Hummus

Ingredients

• 2 cans garbanzo beans, reserve liquid
  
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed is best
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  
• 1 pinch cayenne
  
• 1 pinch paprika
  
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley or green onion
  

Directions

1. Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, cumin and cayenne in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add some of the reserved liquid if it needs to be thinned out. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl.
2. Drizzle rest of olive oil over the garbanzo bean mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

Tahini is a sesame seed paste--reminds me of peanut butter. I found it in the European section of international foods at Wegmans. The jar cost around $8, but it was large enough to keep me making hummus for a few months!

Adapted from allrecipes.com.

Pita Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all purpose flour (I like to use 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups bread flour)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep. (I don't have a bread machine, so I use my stand mixer, proofing the yeast in the water with sugar first, and kneading for about six minutes.)
   
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Adapted from Peppy's Pita Bread at allrecipes.com.