My Hummus Love Affair

If you are trying to find healthier ways to continue to eat your (not so healthy) foods, hummus can be your savior.   Chickpeas are a good source of dietary fiber and micro nutrients such as copper, manganese, and folate. By blending chickpeas with other ingredients such as garlic and olive oil, you get the wonderful combination of flavor and health called hummus. If desired, you can use other beans variety such as white beans or any of your favorite.

I simply think no further than hummus for my party appetizers and this is my second episode of my love affair with Hummus….These days hummus is not just a dip but can be used as a spread in sandwiches, pizza, quesadillas and more. Not only that, I use hummus as stuffing sometimes in recipes like Jalapeño poppers!
Let’s learn to make basic Hummus.

Put out hummus in a bowl and sprinkle with a little paprika for color. Or dress with a little olive oil and pine nuts for a rich, creamy flavor. Serve with bowls of fresh veggies, pita chips or crudités. Make a pizza, or get as creative as you can be…
I usually prefer fresh Hummus but I started making in bulk and freeze as it is demanded often in many of my lunch recipes. I freeze in small serving size containers to make my life easier, more manageable. If you decide to grab one for work or school lunch, it will be very convenient if packed and freeze in Individual servings.
From the videos below, you will get lot of ideas and ways to use hummus in your daily diet. But continue reading until the end for more tips and ideas.

Hummus can be prepared with variety of beans and even lentils. For the lighter hummus, I started using lentils as well. I mostly use chickpeas but sometimes, I make from Black beans and Cannelloni beans. Beans are rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants and are an excellent addition to a varied, economical, healthy diet. All four of the major dietary food-scoring systems promote beans as a part of a healthy diet, one of only four foods these guidelines agree on. The newest dietary guidelines for Americans also promote whole plant food consumption, including a high legume intake. So I started using hummus more in my everyday recipes.

If I decide to serve plain hummus with Pita, I top it up with Olives, diced tomato and cucumber. Or simply keep olives and diced veggies on the side and let your family members make their own Pita by spreading hummus and then top it up with veggies/pickles.

Now, sometimes, making plain hummus is just boring and we need to bring some colors and more nutrition. Specially, when it is party matter. I use variety of greens and colorful vegetable to make hummus vibrant.
To make green hummus, I use spinach or kale or you can use your favorite greens. For red color, I use roasted red peppers or carrot, you can use fresh red pepper. How about Rainbow Hummus? Other steamed veggies like beet, carrot will give great color. I would make plain hummus first and then just add puree of greens and veggies. I usually steam veggies and make purees to get that smooth texture. You can watch my short video below to make your own natural food colors.

As you see below, by using healthy real ingredients, like vegetables, you can make hummus in vibrant colors, without any artificial food dyes. I use Carrot, beet and spinach to get vibrant colors.

If you have a little get together or a big party, jazz up hummus with variety of colors and flavors. Your guest will surely appreciate you for taking care of their diet well.

And below is the playlist of all my hummus recipes.

Between all these, let’s not forget to learn basic Hummus recipe.

You may also like my Pita Bread recipe.