Hummus

The heat has reached us. Since there wasn't anything on the calendar anyway, I'm using these two days to stay inside and finish my school planning. (And for those of you for whom the heat has been around a lot longer than two days, my sympathies. I'm not really complaining because we've had it pretty good this summer.) 

Every year it's the same. I think I have a really good start on the planning, but then when I sit down to put all of my scribbled notes into a coherent plan, I discover gaping holes that I missed and need to fill. That is what I spent the bulk of the day sorting out. I now have a finalized and workable plan up until the last four weeks of the school year. That's tomorrow morning's activity. Then the rest of the day will be spent creating student checklists, doing a couple of schedules for individual learning projects, and generally getting things in order. 

And remember when I was so proud of myself for spending so little money on school? That was before I sat down to really figure out biology lab supplies. Specimens are not cheap. My school expenditures is going to be a little more than I had thought. (This is mainly because I hadn't really thought about it. This is not my first experience with dissecting.) But still, if I were to add everything up and divide that by the number of students who will be learning, I'm still well under $100 per child. I think that's still really respectable. 

But what does all this have to do with hummus, you're wondering. Absolutely nothing except it is what we had for dinner. It's the perfect summer dinner because it requires no heat at all. 

I've been making my own hummus for years. It's been so long I can't remember where the recipe even came from. But it's still my favorite hummus. Here's my recipe.

In a food processer, combine 2 c. drained chick peas, 1 TBSP olive oil, 2 tsp minced garlic (or more if you like it more garlicky), 1/2 tsp ground cumin, and 1/4 c. tahini. Process until it is well mixed. Then with the motor running, slowly pour in 1/4 to 1/2 c. lemon juice to get the consistency you desire. 

That's it. It's super fast and super easy. But my favorite is red pepper hummus, so I usually make it, too. It's the same recipe except after the initial mixing and before the olive oil, add in some of those little sweet/hot marinated peppers you can find at the deli counter. (Or you can buy them by the quart at Costco, which is what I usually do.) I usually add 6-8. It really depends on what you like. 

Then we serve it with sliced pita and any raw vegetables that people will eat. There are rarely any leftovers even though I make 8 cups of hummus.