Hummus, Seriously Good Hummus

So, when you decide to cut things out of your diet that you normally eat all the time (hint: grains and cheese), you have to come up with something new to eat. I've been doing quite well, actually feeling significantly better. The itching is almost unnoticeable at this point. I have a couple of times per day that I typically have some section of my body itch, but it goes away quicker and I feel better. I have been having significant digestive distress, which I am sure is due to all the probiotics I am putting into my gut, forcing it to get with the program. (No seriously - I'm eating sauerkraut, pickles, yogurt, and cod liver oil.)

Here's hoping.

Anyway, the point. I love hummus, but I hate paying for it at the store. There is crap in it that I cannot pronounce and it is flipping expensive for teeny containers. We have tried and tried to make it at home but it is always grainy tasting and I can't stand it. I want the smooth stuff, you know.

Enter this recipe: Ethereally Smooth Hummus from Smitten Kitchen. Life changer, people. Click the link, my friends, please.

Operation smooth hummus can be solved in one simple, somewhat annoying, but believe me oh-so-worth-it step.

PEEL THE CHICKPEAS. It doesn't matter if they are from a can or you cook them yourself (but really, if you have a crockpot, dried are super cheap), just peel the stinking things. It seems like it will be annoying, and it sort of is, but the pay out is worth every pop.

 I made roasted red pepper hummus because I was still reeling about the pickle incident at K's work (see my facebook rant if you dare - I was ticked off) and I wanted something to stick in my mouth like a cupcake. But I can't have a cupcake right now, so hummus. Stick the ingredients in the food processor, and then I added maybe one whole roasted red pepper? I don't know - I made them last summer and canned them, so they are pre-cut up.

Voila. The smoothest hummus ever. Homemade, and I have a huge pyrex full of the stuff to chomp on with carrots and celery. It almost makes me forget that I love pizza and brownies. *Almost*.