little podunk town than raw sesame seeds, but there were several recipes that didn’t call for it. I had to do a little modification anyway, as I found the original recipe to be a bit bland, but with a little more lemon juice, garlic and red pepper, my homemade version tastes, at least in my opinion, just as good as store-bought. It also has the added bonus of costing much less.

1 can chickpeas (or garbanzo beans - same thing)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp of diced garlic (fresh or from jar)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
pinch of salt

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and puree until mixture forms a paste. Add more olive oil if mixture is too thick. Plop mixture onto a plate and spread. Garnish with anything. I like olive oil, parsley, and red pepper or paprika...makes a nice color scheme on top. Serve with pita, pita chips, potato chips, or just plain old crackers...honestly, I would eat this stuff with cardboard.