Thursday, August 18, 2016

Make Your Own Hummus—Let Your Children In On The Fun!


Humming Hummus


One of my all time favorite concoction to eat is hummus.  
It is delicious, nutritious and tastes nothing like chicken!

Classic hummus


Rightfully so—a child’s taste buds should be opened to a variety of foods—so, use hummus as a go to snack of humongous proportions! Mostly used as a dip, an assortment of edible digging utensils adds to the lovely nutritive value of this chow. Skip those salty potato chips—instead have your children cut cucumber chips, slice up carrot, celery, and sweet pepper sticks—even radish slices. Rad right! Use your own favorite vegetables for the children to clean, prep and eat as hummus scoops. Come to think of it, I’ve used tomato wedges also! Pita wedges are popular but I don't use them—prefer blue corn chips—infusing some Tex-Mex flavors (see Additional Ingredients list below.)



There are many ways to personalize hummus—Let the kids create their own!

Imagination is unbound with hummus


Each child can have their own cup of the classic hummus and then add whatever hummus bar fix ‘ins they want to personalize their unique hummus creation. They can even give their own recipe a creative name! Ha, like "Paul's Pine Nut Parsley Pudding!" And, another bonus to the personal cup idea—double dipping allowed!!!

Here is a basic, classic recipe—which is a great place to start: 

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup water
1 large garlic clove
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper


It's not as messy as a cake and much healthier—those are coriander seeds for effect...

Process

  1. Open the can of garbanzo beans and rinse with cold water in a colander. All canned items I buy are the low-salt or no-salt variety—if at all possible. You may soak and cook your own garbanzos but I never have—but I should try that sometime. Here is a link to a soaking your own and their whole process.  
  2. Get out your highest-powered blender— I use a Ninja 1100 watt. Don’t use the big mixer but the single serve 20 oz. cup—the one you use for morning smoothies.
  3. Half a lemon should yield about ¼ cup of juice. Add water to make it a ½ cup of liquid total. If you love lemon and lime like I do, then juice the entire lemon and supplement just a bit of water.
  4. Add ¼ cup of your best olive oil. I only buy extra-virgin and use it for everything.
  5. Throw in a clove of fresh garlic. Don’t mess around here and substitute garlic salt or powder. If your family loves garlic—like we do—be crazy and put in two or three cloves. Also, the size of the cloves can vary quite a bit so two or three smaller ones may be the equivalent of one mongo clove.
  6. Add two tablespoons of loose sesame seeds. I buy them in the bulk section of the grocery store. Many friends buy tahini rather than grind up the sesame seeds. Tahini is simply a sesame seed paste. I’d use maybe 1-½ tablespoons—you’re not baking here so it’s not a science—more of an art!
  7. Add the salt (I use sea salt or kosher salt) and black pepper (I always buy black peppercorns in bulk and grind them fresh as needed).
  8. Now emulsify your concoction until the sesame seeds are well ground up.
  9. Add the garbanzo beans and blend well. You may need to stop the machine and shake the cup up a few times to properly blend from top to bottom.

You should have a rich, thick consistency of hummus!


Taste a bit and decide if you’d like more of anything before scraping the tasty snack into a serving bowl with a small spatula.

A little parsley and pine nuts for garnish

Papa Green Bean Hummus Additional Ingredient Ideas

  • Add a tablespoon of chipotle adobe sauce
  • Add some fresh jalapeño
  • Use lime rather than lemon
  • Mince some fresh cilantro (or parsely) and throw it in—or use as a garnish
  • Dice up some fresh red pepper and throw it in
  • Add a pinch, or two, of cayenne pepper
  • Shake in some hot sauce—I like Tapatio brand 
  • Add a few toasted pine nuts—or sprinkle them over the finished product.
  • Add a teaspoon of cumin or coriander (I used this as my basic hummus for a long time)
  • Add a teaspoon of paprika (also good for sprinkling on the finished hummus—for color as well as flavor)

 
Yep, hummus wraps are yummy

Hummus pizza is a little over the top—but not for vegans!

Don't have a clue as to what this is, but I'd eat it—wouldn't you?

The children will happily jump into the kitchen frenzy—preparing their own mess! 


Sing out!


 “Take the hummus test—does your hummus hum more or less than my hummus?”

“Who mess with my hummus must hum less.”

“It’s gonna be a humongous hummus mess—but tasty and nutritious no less, I confess.”


Children love to experiment, measure and eat yummy. What a combination of goodness for their brain and tummy!


Here's to getting your family garbanzo on,

Papa Green Bean



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