I'm back in the kitchen, briefly...

I haven't had much time to experiment in the kitchen for a while or even do much cooking/baking. Yes, I have gone through a modicum of withdrawal...So the other night I had a wild hair and decided to make hummus. It turned out great and it's so easy to make, I don't know why it's been so long since I've made it. It's also healthy, which, believe it or not, I'm trying to start cooking that way more. My biggest complaint with health food is that historically (at least in my mind) it has been unappetizing. I am finding more and more recipes to contradict that thinking and I'm determined to find a happy medium between appetizing and healthy. Anyway, bit of a rabbit trail there, sorry. This post is really about my experiments on variations of hummus, so I better get on track. For the hummus, I went pretty straight forward, and no, sorry, no measurements. Here we go:

canned garbanzo beans
tahini (some purists make theirs, I buy mine)
fresh lemon juice
olive oil
minced garlic
cumin
salt

As I said, no measurement, I apologize. I basically threw the beans into the food processor and slowly added the other ingredients to taste (and consistency). It turned out great, even the kids devoured it. Here's a pic, though not a great one since I put it in a plastic container instead of a bowl (for which my wife dutifully scolded me).

Plain and simple, but awesome.

Never being content, I decided, of course, that there needed to be variations on the theme. I thought maybe I could come up with what I called an "Italian hummus". Here's what I used:

Cannellini beans

almond butter (a little spendy, but great flavor)

olive oil

minced garlic

rosemary

salt/pepper

I then branched off of that basic recipe and made 2 different batches, one with fresh basil (that I had just picked in a buddies garden), and the other with sun-dried tomatoes. The verdict was that both were great, but the hands down winner was the basil, but then, how can you beat fresh basil?!? Here are a few pics:

Ah, the beautiful smell of fresh basil...

Almond butter is amazing anyway...

No brand placement, I promise, wasn't picky on these ingredients this time.

Basil "Italian Hummus"

Sun-Dried Tomato "Italian Hummus"

As I always say, experiment. Once you get a good "base" recipe, then fool around with different variations, l liked the cannellini beans as much as the garbanzo beans. I might try roasted red peppers next time, we'll see.

Buon Appetito!