Health Kick - Lower-salt Hummus

Hummus is one of those things that we all know is on lists of healthy foods, and it can be.

It can also be ridiculously salty and filled with olive oil so...be careful there.

Hummus is extremely easy to make and I'd ALWAYS recommend making it yourself instead of trusting delis and grocery stores with your fat, salt, calorie, and chemical intake.  Hummus lasts a nice long time, so make a double batch and keep it around for dipping veggies - this is a way better alternative than ranch!

So you don't have to click to the other post (unless you want to, here's the original hummus recipe), here's how we go about making lower-salt hummus.

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon tahini or 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• zest and juice of one lemon
• pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons parsley, minced
• 1 pinch cumin
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• paprika for garnish (optional)
• salt (optional)

Of course, you put all this crap in a blender or food processor, then pulse until the hummus is the consistency you'd like it to be.

Here's what we did to reduce the sodium:

• By draining and rinsing the beans we get rid of a lot of sodium from the canning.  Boil your own beans for even less sodium!
• Adding more lemon means that you need less salt for flavor - yum!
• Same goes for parsley or any other herbs you'd like to add - they add flavor so you need less salt.

Low-fat option:

• Instead of adding more olive oil for consistency at the end, add just 2 tablespoons of olive oil then continue to add low-sodium chicken broth or stock until the hummus is a smooth consistency.

Enjoy this guys!  Serve it with bread, crackers, veggies, or any dipper that goes with your diet.  It's also REALLY good on sandwiches - who needs mayo?