Chips and Dip! On A Diet???

Why, yes!!  If you use carrot and cucumber "chips" and the greatest homemade hummus recipe ever!! 

So, I LOVE me my hummus.  I love many brands, especially the huge tub I can get at Costco for $5.99 that seems like it will last forever . . . and then also has those cuts little chopped up mix-ins . .  mmmmmm . . .

BUT my hubby loves it when I make it fresh, and even at Costco prices for the humungous tub, I think fresh is actually cheaper if you can find a good deal on cans of garbanzo beans (chick peas, same thing.  Once my son said he didn't like garbanzo beans so we asked him if he liked chick peas and he said yes.  Problem solved.)  Sometimes less than a buck a can, a few other ingredients and a Cuisenart mini-food processor and get ready to rumble!!

The beauty of making your own hummus is that you can make it taste exactly the way you like it!  If you're a huge garlic fan, throw two or three good-sized cloves in there.  We've had to play around quite a bit with the amount of tahini paste we use -- too much and it kind of dulls down and overpowers the flavor of the chick peas.  I love lots of lemon and, of course, salt so I go a little heavier on those ingredients, but the fun is that it comes out different every time!

The other benefit to making your own is that you have all of the control over the amount of fat and calories in it.  Of course I'm a huge fan of olive oil, but the less you use, the lower your calories and the more hummus you can eat!  Pair it with crinkle cut carrots, cukes and celery spears and it really feels like a party!  (Especially when you add the Newcastle!  That's not an ingredient . . . just an "add-on" . . . )

I don't really follow a "recipe" because I make it differently every time, but basically I drain my chick peas and add however many cloves of roughly chopped garlic I'm feeling in the mood for, the tahini paste, a few good glugs of lemon juice, S&P and start the blender.  My crafty hubby drilled a little "salad dressing making hole" in the top of my mini-chopper, so I can add oil while blending to achieve the desired consistency -- something like peanut butter, but again this is totally up to your individual taste!  You can add in roasted red peppers, jalapenos, pine nuts (before or after), Kalamata olives -- possibilities are only limited by your imagination and taste -- go wild and enjoy!