Hummus

Oh, for cryin' out loud. If I had known how easy this was, I would have been making it for years. The hardest part was finding the Tahini in the store. (Look in the International foods aisle and the peanut butter aisle. Where I live, it turns up more often with the peanut butter.) I have been told that a little peanut butter can be substituted. Tahini is basically sesame seed paste, and it does have a similar taste. I would use less peanut butter, though, because the sesame paste is milder. Although I have never heard of anyone being allergic to sesame seeds, I guess it is possible; otherwise, tahini would be an interesting substitute in other recipes for people who can't have peanut butter. (Check with allergist, please!)

Here's the recipe, such as it is:

One can of garbanzo beans, a.k.a. chickpeas. I drained them and rinsed them. I am not sure that is even really necessary. Well, maybe the draining part.

A couple of cloves of garlic. Optional but highly recommended.

A little lemon juice (about half a lemon's worth, for me)

Tahini. Be sure to shake the jar, because the oil will have separated out. (Kind of like unhomogenized peanut butter -- and like it, once you open the jar, you need to refrigerate it.) I used quite a bit of tahini, but I would start with about 1/4 cup to 1 can of garbanzos, even less if you aren't sure.

Spin it in a food processor until it looks like dip. Less than a minute, for me.

That's it.

I picked up some Jalepeno Pita chips (baked) at my store. I recommend the concept. Or if you were using plain pita or plain chips, maybe add some cayenne or other pepper to the hummus.

I have read recipes that call for adding any number of ingredients to hummus, from yogurt to jalepenos to curry. Probably not all at once! Now that I get it, I will probably put more garlic in and more spices.

Because this is not dairy based, I think it should keep pretty well in the fridge. Well, as long as I don't eat it all first!