Hummus. It’s like a miracle food. Goes great as a dipper, in a wrap or sandwich, or just with a spoon when it’s nice and fresh. It can be dressed up with a bajillion different flavors, or kept simple. It’s now a staple in the fridge, used as a mid-day snack and also in lunch. It’s so much tastier when made from scratch, and cheaper. It’s actually not that difficult, even going from the dry chickpeas.

Basic recipe:

• 1.5 C dried chickpeas/garbanzo beans
• 1 strip of kombu (seaweed, can be found in most grocery stores in the Asian foods aisle)
• 3-4 raw garlic cloves
• 3 T tahini
• juice from 2 lemons (or 1 super juicy lemon)
• 1 t cumin
• 2t sweet paprika
• 1 t cayenne (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it!)
• 1 T EVOO
• salt, to taste

The night before you want to make this, put the chickpeas in a large bowl. Cover with a lot of water – like a quart or more, with about 1T salt (essentially a brine). Leave out overnight, or at least 8 hours, until the beans are all plumped up. Drain and rinse. Add to a pot, cover with fresh water (also a lot – cover by at least 2-3 inches of water), add the kombu, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer about 1-1.5 hours until the chickpeas are tender. Don’t drain! The liquid will help loosen the mixture.

Scoop the beans into a blender or food processor (warm beans blend better), along with about 1-1.5 C of the cooking liquid. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. you might need to add more cooking liquid (or just plain water, if you run out) to get it to the right consistency.

That’s it! I then separate this into 3 of those 2C glass/pyrex storage containers, leave one in the fridge and freeze the other two. It freezes well, so that’s why I make so much. I only have to make a batch once every 2-3 weeks, depending on how quickly we go through it.

Some delicious adders you can either blend in with the hummus or put as a topping to the hummus:

• roasted red peppers
• roasted garlic
• caramelized onions
• chives or green onions
• jalapenos or chipotle peppers
• chopped olives and pine nuts
• sundried tomatoes
• smoked salt
• anything else you can think of!

Chop up some fresh veggies or use some gluten-free chips to dip into this, or put as a base in a wrap or sandwich – with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, pickled peppers, and any other veggies you have (avocado is always a winner, too!).