Hard-boiled eggs and my mama's hummus

My mom makes a phenomenal hummus. It blows mine out of the water. It might have something to do with simmering the garbanzos first, something I just never seem to have the time or patience for. When I want hummus, I want it yesterday. Tonight, in my food prep for the coming week, I decided to make a double batch. I still didn't boil the beans, but I must have gotten the proportions just right this time. Tangy from the lemon, creamy from the tahini, with a touch of garlic and salt in the mix. Not quite as smooth as Mom's, but it's good. It will go very well with the red and yellow peppers and English cucumber I cut up for snacking.

While shuffling things around in the fridge in preparation for the massive quantity of pureed chickpea about to take up residence there, I came across a container of roasted beets that I made last week for chicken beet salad. Yummy. In a flash of brilliance, I remembered that fellow blogger Branny had made a stunningly-colored beet hummus and I decided to throw a few into the food processor with the garbanzos and garlic.

When it was pureed smooth, it reminded me of one of those obnoxiously-sweet Jell-O fluff salads that seem to appear out of nowhere at church potlucks. Rest assured, it tastes nothing like it. The beets did not affect the flavor whatsoever. Just like the spinach in a green monster smoothie, the taste is masked, but the color and benefits of the veggies are there. Did you know that garbanzo beans can help lower your cholesterol? I learned this by poking around on one of my favorite websites, "The World's Healthiest Foods." Here is the link to the page about garbanzo goodness.

I made enough for The H to take on the road for work, some for snacking tonight, two tiny boxes for me and the little guy to grab on the go (great use of reused leftover baby food containers!), and a big ol' tub for use during the rest of the week. I love my label maker!

As most moms do, I was multitasking as I was whipping this up, also boiling eggs for snacks and the little guy's meals. More on that in a future post.

My method for hard-boiled eggs is to put the eggs in a pan and cover with cold water:

Then bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then dump the hot water and flush the pan with cold water. I like to add a handful of ice cubes to help speed up the process.

When the water is cool, or after about 10 minutes, I set the eggs on a towel to dry, then store in the fridge.

Here is the recipe for my mama's hummus, just the way she makes it. Adjust quantities of lemon, garlic, and salt to taste.

Mom W's Hummus

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, liquid reserved

1/3 cup tahini

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 lemon, juiced

1. Simmer the beans in half of the reserved juice for 10 minutes; let cool. Do not drain.

2. Process beans, garlic, and tahini to a rough consistency.

3. Add the olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. Process to desired consistency.