Homemade Hummus with Tahini Sauce

As part of my New Year’s Resolution of eating healthier (all-natural, whole foods) snacks throughout the day, I have been learning the value of preparing these foods ahead of time, so when I am impatient and starving, I will reach for the healthy veggies and not the processed bag of potato chips.  Being prepared is the number one rule I would stress over-and-over again in any health, weight-loss or fitness goal.

So on my bi (or tri)-weekly trip to Trader Joe’s this week, I decided that I was going to start making homemade hummus again, as opposed to store bought, which is filled with tons of preservatives and artificial ingredients (ie. chemicals).  And would you guess it, Trader Joe’s does not even carry Tahini (second main ingredient in hummus)!  After being completely perplexed (after all, I was at Trader Joe’s), I spoke to one of the employees (every employee there is fantastic) and she was kind enough to tell me what she uses to make her hummus: Tahini Sauce!

Initially, I was a bit annoyed because I thought, ‘I might as well just buy the already-made hummus if I am going to buy this’, but it turns out, this is actually pretty great.  Tahini sauce is just tahini PLUS lemon, garlic, water, salt….and citric acid (which I am ok with since citric acid is a weak organic acid – a natural preservative).  There are no added preservatives and artificial coloring to this sauce.  Since this made making the hummus quicker and easier, I am not opposed to this at all.  Plus, now I don’t have an unused can of tahini sitting in my refrigerator for months to come.

Making hummus is simple and you can test out all sorts of flavors.  With this sauce, all you need is:

1 can Chickpeas
4oz Tahini Sauce

Now, I threw in a few more items just because I love extra garlic:

3 cloves of Garlic
½ tsp cumin
1 Tbsp EVOO (this makes it creamier)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until it reaches the consistency you like.

Try adding crushed red peppers, fresh parsley, or basil for a different taste.  Hummus is great with any vegetable (peppers, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, etc), pita chips, crackers, pretzels, in a salad and on a sandwich.  Am I missing anything else that goes well with hummus?