H is for Hummus

I'm notorious for being a picky eater. Besides the many, MANY foods that I won't eat (celery, sour cream, bananas, tomatoes, coffee, cooked spinach, rare meat, eggs, and that's just for starters), I also don't like my food to touch. I will eat SOME ethnic food, but only certain things from each group. For example, I love pho, which is a Vietnamese noodle soup, but that and boba smoothies are pretty much the beginning and end of the Vietnamese foods that I like. Same with Thai. Love pad thai, not willing to try anything else.

My husband, on the other hand, will eat just about anything. For over 20 years, he has tried to broaden my horizons, and he has had a modicum of success (i.e., pad thai), but mostly, I happily eat the things I like and he eats gross stuff and all is good.

Hummus is one of those foods that my husband has tried and tried to get me to eat, but I always turned it down, finding it grainy and kind of flavorless. Then a 5 year old offered me some of hers, which I had to eat to be polite, and I decided it wasn't so bad after all.

I was shopping at Aldi not long after that and found they not only had tubs of hummus, they had tubs of ROASTED RED PEPPER hummus. Now, that's a horse of a different color! I bought a tub and a bag of pretzels, and I was hooked.

My husband, the cheapskate who is often frugal, likes to tell me he can make hummus for me instead of me buying it, already prepared, from Aldi. I have politely turned him down thus far. Until, that is, I needed something for "H" day in the A to Z Challenge and turned to Pinterest to find me a recipe for roasted red pepper hummus. 

Found it:

Found on menumusings.blogspot.com

AND I HAD EVERY, SINGLE INGREDIENT IN MY KITCHEN AND DIDN'T HAVE TO GO TO THE STORE FOR ANY OF IT! Canned garbanzo beans. Tahini (a husband purchase). Lemon juice. A jar of roasted red peppers (another husband purchase). Garlic (I used the roasted garlic from "G is for Garlic"). Cayenne pepper. Kosher salt. Cumin (which I think smells like feet, but it tastes good). Olive oil.

And it was fast! Which was a good thing, because, due to the discovery of ants in my entry hall who were venturing into my kitchen, all of which is a story for another letter, I had all of ten minutes to make it and clean it up before I had to take my daughter to volleyball practice. The Pinterest directions said to throw it in the food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Which I did.

Ingredients quite literally thrown into the food processor.

Side view.

After whirring it together for a few minutes.

I scooped out a couple of bites on (naturally) a pretzel and it was... YUMMY!

The consistency was a little grainy compared to the store-bought version, and it was a little looser (runnier? softer? Ick - none of those sound very appetizing) than Aldi's hummus. My husband did a taste test for me later in the evening and pronounced it very good, although he thought it could use a little more cayenne and garlic. Easily remedied.

Top is mine. Bottom is Aldi's.

Pinterest win! Pinterest win! Go make some!