Roasted red pepper hummus

I literally make this every couple of weeks. It's SOOO delicious. We eat with baby carrots or triscuits, tortilla chips or whatever else we have laying around. Very addicting.

PLUS chickpeas are sooooo good for you! Chickpeas contain more iron than any other "bean" or legume, which means it's a great meatless way to get a boost of iron.

Ingredients:
29-ounce can of chickpeas, drained, with liquid reserved
1 sliced red pepper, roasted with olive oil in the oven for 40 minutes at 300 degrees
4 Tbsp. tahini (sesame) paste
4-6 roasted garlic cloves (see http://everyoneeats-everyoneeats.blogspot.com/2009/12/roasting-garlic.html) or 2+ raw garlic cloves
1 cup of washed, de-stemmed fresh parsley, loosely packed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. Lemon juice OR balsamic vinegar (my personal preference)
Salt, to taste or about 1 tsp.

Directions:

If you do have tahini paste, make sure to stir well before taking out the quantity needed. If you don't have tahini, your hummus will still taste pretty good without it!

Combine the ingredients (you'll probably need to do it in batches, unless your processor is really large), pulse until smooth, then add the reserved liquid and/or some olive oil until it reaches the desired consistency. You can't over-pulse it, so don't be shy about smoothing it out.

Reserve the liquid from the chickpeas since it'll probably end up a little dry and you can then add the reserved liquid to make it creamy. The reserved liquid will incorporate more easily than plain water. You can always add more liquid later, so don’t make it too runny to start with.

This is extremely easy and virtually fool-proof.

When it comes to the olive oil, lemon juice (or balsamic vinegar) and salt the amounts listed are just a guideline. If you prefer adding more or a bit less that’s just fine.

You can definitely use un-roasted garlic, but it will impart a more pungent, peppery flavor.

I really enjoy dipping crackers and vegetables in this all-purpose food. Try spreading it on a sandwich with lots of veggies in place of mayonnaise to add nutrients. It’s something you can almost always find in my refrigerator. It keeps there for about a week.