The Case of the Humbled Homemade Hummus

I love all kinds of hummus. I love red pepper hummus, black olive hummus, lemon and oregano hummus, garlic and black pepper hummus and so on....... Hummus is like a blank palette, ready for your creative culinary combination of spices and ingredients. It is simple to make, delicious to eat, and very much a budget worthy recipe to grace your table. You can make your own flavored hummus to pair perfectly with some of your favorite family dinners. You can replace bread and butter with hummus and pita, and I almost guarantee your grocery budget will significantly decrease. I say "almost" because you have to like hummus!! Who doesn't like hummus? Even honey pie (which is picky pie) likes hummus, so that should tell you something. Hummus is chock full of protein, iron, and even calcium. In the arena of satisfying, hummus/pita has bread/butter beat.

Not all hummus is created equal. I have probably tried over one hundred different hummus recipes, between store bought and homemade. Being a "foodie" I am much more in to the homemade hummus. Why? Like I said, it is a blank palette ready for my creative culinary combination of spices and ingredients. I have used canned garbanzo beans and dried garbanzo beans. In my opinion only, the dry beans win hands down. Obviously, you have to soak the beans overnight. There is a quick soak method, but I have never used this method with any dry beans I cook with. I always start with my basic hummus recipe. I am much more likely to add topping to my hummus than I am to incorporate them into the recipe. This is just personal preference. My hummus recipe is not an exact science. Things change a little depending how much water is left in my cooked beans.