Hi Friends! It’s another Tasty Tuesday! And today we are sharing a recipe that is really delicious! Easy Hummus and Pita Bread!

Our family loves hummus, and we have tried making it in the past, and struggled a bit. And then we went years just buying it in the grocery store or from our favorite restaurants. But I was determined to keep working on that recipe until we got it where we wanted it! Experimenting is really fun, and since our whole family likes to cook, it becomes a family affair! So this week, I would like to thank Troy, my husband, for his help in the kitchen and with the photography.

This week, we include with the hummus recipe, a really easy way to make a “pita like” bread you can serve with your hummus, and it is so delicious! So without further ado, lets begin!

First we will make the bread (it’s so easy!) We begin with frozen Rhodes Dinner Rolls. Ok… so they aren’t authentic pita bread, but it is Awesome! And easy! And it will work beautifully with your hummus! Trust me!

Spray with cooking spray a platter to allow the rolls to thaw on.  Pull the number of frozen rolls out that you want to be pita. Allow them to thaw and slightly rise.

Preheat your oven to 500°.  When the bread dough is thawed, put a little flour on a pastry board or countertop and roll or press the dough balls till they are thin flat circles, about 5″. Ours were about 1/4″ thick. Preheat the cookie sheet. Place pita circles on the cookie sheet quickly and get it in the oven quickly and bake in the oven on the lowest rack.

After about 2-3 minutes, turn them over with a pair of tongs. Cook for about another 2 minutes. You are looking for them to be a little golden brown in spots. Remove and place them on a plate or platter. They smell so yummy!

Yum!

Now it’s time to make the hummus.

Ingredients: 

• 1 15 oz can of Garbanzos or Chick Peas, drain and reserve the liquid.
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed.
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 drops sesame oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• paprika

Begin by draining (and saving the liquid) of one can of chick peas. For the record, chick peas and Garbanzos are the same thing. So if you only see cans of Garbanzos at the store, that will work!

Rinse the chick peas, and then remove the outer skin off of each chick pea. Ok, I know this seems tedious. Yes, you could skip this step. But trust me, it makes such a huge difference in the texture of your hummus. This will make it so much fluffier and smoother. It’s that little outer shell you see in the picture below, and it comes off with the slightest rub. Discard the outer shell. It took me about 10-15 minutes to do a whole can of chick peas. I just listened to music while I did it. Kind of therapeutic!

Once finished, put the chick peas in either a blender or food processor. Add in your lemon juice, garlic, kosher salt, olive oil, and sesame oil.

Add in about 2 Tbsp of the chick pea reserve liquid. Blend for about a minute. Scrape the sides with a spatula. Add in another 2 Tbsp of the chick pea reserve liquid. And blend again for another minute. Take a quick taste to see if you like where your seasonings are at (do you want more garlic? more salt?)  And then blend for another 5 minutes. Just let it go! This really helps make it fluffy.

Place in a small bowl, drizzle a little olive oil on it, and sprinkle with paprika.

I also garnished with a few black olives, and a few tidbits of chopped tomato and cucumber.

Oh my stars! This is so tasty! My husband and I could not stop eating it! We served it with sliced cucumbers, red and yellow peppers, Kalamata olives (my favorite), tomato, and the fresh baked pita bread.

What really sets this apart is having warm pita from the oven and fresh cut veggies!

Talk about flavor town! And we didn’t feel guilty eating it!

After we devoured as much as we dared before dinner, we put the veggies and pita in ziplock bags and covered the remaining hummus. Friends, I kid you not, it was even better on day 2 and day 3! (we finished it on day 3) Even the bread was still good on day 3!

Chick peas are grown around the world, and the number one country for producing chick peas is India. Since hummus has become so wildly popular, we now have a thriving industry for chick peas in the Pacific Northwest, primarily Washington and Idaho here in the United States. And April is generally planting season, so they are planting right about now! Cool beans!

Isn’t it something how eating food that is really good for you can make you feel so good? It is “Good Fuel”. Taking care of ourselves body, mind and soul seems to be such a net positive, it is hard to imagine why we can get off track. But the thing is that every day is a clean slate and we can get “back in the saddle”. Our bodies really respond to how we eat, and our physical activity.  We can be at our very best if we put good things into our bodies, reduce stress, get some exercise, and focus on positive things.

And you know what? You are worth it! Sometimes I think, “Ok, if I had a prized automobile, would I want to put anything less than the best in it?” So why should it be any different with our bodies? We have people in our lives that we love dearly, and we want to be there for them. And by caring for our bodies, we are in essence, caring for the ones we love. Because then we can bring our A Game to them, we can bring our very best! And you deserve that for you, and so do all of us! This life is so precious, if we can operate at our very best level, then we can only enjoy it all the more!

I hope you have a fantastic week! I’ll be back Friday for another post! Until then, take good care of yourself!

Love Always,

Amy

Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.  ~Katie Reed