Hummus

I've never really cared for garbanzo beans and wasn't expecting much when I first tried hummus about 8 years ago, but I was hooked after the first bite! And my husband hadn't tried it until he met me and we bought a container, but he was won over immediately, too. Unfortunately, it's very expensive at the store. Good news though! It's super easy to make if you have a food processor or heavy duty blender and much, much cheaper. My food processor is basically a hummus machine because that's what it's used for 90% of the time. Here's a recipe that I made up and have fine tuned over the past few years. We think it's perfect! You can also add a small jar of oil packed artichoke hearts and replace the olive oil with oil from the artichokes.

Hummus

1/2 lb dried garbanzo beans, sorted, soaked overnight and drained
1/2 C cooking liquid from the garbanzo beans
3 cloves minced garlic
4 T tahini (sesame seed paste)
5 T lemon juice
4 T olive oil
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 t dried ground coriander seed
1/4 t dried ground cumin
1/8 t cayenne pepper

Place garbanzo beans in a slow cooker with 6 cups of water and cook until tender, about 4 hours on high or 8 on low. Or just cook them in a pot on the stove. When the beans are tender, drain them and reserve 1/2 C of the cooking liquid. Place the beans, reserved cooking liquid, and remaining ingredients in a food processor or heavy duty blender and blend until smooth. Serve warm or chilled with pita bread, tortilla chips, or raw veggies or make a sandwich with pita bread, hummus, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and olives.

Note: The hummus will thicken after being in the fridge. If you want it thinner, you can stir in more olive oil or even water.

Yield: About 4 cups