Father's Day and Hummus Hummus!

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there!  In growing up with two older brothers and being the only girl, I've always been my daddy's little girl with his same blue eyes.  As the countdown draws nearer to Kevin and my wedding I keep thinking of little aspects of the day that I still need to plan, this includes the Father Daughter dance.  I've always joked with my dad that we would just break out in dance to "Whip it" by Devo, but I don't think my mom would appreciate that lol.  Speaking of wedding stuff, I got to meet with my makeup gal this friday to go through a test run for the big day.  Here are some pictures:

We are getting so excited, but still feel like we have so much planning left to do!  AHHH!

Back to the topic of Father's day, my dad and I are very similar in our taste preferences and we have some of the same habits in eating, such as finding something we love and eating that and not much else for long periods of time.  Right now, that food for me is watermelon.  I just can't get enough of it, I eat at least a plate-full just about every day.  His obsession food right now has been Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus with crackers.

This Sabra hummus is delicious, however, I feel like it is loaded with much more oil than is needed, (there are 7 g of fat per 2 tablespoon serving).  And each 10 oz package is a whopping $4 from the grocery store.  I'm guessing my dad goes through two or three of these a week, so I wanted to give him a homemade hummus that was lower in oil and salt, that was less expensive, and that tastes identical.  Challenging huh?  It took me a try or two but I finally found the right combination of ingredients to produce the best homemade hummus ever!

Mock Sabra...

Ingredients:

• Pine Nut Topping
• 2 Tbsp raw pine nuts
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• Hummus:
• 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 6 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup reserved bean liquid
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 1 Tbsp regular soy sauce and 1 Tbsp water)
• 2 Tbsp water (more to achieve desired consistency)
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Directions:

1. In a small cup, mix together all of the pine nut topping ingredients and let sit while you prepare the hummus.
2. In a large food processor, combine all hummus ingredients and process until very smooth.
3. Add water one tablespoon at a time to get desired consistency.
4. Scoop hummus into a shallow and wide tupperware bowl and flatten the top with a spatula.
5. Smear the pine nut topping over the middle.
6. If desired, sprinkle extra dried basil, parsley, and cayenne pepper around the edges of the hummus.
7. Serve chilled with crackers, veggies, or in sandwiches.

Amy's Notes:  This hummus has a great tang to it, and the spices on top with the pine nuts give it wonderful extra flavor.  When you are going to serve the hummus, you can mix together the hummus and the toppings, but I know that we prefer to pick at the toppings without mixing.  The recipe that I have featured makes a very large batch of hummus (see reference picture), so if you do not go through hummus in such a timely fashion as we do at my house, I might suggest that you make a haft batch with only one can of garbanzo beans.

One of my favorite memories with my dad was when I was younger and had a dirty face, or had been crying for one reason or another.  My dad would take me into the bathroom, run the water till it was steaming hot, then dip a washcloth in and ring it out, then put the lightly steaming washcloth on my face.  It's funny how something so simple can make you feel so much better, and I still do that for myself to this day when I get upset.  Happy Father's Day, Dad, I love you!