Another Money Saving Recipe

Did you see my post on my other blog about the homemade yogurt and how it saves us so much money? I tried another recipe today that is so much less expensive than buying the finished product at the store...Hummus!

I love hummus, but I don't buy it as often as I would like because it's just too expensive for how quickly it disappears (into my belly). If you've never tried hummus, I highly recommend it as it is a great alternative to dip chips, crackers, veggies, or whatever into instead of some mayo-based dip. And since it's made from a bean, it has at least half a protein in it. Add whole wheat crackers, carrots and celery to it and you have yourself a very healthy lunch!

I've started playing around with dried beans which is why I decided to try it. I was buying a whole bunch of different beans to play around with and saw the bag of Garbanzo beans (also called Chickpeas) and threw them in the shopping cart. There was a recipe on the bag for Hummus, so I just stuck to that to start with.

The basic recipe is this: Soak the beans overnight. Simmer the beans for two hours. I then started with my homemade tahini - I knew this was part of the recipe (it called for 2tbsp Tahini), but I had no idea what tahini was. I looked in the store and couldn't find it (that's a whole other post...stay tuned). So I looked it up online and tahini is just ground up sesame seeds and oil (EVOO or sesame). Since I always have sesame seeds around (for sushi) and EVOO, I decided I would just make my own. So I pulsed the sesame seeds and EVOO in the food processor, then started adding the cooked beans once the tahini was as pasty as I thought I could get it. You mix in lemon juice, salt, garlic, paprika, and cumin and there you have it. Super simple and incredibly cheap. I can hardly believe I paid $4 for a container of it so many times when I can make the same amount so easily for about $0.50!! Added bonus - I'm reducing plastic in my carbon footprint that I would otherwise have purchased with the hummus in it. This way I'm using my reusable bowls.

I ran the taste test past Dr. Dad and he approved!!