Lunches - Hummus!

I love to serve lunches that are quick to make, my family enjoys, and are healthy.  Hummus is definitely one of those things, but for us it is expensive to buy ready made at the grocery store.  The solution is to make it at home, and it's not hard to do.  I like to make larger batches of it, preferably on a weekend, and to further cut down on cost, I buy dried garbanzo beans and cook them myself.  I think the cans are at least three times more expensive.  You can either soak them overnight, then boil them for about an hour, or you can cook them for a half hour in a pressure cooker straight from the bag.

Hummus is very well received by my kids and worth making in larger batches.  Freezing 1/2 cup portions in a muffin pan, then storing in a zip lock in the freezer works well.  To use, thaw and warm before lunch, then you can sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with toasted pita bread and cut-up veggies.  I have children ages 20 through 6 living at home, and they all can manage to put this lunch together for themselves once the hummus is made, of course.  I like that kind of flexibility!

Hummus

4 cups garbanzo beans
1/3 cup tahini

1 tsp. salt

4 garlic cloves, halved

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

3/4 cup chick pea juice

Minced parsley leaves, garnish

Directions

Place all ingredients except parsley in a food processor. Blend until smooth and transfer mixture to a serving bowl.

Drizzle olive oil over the garbanzo bean mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

Enjoy!

A few minutes after publishing this post, I found an email in my inbox from Whole Foods and a link to the valuable nutritional benefits of garbanzos, plus a bunch of other recipes to use them in.  So, garbanzo beans are a great source of calcium, iron, protein, plus a few other things. 

I am linking with Homeschool Village's "What's for Lunch?",  Fight Back Friday, and Healthy Wholesome Foods.