Healthy Snacks: Homemade Hummus

 Hummus. I'm a fan. Are you?

During our detox week, hummus was our hero. We put it on pita with veggies, we ate it with cucumbers, we ate it with, well everything really. It kept things from getting too boring.

I decided to make my own hummus, and see how that turned out. I figured it would be rather challenging. But I was wrong.

Here's the basic ingredient from the recipe I had: 1 16 oz can of chick peas (also know as garbanzos), 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon of salt (I also added 1 tsp of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice, 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper).

You'll need the food processor for this. I'm always excited for that.

Empty can of chick peas, but keep some of the bean juice. You'll find out why in a minute. In the meantime, rinse your chick peas.

Here's the bean juice. Looks gross, right? Well, you're going to need a little bit of it to get the right consistency for your hummus.

Pour chick peas into food processor.

Like I said, I decided to add some lemon zest to brighten up the flavor some. Being that this recipe doesn't call for tahini, which is usually in hummus, I think lemon zest is important. I added about a teaspoon or so.

Crush 3 gloves of garlic (to release flavor) and then drop them in. The food processor will do the rest.

The original recipe calls for 2 tsp of cumin, but in reviews people complained this was too much. I think 1 tsp is definitely enough.

1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Add about 1/8 tsp or so of cayenne pepper. It won't add a lot of heat. If you want more, add more.

All ready to go! Turn processor on low.

Once everything looks combine and you are able to kind of figure out what the consistency is, add some of the bean juice, just a little at a time.

Here's the consistency I was looking for.

I have this cute little snowman tray left over from Christmas. I decided to cut up some cucumbers for my hummus!

Here she is! I sprinkled a little extra cayenne on top for color.

This has nothing to do with the recipe, but I just love this set of flatware we have. There are different kinds of birds at the end of each handle! Sorry, back to the recipe....

I LOVE pita chips. Pita chips, hummus, and some veggies. What more could you ask for?

Beautiful. Looks like ice cream. Taste like what hummus is supposed to taste like. Again, I love what the lemon does, as well as the garlic.

Ok, I'm going to go snack. YUM!!!

I found the original idea for the recipe here. But I added 3 cloves or garlic, only 1 tsp of cumin, plus I added 1 tsp of lemon zest, a squeeze of lemon juice, and 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper.

Do you like hummus? I was thinking you could even add some roasted red pepper. That would be super delish. This is an easy 5 minute, fool-proof recipe that will more that satisfy your hummus needs, minus the additives that can be sometimes found in store bought versions.

On Thursday, I'll be sharing a recipe that Shawn REALLY enjoyed. And by that, I mean he pretty much ate them all. Lemon cranberry scones. Oh. My. Word.