My Under-$3 No-Plastic-Container Hummus!

I LOVE hummus. No, you don't understand. I LOVE hummus. I call it "yummus", I love it so much. I could probably eat an entire container, if I did not practice restraint. But darned if I didn't get The Guilts by getting it in those little plastic tubs. Major guilts. That, and it can be pricey, depending on where you buy it. But mostly, it's those tubs. Even re-using them a few times doesn't really assuage the guilt for me. I'm not a good assuager. (Google Chrome tells me that's not a word. I care not. Take that, Google Chrome.)

I set out to make my own hummus. Can't be that hard. Not that many ingredients, really. Garbanzo beans, garlic, tahini, lemon... OK. Well... where they heck do you find tahini? Not so easy to find. And when I did find it... yup, you guessed it, it was in a little plastic tub. Well THAT kind of defeats the purpose. Bummer. No hummus. Nummus.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I found a GLASS JAR of ORGANIC tahini at my local 99 Cents Only Store!!! OK! This is awesome! So, I have my 7oz jar of super-wonderful organic tahini in glass (regularly $7 in any other store) for 99 cents. (Actually, 99.99 cents, if you want to be exact.) I can get, like, four batches of yummus out of one jar. No, five. I got my organic garbanzo beans (yes, they are labeled organic as well), also from the 99 Cents Only store. (I know, BPA-lined can, I have to choose my battles sometimes. I'll get the can this time.) We aren't even at $1.20 yet. I have my lemon which came three in a bag from yes the same place, and my crushed garlic from Gilroy, CA, garlic capital of the world, also in a glass jar, also for 99 cents! We still haven't even hit two bucks, folks. The pricey ingredient is the olive oil, which I get on sale at Henry's Marketplace, and only use a little of in this recipe. A spin around in my Magic Bullet, and voila. Not even 10 minutes, not even $3, and I can eat the whole darn container if I wish. (I don't. It's actually kind of a lot.) Oh... sea salt and parsley don't really add to the cost much, but got those at, yes, 99COS.)

And I shall enjoy it with either baby carrots (yes, same place) or my Thin Wheat crackers. Guess where I get those. They taste better than Wheat Thins and are healthy, no trans fats, baked, etc.  I have saved LOTS of money and I have sacrificed nothing except a few plastic containers. And I hardly call that a sacrifice. I'm getting better at making it; it can be tricky and it almost never comes out the same, but it's tasty and I love it. I did once put a lethal dose of garlic in it, but I'm Italian and garlic doesn't stick on me for long. My body is used to it. :)

I feel better about this. I would rather bring this to a get-together or picnic over store-bought stuff any day. I'll someday branch out a bit and experiment with some nice oils and flavors, but for now, I'm good with it. I cross fingers that my favorite store continues to score these deals. Could be I was lucky, and this was a one-time thing, but I'll keep looking. I wish tahini kept longer. But it's OK. Someday, I will get fancy and stop using the canned beans, and use dried instead from the bulk food section at Henry's. I'll make it with zucchini instead of beans. I'll add flair. For now, I'm just going to enjoy feeling good about my hummus and enjoy eating it. What was once something I might have treated myself to on very rare occasion, I now have to my heart's content. And it's healthy. And I am not contributing to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. And it does not take long at all.

Feeling good, yes I am. No magazines for me today! Just good  food. I do, however, solemnly promise to not breathe on you after yummus-time.