Easy Hummus Recipe

Hummus is a dip made from chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Hummus actually means chickpea in Arabic. It's traditionally a Middle Eastern dish, but it's made in Greece, too. It's called hommos there. This recipe is not quite the traditional, but it's been altered to suit my tastes. And don't worry about not being able to find tahini; tahini is nothing but sesame seed paste, and I've got a recipe for that, too. If you don't want to bother making tahini, even though it's dead easy, you can buy some very inexpensively. Organic Tahini



2 cups Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans)
1 tomato, chopped, including juice
1 roasted pepper, red or green
2 tablespoons of tahini
3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or lime juice
2 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt

In a blender or food processor, blend all ingredients together until they form a creamy paste. Put in a large serving bowl and serve with warm pitas, pita chips, or tortilla chips.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms Party Appetizer

I love mushrooms, but nobody else at my house likes them, so I have to either make a small batch of these, or cook them for a party appetizer. If you have a food processor, you can put all the ingredients in and pulse for a minute to chop everything finely instead of manually.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

1 pound (about 24) large white mushrooms
4 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped or 1 tsp dried
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped or 1 tsp dried
1/2 pound sausage
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tsp ground red pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated

Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel and remove the stems. Place the mushroom caps on a shallow baking dish.

Cook the sausage, breaking up into small pieces as it cooks. Drain oil from sausage (I usually just put it on a paper towel).

Mince the stems. Combine all the ingredients with the sausage in a small bowl and mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy!