Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I've always loved dipping veggies and crackers into dips especially hummus! So today I decided to try and make it myself. Luckily I had a little help in the kitchen from Danielle (who thinks I'm crazy for making things from scratch). She must love me though, because she was helping me all day!

As long as you have a powerful blender or food processor hummus is pretty easy to make! First rince off all your chickpeas and throw them into the blender. I was using my ninja to get the job done because it had more room than my food processor.

Next you want to peel your cloves of garlic and just throw them right on top of the chick peas in your blender. Squeeze in your fresh lemon juice. (I found that if you squeeze the juice over a screen it helps to prevent the seeds from falling in!)

Then you can add in the tahini, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper...

Now you can start blending. Its best if your blender or food processor has an opening to add in water while you blend, but if not blend a little and add water and then blend some more until the mixture is right.

This is where my recipe ended... so I wanted to add in a little flavor and deided to make it roasted red pepper hummus! I turned the oven onto broil and roasted half of a red pepper.

Once the pepper was done and blackened... I chopped it up and threw it on top of the hummus in the blender. I also added in about a teaspoon and a half of tobasco sauce for some added heat!

Puree until it's well blended and your done! Serve with crackers & veggies and enjoy!

The original recipe came from:

The Pioneer Women Cooks: Food From My Frontier by Ree Drummond

Three 14.5-ounce cans chickepeas

3 garlic cloves, peeled

Juice of 2 lemons

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon salte, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup to 1 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Freshly shopped parsley to garnish

1 1/2 teaspoons tobasco sauce

1/2 roasted red pepper

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and throw them into the blender

2. Add the garlic, lemon juice...

3. Tahini...

4. Cumin...

5. Cayenne...

6. Salt...

7. And pepper.

8. Blend the mixture, pouring in the cold water as you go, starting with 1/2 cup and adding more as needed to get the consistency you want.

9. You may have to stop and give in a stir if the mixture becomes too thick. Just keep adding a little water here and there until it's right.

10. At the end, add the olive oil and give it a final pulse. Taste the hummus to make sure the seasoning is right.

11. While you are blending the mixture, cut a large red pepper in half, wrap in tin foil, and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until blackened.

12. Chop and place in blender.

13. Add in tobasco sauce.

14. Blend mixture until well blended.