Sundried Tomato Hummus

If you’re like me and don’t care for chickpeas, try hummus anyway. The chalky texture of the chickpeas, when combined with the other ingredients, disappears, and you’re left with a dish that’s refreshing yet filling. Plus, it’s healthy! If you’re not a big garlic fan, the roasted garlic is less… offensive. There’s less of a chance that you’ll return from lunch and stink up your workplace.

This dip is great served with flatbread (such as pita), and/or fresh veggies. For the brown bag lunch, place several large spoonfuls in a Tupperware container, and send along a baggie with whatever you choose to dip in it. My suggestions: whole wheat pita cut into triangles, baby carrots, cucumber, red and/or green peppers, and olives.

Ingredients:

3 cans garbanzo beans
3 oz. smoked sundried tomatoes (I find these in a bag in the produce aisle near the fresh tomatoes.)
6 cloves roasted garlic (see method below)
2 cloves raw garlic (optional)
handful of fresh parsley, chopped (3-4 tbsp.)
6 tbsp. olive oil
8 tbsp. lemon juice
salt
½ - 1 cup water, for thinning

How to make Roasted Garlic:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a small baking dish. (Ramekins work perfect.) Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with foil. Bake for 35- 40 minutes, or until a fork slides easily through the cloves. Let cool, then squeeze the garlic out.

Sundried Tomato Hummus Guidelines:

Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans.

If your sundried tomatoes are whole, coarsely chop. If they are already sliced, you’re good to go.

In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients, starting with the ½ cup water and adding more as needed, and process until smooth. The mixture should be grainy, but not chunky. If your food processor is small, you will have to blend the ingredients in batches. It’s more time consuming, but it works fine, I promise!

Cover and refrigerate. Mix before serving.