Does anyone else judge restaurants by key menu items? I'm really bad about it. If a chinese restaurant has crappy egg rolls or broccoli beef, I won't eat there any more. The same goes for Mediterranean restaurants, their hummus better be awesome!
I've been obsessed with hummus for a very long time and I've been making my own for a couple of years. I didn't make it very often though, because we had a really tiny food processor. We finally upgraded to an 8-cup food processor two weeks ago and since then, I have been a hummus making machine and I think I've perfected my recipe. This was a very big task because it had to be perfect for both me and Sheldon. Sheldon likes it garlicky and I like it a little spicy and very creamy. Needless to say this is by no means an authentic recipe.
Hummus Craftyminx Style
Ingredients:
2 cans of Chick Peas
1 T. creamy peanut butter (or 2T. tahini, I prefer it but we're out of that right now)
1 heaping Tablespoon of Sun-dried Tomatoes in oil.
1/3 c. water
about 1/4 - 1/3 c. of olive oil and more for serving.
1-2 cloves of garlic (we use 2)
Salt, pepper, parsley, paprika, Red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and greek seasoning to taste. (I'm pretty liberal with the greek seasoning)
Directions:
Drain the Chick Peas and rinse thoroughly with cold water (don't reserve the pea juice, it muddles the flavor). Put the garlic in the food processor and give it a few good pulses to chop it well. Add the Chick Peas, Peanut Butter, and Sun-dried Tomatoes and water. Give the processor a few pulses then turn it on low. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until it reaches the consistency you desire. We use a little more because I like it creamy. Turn the processor on high for just a little bit to make sure everything is together. I add the rest of the ingredients by hand, stirring and tasting as I go. When you serve it (if you get around to actually making it look pretty, we usually just eat it out of the tupperware container) make a little well in the hummus, pour in some olive oil and dust the top with some paprika and parsley.
I think we're going to start doing some variations of this recipe now. Sheldon asked me to make some roasted garlic hummus next time and I would like to add some kalamata olives some time too. That's the great thing about hummus, you can pretty much add anything to it!
I also made my own whole wheat pita bread! I have been wanting to try making pita for a long time. I used this recipe and followed some of the advice in the comments (using all whole wheat flour, and not putting the salt in with the yeast). I had some issues transferring the rested pita to the oven so my pockets didn't form, but we were just dipping it in hummus anyway so it didn't matter. They were really good! Sheldon has requested them again, but that's a lot of work for 6 pieces of pita, so I think we'll continue buying our own until I have another wild hair.
Happiness is...
