Choose-a-bean hummus and my last meatless monday?

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I have this recipe for black bean hummus that I just adore because not only does it taste good, but I have this everlasting crush on black beans. I just love them. Cold, hot, refried, ground up, you name it.
A recent kick of this recipe has me scrounging for cans in the back of my pantry, trying to dig up a can of the black variety. One day my daughter, age 8, asks what I'm looking for and says "yuk. I don't like black bean hummus. Can't you just make regular hummus?"
Hmm, ok.
I didn't find any black beans anyway. I did, however, find a can of great northern beans, which I simply used in place of my ol' favorite.
And the kid ate an entire bowl of it.
"This is the best hummus ever, mommy!"
eat eat eat eat eat eat eat
"Hey mom, what is hummus made out of?"
I began to list the ingredients and she about fell out of her chair at the mention of beans.
"You mean there are BEANS in here? Like the kind I don't normally like?"
"Yup. And you love them now."

Today for the first time ever, I packed hummus in my children's lunches. The pungent smell of garlic may just have a shot overtaking the smell of the cafeteria food and I'll bet at least of their friends asks what in the world that stuff is.

I hope my daughter answers: BEANS.

Choose-a-bean Hummus
Easy to remember, easy to change up, easy to keep on hand. Better than the stuff in the little plastic containers for sure.

1 can beans (black, garbanzo, great northern all work great), rinsed and drained
2 Tbl olive oil
2 Tbl tahini
2 Tbl lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt

Dump it all into a food processor and grind it up. I even use my immersion blender in a pinch, and that works well. Add more lemon juice to taste and water to thin to desired thickness.


And finally, this is the last Monday of Lent, which was my trial run for being a once-a-week vegetarian, and practially vegan because I eat dairy-free with my allergic daughter. The verdict: it's not so hard, and it's really forced me to make wiser choices and eat healthier foods. All good stuff.

Comments

Samantha Gianulis said…
regular hummus is so regular. i add artichoke hearts to mine and sun dried tomatoes, top it all off with goat cheese. with pita, that's a meal, baby.
hummus is good stuff for sure.
April 7, 2010 at 9:50 PM
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