Tonight will be one of those rather relaxed evenings at our house. The day has been sort of uneventful…OK, boring. Appetizers for dinner! That would fun! A board game! A movie! AND it’s only Thursday!!!

I roasted a rather large chicken Monday and have been rather creative at using leftovers to make tasty meals this week, but enough is enough! I chopped up the rest of that bird this afternoon and tossed it in the freezer for soup day. No chicken will be used in the making of these appetizers, BUT chick peas sound good. Hummus!

If you’ve never had hummus, it’s a tasty “dip” of Mediterranean origin that is high in protein and is available in most larger grocery stores, in the produce area where you find fresh salsas and dips. You can easily make it at home and create any “flavor” with just a few added ingredients, and it goes together in less than 10 minutes in your kitchen. Use it as a spread on little toasted pita pieces, dip veggies or baked taco chips. Add roasted peppers, olives, herbs, garlic, onions. Or keep it rather simple. The only “weird” ingredient, if you live in a small town, is tahini, which is a paste (like peanut butter) made out of sesame seeds. I found it in our little store, waiting patiently in the health food section. A jar lasts a long time in the refrigerator and you only use a few tablespoons at a time, so don’t panic over the price. You can also make hummus without tahini and the flavor won’t be too far off the real stuff.

Ready for some fun? Here we go…

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Equipment you will need:
Food processor with “s” blade (the one that finely chops stuff)
Rubber spatula
spoons for tasting
cutting board
chef knife

Ingredients:
1 roasted red pepper, peeled and seeded
2 cans garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained and rinsed
3 cloves garlic (Peel them and place them on a cutting board. Smash them with the side of a chef knife. Chop them up a little and they are good to go)
2 Tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 teaspoon salt (or more, depending on taste)
¼ teaspoon white pepper
Juice of ½ lemon
Extra virgin olive oil (¼ cup or more)

Directions:
Roast a red pepper. Easy Peasy. See directions at the bottom of this recipe.
Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. Toss into the food processor. Add everything but the olive oil. Pulse a few times to get everything chopped.
With the food processor on, slowly pour olive oil into the little hole where oil goes (or down the chute). Keep adding oil, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides so everything gets well blended. Patience is a virtue! Keep processing until you have a nice, smooth paste. You will probably process for about 5 minutes. If mixture seems dry, add a little more oil. That’s it. You have hummus! Store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator. It keeps for several days. Be creative. Add fresh herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, kalmata olives. Hummus tastes great with baby carrots, zucchini strips, pita chips, cucumbers, or whatever you like to dip.

How to Roast a Red Pepper:
Place a clean, raw red pepper over an open flame, i. e. outdoor grill, on burner of gas stove, blow torch…Using tongs, rotate the pepper until the entire pepper is charred and black. Turn off flame and toss pepper into a Ziploc bag. Seal bag and allow to steam until pepper is cool.
Hold charred pepper under running water and peel off black skin. Break open pepper and remove seeds and stem. Ta Da! Roasted red pepper. When red peppers are on sale, I buy lots of them, grill them all. Cool them, peel them and cut them into chunks. Then they go into snack-sized baggies and get tossed into the freezer until I need them. Much cheaper than buying jars of roasted peppers that are packed in oil and loaded with salt.