This week I took a foray into baking up pitas.  I have to admit, I knew hummus would come along shortly after.  I mean seriously, how can you eat pitas without it?!  Ha ha.  Well my family gobbled up the first batch of pitas so I’m whipping up another batch.  Click here for that recipe.  Hummus is very easy to make and tastes so much better than store-bought versions.  Plus with this, you control the olive oil (even though it’s a healthy fat I still like to limit the quantity in the food I eat) and I have a little trick on exactly how to do that.

Ingredients:

2 cans of low sodium chick peas (both drained and rinsed)
2 red bell peppers (jarred in water) – reserve the water
4 cloves of garlic (use less if you aren’t a fan)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder (or regular chili powder if you have that on hand)
Salt
Pepper
Lemon juice – from half of a lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Directions:

Into your food processor, add the chickpeas, garlic, two roasted red peppers, cumin, chili, salt, pepper and lemon juice.  Puree into well-incorporated.  While the machine is running add the tablespoon of olive oil.  If you need it creamier, most likely you will, add a tiny bit (1/2 teaspoon at a time) of the reserved liquid from the roasted red peppers.  This will not only infuse the hummus with more of the red pepper flavor, it will keep the calories down because you aren’t using more olive oil.  Puree until smooth or desired texture is achieved.  Cover and refrigerate until serving.  Serve with chopped veggies, pita slices etc.  Also works well on a sandwich instead of mayo or mustard.

— Knead to Cook