Hummus

Although you can get hummus for under $3 for a small tub at Trader Joe's, it is nice to be able to customize your own hummus, not to mention save money by making large batches.  Last week, I found Arrowhead Mills Sesame Tahini, Organic, 16 oz. at two 99c stores.  It was hiding near the dried fruit and ice cream cone "miscellaneous food" section in the front right corner of one store and next to the jams and jellies at the other store.  Emilio's 29 oz. can of garbanzo beans is often found in the canned food section at three of the stores I've visited.  Lemons are commonly found at one of the four 99c stores I frequent, and cumin and paprika are regular finds at most 99c stores.  Thus, it was time to make hummus!

Putting all of this together in an Oster 10-Speed Blender - White (that I got at Target on Black Friday last year for <$20) along with Crisco canola oil (on sale from El Super for $1.99), Morton salt (50 cents or even less at El Super when on sale), water, and pepper (from Walgreens for 50 cents when on sale), I had some delicious hummus ready in half an hour.  Note, I abhor garlic and like my hummus just fine without it.  Hummus is no good without Arabian flat bread, which is also a regular find at the 99c store!  This sure beats the sticker shock I got from pita bread being over $1 at a Trader Joe's in the Pacific NW, when at the same time it was under 90 cents at a Northern California Trader Joe's.  This was a few years ago, as I am aware that the Northern California Trader Joe's now sells pita bread for over $1. 

Here are some of the raw ingredients (all from 99c store, except paprika from Big Lots for $1):

And here is the end product:

The recipe came from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.  I got this for a steal from Amazon.  The book is almost $10 more expensive at Border's (unless you have a 30% or 50% off coupon, available during this past holiday shopping season).  If you can't afford to shell out $17.99 for a cook book, you can borrow it from the public library, if available, and copy the recipes onto index cards.  I have found that owning the book is valuable for having access to the index, which allows you to quickly look up every recipe that requires a particular ingredient that you want to use.  All my favorite recipes are from Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero, so I will often refer to their books.

If you can get your hands on the ingredients, enjoy some fresh hummus...yum.